This week’s project 52 is black and white.

It’s the Myan cat! And my friend Lauren. Just keeping it simple this week but a little different. Check out Kim’s black and white!

~ Jon

Enough talk about ice cream. :) The photo…

Good luck to them.

Check out the next person on the list… –> Mark Gregory of Roxy Creative!  <–

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In the spirit of concurring photography projects, here’s checking up on my 365 project:

It’s been hard taking a picture every single day, I admit it. There are times when there’s so much going on and I don’t even have to think about taking pictures, but when it’s cold and nothing too exciting is happening, it’s not always easy. Some pictures I like more than others–to put it lightly. :)

Pictures are posted regularly at the 365 album on Facebook, but here are a few of my recent favorites:

My family brought in the new year singing and praying. God is good. :)

This is an outtake of a 365 picture, but I like it. Driving through the snow.

~ Jon

Looking through all the pictures from 2011 is a crazy thing for me. It reminds me of how awesome God is, how blessed I am in life, and how relationships are everything. In just one short year, my photography has changed a bit, I write differently, and so much has happened in my life. It’s great and it’s scary, but I love it so much.

With so much in life changing, God’s grace is always the same.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Here is 2011 in review. Make sure you let the whole page load before clicking on links or pictures so that they will display correctly.

What better way to start off this with a bunch of sheep? :)

Good times were had working as a Bison photographer. :) It was a blast working with fun people, stretching myself photographically, and shooting some sweet gigs:

Band Perry and First Thaw Festival.

Shot one of my favorite bands, The Avett Brothers.

Did some fun newspaper assignments.

The Burksys.

Shot some Spring Sing. :-)

Shot some high school football. Kinda fun, actually.

Pennsylvania Christian Camp is always a fun week to document with all the youth and the kids at heart. Lots of fun times and memories made there. (of course I had to throw in a picture of my lovely parentals. :))

Had some adventures in the snow. :)

Went to a couple functions.

Some crazy function-goers.

Did some club portraits. haha…oh Amy.

• Box queens
• Last queening
• XEA queens
• Ju Goj pic
• TNT queens

Last formal with PTP as an undergrad. Love this group. It’s been a blast being a part of such a God loving, sweet group of girls.

Sweet suite photo shoot. They’re funny. :-) and cool.

Some BOX function-age. Brotha Beans.

fab.

New PTPers.

The ZP gents. hah…fun times.

Some cool guys and gals at a DRG funct. Hah.

Made my first tye-dye. Learned some life-lessons from Katie.

Did some photos for J-hwa. Miss this guy.

Probably the most sarcastic family you’ll ever meet. Not a bad thing.

The Honduras group pre-travel. I love this group so so much. They’ve all been such a huge blessing in my life.

Kids. :)

Love love love them. Our group in Honduras.

Living world religions trip. Good times and quite the eye-opener.

The skies in Searcy.

Did portraits for the So and family. :-)

2nd shot a few weddings with Karlo. He’s the man. :)

Self portraits. ;)

If wedding clients were children, I would be the be the proudest father ever. ;) I’ve been SO blessed to work with amazing people. I’m so thankful to work with couples that are genuine and kind that I can proudly call my friends.

I also attended a wedding. :)

Did some super-stealthy proposal pictures.

Engagement pictures for some awesome people that are madly in love.

#blessings

Visited my crazy Chicago friends.

Went to the beach. Went two-stepping.

haha.. documented some shenanigans.

Took some graduation pictures and portraits.

I (even) graduated college. [cone hat]

I’ve made the effort to go on more adventures. It’s hard to make the time to get out and explore God’s creation, but once you do, it’s always worth it. God is good.

Sleigh ride. Snow in Searcy is always super exciting. Oh the memories.

And more recently… played in less snow. :)

Started the cro-posse. This is a great sport. I also broke into the professional writer scene. A first and probably a last.

• Played some frisbee golf.
• Bike riding is also great fun.
• Discovered an abandoned college.

