جامعتي الحبيبة

• هل تشعر بأنك واضح

أهلا وسهلا بالأحباب..

Not that I keep track of things like that…yes I do. 

I still get nervous about NeighborLink projects I take on as a Coach. I roll the usual questions around in my head, like…

Do I really want to give my time to this project?

Will I know how to do the project? 

Will the recipient be ready for my team? 

Will I have done enough preparation in order to ensure the project will go well? 

Will this recipient’s situation overwhelm me for some reason?

Will anyone join me or will I be stuck doing this project alone? 

If you’ve ever asked these questions before volunteering for a NeighborLink project or anything else, I think you’re pretty normal. What sets us apart is obviously how we answer these questions and whether or not we let them stop us. 

On Friday May 4th, I chose to lead a moving project for a guy who desparately needed help moving from one apartment to another just a couple of miles down the road. The apartment environment he was in was not a good one and he decided to move away from it. Good choice even if he knew he didn’t have the resources to get moved on his own. 

This guy only had a small one-bedroom apartment and not a lot of belongings. I prepped him to make sure he was packed and ready to go for when we’d show up that evening. I had a few members of the team show up 45 minutes before the truck arrived to make sure we were ready to load once the truck got there. He had done such a great job, we ended up standing around and talking to him, which was great. 

Once the truck arrived, we had the truck loaded in under 10 minutes due to the fact that we ended up having 12 people show up! From there it took about 10 minutes to drive to his new place and only another 20 minutes to get him unloaded and situated in his apartment. We did the whole move and setup in about 45 minutes. 

In the 5 years I’ve been doing NeighborLink moving projects, I’ve never had this smooth of a project take place. It was a combo of preparation by the recipient, short travel, and a group of 12 incredible volunteers (including a couple of young girls who helped their dad). 

The best part is that they gave up a couple of hours on a Friday night, which is probably some of the most sacred time we hold onto. The time we get to unwind from a busy week and slip into the weekend. 

This was a significant project for me this year. I think I was blessed as much as the guy we moved that night. 

Each year, the City of Fort Wayne encourages the community to organize and mobilize into it’s streets in the largest beautification effort in the area called, The Great American Cleanup. Over 5,000 people have participated in this event the past couple of years. 

NeighborLink always tries to encourage our partner churches and all of our volunteers to participate in this movement to show our collaborative spirit and our support to our city’s officials that work so hard to pull this all together. 

This year, NeighborLink is partnering with Youth For Christ’s Prime Time Center that is located right next to Southside High School. Youth For Christ has built a strong relationship with Southside High School and has receive the high school’s support for many of it’s activities and programs. 

It’s the Prime Time Center’s time to give back to the school. We’ll be revitalizing the schools landscaping by pulling weeds and spreading mulch around the south side of the building. 

We want you to join us this Saturday, May 19th from 9:00am to Noon. We’ll be meeting at the Prime Time Center which is just south of Southside High School on S. Calhoun St just before Rudisill Blvd.

Here is what we need. 

• 15 more volunteers
• Garden & Leave Rakes
• Bring Some Gloves
• Pitchforks or a Scoop Shovel

Email me or leave a comment if you can come so we can plan accordingly. 

Hope to see you there!

Here is our latest installment in our NeighborLink Tutorial Video Series. Co-Founder, John Barce, talks about how to engage the recipient and setup your projects so everyone has the chance to meet, interact, and start building a relationship with who we’re there to serve. 

We care more about relationships than we do about getting lots of projects done each year. 

We’re excited to announce our official status as a charity partner of the 5th Annual Fort4Fitness races on September 28th-29th in Fort Wayne, IN. 

We believe in living an active lifestyle and believe it makes better communities. Using high visibility events like running and cycling races to promote our “Love Your Neighbor” philosophy is a driving reason why we created Team NeighborLink. We desire to create unity among our active volunteers at events like these to encourage one another and to add some additional purpose to the personal reasons we challenge ourselves with events like these. 

Being a Charity Partner gives us an opportunity to receive a portion of your event registration fee if we hit 100 runners willing to enter a code specific to NeighborLink during registration. If we hit 50 runners, we’ll get a special recover zone for all of our runners where we can connect post race.

