BANFII - logged!

Ok, some of you know that I had been searching for a new car for a VERY long time now. For the last 4 or 5 years, I had talked about changing my car to something closer to my dream car!

In the last few years, I had often thought I would get a Mercedes E320, a Jaguar XJ8, Hummer H3, an Infinity FX35...the list is endless to the extent that my wife stopped taking me seriously regarding what I would end up buying.

But the search was over a couple of weeks ago. I purchased something closer to my dream car a Mercedes Benz E430

Getting this car has been a major dream in the making and with my faith in God regarding my finances, we could not have asked for a better year financially to make the purchase. This is a testimony of the great things God is doing in my life and in my family!

Since June 17th, I've shot at least 10 weddings, survived a terrible accident, stayed home alone while my family visited London for 3 weeks, added a deck to my home, started a patio project, purchased some 9 pairs of shoes...the list is endless. In all of this, I'm grateful to God for His mercies and blessings!

When I started with this blog, I imagined I would be able to keep a daily journal thereby keeping my friends, family and clients abreast with what's going on in my world. But I did get caught up and became rather too busy for my own good. I will take the time to reflect on a few major mile stones from the previous months:

1. On August 13th while returning home from Springfield, MO, my car hydro planed off the road into the shoulder and into an embankment. Although I had survived another life threatening accident once before in my life, this time around I was in the driver's seat. Without going into too much details, I came out of the wreck without a scratch but with a severe whiplash and $8K worth of damages to my wife's car. More than anything, I'm extremely grateful to God for sparing my life!

2. July Bridal Show: Over the years I had comtemplated on several ideas on how to better reach my photography target audience. One of the things that had come to mind is having former clients represent me at a bridal fair. This past July, that wish came true as three beautiful former clients helped showcase our work to new brides. The results have been encouraging! 

3. Amazing Couples & beautiful images: The last few months have also brought us numerous opportunities to work with some amazing couples. I plan to display all of their images here in my blog within the next couple of weeks. From Carrie & Pat to Jennifer & Jake - the whole 9 yards!

4. In a few weeks, we would be opening another chapter in our lives - the world of web development for my peers - other photographers! Stay tuned!

5. Purchased a 5D a couple of weeks ago and I can't seem to get enough of it!

6. Some interesting weddings and travel opportunities coming up. The next few weeks are going to be interesting - weddings in St. Louis, Tulsa, back to St. Louis, then to Virginia Beach, back to St. Louis then finally here - with our last wedding of the year taking place on November 4th!

We are also excited about some interesting opportunties on the books for next year - a multi-country destination wedding opportunity in July of 2007 - Carolyne & Richard's wedding in Nairobi, Kenya and Kampala, Uganda. The engagement ceremony is scheduled to take place in Kenya and the ceremony a few days later in Uganda.

So, here we are, back to square one!

 

This is my first post in what may end up being my first personal journal.  First and foremost, I must thank you for visiting!
As you may have read from the Bio sections of my photography websites, I’ve only been a photographer for a few years now – about 9 years to be precise. I’m originally from Nigeria. I moved to the U.S about 15 years ago to go to School at Southwest Baptist University. I’m married to a very beautiful wife and we have two beautiful children – Courtney and Myles! I will tell you more about my background later on in other posts.
In all of my years of being a photographer, I have always yearned for an opportunity to do something special with my talents. Shooting weddings is special, but I always still had this yearning that I could never explain – it’s always a feeling that keeps me digging deeper for answers.
Not long ago, I decided that I would like to go back to Nigeria and spend sometime doing pictorial documentation of issues facing my people like AIDS, Malaria, Poverty, the list is endless. With as much desire as I had for this project, I’ve not been able to get myself to go - I need to have a few thins lined up before I can embark on these trips. The thought of doing this brought me somewhat closer to filling the void that I had felt for a long time, but what has completely filled the void is being able to put my talents to work at my Church Lenexa Christian Center.

There is so much to talk about. This is officially the beginning of something special!

I pray and hope that you would come back from time to time to see what the Lord is doing in my life!