Happy New Year

This holiday season, I (along with over 500 other photographers) participated in the Giving is Awesome cause. Giving is Awesome is about giving custom photography to someone who deserves it but can't afford it. My donation was $1000 of custom photography to one lucky family this season. The giving was the easy part as the choosing part proved to be much more difficult.

With some outside help, I finally chose my recipient yesterday, and it was very hard. I wish I could have chosen each family, but I had to limit it to one. The recipient is a father of four and grandfather of three who just celebrated his 60th birthday. He was nominated by his daughter whose tribute to her father brought tears to my eyes. His story is private, not one to be shared in such a public place but it is moving and I look forward to creating cherished portraits for this entire family.

Thank you for everyone who participated. I intend to offer a similar give away next year. I believe strongly in giving back and I donate photography services to worthy organizations all year long.

As we start 2009, I've been doing a lot of reflecting on my year in photography including putting together a compilation of my favorite photos from 2008 - another very difficult decision. I have favorite photos from every session I do and it just isn't possible to include them all in a 3 minute slide show. Click here for a slide show of the favorites of the favorites The Best of 2008. It will take a minute or so for the show to load.