Well one down and one to go. Today we welcomed baby Luke into the world today at 10:07am in Longmont Colorado. Luke weighed in at 8 pounds and measured 21 inches and seemed to be totally at peace with his own existence within a few minutes, hardly even cried except when various nurses jolted him here and there. The photo above, today’s photo of the day, is the first ever shot of the four Fillmer boys, and also the four people who contributed and helped the very least in bringing baby Luke into the world today. It would be really cool to add the other two Fillmer boys (Larry and Les) to this photo some day, but one is in Germany right now and the other in Alabama.
I think I took about 1200 photos of the baby and all the various participants and visitors from today’s glorious event. There were many great shots of mom and baby but those will come later. Deborah and I were so happy today to be witness to the birth of our second grandson (and we were told our last), can’t wait to share a few more photos down the road so to speak. Next up is my sister who should deliver within a week or so, hopefully she will wait until we get back to Alabama so we can get the first photos of our newest niece.
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In an attempt to keep trying to make my blog well rounded in the four categories, along with keeping a mix of light and heavy posts, I decided this morning to bring back my Throwback Thursday posts (at least for this week).
When my son was younger (he is late 20′s now) he use to spend his summers in France and Germany with his grandmother, and in this photo his two cousins were also there with him. I love looking at the items on the picnic blanket, they seem so old school now, but really, that was just 1993, it wasn’t that long ago, right?
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This is my post for Creative Chaos // 28 (see also guidelines) over at Ragamuffin Soul for this week (which isn’t published quite yet over there but will be soon). If you haven€™t participated in Creative Chaos yet there is always time to jump in. It is a great tool to learn some of the new and innovative ways other churches and groups are being creative in their faith. Even if you don€™t post, just reading through a few of them is a real eye opener of what is done around the country and world in worship.
I am a little late for this video, it has been going around the Internet as of late, but I thought there might be a few of my readers that hadn’t actually seen it yet. I watched it again for about the fourth time as it was shown to the students at Auburn for Encounter last night. It hit me again when talking to a friend of mine at Encounter before the music started when he asked me if I had a son? How old is he, where does he live, what does he do. Thanks for asking Matt, I do, his name is Bryan, and his son’s name is William and he just turned three years old a few days ago (HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM).
99 Balloons // Dear Eliot Video
The first time I watched 99 balloons was with my good friend b/ in the middle of a busy day when Jack posted about it on his blog. I couldn’t really comprehend it’s worth at the time (although it did bring b/ to tears). It has been that kind of week this week and this video really goes right along with the testimony of our friend Cindy Wall but told by a 3 month old baby born with a condition called Trisomy 18 called Eliot Hartman Mooney. The name of the video is called 99 Balloons and is narrated by a father who marks off each day as it begins on video with “Dear Eliot”.
I am using it for my creative chaos post because the parents of Eliot chose to show the world how much they love their son, in the most creative way, with a really cool video and some photos. It reminded me of my son Bryan with his son William (shown above) who just turned three a few days ago.å William is the coolest three year old in the world and I know if you ask his daddy he would tell you the same thing.
There is much joy in this video, especially shown through the parents, because the Lord was part of the parents life in a very meaningful way… but today, it is my creative chaos post.
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It took a while to edit the images but I have completed the upload for the wedding photos from the Bryan and Sara Fillmer wedding. All in all there were about 4,000 photos, which I edited to 4 galleries and about 300 final images, with one additional gallery that includes my picks.
Below are some of my personal favorites from the wedding, if you want the short version of the wedding, you can click on the gallery called photographer’s picks, which is about 20 of my favorites and is more of what is shown below. You can view each gallery individually (best viewed in the slideshow format link in the upper right corner) from the links below.
Wedding Gallery and Quick Picks
To view more images from the gallery above, just click on photographer’s picks. To view the other galleries you can click on the links below. Be sure to click on the slideshow format to view all images in a larger, continuous manner.
