After years of trying to get my freelance design up and off the ground I’ve decided to officially, actually pursue it for once. Never have I advertised or promoted my work and I think it’s finally about time. I designed the poster below to be put up at libraries, coffee shops, anywhere that has a bulletin board. Getting work off Craigslist creeps me out a bit. I’d like to stay away from that! In all honesty I’ve loved all the word of mouth design work I’ve been doing lately but I feel like I could be doing so much more. I have so much free time and design really is my life and my passion. Why not make a few extra dollars out of it?

A few months back Jessica Sonner and Dan Craig asked me to design a CD jacket for his upcoming project entitled “Alchemy”. Tonight was their CD Release show and they did an amazing job. Great singer/songwriters and local too! I didn’t take many pictures but I’m loving this new film effect I’ve been experimenting with. Congrats Dan on an awesome album! Best of luck!

A few months after returning home from Afghanistan, another opportunity arose to jump on an airplane and travel across the globe. This trip was relatively close in relationship to the last one. I went with Flatirons Community Church to Chimalhuacan, a large slum 45 minutes outside of Mexico City. We worked with Servant Partners and this was a construction based trip. A couple of the ladies that volunteer for Servant Partners had homes that were in need of repair. 7 days after our arrival, new roofs were poured, drainage ditches were dug, bathrooms and electricity repaired, and all of us on the trip changed with a new sense of urgency to do something about the vast growth of the new urban slums around the world. Chimalhuacan was beautiful, colorful and vibrant with life. A description you’d never hear on the news. The video below is quite long but well worth 12 minutes of your time.

Darrin came to me a few days before Mother’s Day wanting to get some photographs taken for a present for his wife. The next day they all piled in a van and came up north on a cloudy, windy day. It took a little while for the boys to warm up but as soon as they did, it was nothing but smiles.

This year I was fortunate enough to go with a team to Kabul, Afghanistan to continue to develop relationships with the people there. A few years ago Flatirons Community Church started to support a little refuge camp called Barek Aub where they had no water or chance of survival. Since then we’ve sent over a dozen teams to build wells, schools and housing, plant trees and just spend time with the people in that tiny village. My job was to take pictures and bring back the stories of these amazing people and the hope that they have.

This week my dad and I decided to throw the kayak in the back of the truck and head out to Lake Powell to rent a boat and just spend an extended weekend out there together. I can’t say we caught a ton of fish; the one pictured below is one of about 3 total that we caught that weekend but it was fun. It wasn’t one of those cliche father/son trips where hearts get poured out and a relationship gets healed either. We have and always will be close and this was just another extension of that. Just two guys hanging out all day on a lake drinking, eating like crazy and hoping to catch a few fish. Love you Dad.

Let me take a minute to tell you about the privilege I have of living with one of the most naturally beautiful girls I’ve ever gotten to take pictures of… My sister was my driving force into becoming a photographer and I definitely couldn’t have done it without her patience and support. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our shoot!