Let's start a revolution...

That's right folks, I have seen the "light." Cory and I have been thinking and talking and we made our decision. A couple of weeks ago, we bought a Mac, er, let me clarify that, we bought a Mac daddy. Wow. That's all that I can say. 10 Minutes out of the box, I was happy. It starts up fast. It shuts down fast. It access the internet with blazing speed and edits photos at a pace that makes you want to shout "RAPIDO" in your best hispanic accent. Oh, and did I mention that it's fast? The backlit keyboard feels like it has snuggled up to may hands like an old glove that I had lost and now is found again. Cory and I decided that if we wanted to deliver a pro level of service to our clients, that we needed pro equipment and the ability to post process and give my images a nice digital massage before giving them to my clients. Bill Blakey Photography is stepping up.

I got the 23" Apple Cinema Display. Let me tell you, moving from my laptop screen to this monitor is like going from a playground jungle gym to Disneyland, from a charred hamburger to a filet mignon, from a shower in a bucket to the Amazon Rain Forest Shower, like staying at the Colonial Motel in Long Beach to the Ritz in Half Moon Bay. Oh yeah, it's like that.

This baby takes the Olympia Report Deluxe Electric (Report-as in gunshot) down to Chinatown.

I am very thankful that I was able to get the 15 inch Mac Book Pro and let me just say, I like Apple. It seems as if every product that they have come out with in the last few years has been stellar. Quality company. Quality products. I'm in. I hope to be showing you guys some great things here in the future. Stay tuned...

A couple from the wedding yesterday

One of the flower girls named Molly.  A-dorable.

Congrats again Lisa and Steven!  We had such a fun time at your wedding and hope you guys are having a marvelous drive up the coast!

Alright, Cory and I are off to see Batman!  I'll let you know how it is!

Oh yeah, big things are coming...

2 Posts -1 Week- that's crazy!

That's right folks, two, count 'em two posts this week (so far) and the week isn't over stuff.  There are some cool things that I am up to right now since the busyness of camp season has calmed down for me.  And I will be sharing them with you soon!

Weekends are a bit different for me since my wife has been working.  What does she do, you might ask?  Well, she is a RN at the uber-fabulous Loma Linda University Children's Hospital!  She has been working there for almost six months in the Intermediate ICU for pediatrics.  I was able to go visit her work with her a couple of weeks ago and it is pretty sweet!  The kids there seem really cool and she really enjoys getting to help kids and families during some tough times.

But since she has been working, her schedule has been a little all over the place due to the fact that she is the low woman on the proverbial totem pole over there.  So last weekend, I had a Saturday all alone because she was working.  It turned out to be an ok day though due to the fact I got to meet up with my brothers at In-n-Out and then I headed down to North San Diego county.

I went down to North County due to the fact I needed to get my guitar fixed.  I am leading worship in the main service this coming weekend at Northpoint Church and needed to get the pickup on my guitar fixed for that.  I bought my Taylor acoustic guitar at probably the coolest guitar store I know of- Buffalo Brother's Guitars.  

That's right, when you are driving down El Camino in Carlsbad, look for the big chicken on the roof.

For those of you who don't know acoustic guitars that well, there are two big dogs in the industry.  Taylor and Martin.  Most guitar stores that you go to will have a few Martins and a few Taylors on the wall, and then a lot of other brands that are less expensive and not quite as good in my opinion.  I remember the first time that I walked into Buffalo Brothers and was blown away by the fact that they have a Taylor guitar wall as well as a Martin guitar wall.  Pretty impressive stuff.

I was also pretty impressed with the way the repair technician James handled my service.  (If you are ever needing to get an acoustic guitar repaired, call up Buffalo Brothers and ask for James).  My pickup (the part that converts the natural sound inside the guitar into an electrical form so that you can plug the guitar in and play it over amplified speakers) wasn't working and I went into the day thinking that I would have to be making another trip down to North San Diego the next weekend to pick up the guitar after it was done getting serviced.  However, after I began to speak to James and tell him my problem, he started looking at it right away.  

