Our big scare...

Last night, we're sound asleep, it's 3:45am. All of a sudden, the whole house shakes. "Big crash!" as my son would say. I jump out of bed and look out the window to see a truck backing out of our front yard. I wake my wife up, get dressed and run downstairs. As I look out the window, the truck, which had backed onto the street, was trying to drive away. I ran outside to get a license number before he got away, but the truck won't go anywhere. It's dead. The driver slowly climbs out and starts looking at his truck. I run to the back of the truck to get the license number, but later realize that I would never had remembered it, I'm still half asleep and the other half was all adrenaline. The driver starts telling me I don't need to call anyone, it's cool, no big deal. He starts walking away, but then comes back to tell me again not to call anyone.

The driver by the way is some kid in his early 20's with midlength hair, talking with either a slur or slow southern drawl. The plates are from Georgia Tech University. The truck is a smaller Chevy S-10 with a bed cover. It was a nice truck, before last night.

The damage, thankfully, was to a tree right on the corner of our house. Not the house itself, he missed the house by about 6 inches. The tree is pretty big, 60 some ft tall and about a 12 to 16 inches wide. He hit it pretty square in the front of his truck.

Right about then a cop comes flying down the road. The cop asks the kid if he's been drinking and he said, "well, sortof, I mean yeah, but no." The cop asked, "No?" The kid responded with, "I was earlier but this has nothing do with that. I was just showing off, er, screwing around and lost control". The cop decides to do a field sobriety test as it was obvious the kid was on something. The cop also had a breathalizer and the kid blew over .10. So he was arrested for a DWI.

The neighbor across the street was awake at the time of the crash. She couldn't sleep and was watching TV right by where the accident happened. She looked out right after and saw a second guy jump out of the passenger side and start yelling at the driver. "Look what you did, what did you do? God dammit, what did you do?" He then took off between the houses. I never saw him.

So the neighbor guy and I are walking around checking out the damage and I start taking pictures for insurance as the crime scene crew shows up and starts taking their own photos. This freaks my wife out a bit as the kid is still in the cop car watching me take pictures. She doesn't want either of these kids coming back because they got in trouble. But I wanted photos for the insurance company if this tree needs to come down. It's right outside my daughters window and we don't want another big storm to come through and put it through the roof.

So after about an hour, it was all over. The kid was brought to jail, the crime scene crew wrapped it up, tow truck came and got the car. My wife and I are wide awake at 5 am and laying in bed. I guess fell back asleep for a little while, and I think my wife did too, but we had to be up at 7 for work and awake kids. Gonna be a long day.

Alecia and Andy

Talk about beautiful!! Everything was beautiful, the bride, the dress, the bridesmaids, the setting, and yes even you boys looked pretty darn good!!

It was hot, hot, hot. But everyone could not have be more than happy to share the day with Alecia and Andy. The event was up in the Brainerd Lakes area at the Grandview Lodge. Gorgeous.

The day started out with the formals of the wedding party. It was warm, to say the least, so I tried keeping everyone in the shade. The ladies got to enjoy the water a bit when I put them in the water for a few shots. I don't think they wanted to get out!!

The wedding went off with out a problem, other than the fact that some of the guests (and one wedding party member) weren't lucky enough to be in the shade. Immediately after the ceremony, the wedding party headed out on the lake for a pontoon ride. I managed to talk the staff of Grandview into taking me for a quick ride in the ski boat to get some shots of the festivities. Not only did I get some great shots, but also got to cool off in the process!

The reception was great too, I could tell this was a group who came to have a good time. And they didn't let me down. The dance photos will prove that.

All in all, it was a great day. Thank you Alecia and Andy for letting me be a part of it. Congratulations again.

Engagements x 3

On Saturday I had three engagement sessions in a row. It was a beautiful day and I think we got some great shots of all three couples.

Amanda and Joe were first up. We met at the Hard Rock and did some wandering. They are a young couple looking to finish up school and get out in the real world. We'll that's all relative with Joe's chosen path, Computer Animation. Look for him on some award shows in a few years with an Oscar for best animation for a major motion picture.




Next up was Sarah and Ryan. I've been working with their wedding coordinator Valorie who seems to be a big help planning their wedding with them. After finally meeting and getting to know Sarah and Ryan, I think their wedding is going to be a blast. Can you say PARTY BOOTH!!




The last shoot of the day was Catherine and John. Neither of them felt too comfortable in front of the camera - at first. Then I got my hooks in 'em and they loosened up a bit. And by the time we finished, I think John is ready for that male modeling contract in Europe. Work it!!

Christina and Michael

Christina and Michael wanted a smaller wedding in the outdoors. Little did they know it was going to be so hot. We all made it without anyone passing out and had a beautiful wedding in the process.

The ceremony was at the Centennial Lakes pavilion and the reception was at the Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown. Both sites were fantastic for photos and we got some great shots. Here are few photos and follow the link below for more.

More photos < are here. >

Engagements

More engagements downtown. Karin and Brad weren't the most comfortable with the camera following their every move, but they better get use to it with their wedding only a month or so away. Actually, it only took them a little while to forget about me and they started to relax. Once they did, we got some great shots. It should be a fun wedding and I'm looking forward to it.

Jessica and Josh

UPDATE: More photos to preview < here >

This was an awesome day. Jessica and Josh were so great, and their wedding party was just as fun. We had a gorgeous day and the venues were spectacular. The ceremony was at the St. Paul Cathedral. If you haven't been there, you should see it. It's breathtaking. The reception was at the Carlson Towers and they seem to always put on a great reception. This was no exception.

Overall, we got some great shots and I was glad to be part of the day.

Thanks again, Jessica and Josh!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

So if I haven't returned your emails or phone calls lately, I apologize. Things have gotten a whole lot busier the past week with the arrival of our second child, Lauren Jane. She was born on May 30th and was 8 lbs. 13 oz. and 21" long. She's doing great and so is mom. People questioned who Gavin looked more like, his mom or dad. Well, no question with Lauren, SHE LOOKS LIKE HER DADDY!! And Gavin is doing great with her too. He wants to hold her all the time, but then gets bored right away and goes off to play. As long as he still gets plenty of attention, I think he'll do just fine.

Both Amy and I are tired (Amy more than me), but everyone is doing great. If you're interested in seeing more photos, let me know and I will send you a link.