This is the busiest church staff, I think, in the country so it was an act of God that we got all 27 people in one place.  It should be mentioned that it’s been about 5 years since this has happened.

It was full of joy, pain, and personal revelation, and by God’s grace we have grown stronger.  And through these things we will be better husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, friends, and strangers in the new year.

Photographically, the year was diverse.  From photographing an inauguration party with Jay-Z to photographing the interior of model apartments, this year has stretched and positioned us to learn so much in 2010!

As we say goodbye to 2009, we wanted to say Thanks!

Thanks for being our year!

Music Credit: “Postcards From Italy” Beirut from the album “Gulag Orkestar”

PORTRAIT! Taylor Family

Mary called me and asked me to take photos of her family.  Her parent’s were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and the whole family hadn’t had family photos since Mary was 5 years old. We changed that.

DAY ONE! Jessica & Ethan

It’s like rain on your wedding day.  No, it really did rain on Jessica and Ethan’s wedding day. I’m not one to leave a couple hanging without any portraits of themselves in their wedding attire, so a month after their big day, we headed to Jessica’s parent’s house and Old South Country Club once again to take some portraits of the newlyweds.

WEDDING! Jessica & Ethan

I woke up at least.

When I looked out the window the snow wasn’t coming down that hard so I bundled and headed out… with no gloves.  Couldn’t find them anywhere.  I really wanted to get a photo of the Capitol Building in snow and that’s it.  I trudged my way a mile to the Capitol and took somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 photos and called it a day.  My hands were freezing!  Not to mention that my beard looked like I had spent time in Antartica!

Here’s what I got:

After I braved my way to a wedding in Arlington (only two groomsmen weren’t able to make it), on the way home I captured this photo of the Capitol:

When I got home, Joanna came out to help me shovel out the parking space for the car right in front of our house!  So thankful that we got that spot, but it’s the hardest we’ve ever worked for a parking spot in DC.  We took some photos of each other when we were finished.

after a little nap, we ventured to the corner store for some Blue Moon and Guiness and are going to call it a night with Sunshine Cleaning and Angels and Demons. The snow is stopping now and things are so peaceful on our street.

I’ve delivered a panoramic image of the view from the roof (click image to see larger)

and I’ve also delivered photos of their model apartment

Amy Jones has told me repeated times that I’ve never taken a good photo of her.

That’s a lie.  See for yourself!

Thank you Amy Jones for all of your hard work for us leading up to and on our wedding day!  We couldn’t have pulled that off without you.  You have a gift!  Joanna and I both think you look beautiful in these photos and I hope you think so too!

Thanks again!

I decided just before I left the event to walk through to show you what I have to do to get through crowds of people quickly with camera equipment.