New Blog!

Hello all,

Since I totally screwed up my old blog I have made a new blog. This one has the most up to date information, photos and news from me.

Please visit it here. www.gracecombs.com/blog

Happy shooting!

Grace

a lesson in what not to do

I am a photographer and a designer. Not a coder or a techy. If I would have realized this before, this accident would have never happened. :(

What happened:

I was “being smart” and thinking I was “doing things right” when I tried to change some backend things that would change my url on my blog. This did not end so well. I effectively locked myself out of my blog. I couldn’t even log in to where I made the change so that I could undo the change. I think I found the one change you probably shouldn’t make because it causes a circle of death. So this is the old blog. . . . thus the lack of recent posts.

What I learned:

I was watching the Ellen Degenerous Show. Jennifer Gardner was on the show and she was describing her second child. She said, “She is a lot like me. . . Dumb and Happy.” What I have learned is to just be dumb and happy when it comes to my bloggingness. Don’t try to be smart and think you can do it without reading any tutorials. Just be dumb and happy. And always backup your blog before you “fix” things.

What I am prepared to do:

I guess this has been a long time coming. So I am taking this as a sign from the Lord to rebuild my site and finally make it what it should be with large beautiful pictures instead of small, dinky ones, a beautiful layout that matched my site and all the bells and whistles. So look out world!!! A new blog is headed your way. AND IT WILL BE AWESOME! I am going to have a release party and everything.

I am shooting for SEPTEMBER 2010 for my release of the brand new awesomely fabulous GRACE COMBS PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG!!! dun dun DUN!! check back for the official release date.

Janelle and Chris–wedding

You may remember Janelle and Chris from their wonderful engagement shoot in Breckenridge. (If you don’t, here is the link . . . take a peek) Well . . . they got married as many engaged people do. And it was a good time. The ceremony and reception was at Red Rocks in the Red Rock Room. It was awesome to be in such a historic place . . . For goodness sake I got to take pictures on the stage the Beatles and John Mayer played on. Pretty sweet! The rock and roll vibe definitely added energy to the whole shin dig.

Janelle looked stunning. She simply has a glow about her. Even when we took their engagements, I noticed that she just radiates light in such a gorgeous day. And this day, so did Chris. They were both so fun to be around. I felt like I was just hanging out with old friends on the best day of their lives (ps. I love my job)

The wedding party: a hoot. The guys threw snowballs all day. . . non-stop. The girls and I jammed in the limo to Justin Bieber and Luda (who happened to be in town that night. The girls were plotting a kidnapping). The word of the day was sass. I accidentally used that word while trying to coax them into giving me some attitude and I didn’t live it down all night.

I left the night so happy and refreshed and really simply loving my life.

the cutest little clutch. . . it was her soon to be mother in laws

this just describes the madness of getting on a dress

some of the guys shot by Nick. . . my fiance

another one by Nick

Snow balls!

March in Colorado

If you have lived in Colorado you know that every March, unlike the rest of the world, we expect some random snow. And not just a little bit of random snow. A lot of random snow. So on the most recent snow surprise I went out and took some pictures.

There is nothing better than walking in the snow. It so different than anything else. There is a complete sense of solitude. It is so tranquil to just watch the snow fall as everything turns white. The best moments in life have been spent in falling snow.

So here. Enjoy the snow with me and welcome to March in Colorado.

One of those days

A couple weeks ago, my dad was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer in his thyroid and the lymph nodes surrounding it. It is a really rare cancer, only about 1% of people get it. It is not effected by radiation or chemotherapy. The only thing they can do is remove it. Once they had done a body scan, they reserved the OR so that they could remove the masses in his throat.

On Monday of last week, I sat with my mom for 8.5 hours as my dad went through surgery. They removed 46 lymph nodes and his entire thyroid, 15 of the lymph nodes being cancerous. The cancer had begun to move down into his chest. The Surgeon had removed one lymph node containing traces of tumor from right above his aorta. It was a long surgery and a little taxing on our patience but with close friends around us and all the prayers we had, we felt God’s faithfulness all around us.

He was released from the hospital later last week and is doing really well. He is still sore from the uncomfortably long surgery and he still has some numbness where nerves were pinched. The doctor was amazed by how fast he recovered and he was also amazed how calm we all were through the entire ordeal. We couldn’t have been calm without the reassurance of God’s goodness and faithfulness and the prayers of all of our amazing friends.

I documented some of our time in the hospital. I know some people might consider this weird or odd but it is my way of remembering and I want to remember the time when God was so good to my family. We have faith that the cancer is all gone. They are still monitoring him and doing tests to see. Thank you to all of you who kept us in your prayers. We felt them and we still do.

prepping for surgery

my dad. . . the continuous jokester. This a very accurate depiction of my dad.

waiting. . . .

post op

The look on his face so accurately describes our day. .

