Published!!
I am SOOO excited that one of my images is featured
on the cover of this month’s EventDV magazine, the leading
industry magazine and resource for event
filmmakers! I took this photo at the In[Focus] Event in Austin, Texas
this past January. It was an incredible event that
brought the industry’s most creative and
innovative leaders from around the world together
in one place. It was amazing to sit at a table
over dinner with some of the filmmakers who have
inspired me the most and who I consider my “film
heroes!” And the coolest thing? Not only did I get
to meet them in person and learn from them, but I
now call many of them my friends!
I love that Steve Nathans-Kelly, editor of
the magazine, chose this particular image because
it features the AMAZING Ron Dawson of Dare Dreamer Media, who kicked off
the conference with one of the most inspiring
presentations I have experienced.
It also features one of the In[Focus] co-founders,
the beloved Julian St. Pierre of Studio Vieux Carre, located in the
French Quarter of New Orleans. I got to meet
Julian last August in Dallas when Patrick Moreau,
Kevin Shahinian, and Michael
Wong held a one day seminar, sponsored by
In[Focus]. Sadly, Julian passed away suddenly in
November. He and his wife Terry and son Joe, along
with Chris Jones of Mason Jar Films and Don Pham of
Take 1 Productions, worked
tirelessly planning this highly anticipated event.
Julian was an inspiration to so many in our
industry, as well as to everyone who had the
pleasure of meeting him. He is GREATLY missed.
Presenters included:
Ron Dawson, William Gaff, David Perry, Steve and Laura Moses, Loyd Calomay, Mark and Trisha Von Lanken,
Chris P. Jones, Patrick and
Konrad of Still-Motion, Joe Simon, Matt Davis, and Ray Roman.
Some of my favorite
images from the week:
It was great to reunite with friends! Here, Raymond Vega from Puerto Rico
gives Terry Taravella a big “hello
again” hug!
Chris P. Jones of
Mason Jar Films taking a minute
for Mac.
David Perry shows how easy it
is to overcome obstacles with the help of Chris McClain
David Perry’s
presentation included a very special guest to show
how important it is to make real connections with our
clients. It moved many of us emotionally, including
my sweet friend Joanna Banks-Morgan.
And of course there were
toys to play with!! Eric Kmetz and Stewart Smith are checking out
some Canon goodness here!
Loyd Calomay wowed us with his
3D presentation - well, it was more like he teased
us with the idea of a 3d presentation!
Ahh, the Von Lankens got Von Real! I
loved their “how-to” demonstrations! Especially
the one on how to know when too much is TOO MUCH!
My favorite magazine
editor, Steve Nathans-Kelly
I shared a table with
Rodrigo Zapico from Brazil!
Such a nice person!
Nearly three years ago, I
stumbled upon the Still-Motion Blog and my view of
wedding filmmaking changed forever! This is Patrick Moreau and it was so
cool to meet him and get to talk to him after
being inspired by him for so long! He pushes
himself and his work to absolutely unbelievable
lengths! All of these guys were so down to earth
and eager to teach and share. Coolest. thing.
ever.
My roomies from our local
Dallas PVA, Theresa and Aggie! Loved getting to spend
time with them!
Just looking at these two
makes me smile! Brian Gunn and Christine Moore are also
members of the Dallas PVA.
Yet another example of
industry heroes getting down and dirty to teach the
rest of us the tricks of the trade! It was great
getting to see and have some hands on experience with
the latest and greatest gear! Here Joe Simon shows us how it’s
done!
Everybody loves
super-coach Matt Davis!
Did I mention there were awesome toys (gear) and
people to show us how to use them? Here’s Patrick
again and John Moon on the right. John
and Jen Moon were the first filmmakers I met
online and hit it off with. They were GREAT to
answer all my questions, plus, they are just great
people and we became fast friends. I got to have
lunch with them last November and it was wonderful
to see them again at In[Focus]. They too are
constantly broadening their business horizons!
Check out what Jen and
her friend Reagan Zugelter have come up
with for all of us women filmmakers and
photographers! Would LOVE to be a part of POSH!
One of my favorites -
Meg Simone! Loved finally
getting to meet her! Felt like meeting an old
friend! This girl has had and INCREDIBLE 2010 so
far! She’s received honors and awards almost on a
weekly basis!
Meg used several of my
images from the In[Focus] event to produce an
inspiring short film about the event that put into
words what I think we all were feeling. Oh, and did I
mention her video won first place???
There were many more wonderful people and inspiring leaders at In[Focus]! Too many to include in one blog post! Thank you to all of you who made the event so special and lifechanging for so many of us! And a special thank you to you, Julian.
The Elrods!
WCS Pride Invitational
I recently had the
opportunity to photograph a wrestling tournament in
Weatherford, Texas and I absolutely loved it! I
honestly had never been to a wrestling tournament
before and only vaguely knew what to expect. But the
organizer and coach of the Weatherford Christian
School Wrestling team, Bill Ford, did an amazing job
organizing the event!
I love these images because of the emotion on the
faces of the competitors, especially the younger
ones!
Enjoy!
Make it a Perfect '10!
I LOVE this card I custom designed for the Garvin Family! If you are like me, you were late getting those Christmas cards out and have decided on a New Year’s card!
Contact me and let’s design one for your family!

