The first time I met April Dawn, she was a bit overbearing [perhaps I was underbearing], somewhat loud, and the huge tattoo on her shoulder led me to think she was going to be a big handful. And while all those first perceptions are still true [tee hee], we provide each other a marked balance, and I don’t at all mind bragging about the fact that she’s become one of my closest and most deeply caring friends.
April moved to Dallas in June of 2007 when I myself was just settling in to a house in Lakewood. Moving to a foreign city can be an alienating, shocking, and overwhelming task — especially socially — so immediately immediately after meeting her through some mutual acquaintances my friend Austin and I began to make ourselves available for “hanging out” [or as April might say, "chillll"].
In the year-and-a-half that’s passed since our first meeting, April has become my abiological sister and I have about 200 photographs to prove that we spend a good amount of time together. Below is one of those [and the most recent] from a disturbing and Absurd one-act play we attended last Friday night in the Bishop Arts District.
Like most other people around the time leading up to Christ-mass, I’m a sucker for good festive jingle. Sure, I’d enjoy [sappily so] a White Christmas, and even in Texas I can occasionally resound with the words It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, but those are really of a different song-sort than the ones that truly motivate me as a human.
The kind of Christmass song I enjoy specifically is the one that points directly to a new Reality; the kind that tells the non-fiction account that History was and is being shaken up; the kind that narrate a Restoration project initiated. That the True Hope, Joy, Love, Peace was and is being actively brought about in the earth.
And during this season we express our thankfulness for these Gifts by sharing what we have with others. Our word & deed communicate our Hope, our Love, the Peace that makes individual humans into a new humanity. In doing so, we actively anticipate [anticipation as action] a time when Reconciliation and Justice will be — when tears are no more, pain is finished & Death defeated.
One “icon” extremely helpful in directing and guiding the thought-life during this seasons are the very songs centuries old which make these Things their message and content. And by joining in the chorus of such rich songs, we actually participate with history in declaring our Hope for total harmony, self-lessness, and whole charity to all.
Considering the plight of our neighbors in Africa and India and developing countries, we must actively Hope — the kind of hope that involves action and which has as its end purpose, Liberty and Justice for all. Freedom from the chains of injustice – freedom from HIV/AIDS, clean water, food, shelter, clothing, from Guerilla warfare — all things that we, to some extent, participate in moving forward by living within a system that perpetuates it. We must seek, in this season, to subvert the system. And at best, the hope is that this season of doing so sets a pattern for life the other 11 months of the year.
So how do we do this? How do we, in our every day work, subvert the system and display an orientation towards making things Right among all humans? We craft from raw materials artwork that says a New Reality is coming and is now. We fill our conversations with the content that expresses our inclinations are contra-consumeristic. We give freely. We feed the hungry. We remove the coat from our back and lay it over another’s. We show the purposeless Purpose, those without direction Meaning, and those without Hope?
We show them there is a Goal, and that we are working unto it.
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Anyway, If you’ve ridden in my car before [God, help you], or if you are a last.fm user you know that Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas have been a central constituent to my listening library over the past few years, but especially during Advent [the four weeks leading up to Christmas] and these 12 days following Christmass.
You should certainly purchase this collection if you already haven’t, as it makes fresh appropriations [in form] to Christmass classics. In addition to Sufjan’s Disc, I’ve listed some other favorite winter listens below.
And not to leave one of my more important Advent albums, Paper Route’s Thrill of Hope EP is on constant ‘rotation’ in my iTunes. During the months of November and December, I usually listen to those three songs at least twice a day until Christmas day.
Contaminated drinking water is the number one cause of death among developing countries. Join us on December 22 at Mokah Coffee for a celebration of the arts to benefit communities in India who are facing death because they don’t have water to drink.
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Included in the evening is live music by Dallas natives Nathan Pettijohn [of the New Frontiers], Josh Jenkins [of Green River Ordinance], Josh Hendrick, Ryan Edgar, Emily Ebert, and Becky Middleton.