If you’ve already registered, you can give us your name and birth date and we can send that to Fort4Fitness to get credit. There is no need to already be a part of Team NeighborLink. By doing this for us, we consider you a part of the team!

Use the Code: NLFW in box 12 of your online registration 

Please pass this along to everyone you know and encourage them to add us when they register or let us know that they want to be added to our team. We would love to get to that 100 runners and receive 10% of your registration amount. 

See you on the streets this summer!

I appreciate all that Cornerstone Landscape Group does for NeighborLink Fort Wayne. They have been a financial partner for us the last couple of years as well a company that values volunteering and serving the community. They take time off during some of the busiest times of the year to share their gifting with homeowners who physically and financially can’t take care of their yard work themselves.

Last Friday, April 20th, as part of PLANET’s (Professional Landcare Network) annual day of service, Cornerstone was out in the community taking on three NeighborLink projects and a small community park beautification project on the Southeast side of Fort Wayne. 

Thanks to Tim Pancake and his staff for being such a committed partner and community member. I encourage you to contact them if you’re looking for a landscape company for your home or business. 

Check out their 2-minute slideshow of before and after photos. 

A team of committed members at Blackhawk Ministries have made a commitment to host six, monthly service days starting this Saturday, April 28th. They welcome anyone who wants to volunteer with them and encourage you to meet at 7:30 a.m. at the Asylum (just inside the school across the street from the church) at Blackhawk (7400 E. State Blvd) on each of the following Saturdays and serve until noon:

April 28
May 26
June 23
July 28
August 25
September 22

A note from John Barce, organizer… “In the light of Easter, there’s nothing more beautiful than the body of Christ serving their neighbors in need.  The format each Saturday will be to meet in the Asylum at 7:30, enjoy some fellowship and coffee, organize into teams, and head out to serve.”

If you know someone who you think could use a hand, please reach out to them and put their project on the Neighborlink website (nlfw.org), using the “Request Assistance” button on the homepage or within your account dashboard under “Add a Project.”  You can designate the project with “Northeast Service Day” in the description field as the designated group for the project.  If you are looking for a project for your community to serve, please register as a “Coach” on the Neighborlink website and select the project you would like to do, and contact the homeowner from the information on the web site.  If you are looking to serve, look for projects on the Neighborlink website that are designated, “Northeast Service Day” in the description and register as a volunteer for those projects.

In the spirit of spurring one another on toward love and good deeds, please put the service days on your calendar, and plan on joining us.  

If you have any questions, please contact me and I’ll connect you to the organizers. 

Everyone is welcome

NeighborLink Fort Wayne wants to partner with licensed home repair, construction, plumbing, masonry, and electrical contractors for this unique home repair program. 

There are two main reasons why NeighborLink projects don’t get completed. 

1. Lack of Funds
2. Lack of Skilled Labor

In an effort to reduce the amount of projects that go unmet each year due to these two factors, we are launching a new pilot project in partnership with the Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services. This project will allow us to leverage their resources in order to hire qualified, licensed and skilled contractors for the projects our volunteers would like to do, but can’t do. There are few things harder for committed volunteers to do than to tell a recipient that they cannot help them with their request. 

Here is an example of what partnering with NeighborLink could look like on a roofing project. 

Rather than hiring your entire team to do the project, we would like to hire you to do all the technical project planning, provide specific roofing tools, and provide one skilled staff person. We would then take care of purchasing all the materials and providing as many volunteers as needed to complete the project. 

How Each Project Will Work: 

• NeighborLink Coach selects a project & determines they need a contractor to work with them on the project. 
• NeighborLink staff verify the need and begin the process of qualifying the recipient. 
• NeighborLink Coach reviews the preferred contractor list on our website and gets three bids for the project. 
• Bid is approved, work day(s) get scheduled, and Coach begins securing volunteers and materials using NeighborLink project funds. 
• Contractor submits invoice for payment to NeighborLink staff. 

We understand that there are great people running great home repair related companies in Fort Wayne who would like to help people in tough situations, but cannot afford to do work for free. 

We’re not asking you to give any more than you’re comfortable and feeling called to give. We want long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with our partners at NeighborLink. 

There are some qualifications and requirements that each contractor must meet in order for us to qualify for these funds from the City of Fort Wayne. Below are links to documents that relate to these qualifications. 

