Toy update.....

Ok so im an Apple fanatic, eversince i got my first power book ive been hooked. Not to long ago they came out with a sweet Ipod that incorporated the touch interface that the introduced with the Iphone. While i loved the idea and that incredible wide screen i wasnt about to pay 400 bucks for the 16gb version which would be a serious downgrade in storage capacity to my 60gb one that i have now. Well to be completely honest with you, i was going to pay 400 bucks but lucky for me my buddy Blaine has more sense than me and isnt a technology whore like i am, so he actually talked me out of it and i was going to wait for the 2nd gen version. Well all that changed about a week ago when i went to Costco and saw that they had a couple of Ipod touches for 273 bucks.....now that in itself is a SWEET deal for the 16gb version as it retails for 400 bones. I wont go into the particulars of it all but i will say that Costco pulled some bonehead moves and i made out like a bandit that day......final cost of the ipod? 237 hahahahahahaha sucks for you Costco. Well now that i have it i will say that i LOVE IT!!!! The touch screen is awesome!!! Typing is not as hard as i thought it would be, i love that i can browse the internet wherever i can get an open wifi signal, i love to answer email with the thing. The best thing? The screen!! Its gorgeous and the photos look SWEET on it, and thats the main reason why i wanted it anyways is to show off photos and so far everyone is amazed by the thing. So much so actually that my brother in law got one for himself and the greatest thing is that my brother David (Mr. Windows) loved the interface so much he went out and got an Iphone......he is now tainted. I think Apple shouls sponsor me........hahahahahahaha. If youre a photographer or just like to look at photos then i say get one, it is well worth it as you can show off your work and do slideshows on it. Maybe wait for the next version though as im sure they will only get better, i only got mine because it was an amazing deal. Heres a quick photo of mine.

Welcome to the yurt...

On Saturday i went to shoot an assignment for a local magazine that i have been shooting for. They are doing an article on some of the yoga studios in the So. Cal area, i went to one by the coast called Yoga Swami. They were going to have a workshop that day but i found out when i got there that it had been cancelled because of the holiday. With no way to reschedule before the deadline i had to shoot what i could while i was there, so i improvised as much as i could and tried to come with some cool shots that the magazine could use. It was fun to be out shooting again and since lately i have been doing nothing but editing i really enjoyed being out again. Later in the afternoon a bunch of people showed up and they had this drum circle where pretty much anyone who wanted to join in could just pick up a drum or any available instrument and play a long. It was really cool, and while not everyone really had rhythm it didnt really matter. They were there to enjoy each others company and have fun and ill tell you what....they did just tha, it was really cool to see. Heres some quick shots for all of you.....enjoy.

No im not dead....

Life has just been a little crazy lately and we have been really busy just getting through it all, aside from all the curve balls that life has thrown our way i am happy to say that we are alive and well. I have been really busy editing through photos that need to get done so i havent had a chance to really go out and shoot. Today i looked out the window though and there was this explosion of color in the sky. Now im not really one to shoot sunsets since they are the one thing that is shots by just about everyone in the world, but the clouds in the sky today were absolutely incredible. Since all the drama happens in the sky anyways i shot just that.....yummy clouds. Enjoy!

Another one bites the dust....

Yes ladies and gentlemen another brother falls victim to this thing called love. My brother Steve Aldridge recently proposed to his lovely lady Kristin. If youre wondering just how many brothers i have well i cant really answer that but Steve is a quarter brother. Little peace of advice though dont ever ask us to really draw out our ridiculously complex family tree.....its not for the faint of heart or weak of mind. But if you find yourself bored one day and have some time to kill you could always contact my brother David and he would be more than happy to map it out for you until you go into a coma. Ok so back to Steve, yes hes engaged and they are planning away their wedding. We always joke with Steve saying that he would make someone a good wife someday, and this is because Steve has always loved to cook and take care of people. We only tease because we love you bother, so last weekend Steve Kristin and I went to Big Bear to do their engagement photos. Yes this is the same place were once a year nerds from all over N.County are beckoned to take the arduous journey and leave their homes and loved ones in order to kill digital representations of each other........aka Frag Bear. We drove up in Steves new Prius (slick little car) and entertained ourselves by quoting movie lines and various other forms of nerd speak, as we drove up the mountain we entertained ourselves by watching the battery power drop to new found lows. We further speculated on what would happen if it dropped to zero, would we lose containment and have a thermonuclear reaction? Its very possible.......it was a blast to hang out with them both and the pictures were way fun to shoot. You guys are total naturals in front of the camera! Heres a photo from last weekend, only one cus i have tons of editing to do and haven't really had time to go through these but more will come soon.

Death comes to us all.....

Found a dead......grasshopper i think. It wasn't entirely dead yet but it was on the ground and the ants were starting to scavenge it. I dont know if you've ever watched ants go after something but they are vicious little creatures. Did a few quick shots of it, ill check again tomorrow and see if theres anything left of it. Enjoy!!

Congrats to David & Julia. Episode II

Ah yes, the final phase of the wedding plan has come to fruition. On Sunday we had the reception for David & Julia, they got married about a month ago and decided to keep the ceremony to imediate family only. The reception was a lot of fun and tiring my face was tired just watching David & Julia greeting and smiling at everyone. All went really well, and will say that both David and his lovely wife weathered it well, its been a long week for both of them. Between all the fires going on, a loss in Julias family and then the reception i was truly amazed that everyone was in high spirits. For some odd reason when im at a reception i always have something taht pops into my head that i want to share. Same thing happened at my brother Danny's wedding, i wasnt able to share at either one for various reasons so i will say something now. If youre here for pictures just scroll past this cus im about to get personal.

