tats ...

thank you Kendra for reminding me of my new years resolution to "actually blog". i have indeed failed miserably thus far - but did anyone really expect otherwise. i dont know why its so difficult for me to do this with any sort of consistency. i really will make one last attempt to do this blog thing "for real". :) is it bad that i had to reset my password to log into this blog after numerous failed attempts ... its been like a month since i logged in. i thought i would share my newest art with you guys ... and no its not a photo or even something i created. i decided to get a tattoo a couple weeks ago. my mom always told me there were two things she never wanted me to have .... a motorcycle .... have one ... and a tattoo .... have two. sorry mom. shes been a good sport about both though! i got my first tattoo (the little cross on the shoulder) right after highschool and immediately wanted to get another, but decided to wait, since ive heard you always want another one right after you get inked up. well being the impulsive person that i am, i was shocked that its been 5 years since that first tattoo and im just getting my second, and more than likely my last. who knows. i wish i had taken my camera to get some fun shots of the whole process, but my buddy snapped a few with my phone for me ... better than nothing. the verse is Philippians 3:8 "i consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus". having that on my body has been a huge reminder and constant challenge to imitate Christ, and make that verse true in my life....to truly consider everything else nothing compared to knowing him. hope all is well. its almost Friday!!!!

an uneventful weekend of mixed emotions...

ive been a mma (mixed martial arts) fan, well before the sport became as widely popular as it is today. i remember going to blockbuster and renting vhs videos with guys like tank abbot and ken shamrock - back in the day when guys would fight 3 or 4 times a night ... it was awesome. anyways - ive anticipated few fights like the one this last weekend between gsp and bj penn. i have always loved george st pierre (the french canadian) and have always rooted for him no matter who he was fighting - but was a bit torn because ive also really enjoyed watching and rooting for bj penn .... that was until the did a whole behind the scenes promo piece on both fighters before the big fight. while george humbly remarked that he had no need to disrespect or trash talk penn ... penn responded with personal, immature, rude trash talk, explaining how he was going to destory gsp ... at one point he even made the comment "i actually want to kill him in the octagon" ... the fight was going to be big regardless - both men are at their prime and destorying anyone else they fight - but after seeing such an extreme difference between the humillity and respect of gsp and the pride arrogant disrespect of bjpenn - i couldnt wait to see the fight. i was now more hopefull for a gsp win then any other fight ive seen. george st pierre did not disappoint. in fine fashion he completely dominated the fight through the first 4 rounds (a fight scheduled for 5) until mr penns corner threw in the towel. needless to say i went to bed saturday night extremely happy and satisfied. the bad news came less than 24 hours later when the steelers won. im not an nfl fan by any means ... ncaa all the way - GO BUCKEYES - but i will watch the playoffs. im also not a steelers hater - although i do feel like some of their big name guys (even an ex-buckeye cough cough) are pretty shady off the field- but i cant help but feel that there has been a steelers banwagon going around, and plenty of people have jumped on for a ride ... so if for no other reason than to "not go with the flow" - i was really rooting for the cardinals. i also think kurt warner (cardinals qb) is a pretty sweet dude - so i was pulling for him. anyways - for being such an uneventful, almost wasteful weekend, consisting primarily of tv watching with friends - i had quite an emotional rollercoaster. i also thought i would share that i am taking time TODAY - to start picking out some images to update the site with new work. so come back soon! :)

my family

here is my ridiculously fast growing family. my two great parents, four older sisters, four brother in laws, and i dont know how many nieces and nephews. since i snapped this shot on dec 24th there are at least two more babies on the way. someday i might find a lovely wife of my own and start adding to the numbers :) as for now - being "uncle ben" is pretty great!

resolution

okay - so for any of you that "followed" my old blog - you notice that its gone! i was so pathetic at blogging in 2007/2008 that i decided to scrap the whole thing (minus my first blog entry ever which i saved and copied to this one) im still not sure i completely understand the whole blog concept - but maybe if nothing else it will give my clients and potential clients a chance to get to know "the man behind the camera" a little better.
sooo - ive made one of my 2009 business resolutions to ACTUALLY BLOG. i even went ahead and got a little app on my phone that will allow me to "blog on the go". ill try to post new pictures on here from recent shoots (since it usually takes about 12 months for me to put my new work on my website) or just random photos from my personal life.
- to any of my 2008 clients - I will be trying to update my website soon. make sure to check in regularly, as I will make sure to put a few pictures from each of your weddings on the site. :)
i cant wait for 2009 - my clients so far are great! im really looking forward to working with all of you. im also excited to update the site with some of my best work thus far. who knows when that will actually happen. hopefully soon! :)
tomorrow officially kicks off the 2009 season. Leslie and Josh - I cant wait. more soon. - ben

blogging?

well ladies and gentlemen ... i have finally given in and jumped on the photographer blog page bandwagon. it occured to me that i think im the only photographer i know that doesnt (didnt) have one. so here i am. why did i fight the madness for so long? it just seemed so "out of touch to me". i remember growing up - when you wanted to talk to someone you talked to them. i used to WALK over to my friends house to see if they could play. then came cell phones, which are great, but just one more way to screen calls and people out of your life. "just call my cell" - then email, chat, myspace, facebook ... and in my opinion the worst of them all BLOGS. it just said to me "i dont have time for people so im just going to write down whats going on in my life and let you read about it instead of getting together with me and hearing about it ... etc" - ive actually heard conversations "hey whats new" - "DUDE, you have to read my blog". WHAT?! well hey before i start going off on my soap box - i will admit that as of recent, my views on the whole thing have changed ... and thats why youre reading this. i guess this can be a great way to let people track whats going on in your life and business - i am however committed to not spending TONS of time on this. i hope to leave just enough info to maybe spark your interest to give me a call and ask to go get coffee. :) i dont really plan on seperating my business blog and personal blog ... so who knows what youre going to see when you come here. all are welcome and comments will be appreciated. i hope this becomes something that some of you can enjoy - if nothing else you should get a laugh at my poor spelling and grammatical erros - im a "visual communicator" :) - a real update will be coming soon!