When I told Jake I was going to feature his work on my blog, he wanted me to quote him as saying that if you hire me you’re going to have to get extra now because he’s included.  Then he scratched that and informed me that he was just going to open his own business and that we were now competing photographers.  I’d be worried if he knew how to use Photoshop.  I went ahead and branded them with my logo since he was still a apart of Beth Dreyer Photography when these were taken

Didn’t he do a good job?  He shot these photos of me during a break in the Portraits at the Preserve marathon a few weeks ago.  Great job Babe!

Meet Michael & Christina Perron.  They have just started a new church called Summit Life Church in Addison.  They were needing some shots of themselves to use on their new website which is being constructed and of course I was happy to oblige.  If you’re looking for a church, check them out!  They meet on Tuesdays at 7 at the Addison Conference Center.

Love this one!  Don’t you want to be their friend?

Normally I try to give a good mix of vertical and horizontal pics here on the blog since the horizontals are always narrow.  But all the ones I loved of them were horizontal!  You can click the images to see larger versions.  Isn’t Christina amazingly photogenic?

]]> http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/arbor-hills-nature-preserve-photography-perrons/feed/ 0 Beth IMG_0331 IMG_0333 IMG_0360 IMG_0383 IMG_0407 IMG_0459 http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/debi-chapman/ http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/debi-chapman/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:30:02 +0000 bethdreyer http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/?p=1641 ]]>

Debi Chapman is the mother of I won’t even tell you how many children (including Hannah & Barnabas) because you wouldn’t believe me.  She’s a veteran mom who speaks to mom’s groups and after getting repeated requests from those young moms, she is about to start a blog!  Her blog will be to encourage young moms and give them that, “I can do this feeling” you get from seeing a good before and after step by step room makeover.  Can’t you just tell by looking at her that she’s someone you want to get advice and encouragement from?

I will be sure to let you know when her blog is up and running, I know I’m looking forward to reading it!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with my good friend Hannah, who has started a line of ‘pretty and nice handmade items’ starting with aprons.  Her company name is Belle et Gentille which of course means pretty and nice in French.  Take a look at her tres chic logo (click it to go to her Etsy site!)

We started out in my kitchen since it’s kinda retro.  Here is Hannah modeling her own designs -

I love me some sassy red shoes!

Look at her!  She makes me want to briefly consider cooking!

Next up we have Mary and Charity sporting mother/daughter matching aprons.  Adorable!

I was making Hannah get in touch with her inner saucy lady.  She’s working it!

Doesn’t every mother and daughter wash dishes like that?  I know my mom and I did

Check out Hannah’s aprons, they make fantastic wedding shower gifts!

Here is a sneak peek of a fun shoot I did last week (or was it the week before?) for my friend Hannah.  Adorable!

When I was 15 years old, I got a word from John Paul Jackson that I would take a trip within the next year that was going to change my life.  Boy was he right!  That fall, I had the opportunity to go to Cambodia with my parents, and with that word in mind, the three of us packed up and went.  I had no idea then how my life was about to change.  I had never been out of the country except to Mexico and this was completely different than Mexico!!  We had a great time seeing new things, trying new foods, praying for the sick, giving food to the hungry, driving twelve hours through the mud on flooded roads to visit village churches, and of course using squatty potties (I was so confused the first time!!)  During that trip we also became very close with Pastor Sophal and Deborah.

Here is my Mom and I somewhere along the road when our truck got stuck in the mud.  Note the nice cow behind us.

At the very end of the trip, my parents were helping to host a conference at the church and Pastor Sophal and his wife Deborah called up the youth the the front for prayer.  Now one thing you need to know about Pastor Deborah, is that she loves to pray and she loves to pray at the top of her lungs.  She decides she’s going to pray for me.  Into the microphone.  At the top of her lungs.  She was scream/praying all kinds of blessings over me and at the end she said, “And God give her a heart for the nations, give her a heart for missions!!!!”

I stood there with my hands up like a nice little girl with a smile on my face and thought to myself, “I don’t receive that Lord…”  I had seen enough of missions I thought.  This trip had been great, but I didn’t want to do that full time!!!!  Well God politely declined my request to opt out of a heart for missions and everything changed after that.

Pastor Sophal and Brad Burns who was on the trip with us.

I went back to Cambodia by myself two years later and had the time of my life.  After high school, I joined Youth With a Mission.  I always thought I would be in missions for the rest of my life, but now our role in missions has changed.  Now we get to be on the other side, the side of giving and praying and organizing groups from our church to go on short term trips.  I know I’ll get back out to Cambodia some day, Cambodia will always have a special place in my heart.

Me in Cambodia when I was 17.