Photographers and good friends Esther Havens, Eric Ryan Anderson, Aaron Garcia, Johan Etsebeth, Paul Wilkes, Kelsey Foster, Justin Terveen and yours truly will be displaying our work. In addition to photographers, Jen Gassiraro, Mary Stratton, Caleb Jacks, and Alex Wall will be presenting paintings and et. al. mixed media.
Throughout the evening, a silent auction will take place for each of the unique pieces of artwork, and proceeds go to Sower of Seeds International, an organization who builds water wells in communities who have no access to safe, consumable water.
This is a huge opportunity to effect Justice and have a hand in making things that are wrong, Right. Let’s Love our neighbors.
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Although the event is come-and-go, we encourage you to stay and enjoy live music, meet the artists, and purchase artwork to both [a.] pretty up your walls and [b.] to benefit of our brothers and sisters in dire need.
Beer, wine, coffee and other refreshments will be served at the event. Electronic RSVP is required to gain entry to the event, so make sure you sign up HERE!
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Visit the WEBSITE for more information . RSVP required to gain entry.
Yesterday I set Photoshop down for a little bit to work on a few side design projects, namely a blog redesign for my friend Lauren Larsen and a tattoo for her husband, Matt Larsen, which combines the concept of the Judeo-Christian Tree of Life, and their beautiful daughter’s name [somewhat appropriate]: Life.
I spoke about the Larsen family a few posts ago, and by clicking here you can see photographs of her during our summer and early fall journey together.
A day at the Office from Andrew Shepherd on Vimeo.
A little while ago a friend sent me an email about an event being held in Los Angeles in December — a photography showing with a specific purpose is to raise support for and awareness about Awaken Humanity and the redemptive work to which they are committed in Africa.
On a whim, I quickly submitted a photograph that fit the criteria of the showing, which I named “Dreams…” [emphasis on the ellipsis]:
Somewhat forgetting that I’d submitted the piece to the gallery, I received an email today from the event organizer, Hank, with a story about what happened with my piece during the event [December 13] and its impact. I am so honored & thank-full to be a part of this special, moving story.
Below is Hank’s account.
DREAMS…
Our friend Jillian is a teacher in Watts, and brought one of her students to our Christmas show, who could not afford to come on her own.
An aspiring poet and artist, this 13 year old girl brought her own journal, hoping to be inspired by the original music, dance, and spoken word.
She won the raffle, and received a photograph of her choice from our silent auction.
Of all the photos, she picked “Dream.”
The picture is breath-taking; golden, hopeful, and optimistic. Two young people look out a window, blurred with bright light. It is an image of a beautiful future, with dreams waiting to be fulfilled.
When I gave her the photograph, she smiled, said thank you very politely, and we began walking through the crowd toward the door.
She stopped in the middle of the crowded lobby, in the middle of people talking, eating, and walking through the photography exhibit.
She held the photograph in her hand and just stared at it.
Smiling to herself.
She was completely captivated by the picture. Lost in another world of her dreams and hopes for the future, the image captured her heart.
I was so moved in that moment, and again reminded of the power of art.
It is a unifying force that brings humanity together, as images move us at the most primal level, our core. In that moment, the photographer who had shot this image in Dalls, TX, and this young teenager in south LA, were connected by the same image- the picture of a dream. No matter how different we may seem to be, beautiful artwork, such as this photograph, slows down time and our hearts begin to beat in unison.
And more than that, beautiful art will continue to inspire us to the future.
Somewhere in a run-down house in Watts, the most beautiful artwork will be a photograph, beckoning a teenager to pursue the life of her dreams.
A few months ago I had the opportunity thanks to a friend of mine to document a master jeweler’s workflow. Before this day I simply had no framework through which to interpret this process, and honestly I had no care to know, either. In fact, I myself am a bit of an iconoclast when it comes to shiny, bodily decoration, since I often wonder if my funds might be better used for other Purpose.