3DV Women’s Conference: Unshakable Faith

A couple of weekends ago, I attended the Third Day Victory Women’s Retreat. This years theme was Unshakable Faith. It was such a blessing to me. I needed unshakable faith in the coming week as my dad faced surgery to remove his stage 3 thyroid cancer (pictures to come). It was such a blessing to be around women who were so amazing and love God so much. I love my Third Day Victory family! I always feel so loved and encouraged around them. They are an amazing example of the love of God. These women are amazing and inspiring in how they love God and live their lives. I am so lucky to have all of them in my life.

I always like to take some pictures for them so that they have pictures to use for promotional things and materials for the next conference that they do.

Here are my favorites.

They made journals with covers for all the women. Attached to the ribbon was a little globe with a mustard seed inside of it.

The decor: climbing gear

worship:

beautiful allyson!

and wonderful kristen!

Praying for an orphanage in Rwanda

Sarah Stevens: Amazing woman with outstanding faith

Welcome Mary Bella

Last summer, I shot Mary Beth when she was pregnant with this little cutie. Now she is captivating every heart she comes in contact with. . . Little Miss Mary Bella is such a sweetie. She is such a bright, cheerful little baby with such an observant stare. She loves looking at her mom and nothing is more precious than when she bursts out into a huge smile. You can tell she is gonna be momma’s best friend and daddy’s little girl. Mary Beth is so in love with her little girl and can’t get enough of her. She is gonna be a wonderful mom. And Tyrel is such an attentive dad. You can see how much he loves her.

Congratulations to this lovely little family. I can’t wait to see you grow!

The Cyclist and The Nurse

These two were so much fun. When Allyson called me she was worried because she thought that neither her or Caleb were very photogenic. They were SO wrong! Right from the get go they were workin it like pros. Caleb (who is a pro cyclist) had the great idea to take a picture of him in his racing gear and ally in her nursing gear. They turned out so cute. We had a nice stroll around Manitou and headed to Garden of the Gods to shoot while the sun was on its way down. Caleb and Ally were so great! The were so adventurous and had wonderful ideas which made my job all the more easy. They climbed up on some rocks that had a great over look of the mountains and the sun going down. It was freezing but we were having so much fun.

I can’t wait to shoot their wedding in July. I love their love for the outdoors and how adventurous they are. They have such a great joyful spirit and it really shines through all of their photos. Plus they are absolutely in love ; )

Broken and Beautiful plus The Dream Song

In honor of Jeremy Burk’s new CD Broken and Beautiful hitting car stereos and itunes playlists all around America. . I thought I would compile a little montage of all my favorite JB  photos and stink faces.

You can buy Jeremy’s new CD here. If you liked Jealous, Jealousy and Glory Sessions then you will love this album.

Also a new single from JB called The Dream Song which was written in Houston at the Awakening and Reformation Tour is out on itunes.

If you are still looking for Jealous, Jealousy (No Ordinary Love) You can find it here.

So enjoy your JB montage and buy some CDs!!

album artwork for The Dream Song

AR Tour Houston

‘this is no ordinary love. . .’

Israel, fixer, and an OM-1

I have been thinking about what makes me “me” and  this only led to me thinking about the experiences and events that made me “me”. So here is my story. . . the story of how I got here. I have always been artistic. My aunt gave me my first art class when I was seven, teaching me how to draw a pine-apple. I kept drawing all the way through high school. I was naturally talented at seeing what I saw and then translating to paper. I liked drawing kids with graphite. I always wanted to do photography and painting but it just never happened. The doors always shut.

Right after I graduated, I was digging in our hall way closet (I think I was looking for goggles. We were going on vacation to Glenwood Springs, where we always spent lots of time swimming). I found my mom’s Olympus OM-1. It was her graduation gift when she graduated high school. I was intrigued. I had my mom show me the basics and our entire vacation I was behind that lens. I even figured out how to get on top of a building so that I could take pictures of the sunsetting. The film got jammed when I was rewinding it I was only able to shoot one roll. When I moved to Colorado Springs, we finally found a shop that could fix it, remove the shot film, and develop it. It was then that I realized I had found something very special in my life. It was magic! The pictures were beautiful and I stapled them to my dorm room walls for inspiration.

Some pictures of pictures

I kept shooting through my first semester of college. . . taking pictures of the crazy rain storms we had that year and the new friends I made. In my second semester, the doors finally opened for me to take a photo class. This is where I met Mrs. Carol Dass, a wonderful local photographer and now a great friend. She encouraged me to shoot my life and to document the things around me and she taught me the magic of the darkroom. I was hooked! The smell of fixer, the magic of seeing an image appear, and perfecting the patient process of translating light. For my final project, I documented my journey to Israel. I packed my trust OM-1 and a bunch of film. . . I didn’t even bring a digital camera :) It was here that I shot my first real engagement. My friends Candace and Stefan got engaged while we were on a boat in the middle of the sea of Galilee. I printed them one of the black and white photos that I had shot. They loved it!

