I received my sample St. Tropaz book from Couture Books. It has a beautiful cover with a blue thread binding. Dave, from Couture told me, I'm the first in the country to get this book. It's the first one they've made!

I found a YouTube video of someone binding a book in Japan using this threaded method.
http://cailun.info/index.php?/categories/8-Artists

I love this Jonathan Watters wedding video! Using cue cards throughout the wedding, they were able to replace the read cards with lip-sync music. Go to this link to watch -it's fun.

Trash the Dress

I never liked the "Trash the Dress" moniker. Blowing off the pressure of the wedding day by taking out the gown to places it will get dirty is okay...but I prefer the term "Field Trip." It seems less permanent, less intention for gown damage. 

When I do engagement, wedding, or field trip videos, I want them to have a fun look, and a deep romantic look. I want them to pass what I call "the cry test." This is tough thing to talk about in public (for a guy), but I think a good photographer is very much in touch with their emotions, if not they are a lousy photographer. 

So here's the picture. After the photography session, I sit at my computer and work out the slideshow, picture order, and song. I sometimes spend the entire day working it. When my eyes tear up, I know I've got it. It's passed the cry test. 

I took shot an engagement with a few friends at a carnival! I was a little intimidated with the thought of night shooting under a variety of lights. Floresant, and incandescent -lights with a rainbow of colors. Everything came out cool. Shooting manual helps.

Worked so well, I did it again with a Bridal Field Trip (my version of a "Trash the Dress").

To see their engagement safari click here. Special thanks to Mike, Brett, Tiff, Jeff, and to the Merry-Go-Round operator who let me play with the ride for 45 minutes!

Marty Leonard Chapel Jim Rode Photographer

Awesome wedding at the Marty Leonard Chapel in Fort Worth. Kathleen looked so cool in a beautiful gown. Jason, nervous, but watching him step up to and stand like granite was spectacular! I think they drew on his strength. The guys that surround him were so supportive, I was very impressed. 

The Chapel is a first class operation, and went off without a "hitch" -so to speak. The reception was at the Horseman's Club. They danced and partied and mixed with friends and family. Great people, great family, great friends.

Jerome took the afternoon off from the NY markets to join with his love Natasha. Together we cruised the Northeast Tarrant County area for a few hours. They are very much in love. I really enjoyed their company. (They probably think I'm a nut!) -But I really had fun with them. Later we had a little Tex-Mex and talked about the wedding in September.

Natasha is a great beauty.

For many of you who read my blog, you encounter the holiday dilemma in the coming months with Thanksgiving and Christmas, perhaps Passover, or Kwanzaa. Here is the dilemma... "Do we go to your parents house, or mine? Who gets which holiday? When do we simply stay at our own house?

I was reading about the Women of Ravensbrook. During the Holocaust, the Nazis crowded about 1000 Jewish women into a barracks designed for 240. They were forced into hard labor and suffered with little food, no medicine, no heat. The entire system was set up to work them to death. They could be killed at anytime on the whim of any guard.

Each evening, jammed together, suffering the cold and hunger, most sitting and sleeping on the wooden floors, they would talk. Talk about the food they missed, seeing their family again, cooking for them, recipes. Although punishable by death to have paper of ANY kind, one woman was able to find torn discards of paper, and wrote down the recipes for everyone. She would hide the scraps and the precious pencil. The women wanted to pass on their recipes, even if they didn't live to cook again.

When I think about the thoughts they expressed, the stories, the recipes, their longing to simply to be with family again, I think of the holidays in a whole new way. I think we can care for our families, and find creative ways to spend time with our parents. Passing the holiday talking, laughing, sharing with them...that's the recipe for life.

ModestNeeds

Today I'm going to tell you a brief story that will make your heart soar.

A woman applied to ModestNeeds.org for aid. She had a child who needed specialty glasses. Her boy could only see colors, not shapes. This eye deformity is correctable with specialty eyeglasses that cost about $500. She had little money, but the need was great as the boy was about to start kindergarden. So she applied for help. Asking for $500 was huge for her, so she only asked for $50 -enough for the down payment. She hoped she would find a way to pay the balance on payments.

The people at ModestNeeds looked at the situation, their funds on hand, and told her, "If you pay for the frames, we'll pay for the lenses." She took her son to the doctor who started the process. When he fitted the boy with the glasses he looked up in astonishment and said "Mom, is that you?" 

In her day to day struggle to put food on the table, and to raise a family, she really didn't know just how bad off he had been. Now, he can wear glasses, go to school, be a normal kid. She is still paying ModestNeeds $5 per month for the frames. 

If you would like to know more about ModestNeeds, you can click the link. There, you can read requests for help, apply for help, make a donation. Go ahead, I dare you. We all live in this world together.

Jim