The New Office!

Our house has been on ongoing project since we moved into it and will probably continue to be for many months (or years) to come. The latest big project was the office. Since the wedding season begins for me this weekend, it was pretty crucial for us to get our work space set up asap. When we first saw the house, this room had padding and tack boards laid down for carpet...apparently a renovation that never got completed. In order to move into the house, we were required to install carpet. Then, since this was the only room that had a finished floor, ALL of our stuff got moved into this space. I wish I had an in-between picture to show this stage of chaos, but you'll have to do without :) After carpeting the rest of the house, we finally cleared this room out, installed shades, ripped out the carpet, installed new flooring, and put our new desks together. Now we have an office!

Before:

After:

Website Evolution

We recently updated the Primavera Studios website and as I was putting the finishing touches on the new site, I thought it would be fun to look back at the history of how our website has evolved. It's amazing how as your skills and creativity evolve, you look back at your old work and cringe at the lack of the quality which you have come to expect from yourself. It takes a little humility to show the image you presented of yourself (or your work) in the past, but it's also fun to see how much you've grown. Check out these screenshots of our website's evolution:

Website #1 - The original! I threw this design together after having only done a couple weddings. Can you believe the images were taken from standard resolution video footage? This design was quickly replaced by the next one.

Website #2 - Progress...?

Website #3 - The final version of the Altair Productions site, and the first design I was truly happy with, featuring a 16x9 dimension ratio to subliminally simulate the feel of film...or something like that.

Website #4 - Kelsey and I joined forces and launched Primavera Studios. Together we designed 5 or 6 different designs in Photoshop and from those, we liked this one the best.

Website #5 - Our current site and first to be completely Flash-based! We decided we needed a makeover, including a logo that wasn't so ridiculously busy. And if you haven't noticed by now, we apparently enjoy using Kelsey's sister in our website images...

Cousins

I like this picture and thought it would be a good one to share. This, I believe, is the first picture taken of all these cousins together. On St. Patrick's Day, Avery and all her cousins were together in Monroe. Even though Easter was almost a month away, cousin Rilian had his heart set on having an Easter egg hunt, which they did, as evidenced by the basket in the picture.

Get Inspired '09

This last weekend, Kelsey and I attended the Get Inspired '09 workshop in Grand Rapids, MI. What a great weekend! It was so refreshing to get behind the camera again and get some great instruction and inspiration from three of the best photographers in the state of Michigan - John Pottinger, Jen Kroll, and Holly Henderson. These three photographers are awesome at their work and are some of the nicest people ever. I think everyone there learned a lot and came away with some great ideas. These are some of my favorite shots from our photo shoots at the workshop.

Check out this hottie...

Justine & Dan - Rock Star Video!

It's been almost a whole year since I've made my last Rock Star wedding video so I was really excited to make this video for Justine & Dan! This style of video takes SOOO long to make, but it's SOOO fun for me to see the fruit of my labor once it's done! I have been so blessed to shoot weddings for some of the nicest people in the entire world and Justine & Dan and their families were no exception. They were definitely rock stars!

Quick Shoot

After shooting a wedding together in Rochester a couple weeks ago, we headed south to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. As we drove through the countryside of Wisconsin at sunset, we couldn't help but stop for a quick impromptu photo shoot...oh, the joys of traveling with pro photo equipment!

Kelsey is the best wife in the world. She is such a beautiful, industrious, and supportive woman, always striving to put my needs ahead of her own, which I think is the definition of love. I'm challenged every day to love her as well as she loves me!

The Little Creatures Within

I'm taking a quick break from photo and video blogs here to write a bit of a more personal note. For the last few days, I've been living with these little visitors in my body. I began feeling a little something in my throat on Monday night and only 4 hours later, I crashed hard. Kelsey said I slept for 40 out of 48 hours. I tried to do some work in front of my computer but it took everything I had just to answer a couple emails and go back to bed. I felt miserable - fever of 102.3, chills, throbbing neck, head, and throat, and the most disturbing sleep I can remember. Yesterday, I felt well enough to leave home, which I did, figuring I probably needed antibiotics. The doctor confirmed Kelsey and my suspicions, announcing that I had a classic presentation of strep. The point of this note, however is not to talk about how sick I was, but rather, what a blessing it is to be healthy. Whenever I get really knocked out like that, I'm always amazed at how incredible it feels to become well again. It's easy to be grateful for your health when you feel like you have 10 times the strength you had just a day ago. It's also easy to take it for granted when you're blessed with health for an extended period of time. I wanted to put this thought in writing to challenge myself and others. If God has blessed you with good health, he has given you a very beautiful gift. Praise him for that gift by using it! Our bodies are made for movement, activity, and the enjoyment of this world. Maintain this gift and enjoy it to the fullest!