Sarah and Doug, here's a sneak peek. Enjoy.

Sarah is crazy skilled at wedding invites etc. be on the look out for www.BellaDoodle.com which will be the website for Bella Doodle Designs.

God bless.

Jim

I went to Lake Erie the other day and had a really great time fishing on the Sassy Sal Headboat. It's awesome. You get a couple friends together, take some poles and walleye lures and you just pay $20 something to get on the boat and they put you on the fish. And boy did they. I was catching walleye all day long. And a couple sheep head, catfish and white bass. We only kept the walleye and are gonna have a crazy good fish fry on vacation in a couple weeks.

Be sure to ask if Brian is the captain and Jesse is the first mate. They make a great team and really work to net your fish, wash your worms and most of all to keep you on the fish.

For those who didn't know me in my good ole' day you can now get a glimpse of what I think a really good time is! :) Of course now I have to carry my camera with me while I do it.

Congratulations to my friend Mike Colon. He was just inducted into Nikon's "Legend Behind the Lens" though he's already a legend. For real, this guy has donated so much to Thirst Relief International that he's already a legend to me and so many others. Congratulations Mike!

Check out the article:

http://www.nikonnet.com/dyn/articles/article_detail/225.html

I liked these better.

We literally just got home from having a really great evening with some friends, Marta and Alex, these are just a few of their engagment shots that we took tonight. It was a ton of fun shooting them along with Graham and Hillary Rouse of Rouse Multi-Media, very gifted and fun wedding photographers as well as friends of ours.

It was so fun to have a night with Lara and some friends without the boys along. It was a special treat. Thanks a ton to Marla and Jay, neighbors who watched the boys!!!! You rock!

Enjoy. I am so blessed to be a part of this relationship!

I just got back home from one of my all time favorite weddings! I had such a good time shooting. It's funny cause on my way to the wedding I just felt completely out of it. I was tired, had a headache, was kinda upset about some stuff and just felt off in general. So I called two buddies to ask for prayer and neither answered. So, I just prayed myself. Jesus really met me and helped me to completely come out of my funk and I ended up having one of the greatest times I've ever had at a wedding. Rebecca and Chris are two of the sweetest people I've ever photographed. What a joy to be a part of their day. God was at the center of their whole day and their families were awesome! She doesn't have any unmarried sisters so you can be sure I mean all of this :)

Anyway, I really do love what I do as a photographer and I really shoot every wedding with my whole heart. This one just stood out relationally.

Thanks guys for letting me be a part of your big day!

God bless,

Jim

enjoy these few images.

Lara and I just returned from San Francisco after shooting this really amazing wedding!

We hiked up this really long, steep, dark trail after the weddings Sat. night. When we saw the full moon we couldn't pass up the chance to get this shot of the Golden Gate Bridge even though we had just finished shooting a 10+ hour day. It was so worth it! We were totally chilled cause the wind was blowing like crazy and it was really cold. But when we saw the images we were getting we couldn't stop shooting. Enjoy!







Congratulations Yenny and Ethan! May your marriage be even more blessed than the day of your wedding! Can't wait to edit your pix.

Here are a couple to enjoy!

Every month we are sending $1500 to Brazil for the production of water filters. That is Thirst Relief International is. I personally know Kevin pictured on the left helping to push this cart that contains two water filters in it.

It's amazing what can be accomplished by just a few people giving $5, or $10 a month. We have people on the ground ready, willing and able to do this type of labor in order to take safe, clean water to those who are literally dying of thirst. All we need is the money to do it. 100% of all donations go directly to the cause of providing pure water to children around the world. Monthly we need $1500 for Brazil and $1500 for Zambia, and we have recently expanded into Guatamala. If you've not become a Thirst partner please consider doing so by going to www.thirstrelief.org and contribute securely online or read about how to mail in a contribution.

I live and breath this cause and just want to see more lives saved!!

