Happy Halloween!

I celebrated Halloween last night. My dear friend Ashley and I dressed up as bags of Jelly Bellies, and I have to say this is probably my favorite costume to date, besides my Beauty and the Beast costume in '92. We went to a bonfire and I had such a great time meeting new people, seeing old friends, and singing worship songs under the stars.

I know that some believers feel Halloween is a holiday celebrating pagan traditions, but I feel this holiday can be used as a great way for God's glory. What an awesome opportunity we have as believers to share truth with people! What other holiday has masses of people walking the streets and ringing our door bells or looking for a group of people to hang out with so they can show off their creativity in costume making?

Halloween is a huge part of our American culture and the foreign exchange students here at A&M are soaking it up. We had few people at our bonfire bring students from other countries (and thus other religions;) while we were singing How Great Thou Art by the fire, I saw them watching us with curiosity. I didn't really get to talk with them, but I wonder what was going on in their heads as they saw us genuinely worshiping the one and only God we love. I wonder if they saw how we loved each other, or how we were wise with our bodies (not dressing up in the Mean Girls lingerie attire or not fulfilling the American stereotype of self-indulgent drinking,) and thought there was something different and attractive about this way of Life. I wonder if they walked away thinking, "Well that was weird," or "I'm glad I got to experience this part of American culture," or "Who is this God they seemed to love and who they claim loves them so much? How do I experience this love?" Just a few thoughts to ponder...

As I grow older, I hope Halloween will remain a fun time of pumpkin painting, costumes, candy etc... but I hope it will always be as purposeful as this one. Enjoy the pictures!

Me and Ashley in Jelly Bellies costume before we left for the party.

It was such a great surprise to see Sarah and Heather at the bonfire! It was so cold too

Sartin Family Photo Shoot

Last weekend I was supposed to take pictures for a young family at FBC Conroe. At the last minute they had to cancel, which was totally fine, because my family was able to take pictures instead (thanks to the inventions of the self timer and tripod.) I'm pretty sure our last complete family photo was taken my freshman year of college in 2007... so were due for an update.
I wanted a nature backdrop, so we found this place behind the Old Navy/Kohls strip center on I-45. Little did I realize that in order to get to it, we would have to trek down a hill, avoid hidden fire-ant beds, and get pricked by thorn bushes.
We had a great time taking these, but in the future, I will avoid a such a terrain when I'm the photographer and part of the photo... and maybe one day, Jackson will actually smile...

Self Portraits

I hate taking pictures of myself.
Now that probably makes no sense due to the fact that I take a picture a day every day of myself and roommate. Let me explain, I love taking pictures and don't mind being in them, but I hate hate hate taking self portraits. I feel it's a bit narcissistic.
But I made a light reflector out of foil and cardboard because this weekend I'm family taking pictures for a friend and her husband and daughter. Naturally, I tested it out on myself and here are the results... I decided after looking these over, I don't really hate self portraits. No, my complexion isn't clear, my right eye is bigger than my left, my hair is a mess and my eyebrows look a bit uneven. But we aren't made to be perfectly symmetrical. I don't believe in mathematical beauty. This is me, with all of my imperfections. And I like it :)

Fun Photo of the Week

As Bailey and I were walking back to my car after taking Picture 46 of our 365 project, something caught my eye near my feet. I paused, grabbed my camera and snapped this picture. It kind of reminded me of Charlotte's Web.

Distractions and Intimacy

I haven't written on here in a while; the other blog has been a bit of a fun distraction.

Bailey and I have had so much fun taking the pictures and getting feedback from others about it. It makes us both so happy when friends come up to us and say, "We love your pictures!" or, "You haven't posted anything in a few days." I'm no photographer as I've said in the past, just a girl who loves taking pictures and being creative with a camera, so to those of you keep up with the blog, thanks for your encouragement!

Recently a friend opened a new outlet for picture-taking for me: worship. She put together a women's worship night called Intimacy where hundreds of college girls came just to sing and dance in the name of the Lord, it was so sweet of her allow me to worship him in my own way as well. However, I'm going to be honest: as beautiful and amazing as it is to witness so many young women intimately worshiping God, I wasn't (and may never be) comfortable with taking pictures of them individually and interrupting their moment in His presence. You'll notice as I share some of the pictures I took, there are very few individual shots of girls. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time learning more about picture taking and lighting, playing with my tripod, and watching girls gather in the name of our God and King. Enjoy :)