A few days ago my little family headed up to Dallas to buy one of those new fangled iPads.  My kids took to them right away and I’m pretty sure we’ll be looking to add another one to the family soon.  (Add an iPad, not a kid.)

One of the fancy features is that you can buy books on it.  It has a real pretty and shiny bookshelf looking thing on it.

I don’t really read, but I do have two books on it.  The Winnie the Pooh one came with it and I’ve been reading it to my kids at night.  The second, is a book called Stuff Christians Like. (Here is an Amazon.com link to the old fashion paper copy of the book for those of you without iPads.) It’s a book that pokes fun at Christians and some of the things we believe or think we believe and covers such great topics like…

“Making sure everyone knows your fiance’ isn’t living with you.”

A little known fact about me is that I used to be a “Super Baptist”.  When I lived in Houston my family went to the biggest Baptist church in the city, once we moved to Palestine, the church was smaller, but still the biggest we could find. :)  Since then a few things have changed and some have not.  I no longer attend the biggest Baptist Church I can find, but I do still enjoy making fun of Christians…  in a happy fun way.  I am and have been a “Christian” for most of my life.  The longer you “are” something the harder it is to think in terms on not being that.  Jonathan Acuff runs a little site called Stuff Christians Like and it’s one of my favorite stops every morning.

Anyway, he is running a little contest/game on his site and requested a few other blogs to link to his.  Mine was chosen so here is the info for those of you coming from his site.

The “Is that contestant on American Idol a Christian Scorecard”

7. The contestant is a former worship leader = – 3 points

Those of you coming to my site for stunning beautiful breathtaking imagery… scroll down a bit more. :)

Thursday is “Move That Bus” day.  If there is any way possible, you should to head out to Mineola, TX for the big reveal.  Everyone will be parking at the Wal-Mart in Mineola and get shuttled from there.  You will want to get there by 10:00AM-ish if you hope to get on TV.  The actual reveal will be around NOON and you won’t want to miss it.  Visit KLTV for more info.

See you there.

AlexM

Has anyone heard anything about Extreme Makeover Home Edition coming to Mineola??? I’m kidding.  It’s probably ALL you have heard about for the past few days, so you may already be sick of the whole thing.  But, for those of you who are interested in more, I have had an inside look at this whole thing for a little while now.

I was contacted a few weeks ago about doing some behind the scenes shooting for when EMHE would be filmed.  I jumped at the chance and could not wait to get started.  This also led to me being able to photograph the Carr family before they went on vacation.  The show likes to do some family portraits so they have tons of images to fill up the new house.  (That is a crazy blog post with a story all of it’s own that I’ll tell you about later.)

It has been a blast being “on set” the past few days and here are just a few of the shots I’ve captured.

Anyway, if you want to find out more and learn about this amazing little family, you should go to the Bayless Construction website.  They are the builders heading up the project.  You can also view a live feed of the construction here.

Oh…. I guess the main reason you stuck with the post was because you were hoping to see a photo of Ty right?  Here is a shot of him right after they showed up and told the Carr’s they were getting a new house.

Happy Tuesday everyone. Today’s post is “slightly” off topic. It’s not wedding related, and it’s not related to my family. “What else could there possibly be?”, you ask yourself? Design! That’s right. One thing I have found is that many of my couples are into design. Some are graphic designers, some photographers, some interior designers. (Can’t wait to meet you and do your session, Heather!) So, I thought I would share one of my new found favorite sites to visit.

We all stare at computers anywhere from 3-10 hours a day. Why not make that desktop wallpaper a bit more interesting? Here is a great site that has some deliciously clean and stylish images. Sometimes I’ll let the kids come in and pick one and that’s what I use for the day. (Sara leans heavily towards the pink one and stuck me with this one day.) Other times I’ll take a 5 minute break from editing just to look them all over again and pick something that “fits” my mood. (This is my current one.)

So, ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I give you, Simple Desktops.

AlexM

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One thing that a lot of “cool” wedding photographers do is post stuff on their blog that other wedding photographers are interested in. I really like to keep my site “bride-centric” but I do have a post that might benefit both bride and fellow photographers.

A question that I get asked form time to time is “Do you back up your images?” Of course the answer is yes, but I thought it would be nice to share with you you just how obsessive I am about keeping your images safe and backed up.

Before we get rolling though, let me offer this quick disclaimer: No photographer can guarantee that nothing will happen to your images, memory cards go bad, camera’s break, things get stolen. What we can do is take as many steps as possible to protect and safeguard your images to give you the best shot at never losing them. OK, on to the steps…

Step 1: Take and amazing image. Sometimes this step takes me a few tries. ;)

Step 2A: Put memory card in super secure waterproof, crush proof case in my pocket. This thing is crazy tough. It’s the best protection you can get in a memory card holder. (Amazon Link)

Step 2B: Copy cards to notebook computer at wedding. My couples that do a First Look at their wedding also get a slideshow of their wedding images set up during the reception so I already have them backed up to my notebook at this point! Here is a great shot of Kim at the Villa di Felicita in Tyler ignoring her 200 plus guests while she looks at some of her wedding photos. (WHOOP!)

Step 3: Copy images to my computer in my office.

Step 4: Copy images to multiple DVD.  I take these to my safety deposit box at the bank. I’ll be honest, I totally felt like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible while I snuck this photo inside the vault.

Step 5: Copy images to back up hard drive in my house.

Step 6: Sleep. I don’t sleep until I have backed up your images and they are in 3 places.
(A photo of me with my eyes closed and drool coming out the side of my mouth seemed inappropriate to blog)

Step 7: Edit images

Step 8: Copy edited images to DVD & take them to the bank. (I was too scared to try and take more photos inside the bank vault.)

Step 9: Upload final wedding images to a computer in California.
(That’s right, way far away from here, that way if Palestine gets nuked, you’ll feel safe knowing I have backed up your images in another state.)

Step 10: Delete original images from memory card.
I don’t delete the images form the card until I am completely finished editing your wedding. That way I am as “safe” as possible when it comes to backing up.

I’m sure this may seem like overkill to some, but if you are a bride then I hope this gives you some peace of mind and if you are a photographer I can’t encourage you enough to make multiple copies and back up your images.