Wrapping up 2011
It’s been an eventful year and I definitely haven’t blogged as much as I intended or hoped to. Here’s a little wrap up of 2011 in a rough chronological order.
Bought a major fixer upper house at the end of January
Started demolition on the house in Febuary & found out we were having a baby on the same day.
Shot some portraits
Turned 27
Started shooting film on my Grandpa’s Kodak A1
Chicago road trip
Moved into our new house
Saw the coolest ballet ever with Over the Rhine playing live
Shot more photos
Mixed a few concerts
Found out we were having a girl
Got to catch up with some friends from India
Shot even more photos and some video
Got our house repainted
Led a group on a two week trip to Honduras (and shot some photos)
Went on a family vacation with the wife’s family to Myrtle beach
Went to visit Amish country
Went on a vacation with my family to Gatlinburg
Had a photo featured in a gallery show
Threw a retirement party for Dad
Shot some more photos
Attended a bunch of baby classes
Celebrated our 4th anniversary
Celebrated the birth of our baby girl
Watched our friends kids turn one
Opened a gallery show in OTR
Brewed my first batch of beer
Gave out hot dogs for Halloween
Shot a marathon of all day portrait sessions
Promoted a concert for a touring musician
Celebrated as some friends and family adopted new kids
Had our first Christmas with our little girl in our new home
Reassessed where my photography is going for 2012
Read a few great books
Watched a couple cool movies
Made a ton of homemade pizza, some indian food, a few killer soups and a lot of coffee
And a sublist of things that have happened at the house:
Gutted the kitchen and completely demo’d a full bath
Ripped out some nasty carpet
Built a new wet wall in the kitchen
Refinished hardwood floors
Laid new hardwood floors
Hung kitchen cabinets
Installed new kitchen lighting
Poured concrete counters
Built a black iron pot rack
Drywalled a ceiling
Installed a hot water heater
Eliminated excess gas pipes
Rewired an entire house
Installed ceiling fans in every room of our home
Created a new half bath to replace the full bath I removed
Ripped out a kitchen to create a bedroom
Built a master closet in the new bedroom
Built a closet in our baby’s bedroom
Designed and built a window bench and bookshelf for the little girl
Built a new full bath on the 3rd floor
Created a new bedroom on the 3rd floor
Insulated the crap out of everything
Fixed a multitude of roof leaks
Paid someone to fix our box gutter leaks
Painted a ton of interior rooms
Painted the outside and sealed the deck
Had the tree trimmed
I’m probably missing a few things but it’s been a busy year so what do you expect?
2012 looks even better. Hope yours is full of hope and promise.
Baby Scenes
The wife & I shot these of our daughter yesterday. We’ll probably do more throughout her first year. Hope you like them.
Mennonite Relief Sale
Each year in Ohio, the Mennonite’s hold a relief sale to benefit world missions work. A good friend of ours is Mennonite so we crashed the party and hung out with them all weekend. The food is amazing, Gerber’s barbecue chicken, fry pies, mint tea! Such a great time. Here are a couple snaps.
Rural Tennessee
In mid August I was able to visit the house my grandma grew up in. It is a one room log cabin built by her grandpa. That would be my great great grandpa if I know how to count. It was in the absolute middle of nowhere and somewhat mind blowing to think that my grandma grew up in this house. This is something that I imagine from several hundred years ago, not something that someone I grew up around, would have lived in. I also shot a few rolls of film on a Kodak A1 from 1914 that belonged to my Grandpa, her husband. There’s something beautiful about being about to capture something so old in the way in would have been seen long ago.








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