Last week my wife and I welcomed our beautiful daughter, Evelyn, into the world.

Be sure to check out my other blog and Ashley’s blog for more pictures and stories.  We are home and everyone is doing well, so look for more posts soon!

Also, a couple weekends ago Ashley and I met with Carla for a maternity shoot. We were blown away by the images that Carla got. Here is a sampling:

Be sure to check out Carla’s blog for more images.

I shot a beautiful wedding over the weekend with Sarah McCoy, so be looking for a post on that soon! In the meantime, check out her blog for some killer images.

You may be saying to yourself, “It is just a camera, what’s the big deal?!” Let me explain.

When I bought my 40d I was going through a rough patch in my life. I wasn’t satisfied with myself creatively or artistically, and I felt like I was repeatedly running full speed into a brick wall. I was so unwilling to confront the resistance in my life that I was paralyzed, and I was slowly starting to convince myself that I could do nothing about it.

So I scrapped together some cash and gift cards that I had been given for my birthday and went somewhere that could brighten even my darkest day… Best Buy. I went in determined to buy a Nikon d80, but the sales associate convinced me to go with the Canon 40d instead. I went straight home and read the manual cover to cover while the battery was getting it’s first full charge. I had work the next morning, and all I could think about all day was getting home to go out and shoot. When I finally did get home, I went out and shot anything and everything I came across until the sun went down.

I can’t really explain what happened next. I guess you could say something just clicked. I had always loved the art of photography, but I was reinvigorated with my passion to shoot. The resistance was still there, but I could no longer make any excuse about confronting it. If I was unsatisfied with myself as an artist, I had no choice but to go out and shoot and learn.

As silly as it sounds, that camera gave me the ability to weather the storm and come out stronger for it. It gave me a clear direction and a sense of confidence in pursuing my calling.

Alright, alright, so maybe I’m just over-sentimental and cheezy, but it really was hard to say goodbye.

So Farewell, my dear friend. You have been wonderful to me, and I know you will be in good hands now!

It might be a physical location, but it may be something less obvious as well. Our sanctuary might actually be a piece of art, a favorite album, or a book. One might go for a drive or a run to find sanctuary. You might find sanctuary in your family or loved ones.

Where do you find sanctuary?

It is one thing to recognize a closed door. It is another to walk away without even trying the handle.

In America, we celebrate the day that we declared independence. It symbolizes the birth of our nation, when we stood up to injustice and declared that we would fight to protect our inalienable rights as human beings. Yet since July Fourth, 1776 many Americans have fallen under the dictatorship of another kind. We are governed by things like our drive for success, our desire for elevated social status, our habits and addictions, and our need to be entertained. If we enslave ourselves to these things then can we really say that we are free?

What are the dictators in our lives that we should be declaring our independence from?

In life we are faced with two varieties of lights: those which guide us and those which serve as warnings. Wisdom is simply the ability to discern between the two.

It is easy to get into the habit of wanting what we do not have, be it money, a perfect body, or a taller stature. This habit is at the root of many life-altering problems, including materialism, eating disorders, and infidelity.

If I constantly tell myself, “I wish I was taller,” “I wish I had more money,” “I wish I had the newest …” then I will fail to appreciate the things I have, and (more importantly) the person I am. I will fail to take ownership of myself: one of the amazing individuals on this earth. I will be hindered from becoming my fully realized self. If this happens, I am doing a great disservice to myself and to the world.

To view this slideshow at a higher resolution, click here.