Cute X 2 + A Bunch More
Here are just a few of these beautiful babies, toddling around in all their cuteness! I love it!
The Barnes, Part 1
I’ve barely scratched the surface of their images, but I couldn’t wait to share some of my favorites so far!! Enjoy!

All in the Family
While we were in Cleburne for the wedding, Becky suggested I photograph her growing family! They just recently welcomed Emma into the clan - the first granddaughter! We shot at the beautifully restored Liberty Hotel. If you are ever in Cleburne overnight, it is the hands down place to stay!
I had a blast with this special family I am proud to call my friends!

Ella Grace
So, I’m thinking Jet the dog is a pretty big Ella fan
too!
Tyler
Brooke
Jared
I arrived to the location early to photograph the Mickles’s (club owners) four amazing longhorns. Jared arrived and we got a couple of shots with them in the background. Right after this image was taken, we started talking to them and Tonto the Bull did NOT appreciate that at all! He charged us! I don’t recall running that fast in quite some time!
After we finished at
Canyon West, we headed to some of my favorite spots
around town!
Alex
We
started out racing the ominous looking weather around
downtown Midland and then safari-ed around until we
ended up at the Midland Christian School
fieldhouse.
Special thanks our good friend Greg McClendon for
letting us use the facility!



What a wonderful day with my wonderful friends! Thank you for making the drive!
Baby Momma
In Case You Were Wondering...

Toughest
Cowboy is moving to Wednesday Nights on SpikeTV at
10:00pm CST - right after UFC! Don’t miss
it!
Face Plants, Knock Outs, and Bull Wrecks

Bandy Murphy,
Toughest Cowboy of Tournament 2
(Poster designed by Matt Minnichsoffer of Grit Rock
Rodeo)
Okay,
this is a little different from the last post! I’m
bringing the cowboys back to remind you that you
really need to set your DVR for Toughest Cowboy
tomorrow night! I’m totally hooked! It’s definitely
not for the faint of heart! It’s exposed this really
“gladiator” side of me I didn’t know I had!
I photographed these guys back in December before
they shot the show, and I didn’t have a clue what
they were willing to endure to be the last cowboy
standing and win a ranch! Here are some of my
favorite cowboys (they’re really all my favorites!)
and some highlights: (CLICK ON THE GREEN LINKS TO SEE
VIDEO!)

This
is Steve Woolsey
from
Payson, Utah. He was the Toughest Cowboy in
Tournament 1 and has been doing GREAT! Plus, he’s
a super nice guy. And tough.

I
really liked Jared Green (Socorro,
New Mexico) and was really sad to see him go last
week. He was injured so badly here in
the first tournament, he just had a really hard
time coming back. And that wreck was after he had
been injured in his first ride and couldn’t lift
either one of his shoulders! But the dude went for
8 in the knockout round on a bull - the fourth
animal he had ridden that night - to make it to
tournament 2! I didn’t think there was going to be
any stopping him.

Ha, I love this guy! Erik Wolford (Adrian,
Michigan) would give you a beat down then eat a
lollipop! And you would never suspect it just
looking at him! He BROKE his collarbone
here in
Tournament 1, but he just kept riding and scoring
like nothing ever happened! I do not know how he
does it.

Well,
there’s a fine line between tough and just nuts, and
I’ll let you decide where this falls.
Charlie Barker
(Terrebonne,
Oregon) got his face kicked in here in
tournament 2 on his first ride of the night. He
didn’t really know where he was, and he had a roll
of toilet paper up his nose the rest of the night,
but he just kept riding!
Okay, that’s all for this week, even though I haven’t
even told you how Chad Eubank (Cleburne,
Texas) nearly cut his finger completely off. Oh,
and Weatherford’s own Tommy Joe Lucia, Executive
Vice President of Grit Rock Rodeo, is the
Commissioner of this deal!
You gotta watch this show! Do you really need any
more reasons?
And then leave me some comments and let me know what
you thought!
San Antonio Love
We started out at where else? The Alamo! I am not really sure what all was going on that day, but I’ll tell you one thing, the Alamo is a happening place on February 14!
These ladies were all
decked out in their southern Civil War Era best and
were great to play along with us!
Aron and Brandon are both
studying to become dentists, and met at dental
school! We thought it would be fun to get some shots
up at school. This one was just for fun!
They are pretty excited
to graduate in just a few months!
I wonder how many times
they’ve passed each other in these halls? Bet it’s
the best part of their day!
Thanks guys for such an
incredible weekend! Your love is inspiring! I can’t
wait to video your wedding in June!
We Love Jack Bauer