We shot a really great wedding last night! Mike and Serene from NYC, NY were alot of fun! Mike got the "cool" look down real quick. (That's for his benefit.)

Good group of folks with alot of Arabic spirit! It was so fun capturing the dance shots when the Arabic music was playing. It was a workout just shooting the pix! Tons of fun!

Here's a couple of our favorite images from the shoot.

We are headed to San Francisco for a wedding next weekend and really look forward to shooting at some really great places there.

One of my new favorite images!

I am so excited about this new workflow I created. I used to spend 4+ days editing a wedding to perfection! Now, with no less perfection I am editing an entire wedding in like 8 hours. I am so excited about gaining my life back. I thought the only way I could do this type of a workflow was if I went RAW. That would have required another $3k investment. But I am achieving the same results while still shooting jpg which I love doing anyway. More to come, I'm need to get back to finalizing this wedding so I can ftp it to Pictage.

I just returned home from this awesome wedding that I shot today. Bill and Erika are a great couple and were alot of fun. I must say shooting such a limited amount of weddings per year really excites me for each one I do! I feel more like I am serving friends than just making a living.

I created this automated jpg digital workflow that allowed me to have a slideshow at their wedding with about 60 images that were all touched etc. just like these. I was able to eat my dinner and put the show together all before they even cut the cake! Pretty cool. More to come about my new JPG workflow that just might change your life without forcing you to go RAWng! :)

Enjoy a couple images from today's wedding! God bless you guys, Mr. and Mrs. LaCure.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Ashton and Grandpa!!!!!!!
Happy Birthday to you!!!

Dane Sanders did this Simple Photo Minute regarding Thirst Relief International while we were at WPPI. He is such a great guy, great photographer, great dad and now he's stepping into a pastoring role! Really cool dude that balances alot. Thanks Dane, I hope we get to take our families to the Amazon like we talked about.

Check it out: Thirst Relief Simple Photo Minute



Special Thanks to David Jay for producing this rocking video!

What an amazing trip!!!! I am now the reigning Annual WPPI Pictage Poker King! There were only about 25 players and no real money was at stake but I did get this trophy and a really nice poker set out of it. But most of all the joy of saying "I'm the king." Or at least I like to think so. Anyway, it was a ton of fun with Lara cheering me on.

We had so many Divine appointments it wasn't even surprising after a while. So many people are talking about Thirst and we had the privilege of having two images published in Studio Photography (formaly SPD). Alice Miller the editor did a really amazing job on the story! If you'd like to read it you can visit Studio Photography.

Too much to share in the amount of time I have right now but we had a really great time and made tremendous connections, met a lot of great new people, so enjoyed the relationships we established and more.

Also a special thanks to Davina Fear for organizing the first annual WPPI Photographer Mentoring Thirst Benefit. We raised over $1000.00 in just a couple hours and saved over 200 lives!!!!

And a big thanks to David Jay and Mike Colon for promoting Thirst by playing the video that David produced and matching funds of those who gave and more!!!! You guys rock!!!

Jeff Jochem VP of Pictage for giving up your suite for the mentoring time!

And thanks to Bludomain for being so generous with your donations to Thirst.

Thank God for Bludomain and Mike Colon for their generous support of Thirst Relief International

At the up and coming WPPI Photographers Conference in Las Vegas Bludomain will be raffling off a brand new Mac. Tickets are like $5 or something rediculously cheap. All proceeds will go to Thirst Relief International. Be sure to visit their booth #302 if your going.

Mike Colon will be speaking a few times at WPPI and highlighting his personal experience in the Amazon with Thirst. My wife Lara and I will be available after his talks to speak with anyone interested in our cause. On top of that Mike is doing another dollar for dollar match during the month of April for anyone who donates to Thirst. That means that if you've discovered Thirst or read about it on Mike's blog and make a donation and send him a copy of your e-mail reciept he'll match it. 250 lives were saved last month alone due to the dollar for dollar match that Mike did during the month of March. That doesn't include the 600 lives that were saved because of our regular monthly distributions. Thanks to all who gave!!!!!