- Gallery for Nails and Food on Friday – Gallery 1
- Gallery for Sara’s Bridal Shoot – Gallery 2
- Gallery for Rehearsal Dinner – Gallery 3
- Gallery for Wedding Day Photos – Gallery 4
You can also just go to my main photo gallery, Auburn Images, and click on weddings, then click on the appropriate links.
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Today my wife and I are leaving for Colorado for our son’s wedding. He is getting married on Saturday in Estes Park Colorado (which is was better than getting married in the heat of south Alabama) and we couldn’t be more excited.
People who have just met me are amazed that I have a son who is about to get married, frankly, I am too. But, on Saturday Sara Turner and Bryan Fillmer will be then known as another Mr and Mrs Fillmer and I will official become an in-law. We have known Sara for quite some time and are so thrilled that she will become part of the family.
Deb and I have always thought of her as part of the family for years now anyway, but now they have a piece of paper that proves it.
And, yes, I am doing double duty as the father of the groom and the photographer. In over 10 years of photography, this will be my first wedding (shhhh don’t tell them that). I have looked at more wedding photography in the last month than I ever thought I would (Chad Wright’s wedding photography has helped a lot, thanks bro), and I think I am as prepared as I can me.
All I have to do now is manage to get my larger photo back bag through security and in an overhead bin so some lovely baggage agent doesn’t alter my first wedding shoot, and my equipment.
I am sure everything will go as planned and soon Sara, who is managing to get our flip-flop wielding son into a suit and actual shoes for an entire Saturday (and me for that matter) will be a happy woman on her way with her new husband to Alaska on Sunday.
What would be nice is if this long tradition of taking photos at a wedding was transferred to taking photos on the honeymoon, now that would be something. The trip afterwards always seems to be in some grand place (sometimes a grander location than the wedding itself), with incredible scenery, and what do most couples take, themselves and some old point-n-shoot. Oh well.
Welcome to the family Sara, we love you.
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This is my latest installment for Throwback Thrusday from Vagabondrunn (see Throwback Thursday (6)). This is officially my last post for Throwback Thrusday that is not of myself, sorry, one more week. I requested some images from my lovely mother and just haven’t received them yet.
When I do, I will start posted them for this weekly post, and there plenty of them for me to choose from, so Kyle, go find some more photos to keep this post alive a few more weeks.
In the mean time, here is our son at age 4 in 1986, who now looks just like his son (age 2). It is quite amazing to put side by side photos of Bryan (our son) and William (our grandson) at the same age, they are complete twins, identical. Don’t forget to post a comment below with a link to your Throwback Thursday post so we can take a look as well.
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We are getting ready now for a nice weekend in Ennis at the National Polka Festival. Here is me and the little dude, William hanging before the festival begins. I have been able to take many photos of William each time we visit but this has to be one of my favorites. You can see the reflection in my glasses as I hold the camera way out in front of both of us, while William is trying to figure out what in the world I am doing.
The Polka Festival is something we have tried to go to each year for the last few years, but this year Deborah is competing in the Polka competition with her dad. This is nothing new to Deborah. She has been going to the Ennis National Polka Festival since she was about 5 years old, but this will be the first year to join in on the Polka dance competition. The Ennis Journal interviewed Deborah for the festival, see Polka Royalty Bid, which was a very nice article about her and the festival in general. Sorry the full text is only available when you log into their site but we will try to get a copy of it to be posted here or on her blog.
The main part of the festival starts tonight at 7pm and goes through Sunday at 3pm. It will be a long and very tiring weekend but a lot of fun as well. Our son and his family (including our 2 year old grandson) have driven down from Colorado to be here as well. We have already taken some photos of him in his new vest, he didn’t know quite what to make of it. We were able to get into town and get a few photos before everything got started. I love the expressions here on their faces. Especially when you know William has to be pulling Bryan’s hair. The vests were all made by Deborah over the previous year for this weekend.
I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.
