Day 2 in Haiti part 2

After visiting the church at Light and Peace Mission we headed down the road to Pastor Ronald’s Brothers school.  His name is Pastor Guerry.  He is such a great guy, I’ve known him as long as I have known Ronald.  He always has a smile on his face.  He is always happy, which is hard to understand in Haiti.  So the team had a lot of fun with the kids at his school and handed out a lot of toys and candy for all of them.  We dropped off a bunch of supplies for the children.  We brought simple stuff like pencils and Guerry told us that they had no pencils for the children to use.  So what a blessing for them.  Here are a few photos.

Dale trying to explain to the Haitians what a Canadian goose was. Looks like food to them.

We brought baseball bats and balls but they have never seen those before. They play only soccer

This is one of my best friends Raguel who helped us by translating for all the non creole speaking team members.  Pastor Chad spent some time talking with all the pastors who were hanging out there.  All the kids had a great time as so did we,  it was really nice to take some time and talk with Pastor Guerry who informed me that he had the chance to stay in Tampa but he really felt God calling him back to Haiti and has been providing or him and his family so he can help the community with this school.

Joan with Pastor Guerry and his wife Guerta

As we left the school and headed back to the bus Kung fu Chad had a bout with one of the local goats.

So from there we headed to “My Fathers House” orphanage to spend some time the 27 orphans that reside there.  This orphanage was a dream of mine when I lived in Haiti 12 years ago.  My mother became involved and picked up where I left off.  They have been renting a building for the last couple of years but will be moving into their brand new facility later this year.  I will be visiting the new building later this week.  As we arrived to the orphanage the kids were all waiting for us peeking over the wall.  These kids are so well taken care of and compared to where they cam from this may seem like a palace.  The kids were so happy to see us all come and hold them and love on them. The team members were so excited to be there and just play with them and share smiles.

We headed inside where the kids had some singing and dancing for us.  One of the songs was amazing and really touched every one of us and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the group.  Take a listen for yourself but the impact was being there and hearing it live.

After all the fun at the orphanage we were headed back to the hotel but on our way we passed the orphanage that I had lived at over 9 years ago.  I convinced the bus to stop so I could stop by and say hello to some of my friends.  As I got off the bus a couple of the girls who used to live there were hanging out at the gate.  They recognized me right away saying “Wobear, koman ou ye”  which is Rob, how are you?  I didn’t remember their names but they quickly reminded me.  As I went into the huge compound expecting to see a whole lot of kids that I worked with. When I lived there there were 180 kids at the orphanage.  Now when I was walking around there weren’t even one left living there from when I worked there.  That was very upsetting to me since every time I visited there were always herds of kids running up to see me.  It was very weird to be going back to my home and not any of my family there anymore.  They had a full house of kids there just none from when I lived there.  So I spent some time explaining to the team where I lived on the compound  and how the children lived there.  It was very impressive to the team since there is nothing like this all over Haiti.  It is like an oasis amongst the chaos of the rest of the country.  Sorry I didn’t take any photos while I was in there.  I was only expecting to say hi to some friends and continue on to the hotel.  When I left there I was a little heartbroken not seeing the kids I really got to know very well.  I was really upset the rest of the night.  We made it home to the hotel and had dinner and reflected on our events of the day and had a short devotion and got prepared for the next day.

Look for my next post of day 3.  One of the most impactful days of the whole trip.

Day 2 in Haiti, part 1

Day 2 on our trip was a busy day, it started with an early wake up to do some push ups and pull ups and a quick swim in the pool to get the day started. After leaving Denver in the snow it was nice to take a quick dip in 80 degree weather. I figured I won’t be able to do that for a while in Denver with winter fast approaching so I’d better take advantage of while I can. So we started the day going to the Light and Peace Christian school that is part of the church we were working with. With 156 students the school is very busy. As you approach the church it appears to resemble a castle. It didn’t always look this way, 13 years ago when I first started coming to Haiti it was only one level and pretty primitive. Now its on its way to looking like an impressive church. Now its still under construction as is almost every building in Haiti, I like to call them, works in progress, as is all of us are works in progress. Once completed it will look great. The school is located down the side of the church in the back. It was great seeing all the children and having time to spend with each classroom and sharing some songs we learned in creole. The kids were so excited to see us. The team always brings supplies for the school and gifts for the teachers and candy for all the students. I think they are just excited to see white people since they only get to see us a couple times a year. We decided to have a sing off with the kids. We would sing a couple of songs for them then it was their turn and they usually kicked our butts in that contest. Well we only learned the songs that morning in creole so we were at a disadvantage. Here is a video of the team singing.

