I am sitting here tonight and trying to focus on the week. There are so many things I need to do and I am trying not to get ahead of myself. Also I have fun stuff and thoughts of future things. So to help get these thoughts out of my head….

Doctor Who

I have to admit I am super excited. For valentines I got season 1-4 of Doctor Who as a gift and then bought the complete specials for myself. I have fallen in love with this show and can’t wait to see season 5. I will miss David Tennant but will give Matt Smith a chance to prove himself as my doctor.

Travel

Watching Doctor Who has made me want to head oversees. I have been in London for a few hours on a layover to Germany so I never got to experience it. I have always wanted to go to France (Paris in particular) but now I would love to go to England and Wales (not to mention Ireland and Scotland). My brain is trying to come up with ways that I can gather enough money to go before my passport expires again. I have a few years since I just had my passport renewed last year when I went to Jamaica and the Caymans.

Picture Taking

Winter has not been kind to be as far as picture taking is concerned. I have not been able to get out much (I don’t do cold) and I have not been going to as many shows since the good tours are largely in the spring and summer. I feel somewhat lost without taking pictures every week so I need to urge myself to become more creative in shooting indoors.

Gym

The gym has been another area I have been neglecting since winter set it. I just have not been feeling the gym love and I know it is one of those things that once I go it is awesome. How can I get myself motived to do things I don’t feel like doing.

40 days

Blood Water Mission is the one organization that I help support right now and they are getting ready to launch their 40 days campaign. Which is drinking water for 40 days and whatever money you would have spent on coffee, soda, etc goes to them. I think I could kick soda for 40 days (I don’t drink coffee) but I am having a hard time with giving up tea. I love tea. It makes me happy. So I am contemplating doing the 40 days but not cutting tea. If I could cut my Diet Dr. Pepper habit and give the money to a good cause…win win! Check out 40 days

Rocketown Branding

This week is going to be about Rocketown Branding. Rocketown is an organization that I work for part time doing their web stuff and graphics. Because Nashville is building a convention center downtown Rocketown is moving later this year to a new building…so with that move comes updated branding. Update the logo, mailing pieces, marketing materials, site, social media, etc… that is my week. My brain is pulsing around this and what it will look like.

Cindy Morgan – Hymns Album

This is a fun one but the timing with Rocketown will make this an interesting week. I have been working on the artwork for Cindy Morgan’s new hymn album (see left pic for cover) and also working on  her new site. I switched the site to a wordpress backend and have been busy customizing the theme with the new album and loading new information into the site. This week the new site is being launched with pre-orders and more madness. It is super awesome and this album is a great album. Just a fun project to work on.

These are just a few things on my mind as I gear up for the week. Hopefully your week will be as awesome as I think mine is going to be! It is funny just getting these thoughts out helps so much!

One of the main questions I get about photography is how I got started in concert photography. So I decided to do a several part series on how I got started and who my favorite musicians are to photograph.

Part #2 – Natalie Grant

So really I should be inserting Crystal Lewis here, but I am having a hard time finding my old photos so I need to look some more. I first met Natalie in 2000. I met her manager at an event for Habitat for Humanity which I was shooting at. He wanted to set a meeting with me once he found out I did websites and photography. He had a new group coming out that needed a site (plus one). I went to the meeting and walked out with three clients and Natalie happened to be one.

One of the main questions I get about photography is how I got started in concert photography. So I decided to do a several part series on how I got started and who my favorite musicians are to photograph.

Part #1 – The beginning

My love for concert photography started in 1992. I was in 7th or 8th grade at the time and was deep into country music (I grew up in West Texas and country music was still somewhat good). In 1992 an artist named Ronna Reeves released her second album called “The More I Learn” and the song had me hooked. I then found out Ronna was also from West Texas and played the area often. I went to a show and met her then I ended up going to Fan Fair (yes it was still fan fair) in Nashville the summer after my 8th grade year. At fan fair I met Ronna again and she remembered me from the show in Odessa a few months earlier. I also met her parents and grandmother at fan fair. After that I went to every show in the area and I always had my camera with me. Pretty soon I was getting good shots. Ronna let me take pictures and encouraged me to get close, get on the stage, etc.

I would mail the photos to her fan club based in Midland, TX ( a few miles from my house) and her fan club manger (and godmother) would use my photos for the newsletters. It was awesome for me as a kid to have Ronna and her family to encourage me. No matter what show I went to they always made time to talk to me and have me backstage and when you are 13/14 that makes a huge difference. One time she even pulled me up on stage to sing with her and well…that did not go so well because I am horribly shy and I can’t sing!