Last night I had a great time with my friend Josh just hanging out and shooting (our cameras) under a nearby overpass. I’ve had this recent thought that photography can be a little like studying the Bible, and vice versa. In Bible study, we always want to dig deeper in to a passage until we can’t dig any further and we’ve pulled out all the nuggets we can find. The classic example is one of my teachers from high school said that when he was in seminary he was told to go study Ephesians 5:18 and write down 20 different observations. Unfortunately, it’s not a long passage, so getting 20 would be tough — though not impossible. When all the students returned to class with their observations the professor was satisfied, but then he assigned the same assignment again, only this time they would have to think of 20 more observations, all of which needed to be different than the first set they turned. This continued until they had something like 50-75 different observations on one passage. Each student was forced dig deep, then dig a little deeper, then even more. But in the end they were taught never to underestimate the power of observation and being able to study well.

I think the same goes for photography. Last night we spent almost 3 hours underneath the 5 freeway and we weren’t bored. We saw different angles and different objects to fill our camera frame. We tried different lighting and different poses in order to create something new and inventive. I laid in the ground and my friend Josh got inside of a concrete tube. Nothing was going to stop us from getting everything out of that place as we could, and now I feel like we’ve got some great images. All we have to do is take the time and effor to dig a little deeper and we’ll start to see change. For Josh and me, we started to see how to make a concrete tube look new and interesting and even how to use a porta potty for something other than going to the restroom.

My desire is always to dig deeper, but sometimes I just give up a little early. In Bible study, I probably short myself on time and don’t let the verses sink in long enough for me to dwell on them and think through them. In photography it’s similar — I give up too early and don’t pursue a subject or a place long enough to know what it’s all about. I think I’m going to continue to try this out in both my study of God’s Word and in my photography. I have this feeling that the results will be both a blessing and encouraging.

See more of my photos from the underpass in my “Titles and Images” group on Flickr.
Josh’s photos can be found here.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s everything. Seriously though, there are a ton of things that I think are amazing. For instance, TiVo. I think TiVo is ridiculously awesome. The fact that I can be at work and it can record the EuroCup 2008 soccer matches for me — unbelievable. By the way, if you didn’t catch the German vs. Turkey semi-final game — you missed out.

I thought I would try a sort of different blog post today — something for your senses. I’m calling it “Hear, See, Do” and I’m borrowing the concept from Newsweek. I’m a subscriber to the weekly publication Newsweek and every week they have this little side bar of things they think we should read, buy, see, etc., and I thought it would be fun to give you my picks for this week. I don’t know if I can pull this off every week, but we’ll see how it goes. Now on to the list!

Hear: Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
This fourth full length album from Coldplay is ridiculously good. Many longtime listeners of Coldplay aren’t impressed, but let me tell you I’m stoked on it. They describe themselves as “soft-hitting rock and roll” and that’s exactly what this album is. It’s just got a good vibe to it. I’d say it’s great for driving or running — not because it’s fast, but because it moves. It’s a little hard to explain, but just get yourself a copy (a legal copy).

See: Chicago - A ridiculously awesome photo gallery
Everyone that reads my blog knows I love photography. Whether it be still life, weddings, or whatever, I’m digging beautiful images. So when I came across this photo gallery of “outtake” images from the Chicago Tribune I wanted to book the flights and go see if Oprah wanted to do lunch with Bethany and me. Honestly, these 83 photos of Chicago during all seasons of the year are inspiring and definitely worth a look (and make sure and read all the lovely captions!).

Do: Buy a Long board (for the streets)
My wife bought me a long board for my birthday a few weeks ago and I’ve been cruising around town and lovin’ life. In fact, if you’re on Twitter you may have seen my update last week as I was skating from Starbucks back to our apartment. Let’s just say, I might get rid of my car.

That’s all for this week — enjoy.

Hands and Happiness, originally uploaded by shaycam.

Shaycam.com has always been about what I’m doing or what I’m thinking about. I say this because I feel like lately all I’ve been able to post are wedding photos from people you don’t know. But the reality is, all I’m doing right are weddings, so it makes sense for me to post some of my work.

The image above is from a wedding I did this weekend. I was hired by a great photographer, Jen O’Sullivan of Save The Date Photo, to be the principal photographer for her. In fact, Jen posted a preview page of the wedding and if you’d like to see more of my photos be sure and check them out by clicking here.

Also, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who faithfully reads and checks my blog. July will mark 7 years of the official Shaycam.com and it’s been great to have many friends and family continue to read my blog over the thousands of others that have sprung up over the years.

