It all began on a hurried descent from my room, down the 76 steps to Classroom A where my Greek 2 quiz over infinitives was already in progress. I needed my cameras for an event later in the day, so in an attempt to save time (and stairs) I grabbed both of my cameras while departing my room. I made it out of my room, locked the door, and had just crested the first stair when...it happened. Unbeknownst to me, the lens on my faithful Canon Digital Rebel was not fully attached, and with a sickening, gut wrenching groan I watched my camera hurtling toward the concrete steps, the lens still firmly clasped in my hand. My heart sank a little with each thud of the camera as it struck nearly every stair on the way down before sliding across the landing, smashing into the wall, and finally coming to rest. Now, some of you may be thinking, "It's just a camera. Yeah, it's expensive, but easily replaceable." To that I respond, as sentimental as this may sound, this camera was the catalyst into my love of photography. I have taken literally hundreds of thousands of photos with this camera. It is essentially an extension of my arm. Maybe that will give you a sense of the emptiness I experienced. But, I digress, I rushed over to the camera and carefully picked it up. No broken pieces. No apparent gouges or cracks. I flip the "On" switch. It comes to life. I take a picture, a horrendous, bone-chilling whine, and a blank screen. ... ... I continued on to Greek class, and took my quiz. Let's just say, I'm glad he gave this one as a "practice". My mind was far from the Greek uses of infinitives (not that it was ever close, but, that's beside the point). After the quiz, I once again remove the lens from the camera, and look at the shutter. For those of you who don't know, the shutter looks like a small mirror inside the camera, and opens and closes which takes the picture. I notice that the shutter was a little crooked. I figured, 'What have I got to loose?' I carefully took my index finger, guessed on which side needed to be adjusted, and pushed. I soon heard a snap, and it was once again, even. I turned the camera on, and pressed the shutter button. "Snap!" Relief flooded over me. I quickly reattached the lens and tried again. A picture appeared on the back of the screen! Another wave of relief washed over me.

I'm so grateful that God cares about what matters to us! He was under no obligation to intervene in this situation. He was not required to help me. But He knew how much this camera meant to me, and worked a small miracle for me. But, I would be amiss if I were to leave it there. I strongly believe that my desires were not the only reason He intervened (though they may have been a part of it). My ultimate purpose is to bring glory to my Creator, and, apparently, He still wishes me to use this camera to do it. Everything I own is sanctified (set apart) for His use, so, in essence, this is His camera. It's like Dr. Phil said, 'Isn't it nice when God wants us to use the same things we want to use.' One of my favorite instruments to bring glory to God is my camera, maybe its different for you. But if I might encourage you, look around at the things in your life. What do you enjoy doing? Stop looking at these things as 'insignificant'. Instead, view them as tools to bring glory to your Creator, and personal gifts from Him. If you do, I have a feeling things will change.

Ryan

Tags: Photography, Nightmare

We had a surprise birthday party for my Mom yesterday at my Grandpa and Grandma's house in Waynesfield, OH. I will gracefully brush past the potentially uncouth age question, and simply state that it involved black balloons. It was a lot of fun. My brothers both came down/over for the event, as well as other family members. I got to see my newest neice, Jayla, for the first time! She is so cute. It runs in the family just kidding. I was able to take a few snapshots of my family as well. The product of said snapshots is evidenced below.

Missionary Convention started tonight with Don Richardson, author of Peace Child. It was fascinating! I was spellbound. If only I could speak like that (as I hear echoes of 2 Cor. 10:12 telling me not to compare myself). It should be a really good convention!

For those of you, who would be so kind, please pray that I can get caught up on my homework. This week is going to be extremely busy, and I am 6' under before I even start. I could really use some divine enabling!

Ryan

Tags: Family, fun, Photography

For all of you who have been anxiously awaiting these pictures, I sincerely apologize for the delay! I simply haven't had a lot of time to update. For those of you who may not be aware, Nathan Easley and Heidi Holmes were united in marriage on June 21st in Cincinnati. They were kind enough to ask me to photograph this special event. I am still in the process of editing the 2,000+ pictures, but here are a few for your enjoyment.