May or may not have went trick-or-treating.

Watched and coached Zach into break dancing success. He’s a pro now and I’d like to say that I’m a part of that. :)

Flat rock.

Went on a photo adventure or two.

Measured my BMI. Needless to say, I aced the BMI test.

The best of friends. :)

Moved in this crazy house with these crazy guys. :-)

Worked with this group of amazing and genuine people to make Help Portrait: Searcy happen. Bless.

Started my 365 project–a picture/day for a year. Great challenge. I’m excited for making some more cool portraits with some more of my favorite people this year. :-)

Lastly, I had some grand ol’ times with my family. Love them!

This past year truly has been a blessing. 2012 will be even better. :)

I am a part of all that I have met. Thanks for following my journey.

~ Jon

This is my Freaky Friday rendition of the theme this week for project 52. Cue epic music.

My thought process for the theme (12) for this photo-of-the-week thing was that 12 is a dozen -> eggs come in the dozen -> I like the band Explosions in the Sky -> why not make a super corny spoof? -> why not do Eggsplotions In The Sky!?

So…here it is: Eggsplosions in the Sky. Unfortunately, eggs were harmed in the making of this picture.

Here is the behind the scenes picture. ~6 pictures blended together, some eggs, some milk, an assistant, a flash, long exposure, and ~25 layers in photoshop.

Be sure to check out the rest of the less-crazy interpretations of ’12.’ Here is (the wonderful) Cheryl’s version. Cheryl is part of the talented team known as Zoe Portrait Art.

~ Jon

Sydney and Justin were nice enough to walk around campus with me to try out some cool shots. It was a blast hanging out with these two–and I like how everything turned out. :-)

After a few of these photos, a teacher walks by and makes a comment about this being a good way to relieve stress. Didn’t notice me taking pictures. haha…this is stress relief at it’s finest. :)

Until next time,

~ Jon

A group of local photographer friends are doing the 52 on Friday project. This is a lot like the 365 project that I’m already doing (a picture a day), except this one is a picture a week (yay!) and includes a theme to follow for each week. Since I’ll already be taking pictures every day and because this is another cool thing to challenge myself with, I jumped at the chance. I’m also anxious to see how we all apply this concept in different ways. Everyone’s mind works in different ways, and photo interpretations are never the same. In photography, I try to make a photo different and create something that I’ve never done. If possible, something I’ve never seen.

The Week 1 assignment is to take a self portrait and fill out this survey thing. Here goes.

1. What is the first thing you see in the mornings?
My phone’s alarm clock. I’m not a morning person so this isn’t a very fun encounter. After that, my white ceiling and the vivid orange and blue walls of my bedroom.

2. Three words that describe your personality.
Quirky, straight, and encouraging.

3. One thing you wish you could do, but can’t.
Oh man this question is too hard. The first thing that comes to mind is draw. Lacking in this ability is hard for me because I love art and creative things so much. I do create nice stick figures though. And I have reasonably neat handwriting. If this question asked for a 2nd and 3rd thing to wish for, my reply would be dancing and composing/playing music.

4. First song that pops into your head………NOW!!!
This song is playing right now in my house: Chris Bathgate – Serpentine. So good…makes my heart melt.

5. What got you started in photography?  /  6. What do you love most about photography?

I’m not quite sure when the moment was that it clicked, but I know why I chose to pursue photography. I love telling a good story–but I’m not much of a writer, speaker, or artist–so I use photography as my medium to this. My photography is also fueled by the impact a photo can make and the genuine appreciation from someone after a snapshot from their life is documented in a real way. I aim to capture emotion (which is what I love about photography) because emotion is the language of a picture where words don’t fit. I do wedding photography because love of the most pure and genuine emotion. Love it.

7. What do you hope to learn/accomplish from this project?
I hope to become a better photography and storyteller. Also deepen relationships with some of the great people that I’ve been blessed to meet through Help Portrait.

Week 1 – Self Portrait

This is my contemplative side. Normally my go-to face is more like this.