He disappeared in the back for a few minutes and then 10 minutes later returned, told me that a he had replaced my power supply (which was the problem), that I was good to go and that it was a warranty repair so I didn't have to pay a dime!  There is just something about good service that makes me happy.  I'll definitely be going back to Buffalo Brothers in the future.

That's also the level of service that I'm striving to offer at Bill Blakey Photography.  One of the many things I like my photography and business is that I really want to give each of my clients a personal interaction and service to make sure that they are satisfied with the photographs and experience that they receive!

And what would be a trip to North San Diego county without some pictures of flowers and Strawberry fields!

Have a great Monday everyone!

The Dalton's

Rewind to four years ago.  That was in my senior year of college when I became good friends with a guy on my wing named Travis.  Fast forward to two weeks ago.  Travis got married.

You may remember these two from their engagement session.

Wow!  That is all I can say about the wedding.  It was so cool to see Travis and Katy separate before the wedding and the excitement that they had and then to see the joy they had at seeing each other was awesome!  (I think they kind of like each other).  The got married at the Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn in Glendale and I have to say that the chapel and the grounds were beautiful.

I brought a proverbial "team" of photographers with me to this wedding (perhaps more on that later) and we had a blast.  We were blessed with some great light and I am SO excited about these pictures!

Mr. and Mrs. Dalton- thanks again!  Enjoy your additional reception trip and I'll look forward to talking with you guys soon!

Katy, looking excited to get married.

The World Famous Red Shoes.  And I do mean world famous.

The guys took getting ready pretty seriously.

I really liked this one of Katy and her dad.

The men.

The Ladies.

Picture of one flower girl practically carrying the other down the aisle- Priceless.

I have been told that the Daltons enjoy black and white kissing pictures.

Travis and Katy first met in Pakistan and those themes totally were brought into the wedding.  It was so cool!

The toast.  It was really cool to see how much Katy meant to her sister.

Just one of the bride and groom for now!

Have a great Saturday evening!

Resolved

A few weeks ago...I feel like most of my blog posts start with that line. I'm going to work on that. Anywho, a few weeks ago Cory and I went to this year's Resolved Conference in Hot Springs, er... Palm Springs. Wow, was it hot. It was a great thing that we were inside for pretty much all day every day because it was crazy outside.

Cory and Beth excited to get in on the action. Everyone wants to get in on a Bill Blakey photo... Vinoj, looking stately as usual... Scott fantasizing on what hold he would put his opponent in to get the triangle... Every morning we went to the Coffee Bean for breakfast and devos. The line was WAY shorter than Starbucks and Coffee Bean was serving the Ice Blended Mocha. Easy choice. Finley looking stately as well...

Garrett sporting the shades... Ken, Beth and the Baby enjoying breakfast... Waiting for a session to get started... Ken, enamored with the technology. He may be getting his own soon.... C.J. Mahaney, he brought it. Twice.

It was cool to hang out as well with John Spring... Here is Jenni chirping some of her pictures to Vinoj... Yeah, there were lots of lights.... The stage area was pretty sweet...

Vinoj and Jenni John Piper. The evening sessions were scheduled at 6pm and 8pm so that didn't leave us much time to chow down. Scott was nice enough to go grab some food each night and we would rush outside and scarf in between sessions. Melissa and Jenni talking photography...

Cory and Melissa John Piper. The crowd I had to shoot through to get the shot of John Piper. Randy Alcorn. Rick Holland.

Steve Lawson. John MacArthur. Ryan Adams. C.J. and John, chatting it up between sessions... As were C.J. and John.

Cory and I had a great time at this year's conference and have been thinking about a lot of things a result. Even though the weather was incredibly hot, we had a blast at the conference and were super glad that we were able to go. It was a great time to be refreshed and challenged spiritually.