The next step if you are interested is to contact:

Andrew Hoffman, Executive Director

Andrew@nlfw.org

260.710.7611

We are extremely excited to announce that the crowdfunding tool we’ve been working on is finally done and live. It is currently live on the NeighborLink Fort Wayne’s website. It will be in a testing period on this website for a short time in order to work out any bugs and refine some of the features before rolling out to other NeighborLink Network affiliates and non-affiliates. The project image above is live and could use some funding. So, click on the image and give it a try!

Crowdfunding has had an explosion of success for hundreds of organizations, special projects, and products. Just this week, a project on Kickstarter reached over $5 million dollars in funding through their popular crowdfunding site. I don’t suspect any of our projects will ever hit $5 million in funding, but we do expect to receiving new levels of project specific funding.

We set out to build this tool to continue our effort in creating a web-based environment where recipients and volunteers have as few barriers as possible to getting things done. What this tool does is give the volunteer who’s working with the recipient the ability to tell the full story of the recipient’s challenge and invite both volunteers and funders into the story of transformation with very little administrave challenges from NeighborLink. 

Here is a list of features we’re excited about:

Everything is Coach driven. Project details, communication, and project management.

Full circle communication. Making sure we keep all volunteers and funders in the loop throughout the project’s life-cycle matters to us.

100% of Donations go to projects. Any shortfalls will be made-up and any overages will go to our normal NeighborLink project fund. This tool is designed to assist our fundraising efforts to get projects done. 

Look forward to regular updates on how this system is working. We believe it’s a pretty revolutionary tool that fits into the NeighborLink model really well and will have a big impact on all NeighborLink partners. 

Team NeighborLink will be putting a team of volunteers together for the 2012 Fort 4 Fitness Spring Cycle event on May 26th in downtown Fort Wayne. We will be in charge of the finish line water station during the Tour de Fort Wayne event beginning at 10am.

We will need approximately 15 volunteers to man that water station and help at our booth in the exhibitor section of the event. We’ll be able to sell our Team NeighborLink running and cycling gear there. 

If you have the 26th open and want to volunteer, please contact me. I will be happy to send you the full details if you are interested. The time commitment is from 10a-12noon.

Andrew @ nlfw.org

Matthew 9: 35-38

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I’ve heard this passage used at least 100 times in reference to evangelism efforts, and at various times either embraced the call or brushed it off. The call I’ve been used to usually lacks the depth of transformation that really changes things, things that I’ve associated with God’s Kingdom. 

The last part of verse 35 is often left out of the call. The part where Jesus does something to reveal the kingdom by deeply engaging with the diseased and sick to heal them. He reaches out to the most vulnerable around and shows us that the kingdom of God is revealed through an interaction with them. In verse 36, it tells us that He’s broken by their circumstances. 

Most importantly, in verse 37, He tells His disciples to look around and realize there are only a few of them to carry the burden of the marginalized and vulnerable. In essence, it’s up to them to live their lives in service to Him with the people that matter most to him in order to expand the kingdom with those that need transformation the most. 

Yes, proclaiming the gospel with our voices is necessary and worth our efforts, but this passage tells us that it requires serving the helpless around us that are calling out. The only way we’ll ever know who’s helpless and vulnerable is by spending time listening to those that are around us. 

The question is always, “Am I close enough to hear them cry out?”

Last night I had the privilege of cleaning up some leaves and mowing the yard for a woman named Gail. Gail is a wonderful woman who has two bad knees and scheduled to have both of them replaced soon. From talking to her I found out that she spends a lot of time caring for her 80 year old mother and 103 year old grandmother.

Given her knees and the life circumstances of her family, she has a hard time keeping up with basic tasks like this especially when her grandson who normally helps is in the middle of track season. 

I have a hard time prioritizing time to get out and do NeighborLink projects on my own. The demands of the day-to-day keep me busier than I used to be and to be honest, the hundreds of requests burden me to a place where I sometimes forget that all of this is possible. When I do get out, I am always reminded of how easy it is to meet new people and offer a helping hand. 

Last night didn’t take me more than an hour and a half. If I would have had one or two more people, it would have only taken 30-40 minutes. Who can’t spare that kind of time once a week? 

For the few of you that thought about joining me last night as part of the Fort Wayne Tweetup For Good, I think you missed out on an opportunity to meet a great Fort Wayne citizen named Gail and see a part of our great city that you’ve maybe never seen. 

