My Rocker Husband

I’m a jealous person by nature. I’m very possessive of many things in my life, one of those things being my husband and my time with him. Tonight, my jealousy and possessiveness really came through when I found out that I would be home by myself most of the night. I was looking forward to a night of cuddling on the couch and watching the Olympics with Tyler, and when I found out I wouldn’t get my way, I stomped my foot and stuck out my lower lip. Yup, I was a big baby.

Tyler is in a rock band named Meridian, and practice takes up a lot of his time. They’ve been refining their new sound lately with at least two practices a week, and this week it is going to be three. Once I finally stopped being selfish, I started to think about how supportive Tyler has been of me and my time to pursue photography. How could I NOT support him, when he’s done nothing but be my biggest fan?

Sometimes I don’t understand what I’ve done to deserve such a fantastic husband, and one who’s a drummer at that (God really spoiled me when he put Tyler in my life, because I always had a thing for drummers). Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of him. So proud that I really want to brag on him a bit. All of this practice for the band is not just to get together with three of his closest friends, although that is a perk.

It’s because Meridian was one of the few bands to be chosen to play at Godstock in Fairfield, Illinois, next month. This could be huge for the band because of the exposure they will get. Some big names in Christian music have jammed out on the stage of Godstock, including one of our favorites, Skillet. The schedule isn’t posted yet, but head over to the Godstock web site and you’ll see this picture that I took of the band (left to right: Dane, Daniel, Tyler and BJ):

Meridian

Haven’t heard Meridian yet? The music on their MySpace page is a bit dated, but they will soon be heading to the studio to record five tracks. Some of those songs will be featured on my web site once they’re done. I can’t wait to share my husband and Meridian with you all!

And if you can’t wait that long, come see them at Godstock on September 6. I’ll be the one wearing my “I’m sleeping with the drummer” t-shirt. We can cheer them on together!

 

I saw Katy Perry, and I liked it…

Tyler and I traveled to Indy last week for the Warped Tour at the Verizon Wireless Music Center, and among the acts to perform was Katy Perry. I wasn’t the biggest fan of hers before the concert. In fact, when Tyler purchased her single “I Kissed a Girl” (he’s so going to kill me for writing that) from iTunes a few weeks ago, I was mad at him for not only spending our money on it, but putting the money in her bank account.

But I have to admit, Katy Perry put on a pretty good show. She was by far the act with the most people watching. Seriously, the entired amphitheater was packed. Luckily, we had gotten there early to get a pretty good seat. She brought serious energy to her performance and had a great personality, too. I was able to get some decent pictures of her with my point and shoot…

Katy Perry @ Warped Tour, Indy

Katy Perry performing

We also saw Gymclass Heroes…meh. Not impressed.

Gymclass Heroes @ Warped Tour

Then we saw Angels and Airwaves. You might recognize the lead singer as Tom of Blink182. Angels and Airwaves was seriously awesome, and Tyler is completely sold on their music now.

Angels and Airwaves @ Warped Tour

Tom of Angels and Airwaves

Finally, the band we waited for all day was RelientK. We’ve loved their music for some time now, and this performance totally solidified that. If you know us, you know that we are MAJOR fans of The Office. Tyler and I were totally surprised and in awe when RelientK broke out in a song they wrote about The Office and then played The Office theme song. Awesome!

RelientK @ Warped Tour

Notice that there are not any pictures of me and Tyler. There’s a good reason for that…we were a hot sweaty mess that day. It was 96 degrees in the shade at one point toward the END of the day, so needless to say we had been sweating all day and it wasn’t pretty. The sun completely wore us out and I think I’m still catching up on sleep. It was totally worth it, though. I had a blast seeing some awesome musical acts with my favorite guy in the world. I couldn’t have asked for more!

 

Road Trippin’!

Tomorrow, Tyler and I are taking a day off of work to head to Indy for the Warped Tour! It’s about a 4-hour trip for us to the Verizon Wireless Music Center, but we are fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of people. And everyone says we should do this kind of thing while we’re young…and don’t have kids. So why not?

Plus, the tickets were free! My boss won the tickets on the radio for me (I was trying to call in, but didn’t get through…she did, and I’m so happy!); I’m widely known as the girl who wins stuff on the radio…seriously, I’ve seen live Gretchen Wilson (and met her backstage…I have the picture to prove it), Brad Paisley, Dancing with the Stars and Larry the Cable Guy. All from calling in to the radio. But this time, I owe it to her.

We may not seem like Warped Tour kind of people. I think it’s a little more punk/alternative than we normally would like, but since my husband is a musician, we try to see as many musical acts as possible. It’s good for the creative juices and opens your mind up to other styles to infuse into your own music. Or so I’m told. I’m not the musical one in the family.

Most of the acts, we’ve never heard of. However, one of our favorite Christian bands, RelientK, is going to be there. The “I Kissed a Girl” girl, Katy Perry, is going to be there, too. I’m not crazy about her, but Tyler likes her. Gee, couldn’t imagine why. ; ) I’m also going to try to catch Gymclass Heroes and Angels and Airwaves.

It’s going to be a hot one, for sure, but I love stuff like this. What’s better than being with your favorite guy, hitting the road and seeing some awesome musical acts for free?

And because I love putting pictures in my posts, here’s one from last weekend when my mom and dad were in town. We made our annual trip to Holiday World, and man was it a hot one. We spent a lot of time at the water park, not only because it was hot, but also because my sister is prego and can’t ride rides. Doesn’t she look so cute with her little belly pooch?

Family outing to Holiday World

And here’s one of me…and Tyler groping Santa. What am I going to do with that husband of mine?

