Empty Inbox

I've been working towards this goal for months now. Today is the day. For the first time since I started this particular email account in 2008, my inbox is empty. I never expect to see a sight like this again. Besides knowing that the majority of you would send me another pointless email just to spite me, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. 

Thorsten in Indiana

About a month ago a young man from Berlin came to visit on his vacation. Thorsten works for a conservative publication in Berlin and he also attends a church pastored by friends of ours. He came to the United States on his personal vacation time to study American politics, but specifically to answer the question: How does one live out their faith in the political arena? 

Though he later continued to Washington D.C. and New York, he started his adventure here in Indiana. I was able to follow him through Indianapolis for a day in December, where I got to witness those meetings first hand.

He was somewhat of a young William Wilberforce from Berlin, really. I'm sure they are the questions that all Christians in such a position must ask themselves, however, this question was so sincere in Thorsten's mind that he spent his vacation interviewing journalists, politicians, and news reporters to gain perspective.

talking with Lani Czarniecki

talking with Bill Smith

It was such a pleasure to be able to sit in on those meetings and gain a good dose of perspective as well. Having lunch and diner with him on more than one occasion also gave me a window into his character and contagious passion.

meeting with Curt Smith

Lunch at First Watch, Thorsten loved American burgers and this was his first time trying a Reuben

meeting with Russ Pulliam

He's now back in Germany interning at a Christian magazine.

Headshots - Beth and Emily

We had a quick little shoot a few days ago to furnish new head shots for Beth and Emily of Lark's Song. Sometimes, its okay to use your model as your lighting stand in. If you do, you just might end up getting some fun shots like this:

Filmonaut XVII

Well, I've got quite a number of catch up rolls in here. As you can tell, some of these are from the the summer and some are from a couple weeks ago. I must have gotten the order mixed up somewhere along the line... Though they are nice to see when it is so frigid these days. I just got 5 more rolls of Ilford in the mail yesterday so I'll be shooting a lot more 120 before you see the next album. Also, I'll be working on attaining a medium format that I can use said 120 in so that I can have a little more control than I've had with the Holga I've been shooting all the other medium format shots on. We shall see how that search pans out. 

The dogs in these shots belong to the Wise's from my shoot with Olive back in August. The shots of me have been taken by my wife (isn't she just getting better and better?). 

About half way down you'll see some shots from a particularly exciting visit to Ned and Sarah's. Not only did we visit Sarah's second coffee shop and eat lunch at Tom and Chee, but I also  got to explore Louisville's Hackerspace, LVL 1. Just in case you are wondering about the "undead inside" door, I'll write a separate post about that sometime soon with some additional material. This additional material may or may not contain iPhone panoramas and detailed blueprints of their floor space. 

 There's another version of my favorite shot from Beth and MJ's shoot in December, which was my first time free lensing with a film camera. I'm sure I'll be doing that more often.

I was able to take Caleb and the fam to the airport on his way back to basic training as well, so you'll see some of him and his girlfriend Karsyn as well.

What say you to a physical Filmonaut book? Would there be any takers? MJ and I are concepting such a project and are curious as to what kind of reception it might receive...