| Todd and Sara Get Married at Wildwood Inn in Denton, TX |

Todd and Sara got married today at Wildwood Inn, in Denton, TX.  I always love shooting at Wildwood. They are super photographer friendly there, and how nice of them to order 60 degrees in late December for an outdoor wedding!

I photographed Todd and Sara's engagement session, and I really enjoy working with them. Actually, at the very first interview, I really related to Todd, and not just because he shaves his head, too.

Todd found out late that he had to accompany his sister's song during the service. He sounded great and it had to be a lot of pressure. Here he warms up before the ceremony. Is this a guy concentrating, or what?



Todd's dad is a minister, and he officiated the service. It was great. I always trust a guy who is never far from his Bible!



I keep saying that one day I am going to have to walk my daughter Evie down the aisle. How do these guys remain so composed? Sara seems a little nervous, but her dad is way cool.



I love the detail photos.







Almost time to cut that cake...





Lovely venue, lovely couple, lovely wedding.

| My Annual Christmas Tradition |

Seven years ago, I started the annual tradition of taking the whole | jimmages | crew to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert as a Christmas bonus. The tradition has evolved over the years. TSO now sells out two shows in Dallas, so this is what a TSO day is like for me...

12:00 noon - leave Sherman and head to AAC for a 3 o'clock show. I normally go with a few friends from church, and we try to catch a lunch before the show

3:00 pm - the afternoon show starts. Usually our seats are excellent...I mean, right on the stage, because we get preferred tickets for having been groupies for so long. Plus, the harder core fans want the nigh show tickets.

6:15 pm - first show is over, so everyone in our group from the first show very quickly walks from AAC to West End to have a fast dinner with those who are going to the evening show. It's a great time.

7:30 pm - evening crew gets on the bus at West End to head back to AAC for the next show

8:00 pm - the night show begins

11:15 pm - the night show is over, and so we all head back home to Sherman

11:18 pm - we take a wrong turn

11:20 pm - we take another wrong turn

1:00 am - we arrive back in Sherman, safe and sound

2:30 am - our hearing comes back, and my family analyzes how this year's show stacks up to the others (hint - every show is better than any before them!)

10:00 am - I am up blogging about the experience, and begin to look forward to next year's show :>)

Here are some photos from the two shows. The first few were taken in the afternoon, where we sat so close (row A, seat 1) we had a chance to discuss advanced music theory with Al Pitrelli, TSO's music director and incredible guitar player.

The latter photos are further back, but you can get a better idea of the scope of the light show. It's really incomparable to anyone else touring right now. And if you ever, ever say that these guys sound like Mannheim Steamroller, please understand...you're killing me.

The photos were taken with my iPhone, while being very careful not to get caught doing it. The very first thing that I ever shot seriously 30 years ago was a Yes concert, and sneaking around shooting yesterday brought back some very funny memories.

Enjoy!

| jimmages Christmas |

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year.  It's a time for family and friends, but most of all, it's the celebration of the birth of our Lord.  

My family normally goes to my father-in-law's house for Christmas Eve, and then back to see what Santa brought the kids Christmas morning.

I am really bad about not taking enough family photos, so I thought this year I'd see how well the iPhone camera works.  I think it did fine.

I sincerely hope you and your family had a wonderful and safe Christmas season.  Now, on to Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Friday.

Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's the familiar Christmas spread

Here are Angie, Annette and Barry.  Annette actually appeared on the Ed Sullivan show the same night that the Beatles were introduced to us Yanks.  She was only like 5 or something!

All of the kids preparing to open their gifts.  I sure hope they were all good this year...

Here's my brother-in-law Matt.  Kind of reminds me of Blackbeard's famous braided beard :>)

My father-in-law Jack's Aussie cork hat.  He says it keeps the flies away.  But since we were inside, I think it was more of a fashion statement.

A close up of Pete, my son and director of security here at | jimmages |.

It's just not Christmas for me without a new set of Simpsons' boxers.

Sister-in-law Jami.  Recognize her?  She was on the hit TV show 'Fat March'.

Pete and my lovely wife Jacki performing at the hootenanny part of the night.

And Evie has to get in the act.

I always try to recoup some of my expenditures at the annual poker game.  Here's my neice and nephew Chris and Crystal.

Another member of my security team.  Here she's undercover, dressed as a common reindeer.

But the tryptophan even gets to trained professionals eventually.

| Shane and Dena in Sherman |

Sometimes, it's really nice to be able to photograph a wedding close to home.  And I especially love to photograph weddings at the beautiful Faith Church in Sherman

www.faithchurch.us

And it makes it even better to photograph a bride who I have had the pleasure of watching grow up into a beautiful young lady.

Lots of photos for a blog post, but I couldn't help it!

| jim |