Hey all you photographers out there!  Sean and I are hosting a Shoot with Beckstead workshop on October 29-30 and we would love for you to join us!  If you don’t already know, David was recently named one of the Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World by American Photo Magazine.  He is an amazing person and the workshop should prove to be extremely beneficial for everyone who attends.  The first day will consist of a day long shoot with David.  On the second day, David will critique each person’s images from the previous day’s shoot.  This is a great opportunity to get specific attention on how you can personally improve as a photographer and artist!  If you’d like more information about the workshop, please check out www.shootwithbeckstead.com.  Those who plan to attend should sign up right away!  Each workshop will only hold a small group and there are only a few spots left!

 Hope to see you soon!

- Mel

Sean and I were just commenting on how no one who has won the sessions we donate has called to take us up on them when we got an email from Hope. Her father-in-law was the winner of a family session with us from the St. Jude Dreamhome Giveaway and his request was to get some great pictures of his kids and grandkids! Jeremy, Hope, Kennedy, Shane, Heather, and Reagan were all so much fun to work with! They even humored me when I asked them all to climb inside the bars of the merry-go-round. Thanks you guys! We had a great time!

Steph and Kyle had one of the most relaxing wedding days we’ve attended in a long time!  We started off bright and early with a trip up to Old Hickory Lake for the morning ceremony.  Brunch was to follow, then a trip out to the family farm for photos, and a nice break in the day for everyone before the evening bbq reception.  That is my kind of schedule!  Being out on the lake all day made me a bit homesick for visits up to the old family homestead in Minnesota.  My family still owns the land my grandfather grew up on in a tiny town called Black Duck on the Canadian border.  There is nothing more beautiful than the lake at sunset!  Sundown last Saturday was absolutely gorgeous and I love the images we got of Stephanie and Kyle enjoying the lake together!   

Steph and Kyle, you are such an unspeakably sweet couple and we’re honored to know you!  Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your day!

 - Mel

This past Saturday we had the honor of photographing Christie and Kurt’s wedding. They are an incredibly cute, fun couple with magnetic personalities that make you love them immediately! Their wedding took place at Lillie Belle’s Tea Room in Franklin. Lauren and her staff are absolutely wonderful there! We arrived just as they were closing out the morning wedding and we were amazed by their ninja-speedy tear down and set up skills! They are quite the crew!

The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time with everyone there! Thank you all for helping make it such a great experience! Christie and Kurt, thanks for including us in your day! See you soon!

What an intense week!  The race started on Monday night at midnight, and I would have expected it would have taken a couple of weeks at least for someone to get 30 miles, but by Thursday morning it was already over.  I know the suspense is killing you, so I’ll ease it for you.  Here is the winner!

At first glance, I know you’re all thinking “Oh my gosh, I’ve seen that guy before, it’s the man of steel… unfair, nobody else ever had a chance.”  But if you’ll stop and take a closer look, you’ll actually see that it’s just me.  About 21 years ago.  Hey, I should have put that as one of my 8 facts a few posts ago.  I went through about 3 or 4 of those shirts when I was that age because I kept wearing them out.  I wore one every day for a year probably (belt included).  I got in trouble once for wearing it to my kindergarten class.  Interestingly enough, the day I snuck to school with my shirt under my regular shirt, some other kid came in and rips open his shirt to reveal his Superman costume.  So then I run up to him rip open mine and show that I’m Superman as well.  Then one or two other kids see this, and quickly run over and rip open their shirts and we’ve got 4 Supermen running around all day.  One of the other kids had a cape.  I wasn’t able to sneak in my cape.  I thought “next time… I will have a cape…  oh yes…  next time.” 

What was I talking about?  Oh yes, the race.  Everyone who sent words of encouragement, thank you so much!  It really helped out, and something else that really helped out was some of the other people that were racing and kept pushing me to go further long past when I would have stopped on my own.  One of the biggest thanks goes out to Jasmine Star from Orange County, CA, who ALSO woke up on Thursday morning with the intention to win.  She ran 10 miles and hit 30 probably not even an hour after I did!!  Another thanks goes out to Shannon Sewell from Vancouver, WA.  She continually pushed the bar and kept me going also.  In fact, it was when she passed the 20 mile mark on Wednesday night that I realized that I had to go ahead and hit 30 as soon as possible because someone else (probably Jasmine, I thought) would be crazy enough just like me to do it.  Also, a big thanks to Fred Egan from Dallas, TX for coming up with the idea of the race to begin with.  Aside from feeling slightly sick today, and having bruised feet, overall I feel better than I have in a long time.  Perhaps we can somehow keep this going on a regular basis…  maybe not quite so intense!

Now we come to the part where I ask for help from YOU**!  If all goes according to plan, it seems as though I have some iTunes gift certificates coming my way.  We hardly ever listen to the radio anymore, so I couldn’t tell you anything new that’s any good.  So help me spend this money!  How about some suggestions as to what new/old/whatever music we should check out?  Leave some comments below…  And thanks again, everyone!

**YOU:  If you are reading this right now, by “you” I actually do mean YOU.