Ryan

Tags: Wedding, Photography

My summer break is already three weeks over!! That's...depressing. I cherish every day of it! I haven't had convenient access to the internet lately, hence my lack of blog updates, I will, however, attempt to keep this site more updated. I have found the problem as to why I can't upload pictures to my website, but I still don't know how to fix it. I have a little under 8,000 pictures on my computer, and one of them has a small problem (e.g. an extra space in the keyword, etc.) and my website building program can't get past it. However, I don't know which file it is! Grrrr.... Oh well. Worse things have happened.

I'm going to post a few pictures just to give you a quick idea of how my summer has gone so far:


My brother Andy and his wife came up for the weekend with their kids, JeNa and Jaxon.


We had a church picnic with a softball game. My brother Andy (pictured above) and I were both on the winning team.


Andy was playing around and came up spitting when he realized that the pepper shaker was actually open


I've had a couple of cookouts


I accidentally got a really short haircut (short for me).


Mom & I went to Hidden Lake Gardens on Memorial Day and I took a few pictures.


I performed the great Coke experiment (see blog below).


I've done lots of yard work (both on ours and my grandparents).


My brother Jason and I re-roofed the shed.


Then Jason & I tore out the carpet in the basement...after working on the shed for many hours. We were tired


We've had lot's of campfires!



I've spent lot's of time with family.

I have returned to Lenawee Christian School to work for the summer. I believe this makes my 5th year to work there.

And thus my summer has gone. All in all, pretty busy! But it has felt good to catch up on some sleep! Trust your summer is going well.

Ryan

Tags: Life, Summer, Relax, Photography

Some friends from school recently got engaged and had an interesting predicament. One of them is a student here at GBS, Vita, but both her and her fiancee are from Ukraine. He here was here for only a short time, and actually left to go back to Ukraine today. So, they needed someone to take their engagement pictures on very short notice. I normally don't do those types of pictures, but have on occasion in the past. I really wanted to help them out so I agreed. It turned out to be a lot of fun. It's interesting just to note all the little cultural differences between our two countries! It even showed up in the style of pictures and poses we did which seemed natural to us (Megan & I), but a new concept to them. It was a blast. Here are a few pictures from the outing...


See yah,
Ryan

Tags: Photography

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Choir Tour '08. It would take too much time out of a busy college student's life (with a huge Life of Christ test Monday, I might add) to narrate each of these pictures. So I simply post them for your viewing enjoyment. However, if you wish, you might try narrating them yourself, I'm sure that could be quite amusing

Ryan

Tags: Photography, fun, Choir, Friends, Concert, Crazy

It has been an action packed beginning for the '08 GBS Choir Tour. We left at 7:40 am Thursday morning under very cold conditions. I eventually fell asleep and woke up a few hours later to see the front window of the bus covered in a solid sheet of ice. So, the bus crept along at a the rate of a sloth before all traffic eventually came to a dead halt. The entire road was a solid sheet of ice! Ahead was a hill that under normal conditions was small, but, covered in ice, proved insurmountable. There was a semi in the ditch, a car in the other ditch, and traffic as far as the eye could see. A group of us actually got out and "ice-skated" down the I65 freeway in Kentucky.




We were stuck there for about 3-4 hours before we eventually turned around and headed back to a truck stop to eat. It was packed! There were all kinds of people. In fact, there was a group of people from Campus Crusades for Christ there. We got to talking to the representative, and he told me that he was traveling with Andre Cole, the Christian illusiionist, and that he was sitting in the back booth. I found this so ironic as I had went to one of his shows about 10 years ago at the Christian Family Center. He is the one circled in the picture below.



We barely got to the service in time. We actually didn't even have time to change or set up risers or PA equipment. And so we sang, just as we were. But, the Lord came, and we had a tremendous service. After getting all packed up after the service we got on the bus and headed out. Unfortunately, we never made it out of the parking lot. After cutting a corner too sharp the back passenger tire ended up in a ravine, suspended off the ground. So, out go all the students and the guys get on the back of the bus and tried (in vain) to push it out. Alas, we returned to the church, hopelessly defeated. It was fun though just sitting around playing games, and talking.