The Neffs with Santa

 

Fun Ringtone for Photographers

Hey, photogs! I just downloaded a really fun ringtone from Sprint. It’s Swizz Beats’ “Take a Picture.” I’d heard this song months ago and just recvently remembered it. I’ve been wanting a new ringtone for a couple of weeks, and this one is perfect for where I’m at in my life right now. I have my photography business on the mind 24/7, it seems.

I think your ringtone can say a lot about you. I’m usually surprised by what ringtone a person chooses…sometimes it can be pretty humorous!

What is your ringtone, and what does it say about you?

And because I always try to include a picture in my posts, here’s a picture I took last week. I loved all of the hay bales in this field. I couldn’t pass it up!

Baled Hay

 

Inspiring Story

Wow. That’s all I can say.

 

Cassidy Hodges and Meridian @ The Clay Pot

Last night, Cassidy Hodges and Meridian performed at The Clay Pot in Boonville. It was a great show with a lot of originals as well as some covers thrown in.

Here’s Cassidy singing one of her songs. I’m a big fan of her music, but last night her vocals were dead-on.

Next, Meridian took the stage:

Daniel on bass and vocals; Dane on accoustic rhythm guitar and vocals; BJ on lead guitar, mandolin (emphasis on “man”) and vocals; and my Tyler on drums.

It was such a fun night. Both bands brought something unique and interesting to the show. Unfortunately, it’s Cassidy’s only show of the summer. But Meridian can be seen later this summer at Godstock and Raise the Praise. Check out their MySpace page for the details.

 

Cassidy Hodges

Tuesday night, I spent part of the evening photographing a friend and great musician, Cassidy Hodges. Cassidy is originally from Boonville, but now attends Belmont University where she is with some of the best musicians. She and my husband’s band Meridian have a show tonight, so Cassidy spent Tuesday night practicing and I was there to capture some of it with my camera.

This one just really represents Cassie, in my opinion. As long as I can remember, she’s had these really cool aviator sunglasses, and I’ve also always loved the lyrics of her songs, which she always captures in this book underneath the sunglasses.

This next one is of Lisa Lance, Cassie’s best friend’s mom (didn’t confuse you, did I?). Lisa will be playing the violin in some of Cassie’s songs tonight. I just love the framing of this one with the bow.

I love the depth of field in this image.

Finally, I love how an open shutter can show movement, like this one does while Cassidy is playing the guitar. Cassidy likes to call them ghost hands, I call it cool…

Cassidy and Meridian play tonight at The Clay Pot in Boonville, with Cassidy starting at 7:30 p.m. and Meridian going on about 9.

 

Heavenly Hoedown

Tonight, Sojourn celebrated our new building and coming together as a family with a Heavenly Hoedown! We had a great turnout, but the most important part is that we had a TON of fun! We started the evening off with some food…a tater wagon, chili, hot dogs, and some delicious desserts.

Next, we began our tournaments. Dan was the winner of the pool tourney.

 

 The last foosball game between Matt and Mike was a nail-biter…

But Mike came out victorious!

Kody interviews Matt, who blames his loss on Mike’s distracting shiny head…

And the winner of the rock, paper, scissors contest was Bailey!

And finally, Gabby was the winner of the “Huh” game. At the beginning of the party, everyone received a sticker. If you said “huh,” the person who caught you took your sticker. Gabby’s final count was 29!

We also did some line dancing as well as karaoke. We rocked the house!

Isn’t he just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?

You’ll be sorry you missed BJ and Matt’s rendition of “Man of Constant Sorrow.”

Thanks to everyone who made this night a success. It was definitely a fun night for all!

(All images shot with a Canon 40d/50 mm 1.4 lens, no Photoshopping)

 

Meet Meridian

Meet Meridian, everyone!

DANE on accoustic guitar and vocals:

BJ on electric guitar and vocals:

DANIEL on bass guitar and vocals:

LOGAN on sax and vocals:

Last but certainly not least, my man TYLER on drums:

I shot these images last night at The Internet Cafe on First Avenue in Evansville. Five bands were supposed to play, but two dropped out at the last minute. Although Meridian’s set was only about 35 minutes, they did an awesome job and really rocked the house. Their next show is May 17 at the Clay Pot in Boonville with Cassidy Hodges. Be there or be square!

(These were all shot with my Canon 40d. Because it was extremely dark in there, I had to shoot with a very wide open aperture to capture enough light. These images are straight out of the camera, with no Photoshopping done to them.)

 

Another weekend bites the dust

How is it that the weekends go by so darned quickly? I’m beyond frustrated that I have to go back to work tomorrow. Today was so beautiful that it made me just want to call in tomorrow and instead drive around with the windows down, breeze blowing in my hair and the music turned way up. But alas, it’s back to reality.

My weekend wasn’t altogether too productive. Too much going on for that, really. Saturday, I went on a 5.3-mile run. It was really great, even though it was in a light drizzle most of the time. That evening, we had a wedding to go to and after that we caught the Michael Peterson benefit for the Army at Roberts Stadium. One of our friends had box seats, so we were way above watching the show. Pretty cool to be up that high.

Today, I woke up at 6:30 and got ready for my run. I only intended on doing 11, but my miscalculations put me at more like 12.5. — in just under 2 hours. I think had I not gone on the run yesterday, I could have really been a lot faster. I’m feeling very good about the Mini. But needless to say, I was tired and sore afterward. 

Then we had church (the service was great and got my spiritual battery recharged!), ate out with friends, and took a much-needed nap. This evening I did round one of the senior pictures for my co-worker’s son. Originally, they only wanted to do head shots tonight, but when I got there, they also wanted to do some more fun ones. I think there are quite a few that really turned out well, and they seemed to like them, so that’s the important part. I can’t wait until I get them edited and can show you all!