Maybe next time.

One of the more powerful conversations on Justice I’ve heard in a long time. Dr. Richard Twiss reminds us that American history is not all great, especially when it comes to how Native Americans were treated. 

This is his plenary at last year’s CCDA National Conference in Indianapolis. 

We launched Team NeighborLink last year as a way to connect our active lifestyle volunteers to our organization in a deeper way. Our desire with Team NeighborLink is to raise awareness, creative community among members, and to raise $2000+ each year through apparel sales and fundraising efforts of our runners, cyclists, triathletes, and outdoor enthusiasts. 

Last year saw over 30 runners and 9 cyclists join the team. I am investing more time and energy this year in an effort to enhance the team and provide an opportunity to add some purpose to those training miles some of us are logging. 

I’m excited to introduce our new web store for our apparel. The goal of this site is to give Team NeighborLink it’s own web presence and to provide an easier way to see and buy our apparel. Any local orders will be hand delivered by me. 

I just received our order of new running shirts for this year and will be sending them to be screen printed soon. Men will be getting charcoal gray and women will have an option of either the blue above or a dark, smoky brown. Both are great shirts. 

Visit the website and purchase one today for $40. This shirt retails for $38 in the stores. Run for a cause, donate a little money to get NeighborLink projects done, and join us in raising awareness for what God is doing in the Fort. 

Here is a video of the recent trip The Chapel took to Henryville, IN to help with tornado relief. This is a great testimony to the generosity of many Fort Wayne churches and people who have committed tons of time to supporting natural disaster relief all over the country in the past decade. 

I’m glad to receive the volunteers from the Chapel on a regular basis at NeighborLink Fort Wayne. 

I’ve been doing research for a film series for NeighborLink since December around the concepts of what it means to be a good neighbor. I’ve gone from an 8-month leadership series to a 10 part video series and now to a 5 part series. 

I’ve talked to really high dollar film makers all the way down to graduating college students for this series, and I’ve seen some pretty great stuff. I know I’ve only seen an extremely small percentage of great stuff too. My decision on who to hire is becoming quite difficult.

The DSLR camera is revolutionizing the industry due to quality of video for a price that is accessible to anyone passionate enough to invest in. For $10,000, you can have more than enough essential gear to get started. However, equipment only won’t make great films. It still takes creativity, experience, technical understanding, and a vision to tell the story that needs told. 

Here are several films/videos that have stood out to me during my research. There are many, many more that are influencing this series. 

Baas Creative - Compassion International

Fancy Rhino - Charles Clay Needs Your Help

Maust Creative - Our Story

Dot & Cross - Basic. Prayer

It’s been four years since I agreed to become the executive director of NeighborLink Fort Wayne. If you would have asked me at that time whether I thought I could ever work at a place more than two years, I would have said no. This is a testament to the idea of leaning into where calling, passion, and vocation collide. It’s a testament that transformation lies directly in the tension of life’s decisions and circumstances. God meets us in that tension and promises to be faithful if we follow him. 

So much has happened and changed in just four years. Here is a picture of one of my first major projects at NeighborLink. It was a roofing project for a woman who’s home was in really bad shape.  She was a hoarder and had let her home go far enough that it was actually condemned when I took it on. God remained faithful to provide the right group of people who invested hours and thousands of dollars to complete this project as well as people to journey with this woman to address the hoarding issue. No small feat.

Four years later I’m still broken over the despair of people seeking help through NeighborLink as a last resort. I now live in the tension between trying to celebrate the incredible work of thousands of volunteers each year who take more and more projects, and the ever increasing amount of projects and circumstances people are facing. It’s not an easy place to be most days. I’m in awe one minute and ticked off another. 

I think the tension really stems from the reality that something COULD be done in just about every one of these projects if only there were more people that cared enough to do something. Anything. To see simple projects like mowing or cleaning go unmet kills me. 

NeighborLink isn’t just a place of sad stories of people suffering through bad choices and unexpected circumstances. NeighborLink is a place of hope, opportunity, and transformation. The only way the hope, opportunities, and transformation can be ignited is by someone choosing a project and therefor lighting the match. 

If more people would just read the project descriptions, like this one, they would see that we’re not just a place to get free lawn care or new windows, but a place to connect to people that really want to fight their way to freedom. 