It's unbelievable what can happen when hundreds or even thousands of people make one time or monthly commitments of even $5.00. You can give to Thirst online and set it up to be taken out monthly so you don't forget.

P.S. None of this money is going in my pockets or any of our staff, we are 100% volunteer run. All donations goes directly to support the cause of clean water to those who need it most.

God bless.

My two little old men!

Ashton picked these glasses out of a "treasure" bag at Church. Both the boys had so much fun with them and the silly puddy mustaches they made.

All day Ashton was convinced that we thought he was another little boy named Kyae. He still thinks we don't know.

Mom took the boys out while dad was doing some late night work and this is what they came back looking like. Mmmmm ice cream.

Turkeys!!!! Taxes :( and Relaxin!!!!


This past week I spent a few days at a cabin my parents have in the middle of nowhere. I worked on organizing my tax information for my accountant for 15 hours straight! Then I spent the rest of the time hiking, taking pix of some Turkey that were eating outside the cabin, reading my Bible by the fire and just enjoying the peace and quiet!

It was great. Can anyone say? "You need Quickbooks!" It was on the top of my list for getting it rolling when I returned home.

The first day was spent with my boys at the cabin playing games, reading, doing puzzles and more. Grandpa came down and we had a really great hike through the woods with the boys. Then he took the kiddos so I could spend the next little bit of time focusing on the taxes. Lara was home designing some really, great albums. I posted one of them on our site, it's one of my favorite albums to date.

While at the cabin I always have some time to reflect. I try to get up to it a few times a year to just enjoy a couple days of solitude and reflect and pray about God's will for my life. While I was gone I just kept hearing the letters AIV. AIV means All In Vain. My friend Mike Colon shared with me while we were in the Amazon that he sees this bumper sticker on a guard rail on his way to his studio. He said he realized while on this trip that so much of our lives can be AIV. I have to ask myself is what I am doing AIV or is it unto God. Will it last? I have so many ideas, goals, plans, thoughts and more and yet so often that which gets the most attention deserves the least. Anyway, I spent some time in prayer and said "God sometimes I feel much of my life can be all in vain and I often don't seem close to you or intimate in any way. Everything seems to take priority over You. I feel condemned at times." At that I heard a voice in my mind (not audible and not wierd, just a clear thought) it said "How do you expect to feel close to me if your not close to my Word?" At that I felt compelled to read a book in the New Testament called Romans and chapter 8 was impressed on my mind, guess what it read? "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ." WOW!!!! What a crazy cool quick answer to prayer. I continued to read it and it really made me want to just live all out for God from the way I love Him, seek Him, love my wife and kids to the way I serve my clients, friends, family and the way I lead Thirst. Anyway, it wasn't as mystical as it might sound but it sure was cool.

Praise God!

Today is World Water Day 2006. It's so good to know we have allies in this effort to defeat death and disease through the provision of clean drinking water.

If you have not made a tax deductable donation to Thirst Relief International today would be a good day to do it! Literally if 10 people make a $5 donation an entire family will get a water filter that will provide clean, safe drinking water for a lifetime. It's unbelievable how easy it is to prevent death and disease by simply providing water filters to these families in need. To learn more about how you can get involved visit our website www.thirstrelief.org and also be sure to check out the World Water Day 2006 website.

Together we can save lives and change the world!

http://www.thirstrelief.org is live and running!

Be sure to visit http://www.thirstrelief.org to see what's been happening and what we have been spending our time doing lately.

Also, there is a crazy cool, super short video of our trip to Brazil done by David Jay at this link http://www.davidjay.com/email/February_2006/thirst1Mbps.swf


It's amazing how many hours we've been putting into the development of this project and now it's finally all coming together.

Thanks for all of you who care. For real I can't express the joy I find in knowing that what we accomplish through Thirst will literally save the lives of potentially millions of children!

Sincerely,

Jim and Lara