WCS Website
The Garvins
Toughest Cowboy!
Amanda + Josh
Election Day & Cougars
I have been super busy with editing, videoing, photographing, and building websites! So much fun and not near enough time to get it all done as quickly as I would like to! Over the next few days, I’ll give you a peek into what I have been up to!
Today, here are some snapshots of some (not all!!) of my favorite Abilene Cooper Cougars! I’m excited to announce that these as well as other player portraits are available for sale on my website!! Click here to see the galleries!

Op Camp Como 2008
First, a funny story. (Well, kind of!) My husband Van directs this camp and was the director of the same camp out of Midland, Texas for seven years, but this was a first! During the traditional “keep-away” game in the pool, he caught the back of Mr. Wes’s head in his eye. He had a fairly innocent looking, but very deep split near his brow bone.
Thank goodness for Dr.
Brown who was there to stitch him up! (The color has
been removed from this photo to protect the squeamish
- and yes, I videoed it too!!)
This is what that
“innocent” looking injury looked like 2 days later!
Carolyn Street, the business manager at the
campgrounds took this shot!
Here’s Cody doing his Mr.
Gravitt impression!
This is Tyler, who prefers to be referred to as the
best intern ever, as they all do! He was definitely
the best intern this year! He pretty much had a new
hairstyle every day! It started out like this, turned
into a mohawk, and eventually he was bald.
Here are Van and I with
our boys, Josh and Joe Norman! They were campers back
in the early 90s at the Midland Opportunity Camp and
still come back every year to help us out. We’ve had
the honor of watching them grow up and they are
family to us. BTW, today is Josh’s 28th birthday!
Happy Birthday, Baby! We are so proud of both of
them! Josh played football and was a National
Champion at OU and went on to play for the San Diego
Chargers, New York Jets and Oakland Raiders. He is
now CEO of The Truth Records and JLee Productions.
Joe was the Texas Defensive Player of the Year his
senior year at Midland Lee High School, played at
Texas Tech, and was in the movies “Friday Night
Lights”, “We are Marshall”, and “Invincible” as a
football player. He is working in the oil business
now. Just a little Mama-braggin!
Josh ran a little football mini-camp for the boys at
recreation time one day! Pretty cool to have a former
NFL player showing you how it’s done! Byron, the boy
in the blue shirt, is a Hurricane Katrina survivor.
His brother was a counselor for us this year and did
an incredible job! We are so thankful God moved them
to Fort Worth!
We also had His Son
(a.k.a. Vince Carter, former OU center who graduated
in 2004 and was drafted in 2005) perform. The kids
loved him!
A couple of my favorite
shots:
There are no smiles like Opportunity Camp smiles!
Probably the best shot of the week was this one taken
by my friend Anda! You can tell we had quite a bit of
hair cutting going on in the boys’ cabins!
And of course there is video!
Op Camp Como 08A from
Gravitt Productions on Vimeo.
Op Camp Como B from
Gravitt Productions on Vimeo.
Op Camp Como 08C from
Gravitt Productions on Vimeo.
Op Camp Como 08D from
Gravitt Productions on Vimeo.
Op Camp Como 08E from
Gravitt Productions on Vimeo.
Meet Alyssa
Here she is with big
sis Callie and big bro Jackson! This is the
announcement for the church website and the bulletin.

Laedin

Brian Loves Julie
After the wedding, we took a two hour dinner cruise on the Bleu Wave. Talk about gorgeous views! We had a fun time celebrating the brand new Mr. and Mrs. Ponder! I sneaked into the cabin (I think that's what you call it!) and caught this quiet moment between the two of them.
Both families were so
sweet! I just loved Brian's grandmother. I took this
photo through some pretty misty eyes right after she
told Brian how proud her grandfather would have been
of him! She had us all in tears. It was such a sweet
moment.