I know I have an unpopular message. Very few people, including myself, really gravitate towards doing things we don’t naturally want to do with the little bit of leftover time each week. I’m not a fan of taking care of my own home or yard, let alone someone else’s, to be honest. The sex appeal of connecting with people that aren’t like us in our own backyard isn’t as compelling as many other causes that are asking for our time and resources. Our barriers at NeighborLink can be big and hard to overcome. However, worth fighting to take down.

NeighborLink projects always require us to die to ourselves, use more time than we wanted to offer, and more internal turmoil than we’re inclined to embrace. It’s messy at best and the more I invest, the harder it is to further die to it. 

After four years, I can’t image doing anything different. I’ve seen glimpses of the Kingdom of God and I want more of them. I’ve seen 7 other communities in the United States take our model and implement it in their own cities. I’ve seen over 1,500 connections/projects completed in Fort Wayne and see people build lasting relationships that have been mutually beneficial. God is good.

I want to see lives transformed and I want to see the Church realize its place in the community as a geographic anchor for a neighborhood. I want to see volunteers realize that service is more than doing for others, and more of doing with them. 

I’m in deep and I’m committed to see this thing through. I hope you’ll join me in the mess in 2012. 

Andrew

John Barce, co-founder of NeighborLink, shares the mission and vision behind why NeighborLink exists. He says it better than I could. 

Listening to John share about this reinvigorates my commitment to leading this organization. Brings me back to the root of why it matters. 

“We’ve been at this for about 10 years now, and we’re not the same people we were when we started.”

Amen

I’ve had the privilege of being a member of an emerging leader cohort for a national organization called Christian Community Development Organization for the past year. The cohort includes several retreats each year and access to really incredible people. 

We had a retreat in Jackson, MS towards the end of January and I took that retreat as an opportunity to do some additional traveling before and after it to meet up with some new and old friends. I went from Fort Wayne to Atlanta to Denver and back to Fort Wayne in about 11 days. Busy trip, but all really great. If you want to read more about the trip, you can do so here. 

I had no intention of bringing my camera equipment along with me until one of the people I was meeting up with saw that I did photography on the side and ask me to take some family photos. It turned out to be a great way to thank everyone who accommodated me along the way.

Everyone I stayed with is in ministry and affording family photos can be tough, so it was an honor to bless them by doing photos for them. I had a blast, took some good photos, and got to see four different families embrace these moments of their life together. 

You can get a glimpse into the shoots below. 

Taylor Family - Denver, CO - January 2012

Ryan and I went to Huntington University together, but just in the last couple of years become friends. Ryan runs a ministry in downtown Denver called, Access Denver. It’s an innovative and highly experiential organization that helps churches get a better understanding of poverty, homelessness, and individuals marginalized by society. 

It was an honor to spend several days with Ryan in downtown Denver seeing what he’s up to as well as meet several of his partners who are doing equally cool work. 

Best of all, I was able to spend a little time with his family and take some great photos for his family. 

Ramseyer Family - Denver, CO - January 2012

Dave and I have been friends for a really long time and getting out to Denver to spend with his family was a blessing. I’m a huge fan of this family. Getting to spend several days in Denver was just a bonus.

Ledbetter Family - South Atlanta - January 2012

I first met Nate via Twitter a couple of years ago and just recently had an opportunity to meet him in person this past October in Indianapolis at the CCDA Conference. Nate works with Katie (pictures below) in South Atlanta and so I was able to spend time with him as well as meet his family. 

Nate is one of those guys that I’ve only spent a couple of days with, but I wish I lived closer to. It was a priveldge to have the opportunity to take some family photos and to get to spend a little time with them. 

I loved how these photos turned out and I just couldn’t get enough of the giant mural either.

Delp Family - South Atlanta - January 2012

I had a great time getting to know these new friends better. Katie (mom) and I are in a national leadership development cohort together with Christian Community Development. We recently had a cohort retreat in Jackson, MS and several of us met in Atlanta in order to drive over together. Katie and her family were great hosts for a couple of nights and I had a lot of fun getting to know the kids and see their life/ministry in South Atlanta. 

October ‘11 - Avery & Mom

Taking a quick spin around the farm on Nana and Papaw’s garden tractor. 

