Happy New Year, everyone! To celebrate the end of 2007, I’m working on a couple slideshow year-in-reviews. Stay tuned.
Archive
I hope that today found you warm and well, surrounded by those you love. Merry Christmas!
As I’ve mentioned, I’m working on a TV production in Austin this week. So last night, we went out to dinner with the production company. Afterwards, the director wanted to visit Lamberts downtown for a beer he’d heard about. I carry my camera almost everywhere, and was I ever glad that I had it with me then. There was a ton of cool stuff to shoot at Lamberts, and I have some more photos up on flickr, but I wanted to share this one with you guys. It’s my favorite.
We shot a super fun wedding yesterday in Georgetown, Texas for Ryan and Dayna. I’m super busy with some stuff coming up this week, but I wanted to share one image with you guys really quickly because I like it so much. We’ll have a slideshow up soon.
Thanks, guys! We had a great time!
Wow. Things have been crazy recently. I’m working on a bunch of different projects right now, with a trip to Los Angeles tomorrow and another week-long trip to Austin starting on Thursday. This blogging thing is hard to keep up with in the middle of all of it, but I’m going to try real hard in the next couple weeks to update. Even if that means it’s a little sporadic.
The cool thing about being so busy is that good things come as a result. I found today that a photo I took for The 50 Million Pound Challenge ran in USA Today last weekend! Is that cool or what? I’ll put a scan up later in the week…
I don’t normally think much about photos of myself, but my friend Tom took this one while we were touring the cement factory and I actually sort of like it for a change. Thanks, Tom!
Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for this year, especially the fact that all of my clients have been absolutely great to work with!
We’re in Louisville, Kentucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aimee’s family (her sister’s husband is from the area). When we landed in Louisville last night, we were headed to the baggage claim when Ethne spotted a little girl wearing the same dress. They just stood there and kind of stared for a while.
Yesterday afternoon, I shot a backyard barbecue at a small horse ranch in Canutillo, just outside El Paso. I’m not often hired to shoot informal family events like this one, but I’m always happy to help out where I can. The owner of the ranch was recently diagnosed with brain cancer and has refused treatment. He’s spending time with his friends and family across the country.
Anyway, as I watched the family interact, I spent a lot of time admiring this man and his attitude. Even in this rough and uncertain time, he was upbeat and positive. He joked and laughed with his siblings and cousins. He ran the grill and made sure that everyone had plenty to eat and more than enough to drink.
I thought about all the time I spent stressing out about the smallest things. I thought about all the time I waste away from my family and friends. And I’ve determined to do my best to live my life with the same joy and attitude that he has in these hard times.
In September of last year, Aimee and I moved into our first home. We were excited. It had been a long, painful, annoying process. We signed a contract on a new home in a small (and cheap) subdivision on the west side of El Paso. It took the builder over a year to get it finished, even though we had been told it would only take about three months to have it built. We had to hound the builder to make sure that we got everything we wanted (and paid for) and we were treated like dirt by his office staff.
When we moved in, things did not get any better, except that we no longer had to mooch off my family for a place to live. Getting the builder’s rep to come out to the house for repairs was a major chore. To this day, we still don’t have the gates that were supposed to be installed between the back yard and the front.
But we had our home. We were raising our child and things were good. But then we started to notice a little crack in the drywall in our bedroom. So we called the builder. After a few calls, we spoke to someone in his office. They sent the foreman out. He said that it was normal. The change of seasons. And that we should wait a full year to have him repair them.
So we waited. And the crack got worse. Much worse. New cracks started to appear all over the house. Doors became hard to close. We started to think that there might be a problem. We got a re-inspection of the house done just after the exterior doors became really difficult to latch closed.
We have “structural damage due to foundational shifting”. The inspector said that the foundation is simultaneously sinking and twisting.
We have a lawyer and we’re moving out this weekend. We’re hoping for our money back. And to never have to deal with something like this again.
