Barista Jam!

A couple of weeks ago my wife joined a bunch of coffee lovin’ freaks for a barista jam. Don’t know what that is? Head over here to  read a little bit. (Most of the photos on that website are mine, for what it’s worth) The short version is that a bunch of coffee lovers get together to hear something about coffee, drink coffee, and compete brewing coffee. There’s a lot of caffeine involved.

All photos are sooc minus the black & white conversion.

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.