morning. Each Monday will consist of a short lesson aimed at helping our community. I encourage you to study these words and please share them with other photographers, friends, and family.

First, I would love to share one of my favorite songs with you. “Slow down time” by Jeremy Camp.

Take a step back to remember an amazing moment. Any great shoot, wedding, time with those you love. Possibly it was a time with your friends whom you care for the most. During this time, did you take any time to invite God to be with you? Ask Him how to live, what to say?  When you ask Him this, you will feel even more joy during this experience of  complete amazement.

Psalm 16:11

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Between the busy moments of the day, I always take a moment to thank God for everything he has blessed me with in this day. Take a moment to thank the Lord, reflect on what you have been blessed with. Mentally step away from all the hustle life brings each of us. The truth is, we spend very little time with God.  We speed back up and move on. Imagine how good it would feel to step away with God for an hour of the day. We always will feel more peace when we live it out.

Surround yourself with worship songs, books, the Bible, and friends that offer encouragement. Take the time to walk more in these moments.   Wherever you walk, you will be surrounded by peace, joy, and  love. I always play a few worship songs on the way to a meeting, followed by a prayer,  asking the Lord to bless the words that speak from my soul, so that I may help another life.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

In these times that we do or do not ask God to become more in tune with our lives, don’t worry. Phillipians 4:6 tells us not to worry and to give everything to God through prayer. Jesus suffered through pain, losing friends, feeling lost and away from God. You can give anything and everything to Him. Let God move through your prayer and work inside your soul to take all worries away. I love the feeling I receive some mornings where I give it all to God. The slow down moment I feel during these times is incredible because I know I am deeper with the Lord,  nothing can harm me, and I will have more joy.  You will have more peace, you will speak stronger words. We all know it’s impossible to actually slow down clocks on earth. The time you spend with Jesus will feel as if no time has passed, and every second becomes a day in the hands of the Lord.

If you feel you are lost when trying to find  time for devotion, then you have too much going on and that prevents you from experiencing the fulfilled life Jesus promises us. Look into your business and your life and see what things currently hold you back. If you were to delete that piece, hand it off to another person… then would you have some free time to devote to the alone time with Jesus?  The time spent  slows down moments. As a result of that time we will experience a better life that gives us so much more than we could ever ask for.

If you need prayer on anything related to this, please drop one into the comments and someone who reads this will be sure to lift prayer up for you.

God Bless You

For a while now, I’ve been hearing about these “Photog Shootout’s“. The concept is amazing.   A group of photographers sign up to attend a large photo shoot. You’ve got hot models, great photographers, a few amazing speakers, and the perfect opportunity to network to your core!

A few weeks ago, I was having an amazing time hearing one of my favorite San Diego Local Bands, Switchfoot at the electric event that is the Del Mar Fair. I must have just checked Twitter at the perfect moment! That’s just another reason why Twitter is so great, you can check on anything in the world and find answers and opportunities! I’ve been following the Photog Shootout Twitter since the end of WPPI 2009. They started throwing out questions that I knew the answers to. At tha moment I had no clue what I was entering! The question was, “Who is the publisher of the popular photography book Fast Track Photographer, by incredible Orange County Photographer Dane Sanders? ” For some wild reason the answer popped into my head. I wrote back within seconds… “Random House Publishers“!! I was then emailed a special invite by my now good friend Rob “The Ninja” Nicholson to attend this Shoot-Out.

A few weeks later as I started to anticipate what could happen at this event, I was invited to lunch with Rob! I was then told that the amazing photographer, speaker, and  community leader, Jasmine Star, would be speaking along with another amazing photographer duo, Michael + Anna Costa! I could not believe it! I was going to be shooting with Jasmine Star & The Costas!

The event came about and I enjoyed every minute of it! There was a large mix of photographers, from brand new business owners to incredible leaders we all look up to.

The day started with an incredible talk from Jasmine Star. Then, all 50 lucky photographers joined into groups that were teaching topics from lighting and relaxed portraiture to superb branding styles. Each group was given a fabulous leader and a few models. This event was the perfect time to try out your new lens, flash or camera. The end of the night came to a close with a very inspiring talk with Santa Barbara Photographers, Michael + Anna Costa.

I will admit… We were all given an amazing opportunity to shoot these amazing models. The way I looked at the day, it was a giant playground waiting to be messed with! In the total of 3 hours shooting, everyone was given the chance to do whatever they decided to shoot. For the entire final hour of shooting, I ended up talking with Jasmine’s great husband, JD. We decided to run away for a little while to talk about Branding, Shooting, travel and the amazing power of Showit Sites.

In between the inspiring conversations that were shared with so many amazing photographers, I was able to run to each group and take a few shots! Here a few of my favorites!

Thank You so much to Troy Grover & his beautiful fiance Aimee for becoming such incredible models!

A special Thank You needs to be delivered to Shoot Dot Edit, Hanssie Tranior, Matthew Saville & Rob Nicholson for making such an amazing event happen!

Within the recent weeks, the San Diego Wedding season is picking up. Life is becoming heavier with the love that is photography. It has been so much fun working with this amazing industry. As a photographer, there needs to be an appreciation for the amazing techniques that mix art within science. There is an immense love that digs within the heart of my camera that has been calling me to doing an edgy bridal shoot in the fields of Julian. I have been listening to the call and looking into the many ideas that rang through my thinking cap. Then it hit me… I have never been to Julian! The stories I have heard of the famous Julian pie from Mom’s pie shop in Julian to the one street town.

I called my friends Haley Montgomery who I recently photographed. Haley is becoming widely known for her amazing acoustic guitars mixed with the soul vibes of her amazing voice. I then called up a few more friends. I explained the deep desire I had to escape the business of Americas Finest City, San Diego. I only wanted to escape for one day. My goal was to take only my camera, reflector a few friends & use my good friend “Mr. Natrual Light” aka- The Sun!

We had so much fun working together. There were times that we drove out so far that we ended up in wide open fields, this gave us an amazing opportunity to gaze at how amazing God’s creation is along with working as a team to create amazing images.

I am now a huge fan of Mom’s Pie Shop with their amazingly famous fresh Chicken Pot Pies, Apple Pies & Fresh Squeezed Lemonade! I will return to Julian very, very soon!