We had a lot of fun playing soccer with the kids and they schooled us in that as well.Part of the fun for the team was being able to meet their sponsored child. Dayspring Ministries, our own ministry here in the states has a child sponsorship program to sponsor either a child at the school or the orphanage. So it was great to see the team members being able to connect to their own sponsored child. Here are a few of the team members with their kids. It really special to see Raguel, one of my best friends down in Haiti, translating a letter from one of the team member’s daughters, which she wrote to her sponsored child and seeing the smile on her face to know she had a pen pal in the states.

I think sometimes we get more out of seeing them than they so us.  It is so nice to see Dayspring bringing hope to these kids who would normally not be going to school and they also get a full meal for all the students.  Which is huge since most of the kids will not eat everyday unless they go to the school.

Here is two of our teamates hanging out with the Haitian Police officers who were there to make sure we stayed safe.  We got to know these guys very well through out the week.  Some of the best guys to know in Haiti.  Well it is getting late and I only got through the first half of Day 2 so I will post the remainder in the upcoming days.

 

Day 1 of my trip to Haiti.

Well its been a while since I have made a post so I think its time to keep you updated.  I recently went on a short term missions trip to Haiti with my church (Red Rocks Church) out of Golden.  I was so excited to return to Haiti after not going there for 2 1/2 years.  We had a team of 15 going on the trip with members from 5 different churches involved.  We had 9 going from our church alone and it also included our pastor Chad.  I was excited to be going with Chad since I am new to the church and this is a great way to get to know people there.   Well we left at 1 in the morning on Thursday Oct. 22.  We took the redeye over to New York and had a 3 hour layover till we headed down to Haiti.  Things were going well until we got to the ticket counter to check in to our flight and Dale realized he had left his passport on the plane in the seat pocket.  Now I can’t get on him too hard since I left mine on a plane once returning from Haiti, but at least mine fell out of my pocket and I didn’t just leave it in the seat pocket.  We were all very tired from packing 28 bags all 50 lbs each and flying all night.

Sara resting her head after the Red Eye to NY waiting for her luggage.

This is what 28 bags of supplies for the Haitians look like..We landed in Haiti and the team was happy to have warm sunshine on them since when we left Denver it was 28 degrees and snowing.  The airport in Haiti has come a long way in the 13 years I have been going to Haiti,  inside is finally air conditioned and Pastor Ronald our liaison in Haiti gets us right through immigration and customs.  After getting through the mayhem of the airport we load on a school bus and drive to our hotel.  For me it was like coming home to visit some old friends.  But for the first timers going on this trip it was a real eye opener.  They have not seen anything like this before in their lives.  I go back to when I went on my first missions trip to Haiti and all the sights and smells and thoughts going through my head.  After talking to some of them after we arrived at the hotel I quickly saw the shock on most of them. We unpacked and sorted all the supplies for the upcoming week.  I myself went with Ronald and friends and a teamate David Dennis to go buy supplies to build benches for a church in the mountains we were going to visit later in the week.  After the usual haggling over prices we were able to buy some wood and iron and return to the hotel.  We picked up the rest of the team and went to Pastor Ronald’s house for dinner, we were all starving since we didn’t eat since breakfast in NY.  We shouldn’t complain since most haitians go days sometimes with out eating.  We had a great meal of rice and beans and the usual fried plantains. It was nice to see all my friends there and have some good laughs together. We turned in early that night since all of us we running on only a few hours of sleep.  We needed to get some sleep for a busy day at the school and orphanage tomorrow.  I’ll have a lot more photos for the rest of the trip.