Love these two.

11.11 - Kirchhoff - Indianapolis, IN

Here is a little sneak preview of my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s new baby, Blaire.

Can’t beat taking photos of newborn babies with their sleepy eyes and wrinkles.

More to come.  

10.11 - Perry Family - Fort Wayne, IN

I feel honored to have had the opportunity to take photos for some of my best friends, the Perry Family. Nate and I went to college together and have been really close ever since. His wife and mine have become quick friends over the past few years and we’re excited to have our kids grow up together. 

I couldn’t have asked for a better shoot location than Red Cedar Camp, where Carrie is the director. Red Cedar is a camp in Fort Wayne with quite a few different types of camp experiences. Red Cedar also offers horse therapy sessions for children with disabilities. It’s a great organization and I encourage you to check out their website.  

Carrie’s love for horses has rubbed off on Nate and will trickle its way down to Landon. As you can see throughout the shots, we tried to preserve that theme throughout their session. 

They ended up with a lot of great shots, including these below. 

I recently had the opportunity to visit a pastor friend’s church in West Bend, WI called Kettlebrook. Mike was a member of the Race for Congo team and must have really enjoyed my photos. So much so that he wanted me to come up to take staff photos and photos of their services. I tried to inform him on my actual amateur status by letting him know that I lacked some equipment that I thought would be needed to get the shots that I thought he was looking for. So, I had to rent some lens. 

First lens I sought out was the Nikon 14-24mm, which is a super wide-angle lens. Based on some of the shots they were hoping to capture for their new website, I thought this would be a great lens to get as much in the picture as possible. 

This lens is fantastic. It really is a great wide angle lens that takes phenomenal pictures. Super crisp images and is extremely versatile with the f2.8 aperture. Knowing I was going to be doing a lot of inside shots, I had to get something that was going to let as much light in as possible without reducing the image quality. 

Here’s one of the staff pictures I took with this lens. 

I did think it was a great lens, but I couldn’t see putting in my bag unless I had $1,800 sitting around or I was shooting interiors or architectural type shots for a living. The 14-24mm was great for posed photos like this one in this tight alleyway, but it didn’t work that well when it came to shooting the services. It just required to get too close to the subjects to use frequently throughout the event. I found myself retreating to my Tamron 17-50mm in order to get the shots I needed and remain discreet as possible. 

I could see myself opting for the Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 or a 24-70mm lens instead. 

The other lens that I needed for this shoot was a telephoto, and I opted for the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8. This lens is amazing. 

This is a must have lens for any photographer wanting to get quality photos in a variety of settings from a long distance away. I really think the photos that I got from this lens are as sharp as anything I get from my 50mm prime lens from Nikon. It was great having this lens in the services and being able to zoom in from far away and know the shot was going to turn out really well. The f2.8 aperture lets a ton of light in a dark setting. 

Is this lens worth the $2,400 retail price? YES. Will I ever buy one, probably not. Unless you’re shooting a dozen events a year where you’re needing to get the shot from far away like a wedding, you really don’t need to buy this lens. If you’re only in need of a lens like this a couple of times a year, rent it. There are countless online rental places out there that will rent this lens, provide insurance, and ship it to you for under $100 for 5 days. This is definitely the route I’ll go for a long time in the future unless I get endless request for weddings, which I’m not sure will happen anytime soon. 

I highly recommend renting lens before buying one if possible, especially if you’re going to save and opt for Nikon or Canon brand lens. I’ve used Lens Giant before and for this event, I used ATS Rentals. I was able to rent both lens, get insurance (a must in my opinion), and get round trip shipping for 4 days for a total of $170 over a weekend. You really can’t beat that, especially when you calculate that equipment totaling over $4,000 retail. The only downside to ATS Rentals was the fact that they don’t have the entire rental process online yet. I had to sign a waiver for the insurance, scan it and email it back. Since I don’t have scanner, I had an extra step to find one. However, they were cheaper than anyone else out there for these lens, so it was worth it. 

September 2011 - Huntington University - Science Building

I am a graduate of Huntington University and am now an adjunct professor in the communication department. I’m teaching a class this semester on Social Media. The subtitle of the class is more like, “You’re Going to Wish You Never Heard of the Internet.” The entire class revolves around online communication, both good and bad. 

