Ashley and Dan are getting married this month in the beautiful Bahamas!

Things didn’t work out for me to photograph Andrea and Pete’s wedding but at least we got to get together for their engagement session!

Twenty eight years ago, Monica waited for Clenton at the courthouse. He promised her he’d be there but she was starting to have doubts. The clouds looked ominous and a huge storm was coming, maybe it was a sign of things to come she thought…Despite the storm brewing and fear of the unknown, Clenton showed up that day and married Monica like he promised. He also promised her a wedding celebration worthy of their marriage some day and this year, that some day became a reality.

The Pattersons were busy during these past twenty eight years. They had five wonderful kids, started a COEBA church and touched countless lives.* They had a beautiful renewal ceremony at Carahills I with family and friends and if the hugs and smiles didn’t demonstrate the love and happiness the Patterson family and friends had for them, the testimonies people shared made sure it was very clear.* Clenton promised Monica the wedding she deserved and he made good on that promise this year. It was a blessing being a part of such a wonderful milestone in the Patterson’s lives.

*Daniel Milam shared one of the testimonies at the ceremony. He started going to the Crossroads Baptist Church as a bus kid. His testimony was touching, humorous and heartfelt. At one point, he even recalled hiding under his mom’s bed when Pastor Patterson stopped by his house to see why he hadn’t been going to church for a while (he did this after telling his mom to tell Pastor Patterson he wasn’t there)! Perhaps the best word to describe Daniel’s testimony was impactful. I say this because Monica called me a couple days after the ceremony and asked if I remembered Daniel. I immediately asked if Daniel was the man who shared the great testimony and sang a solo to which Monica said yes. Through a quivering voice, Monica told me Daniel lost his life driving home from the renewal ceremony…As a tribute to Daniel, I’ve included a couple photos of Daniel from the ceremony. It was easy to see Daniel was someone special even in such a short period of time. The bright side, is Daniel is now home in Heaven with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What’s a wet market you ask? A wet market is a traditional food market that uses a lot of water to wash the floors. Why do they need to use water to wash the floors you ask? It’s because they sell almost anything you could want (sometimes not want) to eat. In fact, the market I visited sells products to many restaurants in Bangkok so everything is super fresh. Unlike the US, most places around the world buy their food the day they plan to eat it. This means you can have things like meat and fish (and ant eggs) sitting out in 90 degree temps because no one keeps the food long enough for the nasty bacteria to develop. Appetizing is probably not the word that comes to mind when walking around the market. Frogs, ant eggs, beetles, fermented crab, raw chickens on the ground and eel were some of the tasty items being hawked at the market. I did make gumbo one night from some seafood we found at the market and I have to say, it did come out really tasty and no one had visit the bathroom multiple times within an hour. If you’re ever in Asia and get a chance to visit one, I highly recommend it. It’s a one of a kind experience and you’ll get a better appreciation for how fresh your food really can be.

I’ve been to Asia several times but this was the first time I’ve been to Southeast Asia. While some things were similar, a lot was new and different. I went to Thailand last year and what really sticks out to me is how welcome people are to having their photograph taken. Most people would smile and even wave! Compare this to other parts of the world where people would quickly walk away or drop a few choice expletives while telling me to bugger off. Thailand is flat out a beautiful place to photograph.

The first place I visited was the city of Chiang Rai. It’s a less traveled part of Thailand that has fewer tourists and it became very apparent as soon as we arrived. Fields as far as the eye could see within minutes of driving away from the airport. Occasionally a little thatch covered structure would break up the greenness of the fields (used by workers for breaks I was told) but other than that, it was truly lacking any modern construction. Don’t get me wrong, there was a mall and some strip malls, but go anywhere off the main road and you could get lost really quick. That’s probably why it took my friends and I twice as long to find our lodging than expected. If you ever do go to visit Chiang Rai, I highly recommend you stay at Lanna Thai Villa. The owner, Steve, has built a beautiful home and his wife serves up some tasty Thai vittles. We had wifi, access to a movie theater room and an amazing pool at our disposal. They really know how to take care of their guests!

The first part of the trip to Chiang Rai was a visit to the annual Rocket festival to celebrate the approaching rains which would hopefully bring plentiful harvests. The villagers gather to watch rocket builders fire off their homemade rockets. It made me laugh to think about how fireworks are illegal back home when I looked at the size of these rockets. Who cares about safety when there’s a celebration right?!?! An Asian celebration wouldn’t be complete without food obviously so there were some tasty Thai snacks available along with tasty bits like green onion sauteed crickets…mmm mmmmmmmm!

For the most part the rockets went off without a hitch and some of these things really went pretty high up there. Unfortunately one did burn up on the launch platform so a state of the art firetruck came out to extinguish the mess.