Fallon!

Yesterday I got to shoot this new model in town, Fallon, and we had a lot of fun.  We ventured out of the studio for a while to see what kind of interesting locations we could find for her new portfolio.  I wanted to get something different from the usual.  I wanted to do a little artistic feel to it rather than the typical model test photos.  

Back in the studio we got things a little heated up.  

One of the great things about my studio is that I’m located above an awesome antique store called Sheptons Antiques.  I have the privilege of being able to shoot in there and use the furniture as props and such.  They have this awesome bed from Indonesia which was perfect for my model.

Studio Fun!

Yesterday was a fun day at the studio all day.  First my friend Justin Holle needed some cool shots for his Personal Training business Element 3.  He wanted to do some photos of himself for the Gym he trains at and put them on the wall as art.  So we set out to do some artistic like photos but not your traditional B/W gym or body building photos.  I guess the idea is “wow thats cool, I want him to train me” type of attitude the photos were trying to give.  So we set up some lights and I told him to pump up.  That isn’t very hard for him with like no body fat at all.  Makes us regular people look pretty bad.  So when I’m finished there will be a series of 10 photos going on the wall.  I am not sure exactly what the final photos will look like but here is a little taste of what to expect.  

Sort of looks like a MMA fighter.  We wanted to start with the tough look.

After some of the artistic ones we went into the direction of Fashion for his Modeling portfolio.  So maybe he can get the Calvin Klein campaign from these.  

After that we had a little basketball fun.  I wanted to capture him flying thru the air dunking the ball.  But have the studio set as a background.  I got a couple of good ones.  

I always have fun shooting Justin and he is always up for whatever I throw at him.  

After Justin left a female model came in who I shot her first photos about 5 years ago.  After taking some time off of modeling and keeping out of trouble, Sarah Eschner decided to start over and have some new photos done.  So we went through the motions of the regular modeling photos.  We did manage to get some cool body shots and some fashion ones as well.  I think she will start to get her modeling career back on track.

I like it when I get 2 great models in one day.  I had a lot of fun shooting and I hope they had the same.  I will be posting more photos in the future so stay tuned.

Winterkids

Photo shoot on top of Vail pass shooting Winterkids catalog. Great day and the models were perfect. Started out at 6:30 am driving up to Vail Pass. Picked out spot and got the models ready. I think we shot over 200 outfits that day. The shots came out great and here is a test of some video from my G10 camera. Will post some of the finals and behind the scenes later.

Broncos vs. Miami

As part of one of my perks for being the photographer who gets the privilege of shooting the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders annual swimsuit calendar, I get sideline field passes for every home game.

Yes I do have the best job on the planet.  I get to go to Mexico with the cheerleaders and get to be on the field with the Denver Broncos.  So this week we welcomed the Miami Dolphins to town.  We were expected to win this game but things didn’t work out as we planned.  I am there to capture some live moments of the Cheerleaders dancing and over all shots of the game.  Now Miami has no one on their team worth photographing and all of our good players are out with injuries so player photos were at a minimum.  I decided to capture some of the not so typical shots.  Being Halloween weekend their was no shortage of characters to photograph.  Like this guy hanging out in the field entrance tunnel dressed up as Jay Cutler.  Too bad the real Cutler didn’t show up for the game.It was a dismal performance by our beloved broncos.  Fortunately we had the mascots visiting this weekend and they provided the entertainment for the fans.  

Miles the mascot decided to drop in from atop the stadium on a cable.  That looks like fun, wish I could do that. Another of my favorite things is the fly over from the Air force.  It always gets everyone pumped when they fly over.  Such a display of power. 

The game started with the players entering the field and it was over on the third play of the game.

This is my 15 seconds of fame as the camera man zooms in on me hanging out with the girls.

Holy Kao!  She must be happy.  Not sure why we lost that game.

Well the girls were all smiles but the boss had a different expression.  Love the Shades Mr. Bolin.

Here are some random photos of the game. Nice Sweater Dude!! I’m sure he has been waiting for this moment his whole life.  He got the game ball before the game at opening ceremonies.  He was pumped.  