I am doing a photo shoot for the church of one of the pastors that was part of the Race for Congo this weekend in Wisconsin and I needed to rent a few lens to make sure I could get the shots they were wanting. 

I rented a 14-24mm 2.8, which is what I took this photo with. I really like this lens a lot, however it’s crazy expensive. Like $2,000 expensive. 

I also rented a 70-200mm 2.8, which is also awesome and equally expensive. 

I always like shoots that require renting equipment because it gives you an opportunity to use things that you can’t afford and get an idea of what lens work well for your type of shooting. 

I rented these from ATS Rentals and got the best deal on the internet that I could find. Both of them for 4 days, insurance, and round-trip shipping was $170. Check them out if you’re needing to rent. 

August 2011 - Jamie & Friends

My wife’s friend, Jamie, has moved to California late this summer, which has been a bummer for this group of friends. Many of them have been hanging out regularly for well over 6 years and to have one of them leave is hard. 

Everyone is excited for Jamie in her new adventures. Shoot, it just gives all these girls a reason to vacation on the West Coast. 

August 2011 - My Beauties

The women of my life enjoying a summer afternoon on the front steps. 

Race for Congo - August 2011 - Cross Country Bike Race

I was one of 8 riders who rode bikes 2,800 miles across the country from Bend, OR to Baltimore, MD the first week in August. The event was called, Race For Congo, and was an awareness and fund raising trip for an organization called World Relief. 

It was a once in a lifetime experience and I was honored to be a part of the team of riders. I was also one of the photographers tasked with documenting the trip. 

Most importantly, we raised over $108,000 for peace building in DRCongo. 

I encourage you check out the following links if you want to find out more about the trip or read through the race blog. 

WorldRelief.org

WorldRelief.org/RaceForCongo

Race For Congo - Race Blog

Race for Congo - Flickr Page

It’s amazing how much can change in just a years time with a little one. I tried to recapture one of my favorite photos from her birth pictures back in May 2010. I’m going to try to do this for as many years as I can and hopefully it will turn out to be a neat memory for both of us. 

1st Swim - June 2011 - Fort Wayne, IN

Avery got a swimming pool for her birthday and loves it. She’s not afraid to run around or crawl in it. She’ll even dunk her head occasionally and then bust out laughing. We definitely have to watch out for this one. 

Avery’s Birthday - May 2011 - Momma’s Cupcakes

I’m breaking the blogging silence with a photo of these delicious cupcakes made by my wonderful wife for our daughter’s first birthday. Who knew you could make giraffe cupcakes. Needless to say, she loved them and couldn’t get enough. 

CandyLand - December 2010 - Botanical Conservatory

I had the privilege of doing some family photos for some friends of ours last weekend at the Botanical Gardens here in Fort Wayne. They had it decorated like the CandyLand game which made for some fun backgrounds for their photos. 

This picture is me experimenting with some Lightroom techniques. 

Avery - 7 Months - December 2010

I took a similar picture of Avery at 6 weeks old. It’s such a neat experience to see how in just a short time she’s grown to covering the ottoman from edge to edge. There is something amazing about the sepia tone, the shine of the leather and the beautiful eyes working together in this image. 

This image is also one of the first I’ve edited using Lightroom. I just purchase it this week and love it so far. I’ve been using Camera RAW in Bridge and then regular Photoshop for most of my editing and thought it would be great to have something that’s a little easier to use. 

If you’ve ever used Lightroom, you quickly realize that it can turn anyone with a DSLR into a decent photographer, at least in what comes off the printer. With all the built in features and all the FREE presets you can download online, you can make a mediocre shot look pretty good. Regardless of all the features, you still need to know how to frame a shot and get the subjects to cooperate. 

I’m looking forward to learning the program more. If you have any favorite presets, leave me a comment with them. I really like one I found called “Civil War.” It was actually used on this image and then I adjusted exposure and light to get to here. 

Avery - 6 months Photos - November 2010

We did a quick photo shoot this evening in our back yard to make sure we got some pictures with the leaves and to document 6 months.

Fire Time - November 2010

We have a little fire pit in the back yard and we sure don’t use it enough. For a guy that grew up in country with what seemed like a fire all the time, you’d think I’d make this more of a priority. We had fun roasting hot dogs and enjoying the unusually warm November evening.