Are You Second?

Hello friends,


Ok, I know that this is supposed to be a blog about photography, but we said in the beginning that this thing could include anything. Rambling, photography tips, gear tips, muses about our life, recent photo shoots, or just something that's on our mind. So here's another post about something that I can't get off of my mind :)


Recently I heard an advertisement on the local Christian radio station that I listen to about a website called I Am Second http://www.iamsecond.com/. After some delay (otherwise known as distraction) I finally hit the site and was amazed at what I saw and heard. The basic premise revolves around mostly celebrity figures, their past struggles, and ultimate conclusion that a happy, fulfilling life revolves around God being first and self being second. Some of the videos are touching, others will absolutely amaze you. I have linked to one below featuring Brian "Head" Welch formerly of the rock group Korn. For those of you who don't know, Korn has been around for some time and is certainly not known for conveying a Christian message in their music. The majority of it is the usual mainstream rock stuff; disobeying authority, drugs, and alcohol among other things. This video amazed me as it shows how God can truly use "the least of these", the one's you would never suspect, to deliver His message. And this individual certainly has the testimony to deliver a special message to some who normally would turn their head when confronted with God, Jesus, and the church. Enjoy, go to the site, watch the other videos, and then ask yourself who is first in your life...Until next time


God Bless,
Michael & Sheena

Remembering...

Hello, friends...today we get together with family and friends, fire up the grill, play backyard games, and enjoy a much earned day off work. But, just like Christmas, sometimes we forget the 'reason for the season.' Today there are thousands of brave men and women who aren't with their families and friends, who are in strange places that do not at all resemble home, and they do it all for us...and have been doing it for years. They give all and ask for nothing in return but the honor of bravely serving to defend freedom and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness around the world. So today don't forget to say a short prayer (or a long one:) for all of our soldiers, foreign and domestic, active and reserve, the veterans, and all of their families.


From Sheena Brown Photography we wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day! And to the brave warriors who ensure our continued freedom....THANK YOU!!! And may God Bless you and your safe return!


God Bless,
Michael & Sheena

Congratulations Destiny & Joey!

A few weeks ago I got the chance to meet up with one of my very dear friends and her new fiancée to do their engagement portrait session. We had so much fun and I believe that the photos really show it! Congratulations to the both of you! I hope you have many years with lots of love and happiness! 

 Here are a  few of my personal favorites of their session....

Another Salute to our Soldiers and Their Families

I recently stumbled across the website http://welcomehomeblog.com/ and had to share it. I never get enough of watching these videos. So many leave everything behind to go away and defend freedom around the world. EVERY soldier deserves these types of homecomings. God Bless our troops, the greatest military in the world!

And a friendly reminder...have the Kleenex box handy (the one's with the little kids get me every time :)

Let's try this again...

Ok, so we know...we're terrible bloggers! No posts in six months??? What on earth have we been doing? Well, to be perfectly honest we've been very busy. My lovely wife lost track of her schedule and took on a few more jobs than we had the capacity to handle (and had the audacity to do it right at the heart of deer season!). But that's all going to change. We're finally caught up except for one special project we need to finish and we can get back to nursing our little baby business. So now we start a new year which leads to new opportunities. In the coming weeks we will be rolling out a new referral incentive program, some exciting events for the year, and, as we will be rolling out a new product offering/pricing structure, a limited time discount toward the new pricing for those of you looking to book a session at any time this year. But more to come on that. There might even be more frequent blog posts as I believe I've finally talked my spouse into embracing the whole blog thing. For now we offer you a slideshow with some of our favorite images of 2010. Enjoy and as always, God Bless!

And now...The Brady Bunch (aka Tim & Renee Fisher Family)

After the fabulous wedding we had the pleasure of photographing, we were given the opportunity to photograph the new, very large, and happy family of Tim & Renee Fisher. These are two truly beautiful people and we feel very blessed to call them friends!

Showing the love!

The bro's.

Must See...Have Your Kleenex Box Handy

I found this while killing time at totalaxxess.com (I was supposed to be paying bills...yuk) and just had to share it. Now, very much unlike Sheena, I am not an overly emotional person...except when it comes to my kids. But this even made me sniffle a time or two. This is from www.tangle.com...kinda like YouTube for Christians. After you watch this be sure and check out the other videos they have.

God Bless Our Troops!!!

And now we present to you...

Mr. and Mrs. Allan Summerfield!

Today our family got a little bigger as we added a brother in law and his large family to our clan. June 26, 2010 marked the day when our sister Shera Lawrence (of American Idol fame) and Alan Summerfield (soon to be the next Michael Waddell...Google it for you non-hunters out there) were joined together in Holy Matrimony. It was a beautiful ceremony and the perfect way to start a lifelong journey together.

Alan & Shera, we love you both very much and pray that God grants you both many years of happiness together. May your hearts remain soft, your love remain strong, and your faith never die!

Below are a few pictures from an engagement shoot Sheena did for the happy couple. They are truly two beautiful people. But always remember, no matter what, your babies will never be cuter than ours :)

Memorial Day Followup

To those of you who were expecting a special slideshow to honor our military personnel on Memorial Day, as you already know, we were not able to create and post anything as we had promised. We apologize for this as we really wanted to do something to honor our military. Unfortunately we did not receive enough pictures to make a slideshow (we actually only received 3). Not to be deterred, we scoured the internet in search of images of military personnel, conflict photos, basically anything we could find. Again, unfortunately, there must be quite a marketplace for these type of pictures as just about everything we found came with a price tag :(

With that we would still like to keep the invitation open to send us photos of your friends, family, yourself, or anyone who is active or retired. We are going to try this again for the 4th of July and this time we are determined to get something posted for our troops. Please help us out by sending us anything you have. Of course you will retain all copyright ownership of the images. We will only be using them for the slideshow. Thanks in advance.

God Bless,
Michael & Sheena

Summer Vacation and a Few Special Deals!

We wanted to let all of our friends know that we are taking a little break during June and July to get caught up on pictures and get some much needed family time! We will be back in August ready to go full blast to work for you. Of course we will still be honoring all of our current bookings. Also, since Sheena has an inherent inability to say no to anything, if you have a once in a lifetime opportunity you would like us to capture in June or July (military family home on leave, out of town family visiting for a short time, etc), just give her a call and I'm sure she won't be able to say no.

With that said we would like to announce a couple of special deals we are initiating:

• Effective immediately we will be offering a 10% discount off of all of our services and products to active military personnel. We feel that this is the least we can do to honor and help out our armed forces who risk their life on a daily basis so that we can enjoy the many freedoms we take for granted.
  Military Wives (or husbands) - This applies to you as well...we would love to provide you with photographs of yourself, your children, or both so that you can share a little taste of home with your loved one who is in a distant land. Imagine his or her surprise and delight when they receive professional quality images in the mail to cherish and show off to their fellow servicemen and women. Just give us a call and mention our military discount when booking. We can also upload your custom slideshow to the web so that he or she can enjoy it while deployed.
• We are also accepting appointments for Fall Portrait Sessions. Aside from spring, there is no better time to capture your family alongside the beauty of God's creation. As an added incentive all portrait sessions for September, October, and November booked on or before July 9, 2010 will include a 20% discount off of any portrait order totaling $200 - $299 or 30% off of any portrait order totaling $300 or more. If you are interested give Sheena a call at 270-791-2175 or you can e-mail us at contact@sheenabrownphotography.com. Please don't delay as the available slots will fill up fast!
  
  
  God Bless,
  Michael & Sheena