Even Elvis was there for the festivities.

I was hanging out on the Miami bench and the D line for Miami was huge.  These guys are ginormous. No wonder Jay Cutler was running for his life the whole game. If I had this guy trying to kill me I’d run too.I think he was trying to keep his head from getting sunburn.

Here is Jay Cutler trying to decide which Miami Dolphin he was going to throw to this time.  I almost became this guys hood ornament as he just missed me in the end zone. A little help from his friend from behind.

See if you can recognize this little hottie from the past dancing the jig on the sidelines.  Of course Denver’s very own Keela Harris making her cameo appearance for the game.  Here is one of her shots from the past that I did a year ago.  Still looking good.  Now the highlight of the whole game was the half time show.  The Boys & Girls Club of Denver were there to play the Mascots in a game of football.  These little guys put on a better show than the pros.  No interceptions were thrown just straight up smack him in the face football.  Maybe a horse collar tackle but some great fun was had by all.Can you say Face Plant!  Ouch!!He could go all the wayyyyHorse collar anyone?  The refs missed that one.  Nice work kid you beat a couple of birds.Miles had a little fancy footwork himself for a touchdown. The ref didn’t catch this little step out of bounds so I guess that makes up for the other missed call. the kids went on to win the game and the mascots hung their heads in shame.

Now one of the big deals with the real game was one of the really bad calls the refs were making.  Brandon Marshall was called for offensive pass interference which brought back a 77 yard touchdown.  On the replay it was clearly not pass interference and the fans let the referee have it.  I did too on the sideline since he was right in front of me.  Probably not a good thing for me to do.  I don’t need to get kicked out of a game. But it was such a bad call and I happened to get it on film.No pass interference there!  Oh well.

One last photo sums up the day.  Mile wondering what happened to the Broncos.Thanks again for visiting rob hawthorne photography.

 

 

Logan’s Run

Does anyone even remember that movie?  I think that was my first R rated movie I saw when I was growing up. Anyway that isn’t what I’m writing about.  I just got off on some tangent on Logan.  I photographed a guy model yesterday for Maximum Talent Agency and his name was Logan.  I’ve always thought that was a cool name maybe from my favorite childhood movie.  So anyway I just wanted to show a few photos of this guy for the world to see.  I will occasionally post a model shoot on my blog. 

I think he has a good look and will start working a lot right away.  He has this Abercrombie look about him.

Abercrombie meets Burberry.

Then we started on this Armani kick.  A little more fashion edgy stuff.  After some cool head shots we were moving on to the body shot.  So usually that means guys in jeans with out a shirt or athletic clothes that show off the bod.  Logan didn’t quite have the muscular body builder type body associated with the athletic body shots we do a lot of.  So we went a different route and went high fashion body shots.  He had some expensive Armani underwear and since he has a lean fashion build I came up with shooting him in the shower in his skivies and a tie.  Real couture like, well as much as we can for the denver market.  Now Logan had his mom come along for the shoot, why, I don’t know.  I usually don’t like mom’s hanging around watching the shoot because they just get in the way.  The models can’t just be themselves when MOM is watching every move they make.  So I wonder what thoughts were going through mom’s head when I said I’m going to shoot your 20 year old son in the shower in his underwear.  Well I got some cool shots using a ring light and some creative photoshop work.

Armani should use this in their next ad campaign.  HA!Well look to see Logan gracing the inside of magazines real soon.  Or at least you’ll probably see him in your local Sports Authority newspaper flyers.  I also wanted to say thanks to Jen Murphy for doing a great job of styling and hair and makeup for the shoot.  Thanks JLO.

Next post I’ll throw some girls up there for the guys to look at.  I won’ let you down.

City Slickers Cowboy up

I was blessed to be able to shoot for a client of mine who is going to be launching a new product line this summer of 2009.  It is top secret so I can’t mention the name of the new brand.  I can say it has to do with cowboys.  I myself hail from the rural lands of NJ with an abundance of horse farms but I have no experience of being a cowboy.  Now my brother has become a weekend cowboy so visiting him has given me an idea of what to expect on a ranch.  So we headed up to Carbondale, CO for a real life city slickers bringing in the herd. My job was to capture the event with cool cowboy fotos to be used for the upcoming campaign.  

