Little Princess!

This past weekend we went to "Natural Bridge State Park" in KY! It was so fun, we actually traveled there for an engagement session with Kisha and Brandon. Brandon is doing his residency as a Dr. in Lexington so we traveled down there to do the session. So we decided to make it a family get away at the same time. We rented a cabin via Natural Bridge 5 Star Cabin Rental and it was awesome! We had so much fun, we hunted crawdads and we ate them too! Really we only ate a couple of them but it was more the novelty of it. Sat. night Kisha and Brandon and I hiked to the top of the mountain to see the "natural bridge" and do some shots after we took some pix on a caboose. None of us had been there before so we didn't realize the "sky lift" was closed at 6:00, this meant we had to hike. Kisha actually was the one that wanted to do it, so she took off her boots and hiked to the top in her socks! There we got some really great shots.

The next day I took Lara and the kids to the top using the "sky lift" and then Lara and Karsyn rode it down, but Ashton and Brayden and I hiked down and meet Lara and Karsyn at the pool! It was such an amazing time. We had so much fun and didn't want to come back!

I feel I am perhaps the most blessed person on the planet. Thank you Jesus for my amazing family and my amazing clients that enable me to live such an amazing life. This fall you'll see some pix from Kisha and Brandon's wedding in St. Lucia (Caribbean)

There are quite a few pix but enjoy!~

When I was a little boy I roasted a fish over a fire on a stick with my grandma because "That's how the indians did it!" I so wish I had a photo of that! But I don't and this past week I took my boys on a little fishing trip while lara stayed back and designed albums! (her designs are through the roof and all one of a kind creations!) Anyway, so I wanted my boys to have the same memory. By the time we were done fishing, we caught a gang but only kept two, it was dark. So the pix are a bit dark and grainy with no flash and no tripod, but we had so much fun! If you look closely you'll see the fish on the wood pieces where we descaled them, then on the sticks and both boys Ashton is on my lap and Brayden on grandpa's. It was so funny because the idea of it sounded better than actually eating it to the boys. Had it not been for my extensive fish experiences while being a missionary I might have been grossed out by the look of it, but it was great and tasted wonderful! You can see the boys faces while watching me pull the meat out. They both ended up eating it, Ashton cause he loves all food, Brayden cause he wanted to gross mom out by telling her he did it! I am so blessed!

Kelly and Doug were so fun to shoot!

Kelly is actually Lara's cousin.

I'm excited to shoot their wedding!

My www.davisphotographer.com website and my photography email are both down right now.

Sorry for any inconvenience, enjoy the blog.

jim

Friday I came home a day early from my vacation to shoot a great wedding! By the time I had my cards downloaded and all backed up it was 3:00 a.m. I woke the next morning to prepare for an engagement shoot and then the call came. One of my dear friends and fellow wedding photographers was in a really bad spot. His father-in-law had been battling cancer for a while now and they believed that he was in his last 24hours. He asked if I could help him shoot it so his wife could be with her father. I suggested he stay with her and that Lara and I would shoot it together as soon as she got home too. So, I shot my engagement session and headed off to the church. Lara arrived a couple hours later and we had a delightful time with Adam and Devon a super amazing couple! That night at 5:30 my friends father-in-law died. He and his wife both were able to be there for his last moments and we had the honor and privilege of being a part of it! What's crazier is the story about the wedding we had booked for that day, but was cancelled and allowed for us to be there. It's a long story but once again proof that even in our pain God is in control and works all things together for good for those that Love Him! We love you guys and pray for God's grace and peace in this pain, your dad was and is an amazing man!

Click below to hear Jim's interview on F-StopBeyond!



F-Stop Beyond

Later this week I'll be interviewed on F-Stop Beyond for the work that we do with Thirst Relief International combined with our businesses Davis Photography and Davis Tools.

F-Stop and Beyond is a Podcast from Ron Dawson of Cinematic Studios.

Ron is one the premier videographers of our day serving some of the industries top wedding professionals and beyond. It's a great honor to be chosen for this interview as I find myself in some really great company. Also, Ron is a class act.

Be on the lookout for the link that will feature our interview! For now feel free to follow the link and hear a really touching interview of Sandy Puc, founder of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS).

Warmly,

Jim

We were recently published nationally again in Studio Photography for being a "green" photo business. We are all digital etc. and some of that is part of it but the real recognition comes from being the Founders of the leanest meanest water relief organization on the planet! We provide long term water solutions for $5 per person! Click HERE to learn how and click HERE to read the article.

I actually serve as the volunteer president of Thirst Relief Int. and it's because of my amazing clients that I am able to do so! Thank you!

Also, in the article we were given credit for a photo that Dave Webster actually shot and donated to Thirst Relief, way to go Dave!!!!