A wrecker was called in and eventually the bus was loosed and we were on the road again. We got into Pell City, AL about 2 am Friday morning. The good thing was we got to sleep in the next day. What a blessing! We left at 7 am this morning from Pell City, and we are headed to Ocala, Florida. We have very nice weather so far, and you certainly don't need a coat! In the words of Mr. Davison, "We're suffering for Jesus!" Well, we stop in 11 miles to eat at (what else...) McDonalds. It seems that's all we ever do on tour, eat, eat, eat. I will try and post more later. See yah.

Ryan

Tags: GBS, Personal, Photography, Relax, Choir, fun

For a funny blog see my Mom's entry here.

Ryan

Tags: Photography

A few weeks ago my Grandparents came up for a visit and we went to Kelly's Island (around Port Clinton, OH). For those of you who have never been there, you ride a ferry over and then rent a golf cart and ride around the island and look at the beautiful scenery. It's really a lot of fun, especially for a photographer! Enjoy!

Tags: Grandparents, Kelly's Island, Photography, fun

My cousin, Joylene, asked me to be the photographer for her wedding that took place the 25th. It was a lot of work! But it was a beautiful wedding and things went reasonably well. Enjoy the pics!

Tags: Photography, Wedding, Joylene

Sorry for the lack of updates as of late! Due to the fact that it is a hassle to hook up my internet here at home, my blogs kind of build up until I finally force myself to go through the hassle of hooking everything up. I did get a chance to take pictures just for fun the other day. It felt good You can see more of the results here. Enjoy!

Ryan

Tags: Photography, flowers

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Ryan

Tags: Photography, Fireworks, fun

I was asked recently to take a few portraits for some people from GBS. I had a lot of fun! The first picture is of my fellow students, Aaron and Lisa. The baby is Elliott Profitt, the son of Aaron and Lisa Profitt (Mr. Profitt is one of my professors). The first picture was taken at a nearby park, while Elliott's pictures were taken on the GBS campus. The funny thing with Elliott is that as soon as they would set him on the ground he was start to cry. So, I got a lot of really cute crying pictures But the moment they picked him up he was fine. Both of these outings were definitely a good learning experience for me. Especially considering my main genre of photography is nature!

Ryan

Tags: Portraits, Photography

Student Council had a special event today where you could go to one of four events, and they would reimburse you up to $20 for any expenses that you incurred. You can't pass up an opportunity like that! So, Megan and I went with a group of about eighteen GBS students to the Cincinnati Zoo. We had a wonderful time! The weather couldn't have been any better, and we got a parking spot about 20' from the entrance. It was a nice zoo, with lot's of exhibits. I think one of our favorite exhibits was of some small penguins. We had a blast just watching them, and trying to analyze/commentate what they were doing. "Mutiny!" "Retreat! Retreat!" "World domination!" were just a few of the expressions that were clearly evidenced by these 'cute' little penguins... After leaving the zoo most of the group then went to Outback Steakhouse and enjoyed a delicious meal. Everyone had an awesome time. To see some pictures from the zoo, go here, and scroll to the bottom of the page. I hope this tradition is continued!

Ryan

Tags: Zoo, Friends, Photography, fun

Maybe the better question would be, "Where haven't I been?" It seems these past 6 days have been a blur. With IHC, followed by VIP Day, followed by senior pictures, followed by ministry pictures Sunday, and soon to be followed by the GBS school picnic tomorrow, I am certainly giving my camera a good workout. But I really don't mind taking pictures. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy doing it. The day I stop enjoying it is the day I put it away for a while. I figured it out yesterday, and I took nearly 4,500 pictures in five days. But it was a lot of fun, and I don't regret it at all! I did, however, receive a lot of help from Megan who was faithful to run around behind me and help with all the camera equipment. We were finally able to relax Sunday afternoon, and it was such nice day we ate lunch outside and spent much of the afternoon out on south lawn relaxing in the shade. ahh... the calm before the storm (the end of the school year). But there are only five weeks of school left, and then the summer is mine... if I can just hold on

Ryan

Tags: Photography, Busy

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Last Saturday was a new experience for me. Yes, I've been taking picture for a while now, but there is a vast difference between taking mostly candid shots, and actually doing a photo shoot with someone. It was a new experience, but a overall good one. I am not an expert at 'placing' people, but Austin's my cousin, and so they were patient to help me figure out the best pose. It was actually a lot of fun.