I had such a good time learning all the ropes(get it) and asking too many questions.  I think they had a good time educating the rookie on cattle ranching.  My client Jake grew up on farm and was a cowboy growing up in Wyoming and was my main teacher for the 2 days of shooting.  One of the cowboys I spent most of my time photographing was Mike.  He took the blunt of my ignorance but handled me well.  

The weather was cold and raining most of the time so that added to the drama of the photos. There were around 1200 cattle from about 5 different ranches all turned out to the mountains.  Their job was to bring them all home. After getting them all into one big holding area they cut the herd(separating them into each persons ranch) and truck them out or march them through town to the next ranch. Here are a few samples of our time in the mountains bringing in the herd. Enjoy the photos.Ripin up the hill.

I love Carbondale.  beautiful mountains like Mt. Sopris here. If I could find something to due up here I’d live here.

We drove up McClure pass to capture the sunrise for some nice scenic shots.

The magnificent Four.  

They start them young, training them on the ways of the cowboy

The cowboys weren’t the only ones out rounding up some fun.  I like to cal these girls the “Betty’s of cowgirls”   instead of snowboard betty’s, you know what i mean

This dog was the coolest dog on the ranch.  She had only one eye and she did a better job sorting the cattle then the cowboys.  It is called a Blue Heeler because it bites the heels of the cows till they turn blue.

This guy said he has been doing this crap for 45 years.  He looks like it. We were told to stay away from him because he is always grumpy.  He was quite friendly to me and looked like he was having fun.

Now this guy sure looks like a real cowboy.  Maybe the retired Marlboro man.

What would a ranch be without an old Ford truck.

Its all about the cows.  The calfs sell for around 700-900 after they fatten them up, so losing 10% of your cows in the mountains due to wild animals or poisonous plants can be very costly.

How do cowboys keep track of how many cows they have?  Write it on the back of your hand.

In the end it was a great time. I want to say thank you to all the cowboys for letting me take all these photos and I have a new respect for the hamburgers I eat and the black angus steaks that grace my grill.

Thanks again Jake.

 

JJ Grey & Mofro

 

 

So if everyone is wondering who is JJ Grey?  I shot JJ Saturday night for Southern Thread clothing, for an upcoming poster. JJ is wearing Southern Thread a lot these days and we joined forces to shoot the poster.    So I got to theOgden Theater at 3:30 for a little pre show photo shoot of JJ Grey.  He was running late due to a doctors apt. where he was having his pipes checked out.  They stuck a camera down his nose and looked at his vocal cords, YUK!.  Not what I would want right before a show. Amy and another gal from Sothread got JJ all dressed up in his ST clothes and we went to work. JJ was awesome to work with, one of the nicest guys I’ve had the privilege to shoot.  He gave me all the time in the world to do what we needed. We chatted a whole bunch during  the shoot an i got to know him pretty well.  As much as you can in 2 hours.  JJ stands for John John when he was a kid and his grandma persuaded him to put JJ Grey on the albums instead of just Mofro.  Never asked what the Mofro was. So I asked him what was his sound like.  His answer was “Front Porch Soul” which I think sums it up best.

  I downloaded a few songs the day before I shot him to get an idea of what I was getting myself into. I fell in love with this song “The Sun is Shinning Down” and I mentioned it to him and he said he would throw it into the set for me. He rocks!  Go to Itunes and  download all his music, you will love it.

Love those shoes… where can i get those.

 

We shot in alley behind the Ogden and got some cool stuff with JJ. hanging out and then moved inside for some mock performance shots.
 I returned later for the show at 9 pm and he came on at 10:30 and put on a hell of show. I got some great shots. This guy can really perform.  I’ve never heard the harmonica played so good. Blues traveler has nothing on these guys. 

What an encore he put on.  I had a little influence in that department.  I’ll tell you about it later.

So thanks again to JJ Grey & Mofro for a great time and the best show I’ve been to in a long time.