Well this will be my last wedding post for the year 2008.

I just finished up the last wedding of the year and it is a little sad for me.

After having shot so many weddings this year it is always bitter sweet when they end.

What a wonderful year filled with wonderful clients and beautiful weddings.

I look forward to a little down time to get the new web site and blog launched soon.

What a great end to the year to be working with Cassie and A.J. for their wedding.

Their wedding was in Salem, VA. The weather was great and everyone in there bridal party was just so great to work with.

Thanks you both so much for choosing Stone Blue to capture your day.

Congratulations, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you both!

I was hired this past week to capture the inaugural signing of the fly tower beam. I am really looking forward to attending shows in the new Academy theater in the near future.The Academy of Fine Arts offers the greatest opportunity Lynchburg has ever seen to develop a first-rate cultural arts complex. Together with its two ancillary buildings, the Academy offers a broad range of educational, social, business and entertainment opportunities to area citizens. Most importantly, when complete, the complex promises to be a magnificent anchor for a newly revitalized historic downtown, and a catalyst for continuing economic prosperity for Central Virginia.

A century after the Academy of Music Theatre first opened its doors in 1905, it will, at last, be resurrected. Described as “the prettiest opera house in the State,” this architectural masterpiece has endured numerous highs and lows in its 103-year history. Unfortunately, the facility suffered a major setback with the devastating fire of 1911. Eventually, live performances dwindled and were replaced with movies. Followed by decades of neglect, the Academy closed its doors in 1958. The Theatre, saved from demolition by its placement on both state and national registers of historic landmarks, is now poised to perform again the role it once played so well as the oldest operating theatre in Virginia and the visually and acoustically most splendid theatre in our Commonwealth, and the crown jewel of our city.

To learn more about the Academy of Fine Arts visit them online.

Enjoy this great moment in Lynchburg history.

www.academyfinearts.com

 

I met Kevin Roose about two years ago when I was hired to photograph a project that he was working on while attending Liberty University. Kevin was working on a story about Jerry Falwell’s life and Liberty University.  About a year went by after our session and I was contacted by Kevin saying he got a book deal and that the publishers would like to use one of my images as the cover to his book. Kevin told me how they had shot a few cover options with some New York based photographers but kept coming back to my image for the cover. What an honor it was for me to find out that they wanted to use my image on the cover of the book. Kevin and I had a long chat about the content of the book and the direction it would be going in. I really did not know any details about the story when I had first met Kevin or what would turn into a sinner’s journey through Liberty University, as he calls it. I just wanted to make sure it was not a one sided story but a real unbiased view of the school, both the good and bad. I was impressed with his openness and candor about his book and agreed to let the publisher use the image for the cover. Kevin had so many positive things to say about his time at Liberty University and the people he met while attending there. I am really looking forward to getting a copy of his book to read. It will be hitting the stands in March.

 Description of the book: As a sophomore at Brown University, Kevin Roose didn’t have much contact with the Religious Right. Raised in a secular home by staunchly liberal parents, he fit right in with Brown’s sweatshop-protesting, fair-trade coffee-drinking, God-ambivalent student body. So when he had a chance encounter with a group of students from Liberty University, a conservative Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia, he found himself staring across a massive culture gap. But rather than brush the Liberty students off, Roose decided to do something much bolder: he became one of them.

Review
“Hallelujah for Kevin Roose. This is a remarkable book. He takes us on a fascinating, funny, nuanced journey that doesn’t condescend or make glib judgments. It’s just what the culture wars need. If I didn’t already have kids, I’d adopt Kevin.”

–A.J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of The Year Of Living Biblically

www.kevinroose.com

www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Disciple-Semester-Americas-University/dp/044617842X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224494343&sr=8-1