David:
I could not have imagined better brothers than you and Danny, its has been an incredible honor to be considered your brother. Through the years we have had our ups and our downs, the times where we seem to see eye to eye on just about everything and the times were we annoy one another and we dont talk all that much. We have been through our growing pains and that is something that i doubt will ever end, but going through those trials i do not fear. For i have seen the man that you are are throughout the years, a man a of strong and Godly character and the desire to help people discover their potential and to push them forward. I know that the bond we share goes far beyond friendship and that despite whatever life will throw at us to tear us apart it cannot be broken. While im sure that there are many that see the fact that you call me your brother strange, i cannot tell you how much it has meant to me that you call me that without hesitation. Your unwavering faith in God and uncompromising character have been a shining light to me and something that i will always admire in you. Know that i love you without question and pray that someday i can inspire you as much as you have inspired me.

Julia:
A more perfect match for David we could never find. Distance has kept us from truly getting to know you, something that we hope to change very soon, but despite that obstacle we see an incredible amount of great qualities in you. i know that as we get to know you more we will see even more of what David sees in you. In the short time that i have known you i can say for certain that you truly are a great woman. I make that statement not just from the things that i have seen in you but also because i know that David would not enter this stage in his life lightly. Furthermore, i have seen the changes that have transpired in David himself since you have entered his life. Such changes do not come easily for a man, and i can say from experience that a man very seldom changes his ways until he is in the presence of someone greater than he. Know that we love you Julia and hope that as time goes on that we will get to know you even more. We are excited to have you in our lives and look forward to the the future.....welcome to the family.

I pray for a long and healthy marriage for you both, i say healthy and not happy for happiness is but a fleeting emotion. One that we can pursue tirelessly and never find fulfillment in, it is only in God that we truly find happiness and when we can appreciate what HE has given us. I pray for patience, strength and perseverance and a constant reminder that God is always with you. For in time we all come to find that we need more than love to get us through this journey, when the horizons turn dark and you see the storm coming it is our devotion to God and our commitment to each other that helps us to keep moving forward. We look forward to many years of frienship with you both, i can only hope and pray that our paths will continue to travel side by side through this short moment that we call life. Maybe we all travel well.....

Let the nerd fest begin!!!!

Ok so these photos are so overdue its not even funny!!! These are actually of my brother Davids bachelor party who recently got married. So you may ask.....what do a bunch of christian guys whos brother doesnt drink and is about to get married do for a bachelor party? Well taking into account that all of us are nerds to some degree (some of us have achieved a greater level of nerd than others, an Uber Nerd if you will) theres only one thing TO DO.........food, caffeinated beverages, and games!!!! So we played this game called Pit, its the only card game that i will ever play and let me tell you it is INTENSE. Basically you have to trade with each other, well just follow the link to read the rules, but there are no turns so you all play at once. The amount of yelling that ensues is nothing short of incredible, especially from me since im a huge loudmouth and i yell at the top of my lungs. Its seriously incredible fun and in my opinion its a workout cus i always end up sweating during the game. Punches to the face, kicks to the head, weapons of mass destruction are all perfectly acceptable while playing pit, ok its not but i wouldn't put it past us. So after the scream fest we were all tired and decided to play some games on the Wii, this is were David decides to tell us that "oh i dont own one im sure ill get beat easily". Yeah, why dont you just hand us some bull crap on a platter David? My brother is a computer genius (remember Uber Nerd, consider yourself introduced to him) if David had any kind of super power it would be that he could make machines do his bidding.......oh wait he already does that. So yeah, we played some games on the Wii and David killed us all, i still think that he linked his brain to the Wii via Wi-Fi and learned all the secrets of the games that we were playing therefore defeating all of us with ease........cheater. Ok so with all that said heres some photos.

Something scary this way comes...

With Halloween just around the corner i thought it fitting to put up a nice "scary" looking post. Lucky for me me there were some really sweet dark clouds over the moon tonight......so i just had to take some shots. It didnt last vry long som im glad i caught it when i did. I hope you enjoy the photos.......and if you find yourself walking down some road late at night and you feel like something is after you dont look back.........there might be something there. Muahahahahahahahahaha.

Heartbreaking Beauty

I finally ventured out yesterday to take some photos,i have been dying to go out and shoot. Of course since the news kept saying to stay off the roads and to stay indoors i didnt go out to shoot. Now that was difficult to do, i dont much enjoy staying inside when theres pictures to be taken, but i also dont enjoy being an idiot either. So i was a good little boy and did what i was told. Yesterday i decided to finally go out since things seemed to be calming down again, it was a lot of fun. Its really eerie though you just cant beleive what youre seeing, and they way the the camera is capturing images is really weird to. Colors are all funky some really dramatic and other just blah, i shot a bunch of stuff. Didnt really have a set goal so i just shot what i saw, if youre wondering about the title. While watching that huge red sun set and go below the horizon can be breathtaking its important to remember that the beautiful sight we are enjoying came at a great price. Its easy for me to just focus on how cool something looks, may we never forget the hell that some people are going through right now. My prayers are with you all that have lost much and are taking your 1st steps towards rebuilding your lives.