Ryan

Tags: Photography, Austin

An interesting event occurred the Monday before IHC (Inter-Church Holiness Convention). First, for those of you who don't know, IHC is an event where a lot of the holiness churches get together for a 3-day convention in Dayton, OH. There are usually around 5-10 thousand people in attendance. Now, back to the story. I was just waking up from a nap when suddenly my cell phone rang. I answered it with my usual "Hello", but was surprised to hear the voice of the president of my college, Dr. Avery, on the other end. He then proceeded to ask me if I would be interested in helping take pictures this year at IHC because the current photographer will be leaving for the mission field. I gladly agreed, because I knew it would be something I enjoyed. So, to make a long story short, I spent the three days of IHC running around taking LOTS of picture. I took around 2,500, but only turned in around 1,200. It was a very good experience, a tiring one, but rewarding.

Ryan

Tags: IHC, Photography, Busy

We arrived at the cabin in WV around 9:00 P.M. Monday night. After unpacking and choosing bunks we played a few games of Amish Dice. We then retired and waited for the action to start tomorrow. I should pause here and give you a few significant details. First, one of our main purposes of this trip was to bring as many guns as we could and just have fun shooting them. Growing up, my brother and I used to set up army men in the back flower garden and shoot them with bb guns. So, my brother, Andy, had the brilliant idea to recreate this fun memory. I brought my bb gun and he brought his and we went at it. As much as I hate to admit it, I was soundly defeated in this endeavor. But to this day I'll blame it on faulty sites! Also, during that first night it rained profusely! It really pounded down in torrents on the roof of that cabin. This is significant considering another one of our objectives for this weekend was to go ATV'ing. Can you say mudholes OK, now we can move on to Tuesday, the 26. After putzin around the cabin for a while Andy and I decided to go on our ATV trip. Andy's vehicle of choice was a Honda 3-wheeler, and mine was a Suzuki 4-wheeler. So, we set off. After some light riding around the cabin we decided to head off, planning to be back in 20 min.... 2-3 hours later we returned. But man what a trip! The recent rain left the trails and roads with deep mudholes. We both came close to getting stuck, but with a little effort we managed to escape. There were many beautiful sites, including a number of deer. I will spare you the tale of every stream crossed, and mudhole conquered and simply tell you we had a blast and arrived back at the cabin where Andy made chili and venison steak. The rest of the day consisted of Uno, a quick trip to town, Amish Dice, and more eating. We then retired, sad that tomorrow would end it all. We awoke the next morning to the beginnings of a beautiful day! Andy and I set off again for the trails, this time with my camera in tow. We were disappointed to find that the water had significantly subsided in the night and we were not able to capture the full ATV experience of the day before. Still, we had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures. You can see them here. We then returned to the cabin, packed up and headed out. We arrived at Andy's house around 4:30 that night and I arrived back at my house around 8:00. All in all it was an amazing weekend with many good memories made.

Ryan

Tags: Break, fun, Family, Relax, Photography, ATV

We traveled to Marion, OH today to see the Christmas play at my brothers church. They did a phenomenal job! Ironically they did the same program that GBS did, and so I could not help but sing along with many of the songs from my seat I also took a lot of photos of Andy& Jenn & the kids. You can see these posted in the New Photos page. Have a good day!

Ryan

Tags: Family, Photography, Relax

Since I can't take pictures of the Christmas play I found a picture of it on Malcom's blog for you to see. Enjoy! Click Here

Ryan

Tags: Play, Drama, GBS, Photography