Milestone #1

I don't know how you got here but thanks for finding your way to my first public, unofficial, semi-ghetto, pre-professional, amateur (*deep breathe*) blog/presentation of a few of the first wedding photographs of Beauty for Ashes Photography, taken October of this year.

Before I go on, let me first thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing me to venture of into this cool world of photography. I don't know what He has in store for me yet so we'll just have to wait and see =) But also, I want to thank my beautiful fiance...without her, i know i don't know if this would have ever started...she bought my first camera! =) Thirdly, i have to give a shout out to Owen & i's wedding photographers Mera and Brian...little do they know the inspiration they provide me and Owen. they're great! check'm out. Mera also has a blog where you can find Owen and i's engagement pics. Thanks again guys!


So for those of you that don't know...i'm in the process of starting Beauty for Ashes Photography. Right now, it's composed of myself and my fiance Lauren or for most of you Owen...a soon to be 'husband and wife' team =). The focus Beauty for Ashes Photography is weddings but if you have kids, we'd love to shoot them too. We do still have tons to learn but we're getting there. i guess like the saying goes..."you gotta start somewhere".

One of the questions that you're probably wondering is..."Why Beauty for Ashes?" or "What does Beauty for Ashes mean exactly?"...good questions!

Question #1: "Why Beauty for Ashes"?
Answer: Honestly, i didn't want to use the typical first initial, last name followed by the word PHOTOGRAPHY. i just thought it was pretty uncreative on my part to do that...not to say that photographers that have that as their names are uncreative but just for me...i didn't want to do it...it would'a been something like..jmphotography.com or something. Not too cool if you ask me. Secondly, i wanted a name that had some kind of meaning...and if at all possible...something that reflected some kind of biblical meaning. Lo and behold, one Sunday during service (yes i know...i probably was day dreaming during the message or something..hehe), it came to me. it sounded cool but then i had to check out what it meant...which leads me to...

Question #2: "What does Beauty for Ashes mean?"
Answer: "The Lord has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners . . . to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." (Isaiah 61:1,3)
Way back when, during the time of the ancient Israelites, ashes would be put on their heads as an indication of mourning or sorrow but instead God promised "beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning (oil was used as an aid to beauty), and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair had a wonderful feeling. It spoke of catastrophe and pain being lifted off their shoulders, and replaced with the joy of freedom, the warmth of love, and the richness of life." God totally hooked me up with this one. I thought it was the perfect symbol or phrase with meaning, that i was looking for. The way i like to think about it is that in marriage, God takes two people that are so imperfect in a million ways and that are at times, just like Owen and I, from two separate ends of the earth, or in my case country...and so beautifully joins them together as one, changing their lives for the better. That's what Beauty for Ashes means to me.

So there's more to come and as i try to get my website up and hopefully more pics...in the meantime, i'd love to get your feedback.

BTW - i meant to upload a total of 5 pics but for some reason, they're not uploading correctly. I'll try to get it resolved so just keep an eye out.