surprisingly, i didn't make many pictures of the holidays.  let's see... i was near death with some virus around christmas, i feel asleep before 11pm on new years eve, and i played too much clue - the board game - to pick up the camera.  okay, i did make a few fotos.  i went down to the grandparents and hung out with family.  i traveled to new york for an amazing wedding of some friends (i actually attended it) on new years day. so here are a few snippets of my holidays; many of them ended up being of my grandad.  i couldn't help it, you know, he's just that interesting.  all in all, i think the holidays were well celebrated.  how was yours?

Shaun, i think you made that picture of Alex - i only remember taking a picture of you shirtless...

family.  if it were not for my family encouraging me in the gifts the Lord has given me, i might have become fainthearted and abandoned the obedience the Lord calls me to.  as i've said before, families are the Lord's provision; they're little communities housing intimate fellowship for it's citizens.  to think of it in this way encourages me to love and pray for my family even more.  what does this have to do with Taylor and Emily you ask?  they're family; and their wedding was my first wedding directly involving family members.  i had the privilege of documenting the celebration and union of these two a few weeks ago (which meant i got to set the camera down a few times and boogie on the dance floor a little more than i might have otherwise - a big, big plus in my book).  it's a blessing to have family to celebrate with, because i know that blessing doesn't exist everywhere in the world.  be sure to tell your families you love them (mom's especially like to hear that).  well before i begin to get really sappy, here are a couple of Taylor and Emily's snowy day...

p.s. happy new year!!
p.p.s. take notice of the fantastic fotos of Taylor and Emily on the dance floor - i love the color, don't you?
p.p.p.s. the little girls are my adorable nieces - don't worry, their adorableness is obvious.

growing up i thought that our family had invented applebutter.  no other families talked about applebutter nor did i see it explicitly sold in the stores.  and no one knew what i was talking about what i said our family makes applebutter every year.  "applebutter?  what's that?"  applebutter, in fact, is not butter nor is there any butter within the mixture.  i can tell you that it has apples and some other stuff (not sure if the family recipe is a secret, but i'm pretty sure).  think of applebutter as a yummy/delightful spread like strawberry jelly -- something my grandparents make also from their strawberry patch.
the apples come from the apple trees on my grandparents property out in millersbug, indiana, which is just outside of paoli, indiana.  come to think of it, i don't think millersburg is a town anymore.  if it is, it's too small to be on the census.  to continue with my topic sentence, the apples are collected and then sliced and diced and then frozen.  come applebutter day, we add them to the huge kettle and cook them with assorted ingredients for about seven hours. 
i woke up at around 5:45 with my uncle and step-dad, which was, suprisingly before grandad.  the fire started at 6:15, apples added at 7:30.  applebutter jarred around 2:30.  licked kettle clean with homemade rolls at 2:35.
in the exuberant amount of fotos you'll notice the stars, grandad and nanny, the shed/house that my grandad built to cook the applebutter (the process used take place completely outside way back in the day), jd the dog, nieces, cousins, uncles, nephews, siblings, aunts, kettles, paddles, the farm, and whatever else i could fotograf.  in case you're wondering, i did quite a bit of work and not just make fotos.

what tradition(s) does your family have?

well, enjoy the series.

the Elliotts are wonderful.  a beautiful family.  taking pictures of families is very rewarding.  i'm able to see family members interact with one another, how they look after each other, love-on, and even pick-on one another.  families are the Lord's provision; they're little communities housing intimate fellowship for it's citizens.  it encourages me to love and pray for my family even more.

if i could dream in black and white, i would. i thought about what it would be like to see in black and white and then i realized there's a name for that.  many of these images are in black and white because color could not tell the story well enough.  desaturation alone (plus a few color ones).

little did i know that on this particular day every photographer in indianapolis would decide to show up at this location as well.  that's the last time i take any client where i know that there might be even the slightest chance of another photographer being there as well, the last time.  my advice to myself: be original.

new pictures which are a part of my 365 days of posting a picture.  scenes from san diego.  i am debating whether or not to continue posting them on the blog, flickr, or on facebook, only because i want to keep the blog free from clutter (i.e., not full of one picture posts).  obviously i'll keep y'all posted (ha, 'posted', get it...i'm a dork).