My first idea for a self portrait was to do a upside down picture of me doing a cartwheel. Why upside down? Because that’s how I’ve been thinking lately–looking for the weird way to do things. This was the result. Not my favorite, which is why I didn’t use it, but it was a good learning experience. :-)

Until next time,

~ Jon

P.S. Check out Mark Gregory’s self portrait here!

Pushing boundaries and challenging yourself is a very prevelent theme in my life. If you ask me advice about most anything, pushing yourself will likely be hinted at. It’s an essential part of life and seems to me to be essential to avoiding the daily drag. But… I digress. On to my original point. ;)

A few weeks ago, I met up with my friend Ellis to test out some lenses and make some fab photos. Oh, and because he’s a cool guy. :)

Some of the angles worked better than others, but I thought that this was a pretty good start.

Part 2 of this coming next week. Stay tuned.

~ Jon

Caitlin and Ryan are now married! I’ve known these two for what seems like forever and it’s crazy to see them all gown up and married. ;) I’d like to say that I played a small part in getting them together, but realistically they probably wouldn’t have been able to stay apart either way. Caitlin and Ryan are so in love with God and so in love with each other. It’s truly great to be a part of the lives of such a loving and genuine couple.

They’re also super cute. :) Here are the photos…

Shout out to Ashel Parsons as 2nd photographer and Justin Harris as ceremony video guy. :) Also Dell-icious Cakes and Aramark catering.

~ Jon

Help Portrait started with an idea brought to light by a Nashville photographer, Jeremy Cowart. Help Portrait is the simple idea of taking a portrait of someone, printing it, and giving it to them. The purpose of this project is to build self-worth in people and to show them that they are worth spending time on and worth making a great portrait for.

The Searcy chapter of Help Portrait was sparked by a tweet to a few photographers that I’ve come to know in town. Since then, so many people have stepped up to make this project happen. It truly has been a blessing. First putting out an idea, receiving so much support by people willing to give their time and talents.

I love this group and have nothing but good to say. It’s truly been a blessing and an honor working with such incredible people.

This first year’s Help Portrait: Searcy wasn’t exactly a smashing success by terms of number of people coming in the door, but it was most definitely a success. The families that did come through were blessed in ways we don’t know. Here’s a behind the scenes perspective:

Here’s the main photographer group. Love them.

This guy is the boss.  :)

We had quite a bit of downtime, so since we already had everything set up… you know. :)

~ Jon

The 365 project has been popularized for a few years now. The 365 project is taking a picture every day for 365 days. I’ve followed a few other people’s progression through a full year of taking pictures daily, and it’s really a good challenge to do for personal photography growth. This project is rather daunting. Doing anything regularly for so long and sticking with something is quite tough. New Years resolutions, diet plans, goals, they’re all difficult but doable.

After deciding not to do this project for a few years, I’ve decided to try it out. I’m not going to be too religious about it, but I am giving myself a few rules:

• I plan to finish this by New Years, 2012, which gives me
• 20 vacation days (1.6 days off per month)
• One picture a week has to involve planning. This is open for interpretation, but increases the challenge to make something awesome and not just get by.

What to expect:

• Lots of Canon 5D 50mm pictures. (favorite camera/lens combo)
• A few camera phone pictures. (“the best camera is the one you have with you” – chase jarvis)
• Mostly people pictures. (people pictures are the reason I do photography. :))
• Behind the scenes type pictures.
• Etc. :-)

I will probably recap my 365 project on the blog monthly or bi-monthly, but I won’t be posting here daily. I don’t want my blog to be overrun with this project. :)

You can keep up with this project on twitter @jonyoder or through liking my Jon Yoder Photographer facebook page.

Here is day 1: December 10th, 2011.

Help Portrait behind the scenes. More on this tomorrow. Mark Gregory is the holiday-hat-adorned photographer, with the talented and awesome Cheryl and Maggie behind. Here’s the runner up photo.

 ~ Jon