Even so, when on the day of the shoot I connected with a number of these guys and heard summary versions of their story, I was very glad I took on the opportunity and left particularly enriched.
The Master Jeweler [pictured below // I won't use his name here] was particularly open about his family, his struggles as an artist, and the events that led to him to finally becoming a jeweler [in response to my question about how one comes to occupy such a vocation]. He was a grandfatherly figure — the towering type of person whose life is numbered by thousands more adventures than it is years.
Probably my favorite part of the day was hearing him narrate his intense passion for crafting from raw materials, beautiful things. Not only was the content of his speech redemptive, but it actually functioned redemptively, in that it reminded me I should not fail in remaining committed to my work. Practicing makes Perfect, it’s said.
From the ashes, Beauty — from the shattered, Fixed — from chaos, Shalom: this is what it means to be an artist, and through the story of Master Jeweler — with whom I spent only two hours that day — I was not-subtly reminded that my purpose as a photographer is to focus [leave the pun] myself upon incarnating redemptive, restorative work. If my work does nothing to change people and it does not point to a New Earth, then what is its point?
The boulevards tonight are ice skating rinks, and yet I’m driving upon them.
Looking at my calendar, it seems that 2009 is the year when the remainder of my closest friends will become married. Of the ones who already do operate within that covenantal paradigm, 2008 was the year for them to welcome their first child to the earth.
As a single guy, the changes this year among families of my closest companions filed me into a minority, and while this might sound to some fairly alienating, I am proud to say my friends have never failed in offering me hospitality and remained committed to my friendship regardless of our apparent life stage differences. I am hugely indebted to them.
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Over the course of the summer and through these changes, I’ve been able to find a better handle on what it means to be a part of a Family; what it means to be a constituent of a Whole; what it means to put myself last. Of course all those areas are nowhere near Perfection [I repeat: I am very, very far away], and I continue to need [though not enough times do I beg for] transformation — which I believe God effects through Experience by His own providence.
So, more than anything this post is a gigantic electronic thank you card to the families who have welcomed me into theirs, and have allowed me to learn and grow and offer what little I can for the betterment of the whole.
Below is my Shared summer. I would have not chosen another kind if I had the chance.
This first set of images is a mixture from Life Lucia Larsen’s birthdate at Baylor Hospital to the documentation of her ongoing and victorious battle in the months following her birth {Children’s Hospital Dallas}.
Life’s mom and pa, Lauren and Matt Larsen have made a huge impact on my person and I continue to look to them both for wisdom.
We spent a lot of time on elevators. They all looked like this:
A month after baby Life Lucia was born to Matt and Lauren Larsen, another set of friends — Matt and Deanna Wheeler — welcomed Ashten Kate Wheeler into the world at Baylor Dallas. Here we all are celebrating:
Proud mah:
Below is Medea & Rob with Ashten. They are expecting their own “mancub” in March.
This is me, receiving baby Ashten in swaddling cloth into my arms via my good friend Rob [whose wife Medea is pictured above]. Photograph by father of Ashten, Matt Wheeler.
Father Wheeler:
Where to start with Camie? Camil Skramil? C[h]amileon? Camillionaire? I met her in our youthful years at the university, & was immediately struck out how alive she seemed.
I moved into a house with a few of my close friends my senior year of college, and when it became a central gathering place for our core group of compadres, Camie and I [among the others] immediately hit it off, and I’m glad to say we now enjoy something that’s genuinely lasted. She’s the type of friend from whom I could spend two years apart and it seem like no longer than two minutes have passed. I like that.
Last summer Camie was touring & playing music full-time. She called me one afternoon after I’d gotten off work and giddily told me she’d “met a guy.” She elaborated some about his ridiculously good looks & supremely mad guitar skills his Godly character and the precious way he treated her. As it turns out, the guy is Steve, and by November 2008, Steve had asked Camie to marry him.