After the craziness of the Rocket festival, we visited a local textiles factory where these old ladies were weaving traditional northern Thai clothing. It was interesting seeing how colorful everything was compared to traditional Chinese clothing. (I say this as if I wear traditional Chinese clothing all the time)

Chiang Rai was quite a difference from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. The hilly scenery is beautiful and it’s easy to see how someone like Steve from Lanna Thai Villa would choose to retire here. Serene is the word that comes to mind when you see this…

We used our last day in Chiang Rai to visit some of the famous sites like the Black House and White Temple. I honestly have no clue what they’re really for since the Black House had crazy animal carcasses, skeletons and weird mummies while the White temple had a mural that had superheroes like Superman juxtaposed with the twin towers from 9-11. Oh yeah, it also had Neo from The Matrix. When you think of Superman you automatically think of 9-11 and Neo too! No wei, so did the creator of the White Temple!

In spite of the weirdness of the Black House and White Temple (maybe they’re normal and I’m weird?) I still thought Chiang Rai was a cool place to explore and gave me some memories that I’ll never forget. Here are some memories that still bring a smile / cringe to my face.

• Waking up at 4 am to hike to the top of Puh Chi Fa (the highest peak in Thailand) so that we could see a beautiful sunrise tons of fog. (See pictures below of my friend barely being visible despite only being 100 feet away)
• The kid at the parking lot of the mountain who was trying to impress some girls and almost lost his motorcycle down the side of the mountain. The screams of the girls in fear made us turn our heads quickly enough to see the boy and his friends frantically pull his motorcycle to safety. I guess you could say he likes to live dangerously?
• Owners leave their cars in neutral if they have to double park in front of a car in a normal parking spot. This is a courteous thing because it allows the driver of the blocked car to push the double parked car away from their car so they can get out. A bit of genius and a bit didn’t-quite-think-this-one-through-too-well all combined in a fascinating show when someone pushes a car out of the way. It’s kinda like the McRib in some ways.
• Auntie Ann’s snack sandwiches were provided on the plane. Who knew Auntie Ann’s was international! Almost makes me appreciate Auntie Ann’s a little more…almost. Ok, ok, I’ll admit I am a sucker for those butter drenched pretzels, but I’m not proud of it!

Billy was always the tough guy in our group of friends. He would attack bees and dare them to sting him instead of trying to avoid their sting. I guess all that manliness needed to be tempered because he and his wife Kara just added another little girl to their family. Her name is Madelyn and she’s a beauty!

Here’s to tough guys and seeing them turn into softies around their daughters. With that said, I really feel for any boys that want to date Haley and Madelyn…

Alan-Michael was the most enthusiastic groom we’ve ever seen. Some grooms get emotional and cry when they see their bride coming down the aisle. Some grooms smile and wink at their bride. Alan-Michael, pumped his fist and had a big grin like he just won the lottery. In some ways, maybe all grooms should react this way because a wife  truly is a blessing from God. Kierra is obviously that blessing for Alan-Michael and even his dad confirmed that their family got the better end of the deal because while Alan-Michael’s family got a beautiful, sweet girl like Kierra, Kierra’s family…well they got Alan-Michael.

Truth be told, Alan-Michael’s not a bad haul himself. He’s the youth pastor at Calvary Harvest in Atlanta (check out one of his messages here) and was the first groom we’ve seen sing a solo to his bride. There was not one dry eye that night…Kierra enjoys working with children and seems to be the calm to Alan-Michael’s, for lack of a better word, “enthusiasm”. I think they got a good thing going down there in Georgia.

Here’s a list of reasons why Kaylin and TJ’s wedding became one of my favorite weddings of all time.

1. They had a classic Rolls Royce pick them up from our church and drive them to Georgetown.
2. They chose to do bride & groom photos in Georgetown.
3. They grabbed cupcakes from one of our favorite bakeries (Baked and Wire) and enjoyed them on the canal.
4. 30+ German tourists went paparazzi on them as they enjoyed their cupakes.

It’s easy to create awesome photos when the bride and groom are the bees knees!

After this shoot, all children’s portrait sessions should done in empty playgrounds. This was the most fun and easiest job I’ve had in a long long time. I guess taking photos for a friend I’ve known for 25 years also makes things easy. Oh yeah, my parents started taking me to this playground when I was 7 years old. Wheaton Regional Park is the bees knees!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

I first met Brian in college. We were both friends with an interesting fella named Molk. Since college, Brian and I would catch up every once in a blue moon for Molk movie nights. Very soon, Brian started bringing a certain someone to the movie nights. That certain someone would be Laura. Not sure if it’s his uncanny resemblance to Jason Mraz when he dons his hat or his incredible kickball skills, but regardless, Laura said yes when Brian showed her the video he created to help him propose. We had fun roaming around Annapolis for this shoot. Laura and Brian even got a chance to show off their skills when they played kickball on the capitol building’s grounds because they  ignored didn’t see the sign telling visitors to stay off the grass. Oh yeah, Brian also showed off his bike riding skills.