Today wasn’t a normal day for me — I worked on my wife’s car. I’ve never really been “Mr. Fix-It”, but I was willing to give it a shot today. For a few months now we have been forced to get in to Bethany’s 20 year old Toyota Corolla (which I call “Black Magic”) from the passenger side. The door handle on the driver’s side decided it didn’t feel like working and we’ve been perplexed as to how to fix it for some time now. But after months of this annoying problem, I decided that today I would fix it. Actually, it really wasn’t all that hard and if it were not for the learning curve of how to disassemble a car door, it probably wouldn’t have taken that long. Thankfully I have 2 fathers (birth father and father-in-law) that were able to guide me through some of the processes to keep me moving forward in my mission. With only about 3 hours of work — including driving to a from Pep Boys twice — I finally got the door fixed, put back together, and the wife is quite happy. But the point isn’t that I fixed the car, it’s really about dads.

My dad really was Mr. Fix-It. I’m convinced that man could fix anything and everything that is mechanical. I’ve seen him take engines apart, air conditioners, thermostats, dishwashers and many other items and put them back together in a functional fashion. The same goes for my father-in-law. He too is a very handy guy and though I can’t say I grew up seeing him fix things, I’m confident that he could get the job done if need be. I guess it just comes with territory of being a dad. And as I drove around town today picking up parts and getting the right tools, I felt like a got a glimpse of being a dad. Dads do things because they love their families. They also love accomplishing tasks and getting jobs done — that’s probably a guy thing too, but mainly it’s a dad thing. Dads have to be able to think outside the box and get creative when they don’t know what they’re doing. They have to be able to learn on-the-fly and act like they know what they’re talking about to the “super knowledgeable” sales guy at that auto parts store. They have to be confident in front of their wives and convince them that the car door will actually work again and that the scratch they just made on the door isn’t noticeable or already existed. Dads have to take their Saturdays off and work the yard, fix the car, mow the grass, clean the garage, etc. Even today when I called my own dad for help he was out in the yard and I quote “taking these 1/2 inch weeds, loading them in a wheel barrow, and putting them a big pile so I can burn them.” That’s just what dads do.

I know tomorrow is Father’s Day and many will celebrate with gifts and big meals, which is great. But can I urge you to thank your dad for the many hours he spent putting bikes together so you could ride with your friends. Thank him for playing catch with you so you could learn to throw the ball just right. Thank him for going to work at 4:30 every weekday so you could live in a house and play in the yard that he mows. Thank your dad for taking care of your mom and bringing her flowers, cards, chocolate and remembering their anniversary. Thank him for showing you the way to hold a screw driver, start the grill, hold a baseball bat, and chop wood. Don’t forget to thank him for showing you how to fix a leaky faucet and at the same time, how not to fix a leaky faucet. Thank dad for buying you cleats, shin guards, and a soccer ball so you could go to practice equipped. Thank him for taking you to “urgent care” when soccer practice didn’t go as planned. Thank him for showing you how to tie a tie, drive a car, and how to apply for a job. Thank your dad for whatever you’ve learned over the years that you are just starting to apply in your life. For me, it was fixing a car door, but for you it might be something different — either way, you know you wouldn’t have been able to do it without him.

For whatever reason (weddings) I’ve been away a lot of late. I’ve traveled everywhere from Louisville, Kentucky to Tulsa, Oklahoma in the past month and I’ve finally landed back here in beautiful southern California. If there is one thing I’ve learned during my journey, it’s that I’ll take an earthquake over a tornado any day. Admittedly, I didn’t actually encounter any tornadoes, but just the idea of them freaks me out. And when you’re surrounded by people telling you that if something happens you need to jump in the bathtub and cover yourself with a mattress, that’s not too comforting. I really just think of natural disasters like a shot in the arm — don’t tell me when you’re gonna poke me and I’ll be fine. That’s how earthquakes are and I think it’s the better way to go.

Another bit I’ve learned during my short journeys is that there is sweet fellowship to be missed when you’re gone. Summer usually marks the beginning of vacations and traveling, but may I make a suggestion — stay close to home. Not only will it keep you from spending a fortune on gasoline, but it will keep you near God’s people — that is, your church. I walked into church on Sunday for what felt like the first time in a month (which it basically was) and realized how much I missed being around my church family. I even went as far as to welcome back a friend from a missions trip he hadn’t even gone on yet — geeze, I’m an idiot. It may have only been a month, but it felt like a year. I missed a chunk of our current preaching series in Mark. I missed many opportunities to serve in the Sunday night band of which I play drums for. Generally, I missed the fellowship of being with God’s people. It was a joy for me on Sunday night when multiple people came and encouraged me and just wanted to talk. It was a blessing for one gentleman to introduce himself and ask me what I was doing with my life right now. Furthermore, it was the greatest blessing to be under the preaching of God’s Word and be reminded of my sin. Sometimes we take time off and think we can just take time off of our Christianity too — at least that’s how it is for me. My hope for the summer is that I’ll be around and be ready to learn and be used by God. It’s not to say the Lord can’t use your vacation to provide much needed rest, that’s not my point. My only aim is to see how God will grow and strengthen my heart through the summer months and that I won’t take a vacation from being near Him.