In the past we've been known for weddings more than anything else, it's really the only type of photography we've promoted but we're launching the portrait side of our business here in a few weeks! Mention that you read about it on this post when you call to book a session and receive 50% off of the sitting fee! (first 10 bookings only)

Here's a portrait of our own kids that we did just today!

Most of you don't know it but I used to be a competitive bass angler! I'm not joking.

Well a couple weeks ago I went on vacation to NC to visit some family and do a photo shoot. While there I was able to spend a good bit of time fishing and I had the joy of pulling in this 5lb. lunker! I also found this other fish dead, it truly bit off more than it could chew! How crazy that he'd even attempt to hit such a larger bait fish. This why I love bass fishing, they are so aggressive!!!!

More news to come.

We recently were published on the cover of Columbus Bride! Love that magazine!

Congrats to Danielle and Frank for the cover and pix inside! Also, Brandon and Emily were on two full page spreads!

And today Davis Photography was featured on Shutterbug Radio click below to hear the inteview!

Davis Photography and Thirst Relief on Shutterbug Radio

Really, why ruin it with words!!!!

I did a photo shoot a couple months back for an artist named Gary Jones. He's great, check out his new site! http://www.garryjonesmusic.com/ this pic was one I caught as he was laughing at his wife! I loved it! I grabbed it from his site so it has some text on it. What a great couple too!

61 Mentors
450 Registered Bidders

$33,546.55

10,500 LIVES!!!!

I am so proud of my photo community in the wedding and portrait industry! The support that has been shown to Thirst Relief International from some of the most influential photographers in the world has left me near speechless! All I can say is THANK YOU!

The bids are going back up as I type, they will be up for another day, closing in 15 minute increments one at a time starting on Thursday morning. Find the mentor you want to win the most, bid your MAXIMUM amount the first time if you can (the auction site will only bid you on proxy, meaning it will only up your bid if your being challenged, therefore you will not pay any more than you have to.) Try not to constantly refresh, revisit etc. (I know this takes a ton of fun out of it, but we don't want another crash.)

Happy bidding and enjoy. We are already looking for other host options for next year's auction.
Thanks so much for your patience and support, we are so thrilled at the generousity and support of both the mentors and those bidding!

BID HERE

Together with you saving lives and changing the world.

Thirst Relief International

If you would like to bid on us as mentors CLICK HERE, then click on the Thirst Relief logo at fotoverite, register as a new user and start bidding! Auction goes live Feb. 9th.

The Mentor Time is to be held at WPPI in Vegas but could be done here too.

This is our profile on the auction site. Happy Bidding. I must say, the mentor times we've done in the past have been amazing! We've seen couples cry, we've prayed for them and then watched their businesses thrive as they headed to a new level.

"For Jim and Lara Davis-Hicks, the combination of pro photography and global charity is a dream come true!

Jim and Lara Davis-Hicks live a life of interesting contrasts. One day, Jim might be floating down the Amazon River, bringing life-saving water filtration systems to remote villages. The next, he’s floating rubber duckies in the bathtub with his kids back in Ohio. He could be shooting documentary images in Sub-Saharan Africa on Tuesday and wedding photos in Columbus on Saturday. While these may seem like wildly different worlds, to the Davis-Hicks team it’s all part of the big picture that is their life.

Jim and Lara form the team that is known as Davis Photography http://www.davisphotographer.com/ but they’re also the founders of Thirst Relief International. Together they capture compelling wedding and portrait imagery and together with the help of an amazing team they lead a global effort to save lives and change the world.

The highest bidder will receive a 90 minute one-on-one session with Jim and Lara and a free copy of the BEST TIME SAVING TOOL you can imagine, it’s called ActionRunner ($199.00, free trial at www.davistools.com) created by the Davis-Hicks team so they could live the dream mentioned above without losing their precious family in the midst of it! (They have two sons 5 and 4 and a daughter 5 months.)

Jim and Lara’s images have been published nationally, most notably the cover of Studio Photography and they host workshops helping photographers to take their businesses to the next level or even just get started. In less than 5 years they took their business from their first $300 commission to as much as $15,000.00 per commission.

Though they live their dream, Jim and Lara are both known for their willingness to share honestly about the very real struggles of raising a family, maintaining a marriage and trying to run a home based studio and non-profit.

Jim and Lara both give credit to God for the abundant blessings in their life!"

I just read this from another email. It is thought provoking and true. I like it because it points to the truth without speaking in a derogatory way towards others. Are we not all guilty if we are passive and peace loving at the same? Like someone said "Evil prevails when good men do nothing!"

Read on and consider the issues that face our security as a nation.


