GLASSES UP!

The New Family / Tagum, Mindanao, Philippines / January 2014

This is the new extension to my family. It's crazy. Both families are loud and proud. It was a night that I'll never forget. I miss them already.

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BEFORE SHE SAID "I DO"

Chateau Del Mar / Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines / January 3, 2014

Before I had set foot in the church to devote my life to my now wife I decided to take a self portrait with the best men and the groomsmen. The theme of the wedding was cobalt blue with a little touch of some high fashion. I didn't realize that I framed the camera where my head cuts off from the frame. But looking at it for a bit the composition sits well with me. I take a lot of self portraits and this was by far one of the unique ones I've taken.

If you noticed the look among the guys this is what it felt like before the wedding. We were all pretty stressed out at that point.

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ROLL CALL - DECEMBER

It's been a crazy year for me and my friends/family. A lot of what I dealt with had placed me to the position I'm in today. I'm more content than I've ever been. I'm now an AAU graduate and a married man. I have my BFA Degree in photography and am now with the person I've been with for almost five years. Crazy.

This was the last month of the ROLL CALL series. This project helped me understand the limitations of using a crappy P&S camera with one roll of film. It helped me document the important things of what was happening in the surroundings I was in. It taught me a lot about myself allowing the camera to direct toward me. It's interesting looking at the images I chose to shoot and how they lay out in the entries.

So, this year I'm not focused on doing any projects other than the ones I had kept in the backseat for a couple of years. My project this year is to do some rearranging and get these images online for clients to see. I'm looking for big things this year so let's see what happens in the months to come.

Thank you 2013. You were pretty shitty, but in the end you were alright.

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THE CONTINUED THANKS

I can't even begin to tell you the amount of crazy happenings that have occurred over the past few weeks. Yes, I did get married. Yes, my wife put a ring on it. And yes, I'm now a husband. But this isn't necessarily a post about how I got married and such. More like a post that talks about opportunity.

And that's just it. Since being in the Philippines and being around new and old family I've gotten a good sense of where most of my personality stems from. Of course, with most of my cousins that reside in the P.I. it's a bit frustrating when you have language barriers. I don't speak tagalog and maybe I should start now. Maybe it is time for me to finally realize how important it is to learn the native language.

I say opportunity in the fact that I want to learn new things this year. Maybe to step back and learn what I've seen in the another country. To find ways to go back and see my family. Possibly make essays about the life of the P.I. Today I will attempt to develop a couple of rolls of film that I've shot there. From there I will scan and present you guys something that I've experienced my time away. If anything though... it was indeed one of the best things that happened in my life. And I'm sure if any of you could experience what I've experienced then you would know the beauty of it all.

I'm happy to be back. But I'm sad I'm away.

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I GOT MARRIED THE OTHER DAY

So, if you guys are wondering what's been happening I had gotten married with my newly wedded wife. I didn't think this day would come, but this is certainly something I will remember for the rest of my life. I'm currently in the Philippines (Tagum) hanging out and just resting up. I got sick for some fucking reason, but I sort of expected that to happen. I don't have much access to internet at this time and to be honest it's been quite nice. I'm just shooting a lot and just anticipating my return to the states. In the next few weeks I'll be doing a lot of reworking of the blog. Until then... see you guys and Happy New Year.

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