This past Sunday, we were excited to find that Pastor Sophal was in the country and had come to Dallas!  We spent all evening Sunday listening to him tell the most amazing stories any of us have ever heard.  He survived the famous Killing Fields during the Pol Pot regime in the 1970’s and went on to start churches all over Cambodia.  For a while in the early 80’s, he and his family had refugeed to the US.  They were on welfare, but they lost their welfare because he wasn’t showing up the his required English class because he was too busy preaching the gospel!  That’s just who he is.  He can’t stop sharing the love of Christ, praying for people and giving of himself.  It is such an honor to know him and hear his stories.  It is such an honor that he calls me his daughter.  I am so blessed by him and his family.

Here are some pictures from the other evening.  We started by taking some new portraits of Pastor Sophal.  Look at his eyes, don’t you just want to be his friend?

Then we had dinner and sat around and listened to Pastor Sophal tell us the most amazing stories of miracles, near death experiences, and  amazing provision.

He’s a very animated story teller!

Now I know what you’re thinking, yes, that fabulous zebra chaise belongs to my mom.  No you can not get in line to inherit it from her, there is already a long line starting with yours truly =)

]]> http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/jesus-give-her-a-heart-for-the-nations/feed/ 3 Beth CRW_2606 CRW_2605 CRW_2607 IMG_2401 IMG_2399 IMG_2398 IMG_2387 IMG_2454 IMG_2464 IMG_2465 IMG_2466 IMG_2447 http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/colorado-sneak-peeks/ http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/colorado-sneak-peeks/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:29:29 +0000 bethdreyer http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/?p=1385 ]]>

I just got back from a fantastic weekend in Colorado!  I stayed at the lovely Westin Westminster, which was an absolutely delightful experience.  Their branding was all about relaxing and unwinding and had very zen and spa-esque touches everywhere!  Balm to a mother’s soul….

I haven’t gone on a trip anywhere all by myself since…..I honestly can’t remember!  It was fun and relaxing not to tote a car seat around (can I get an amen?!) and to be able to do whatever I wanted (another amen!).  On top of that I got to spend time with family and good friends, and photograph a beautiful wedding.  Here are some sneak peeks of what I’ll be sharing with you this week on my blog -

This past week, my Uncle Rick was in town for a conference.  We went over to my parents’ house Saturday to have family breakfast and snap some photos of Rick.  He has a speaking engagement coming up and needed a new headshot.  Uncle Rick works for an organization called Project 1.27 that promotes awareness in churches about the need for adoptive families and produces adoptions in Colorado.

Their mission statement is -

Project 1.27 is “a Ministry from the Churches of Colorado to the Orphans of Colorado.”  In fulfillment of a Godly calling, we serve children by producing successful adoptions between families in church communities and legally free children in the Colorado foster care system. We recruit, train, and support adoptive parents, support teams, churches, counties, and other partners to provide hope for all children and benefit our state and society.

Isn’t that cool?  I’ve just been surrounded by adoption stories recently!  I think that adoption is such an amazing way to be used by God to change a life!

]]> http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/project-127/feed/ 1 Beth img_8704 img_8713 img_8719 http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/georgia-portraits/ http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/georgia-portraits/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:54:40 +0000 bethdreyer http://bethdreyer.wordpress.com/?p=922 ]]>

Last Friday, I went to Georgia’s house to do some portraits of her.  She kept telling me over and over how un-photogenic she is.  I’ll let you decide if you agree with her - 

Wow.  I can’t believe how overloaded I still feel after WPPI last week.  It was amaaaaazing.  I learned so much, met so many fun people and wore myself out, but it was totally worth it.   I am definitely still recovering!  Kate and I had so much fun being nerdy and girly together and we made a new friend Garrett Davis who put up with us all week.  We met Jessica Claire, Becker, Jasmine Star, Mike Colon and Scarlett Lillian.  We had a great (but exhausting time) working at the Shootsac Booth with Keats Elliot and Matt Davis.

On Monday night, I got to participate in a night shoot put together by Scarlett Lillian.  It was sooo much fun!  The energy of the 20 something photographers was really exciting.  In fact, since there were so many of us running around the hotel with all our gear, people definitely thought we were the paparazzi and that Lyndsay and Anderson our bride and groom models were famous.  One lady really didn’t believe me when I told her they weren’t!

I want to dedicate these photos to Johnny Williams, Scarlett’s daddy who passed away on Saturday morning.  He was so proud of her and what she has accomplished as a woman and photographer.  She sacrificed time with him in order to teach and encourage us because he wanted her to keep living her life and moving forward.  Scarlett, thank you so much for doing this for us, I know your daddy is smiling down with Jesus on you.

So without further ado, in honor of Johnny Williams, here are my photos from our Vegas night shoot!

Behind them are about a zillion people trying to see who they were.

They were such great models!

So romantic!!

And finally, a couple of Lyndsay by herself.  Isn’t she gorgeous?!

Here was a little taste of the behind the scenes of our major paparazzi fest!

I hope you enjoyed these photos!  Have a wonderful day and please keep Scarlett and her mom Rene in your prayers.