A Walk In The Park with My Camera

A Little Time Outside

A Few Updates

Sarah has taken Mary Kay rather serious. She's had to learn a lot more than just cosmetics (like what expenses there are before you have real profit, keeping good records of everything). While Sarah hasn't turned a profit yet (it cost a good bit to get going), she's done well with all she's had to learn. She is actually at a Mary Kay conference this weekend. She texted me how much she's pumped.

This morning I had planned on painting our master bathroom trim (everything that was going to be white). As I was putting down painters tapes (to avoid the paint getting into the grout lines) I saw a 1/4" hole in the molding beside the door to our walk-in shower. Turns out the spot was rotten. As I searched more deeply I found many more rotten spots and places where the sheet-rock was practically putty. It doesn't look good. I'm now working on some plans to attack, but I won't know what the real situation is until I get behind the wall and take a look. I'm expecting to remove at least 1'6" of the wall from the floor to take a look at what kind of project I'm working on. I'm really happy I had someone I was able to call and give me the skinny on what to do. There was good news and bad news, but at least I had some better direction about what to do.

My photography has been really fun. I've met a lot of people and had a lot of cool conversations. Craig's List has been a pretty good source for getting started, but I don't imagine it will be a good source for much longer. My guess is most people who go to Craig's List for a photography aren't expecting much quality. So I'm having to decide how to balance being an artist (and being perceived as one) with my goal to break some of my shyness and meet people I don't normally encounter.

Krystel & Danny

Krystel and Danny are brother and sister. When Krystel contacted me about a photo session she said, "I would like to have some pictures with my hero". I thought that was pretty cool!




If you would like to see more visit my fan site on FaceBook.

SurfFest 2010

For a little more than a week Ron Jon have been putting on a surfing tournament in the area. I thought I'd go by and practice some photography. The waves were not very good. A few things I learned...

1. Bring a chair, because I'm too old to stand in one place for hours.
2. Lots of people say "hey" to you when you have a lens over a foot long on your camera.
3. I need to get a hood for my telephoto lens.
4. I didn't notice until I was leaving that I forgot to put my UV filter on.
5. Watch where other photographers stand to get their shots. I'm happy to say that I must have chose the right spot for my lighting because two other photographers joined me after about 30 minutes (or maybe, the more likely case, they just wanted to be social).

One photographer I saw had to be at least twice my age out there and she was sporting the best camera out there. I would have loved to have her lens, but it'll be a long time, if ever, before I can afford $3k+ lenses. Funny enough, I got the chair idea from her. She used a short mono-pod and shot from the chair most of the time.

Why Photography, Part 2

I want to add a little to what I said. There are people who also influenced my decision to enter photography as well. I don't think any of them know they influenced me.

I saw my brother in law, Nathan, connect with a lot of people through photography and because of my love for all things creative I started connecting with and admiring his work, and longing to be creative as well. At first I didn't know my expression would become photography, sometimes I'm still not sure.

I've seen, and still see, many pastors who struggle with getting out of the office and being with people. I had become such a person. I was in the community, at schools, but even that had become a circle of people that I didn't leave much.

The staff at the church where I work have been talking about the subject of connecting with people who don't normally connect with. We've been discussing how we can love on the community. My shyness has been challenged. The excuse that "this is how I'm built" was challenged here. A fellow staff member, Aaron, has had a few awesome moments I'm aware of in the community that has inspired me. None of which I would have never known about if I had not asked; he doesn't brag or boast about these things, he just does them.

I started putting things together and it started making sense and along the way a good number of people have been giving me incredible advice and steering me in the right direction. Thank you!

Terry Kyle Photography on Facebook

Why Photography

It's officially launched. This is a big deal to me. Once upon a time art was huge in my life. It started when I was about 8 years old and I drew Garfield out of the comics of the Sunday newspaper. I remember handing it to my parents and them being amazed. I remember seeing the same drawing years later and it really didn't look like something an 8 year old would draw. Maybe it was the desire to repeat the affection I received over "Garfield" that got me to frequently draw or maybe it was something else, but from that day art became a part of my life.

Most of my early years it was just putting a pencil to paper. Over the next 15 years of my life, you can pretty much name it and I tried it: painting, sculpting, carving, pottery, metal working (although I didn't do much with this), water colors, photography, and so much more (I would love to try working with glass, but that's another blog post). I guess you can say there was a part of me that really wanted to be expressed creatively.

In college I was introduced to website designing. Even thought it was a lot like computer programming, I treated it like art. But I found where I was really limited. I was very competent in the programming, but I had no clue about graphic design. Two girls, Rachel and Rachel, who were both Bachelor of Fine Arts majors got me started in graphic design and taught me the basics. That was all I needed to get started.

A story that I could make a whole lot longer with all the details comes to this. . .