Lightning Up the Skies

Babypalooza and Marketing Twins
And speaking of twins, I reconnected with my favorite
ones from my days at ACU, Randy and Donny Vaughn! I
was excited to learn that Randy and his family are
back in the US from their time as missionaries in
Africa, and Donny made a career change so the
brothers could fulfill one of their lifelong dreams
to own a business together. They are both incredibly
creative, resourceful, passionate, and hardworking!
They are in the DFW area and their marketing coach
company is called 1429 Creative. They also have a
very helpful blog at www.marketingtwins.com. Check
them out!

Airplanes are Cool!

Beautiful Bride

Busy Busy!

Seniors '08
Julie and Brian
David
The Answer to the Question
Sooo, Op Camp
(www.opcamp.com) is this cool ministry that my
husband has been involved in since he was in high
school and I happily married into it. It's a
faith-based free camp for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade
underprivileged kids from Midland and the Lake Como
community in Fort Worth. The unique thing about it is
that the counselors are high school and college aged
kids and there is a 2:1 camper to counselor ratio.
After camp, the counselors and campers get together
at least once a month and develop a really powerful
mentor/friendship relationship. Character traits are
reinforced, and the counselors become role models for
them. We had the counselor training retreat last
weekend at Camp Butman, the campsite. It's really
intense and the kids always amaze us with their
commitment and love for the ministry!
I love this pic! Matt is a
former-camper-turned-counslelor from Midland and
Dynecia is a counselor from Fort Worth.
Claire and Kayte - another Midland-Fort Worth
friendship!
What is Op Camp?
Sooo, Op Camp
(www.opcamp.com) is this cool ministry that my
husband has been involved in since he was in high
school and I happily married into it. It's a
faith-based free camp for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade
underprivileged kids from Midland and the Lake Como
community in Fort Worth. The unique thing about it is
that the counselors are high school and college aged
kids and there is a 2:1 camper to counselor ratio.
After camp, the counselors and campers get together
at least once a month and develop a really powerful
mentor/friendship relationship. Character traits are
reinforced, and the counselors become role models for
them. We had the counselor training retreat last
weekend at Camp Butman, the campsite. It's really
intense and the kids always amaze us with their
commitment and love for the ministry!
I love this pic! Matt is a
former-camper-turned-counslelor from Midland and
Dynecia is a counselor from Fort Worth.
Claire and Kayte - another Midland-Fort Worth
friendship!
Pregnant!
Sister Wedding
Cassi in her boots at the rehearsal.
College Roomies: Candice, Cassi, Val, Chelsea
Twins and Hubbies! Matt, Candice, Cassi, Nick
Love those eyes!
Me and the beautiful bride!
Auctions and Showers
We had a great turnout! I
love Weatherford! Cowboys and Cowgirls everywhere!
There were very talented artisans in the audience who
donated handcrafted, one of a kind items. There is
always such a great variety of items to bid on!
Here's one of the
wranglers with Van's sister and brother-in-law while
they were bidding on Dallas Cowboy tickets! They
didn't get them, but had a good time trying!
The very talented auctioneer, Ross Bandy.
Okay, I am really sad
this is blurry! We haven't had a picture of us in a
long time, guess we'll try again sometime! Anyway,
this is what we look like when you're not wearing
your glasses.
Sunday afternoon I went
to a baby shower for our friends Stacey and Shane.
Wow! They got a ton of stuff! I love little girl
things and all the pink - probably because there is
none of it in my house with all my boys! Stacey was
glowing and beautiful as always, and Shane looked a
little overwhelmed! Here are the pics!
The food was as tasty as it was beautiful! I was
blown away by Jan's baking skills!
The happy little family and Stacey's sister!
They are probably going to have to add on a wing to
get all this stuff in their house! What a blessed
little girl!
Candice and Matt
Skateboards and Twins
I also added a "Wedding Film" page for you to view
samples from weddings I have filmed. I posted Gaylen
and Nicholas' Highlight today and hope to get her
sister, Ginna, up tomorrow. It was the most
incredible day! A set of identical twin sisters
married identical twin brothers! I have never, and
probably will never again, see anything like it! I
will write more about it coming up in the next few
days as I finish production on these amazing
weddings! In the meantime, be sure to check out
Gaylen and Nicholas' highlight!

Miracles

Football and Weddings
Close Up on Kee
New Website, New Blog
Until then, I figured I would go ahead and start blogging! This weekend, a dear friend came into town and wanted me to take some photos of her 15 year old daughter before she cut off all her hair to donate to Locks of Love. I have always thought that was the coolest organization and had major respect for the people who donate, I had just never met anyone who had - until now! Keeley was awesome and made my job so easy! I am going to be working on a few of her pics between editing weddings and I will do my best to blog about both. Here are a few previews of the beautiful Keeley that we shot at nighttime!