A German's point of view on Islam"
by Dr. Emanual Tanay, Psychiatrist

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to
World War ll owned a number of large industries and
estates. When asked how many German people were
true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our
attitude toward fanaticism.
'Very few people were true Nazis 'he said,' but many
enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more
were too busy to care. I was one of those who just
thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the
majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then,
before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost
control, and the end of the world had come. My
family lost everything. I ended up in a
concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my
factories.'
We are told again and again by 'experts' and
'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace,
and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to
live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion
may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is
meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and
meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics
rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this
moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics
who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It
is the fanatics who systematically slaughter
Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are
gradually taking over the entire continent in an
Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead,
murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take
over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who
zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape
victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact
is that the 'peaceful majority', the 'silent
majority', is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just
wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists
were responsible for the murder of about 20 million
people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China's huge population was peaceful as well, but
Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70
million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War
ll was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan
murdered and slaughtered its way across South East
Asia in an orgy of killing that included the
systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians;
most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into
butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of
Rwandans were 'peace loving'?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and
blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often
miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by
their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our
enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend
from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that
the fanatics own them, and the end of their world
will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians,
Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians,
Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have
died because the peaceful majority did not speak up
until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay
attention to the only group that counts: the
fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts
that the issue is serious and just deletes this
email without sending it on, is contributing to the
passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So,
extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and
on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read
this - think about it - and send it on.

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.
Ann Arbor, MI

This year once again we'll be participating in one of the best fund raisers of the year! It's the WPPI Thirst Relief Mentor Benefit Auction! Last year over $25,000.00 was raised to help bring clean water to those around the world who otherwise would not have access to it!

Most people don't realize it but 1.1 billion people don't have access to clean water, 2.5 million people die annually because of water related disease and 90% of those are children under the age of five!

Most people also don't realize that $5 can save a life!!!!!! We can provide a long term, sustainable source of clean water for one person for less than $5!!!!!!!!!!!! It's really true. Visit http://www.thirstrelief.org/ to find out how.

Now, the details. On Feb. 9-12 we'll be auctioning a 90 minute one-on-one mentor time to the highest bidder! We'll also throw in a free copy of our ActionRunner software for free ($199.00 price but priceless time saver!) The mentor time is supposed to be at WPPI but if your not going to WPPI this year we'll be happy to do it here too.

Bidding begins on Feb 9th CLICK HERE to visit the auction site, the Thirst logo will be present but the auction is being set up and will be live on the 9th:

Note: Davina Fear has once again run with this incredibe fundraiser and we are so grateful for it!

Fotoverite.com has been so kind to host the auction again this year for free, but do note that the bidding will continue so long as bids come in, meaning, the highest bid wins, not the last bid before midnight on the 12th. So bid away, pay what your really willing to and let us all go to bed a little earlier this year!!! :) last year the bids continued on until 3:00 a.m. when Becker finally ended the war by saying he'd do two sessions! He brought in more with his two bids combined than Gary Fong did with his big $6k bid! It was so fun!

"I want to go but I don't want to go!"

This is what Brayden said to me as he was about to leave for a 3-4 day get away all by himself at my mom and dad's (most amazing parents/grandparents in the world!) He was so sad to be leaving us, yet so excited to go. That is exactly how I felt too! All of us did! Today was his 4th birthday! We celebrated last night with a big party and alot of fun shared with friends and family. I put together 100+ pix real quick into a slideshow right before the party, all of him and I was brought to tears! I had just prayed earlier that day "Lord don't let me miss out on the joy of my own son's party, by being too busy to enjoy it!" Putting together that show allowed me to do just that, it brought me to tears seeing how quickly he is growing up. I know I only have one chance to love him in his younger years and soon he'll have endless options on how he spends his time, but Lara and I are still his favorite choice! Oh Jesus, by your grace empower me to live effectively as a provider but efficiently enough to not spend any more time doing things that can be done with excellence without missing out on being an excellent dad!

I love my boys, and karsyn and my wife so much! It's amazing how the most important things often receive the neglect that comes from busyness! I am determined to run my business with excellence but also with efficiency and to make the most of every moment I have been given so that I fulfill every role I have been entrusted with to it's fullest, without compromising or neglecting that which matters most! Not just my family but even time alone, prostrate before God! Seeking His will, His direction and His wisdom for how to run a business, raise a family and lead Thirst Relief Int~! God, you have entrusted me with sooooo much. Thank you and help me to be faithful. At the end of my life I want to look back and think "I am sooo glad I didn't compromise who I was or time with those that I love or waste emmotions and energy on things that just didn't matter!" I guess I want to have others look at how I lived my life and say "He desperately relied upon and loved God and it shined brightest in the way he loved everyone he encountered but especially in the way he loved his family!"

Happy Birthday Brayden, I love you sooooooo much, more than you love me (we argue over who loves eachother the most all the time, I tell him I have special daddy love and it's from God's love so it trumps, but he insists that "kid love" is the most powerful, then we end the debate by agreeing that all love comes from God so our love must be the same!)

For real, happy birthday Brayden, your daddy loves you so much.

(he just called after being gone for 30 minutes and he didn't want to get off the phone with mommy! So cute.)