I'm taking what I've learned in 10+ years of seriously playing with graphic design, combining it with years of creative expression, and pouring them deeply into a tool called photography.

Here's the big part! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm shy. Yes I can act very outgoing and extroverted at times (especially if you see the craziness I pull off with my youth group), but deep inside I'm shy. I seem extroverted in unusual situations and introverted in the usual situations. I have a hard time meeting strangers and having a conversation with someone I'm not familiar with. It doesn't feel natural for me and I find that hard.

I'm a pastor. It becomes too easy as a pastor to fill my time only getting to know those who show up at the building and it can become increasingly more difficult to connect with those outside the church. My shyness makes this worse. I'm wanting to use photography to help me with my shyness and to love on people who I don't know and wouldn't normally encounter.

This past Friday I was able to experience that as I offered my photography to a couple for their wedding for free. They asked me at least 5 times how much I wanted to be paid. After seeing my portfolio they expressed they couldn't believe I would do this for them for free. That was a very nice compliment, but it also said that I was getting to love on them in an unique way. An awesome connection was made with this couple; the bride kept talking about wanting to meet my wife as if she was looking for a friend her age (they are the same age). And a lot of our conversation about the wedding, and life, was personal instead of distant and detached. I hope all of my photography encounters are like this.

Jackie's Wedding Dress

Jackie is a friend who got married this past summer. For one reason or another she was never able to get photos outside of the wedding ceremony and really wanted some of her in her dress, so she let me take a few shots with my camera to add to my portfolio. Here are a few of my favorites. More can be seen at my fan site on facebook.

The Sartains

This was a fun shoot. Jackie (the girl in the photos) is a professional photographer. We went out and she took pictures of Sarah and I while I got some of her husband, Danny, and her. You want to hear the funny thing. . .towards the end of the day Sarah grabbed Jackie's camera and took a few shots while I was shooting and got the best picture of the day (you'll have to talk her into posting it).

Terry Moore Photography

Become a fan on FaceBook (click here)

A good number of pictures are posted in the fan page. Check them out and let me know your thoughts (feel free to be tough and give advice).

Even though it sounds like a business, I really want to use it to meet people in the community. I'm not as interested in making money as meeting new people, although I wouldn't mind being able to get more equipment.

It would be awesome if this connects me with people I don't normally connect with.

Stretching Myself, Continued

Some of you may be thinking. . .with all that work on photography and Spanish how do you have time for church work. Well believe it or not, I plan on using both in ministry. Plus, I've learned that stretching myself in one area often gives me new life in another.

But I'm also stretching myself in ministry areas through learning and living differently. Some of this is through reading. Some of this is a result of conversation with individuals who have been having an influence on me. Lately I've been trying to be in public areas (mall, bookstores, etc.) where it's normal to meet people and talk with total strangers; I'm naturally shy so getting into a conversation with a total stranger isn't easy for me. I mean, of course I could be "that guy" that talks to whoever and annoys people, but I'm not trying to be "that guy". I'm trying to naturally learn how to talk with people outside the church about everyday stuff.

Reading the right books seem to have this stretching impact as well. . ."Present Future" by Reggie McNeal, "Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A Kung Fu Survival Guide for Life and Leadership" by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite have been awesome!! Next on my reading list is "Lost and Found: The Young Unchurched and the Churches That Will Reach Them" by Ed Stetzer.

Stretching Myself

Something I've learned about myself is that I'm at my best in life when I'm learning new things. So I've decided to press myself to learn two things I've been wanting to do for a long time.

The first is photography. Ever since I was asked to photograph the wedding of a friend, with the crappy camera I had at the time, I was struck with the bug to seriously study photography. I've even had a nice camera for nearly a year, but never really did much with it (other than take picture of church and youth events). Over the past month I've done a lot of research and study. I'm committed to no longer use point and shoot features on my camera, but to actually learn how to properly use aperture, exposure, positioning, lighting, depth, distance, ISO, shutter speed, etc. . .to be smart with my choices to create awesome photos. I've gotten a lot of really cool tips from Brian and Rachel Henderson and Nathan Lawrenson. I'm loving it!

The second is Spanish. In January I purchased Rosetta Stone's Spanish (Latin America). For about 3 weeks I've been plugging away at it. It's tough and I still feel like I'm pretty stupid, even though my lowest grade has been a 91. I just find learning a new language to be tough. Learning Spanish is something I've wanted for a long time as well. Right now I'm really bad at it so don't even bother trying to speak to me in Spanish. Wait a few months. Right now one of the most difficult things for me to do is the double "r" sound in Spanish. Sarah laughs every time she hears me try to roll my tongue; how bad I am at it does sound funny.

Both of these, I believe, will stretch me in a good way. Anyone who knows me knows that deep within me something cries out to always be creative. Also anyone who knows me know I love to learn new things, try new things, and do new things. Both of these bring me a lot of excitement in everyday life.