Garden of Gethsemane

Our team at Aroma Coffee shop in Tel Aviv. . one of our favorite places

Over the summer, I was a leader in a high school camp called DSI and they asked me if I would take pictures of the students working at the Desperation Conference. I only had my film camera but one of my good friends Karena Stewart (now Demerchant) had just gotten a Canon Rebel XTI. It was my first experience with a semi-pro DSLR camera. I took a million pictures and learned a lot through trial and error, not really even knowing what I was doing. It was while taking pictures of some of the interns that I caught the eye of a friend from high school who was venturing into professional photography herself. Enter Hannah Brooks. She asked me if I wanted to join her for one of her weddings that she was shooting. I was awed and, of course, I ecstatically said yes.

Christy Nockles from Watermark singing during the Vow

worship

Joel Houston from Hillsong

Jumping around during the finale

Hannah let me borrow her old Nikon and she walked me through all the basics of digital shooting and gave me the run around on how to shoot a wedding and do it well. It was a whirl wind. I remember leaving with numb feet and my back aching but loving every second of it. Hannah asked me to help out her photographer for her wedding about a month later and I, once again, was thrilled. About the same time, Candace and Stefan asked if I would be there to help shoot their wedding too.

I borrowed a Canon 20D from one of my high school students that was in a small group that I led and began shooting as much as I could, when ever I could. I loved the feeling of the camera in my hands. . its weight, its solidness. I loved the sound of the shutter closing and opening again. I loved life behind the lens. I got the elements version of photoshop for Christmas and poked and prodded at editing. A great blizzard began to come in the morning of Hannah’s wedding and I ended up shooting Candace and Stefan’s wedding just at the end of the storm. I had to be rescued from my neighborhood so that I could get to them.

Still one of my favorites. . .Hannah in the snow

Candace and Stefan after the ceremony

Candace and her dress

In the Spring, I bought my own Canon 30D which I took with me on my next adventure to China. It was in China that the world of video began to take hold of me. The missionary there had written a script of a short film based on the story of the prodigal son. He needed someone who knew how to work a camera to help him out. It just so happened that I declared a Recording Arts major the semester before and had begun learning the wonderful world of video. On my second trip to China, I brought my trusty OM-1 with the intent of truly capturing the heart of my experience without the hesitation or insecurity of having a camera I didn’t fully know. I feel like I was successful. While I was there, I took some family photos of the missionaries and their kids because they hadn’t had any normal family photos in a long time (Chinese photographers have a very different style then they were used too).

At lunch, a tibetan man sitting in the restaurant

In Hong Kong by the museum

What a cutie!

Taken with my OM-1

Our tent

Our nomad friends

The bakery

down by the river. .

My roommate with a butterfly

some family portraits: little miss blue eyes

the jokester

one of my favorites

the family

After my trip, I focused a lot of my energy on video but always coming back to photography for when I wanted to feel like me. I did occasional portrait shoots. . one being my best friends engagements. . but nothing huge. I shot a lot of color film that year, documenting my life and adventures and moments of quiet and solitude. I studied up on digital. . learning more and more about my equipment, my lenses, my flash. I shot a wedding on my own and shot along side Hannah on another. However, I entered into my senior year completely bedazzled by film but making my rent by editing video.

A chair

my apartment

Lake pueblo

A candid shot at the wedding I shot with Hannah

My senior year in college was marked by time spent in the darkroom. I shot 35mm and 120mm film. I fell in love with Holga and all the fun cameras that I found like my action sampler and my split cam (film blog here). My work caught the eye of Heather Oelklaus, gallery manager at HeeBee JeeBees, and I landed my first 15 piece solo gallery show (blog post here). All the images were Holga and were inspired by my memories as a child and my longing to return to those care free days. It was also at this time that I decided that I would document my life with my 30D, no matter how horrible the pictures turned out or how uneventful my life may be, I was going to take pictures of it and write a blog about them (you can find the start of the blogs here). My cameras became my best friends. I carried them with me everywhere I went and I was constantly behind them.

one of my favorite Holgas

adam’s mountain cafe

the inside of a broken down train

my trusty holga

the invite to my show

me at my show

It was while setting up my gallery show that I met my fiance. (well I re-met my fiance . . . we had met 8 months prior. . i just didn’t remember) It was at this point in time that I became confident in the photographer that my experiences had made me become. I think some how people noticed that confidence and I had the honor of shooting many wonderful people.

Now a few new cameras and lenses and experiences later, I am living my passion. For so long my heart had been divided, busy with work but longing to be behind the lens. But now I have the wonderful opportunity to pour all of myself into the thing that makes me most happy. I love photography! Every dream I ever dreamt with God had to do with capturing moments of life, suspending them in light and sharing them with the world. I am blessed beyond measure and every time I pick up my camera I think of how blessed I am and how much joy I get out of my job. It is amazing the paths that we take to become who we are and how these paths make us “us”.

like a breath of fresh air.