Sunny Florida!

I have been to Florida only once in my life. It was nearly 10 years ago in December of 2001 on my honeymoon. As you can imagine, Florida in December is nice (we wore our coats on the beach), but it's not as nice as in the summer!

My family and I packed up and hit the road for Bradenton, Florida where my older brother Andy and his bride to be were to get married on July, 25 (Congrats!). We made a long vacation out of the trip. It was nice to unwind on the beach and just have a great time with my wife and son along with my parents and my siblings and their families.

I was honored to be a groomsman. We all enjoyed a beautiful wedding ceremony and reception at the The Powel Crosley Estate in Sarasota.


My brother Andy and his wife Sarah, and my family.



The whole crew!


This was the condo we stayed in on Holmes Beach. My parents and my family shared a two bedroom condo.


The view from the roof was awesome.



Here are some pictures of the beauty that is Florida.






Of course, we spent a lot of time on the beach. We enjoyed the sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico. I'd never seen the sun set over water before. Truly a beautiful picture painted by God.








Beautiful ain't it?





My parents taking a leisurely stroll down the beach.


My wife's uncle Roy lives near Ruskin, Florida and we met up with him for lunch at Rotten Ralph's. If you ever go, their cheeseburgers are really, really good. We walked around the nearby piers afterward and enjoyed looking (but not touching) all of the expensive yachts. Roy also took us to the Sky Bridge. It was truly an uncomfortable experience being that high off of the water on a narrow two-lane highway. There was some road construction on the upward climb that caused the roadway to become even more narrow. My door seemed to be nearly scraping the concrete barrier that kept us from plunging into the gulf.







We took a tour of the gulf outside of Sarasota. They threw nets overboard and we got to look firsthand at some really neat aquatic life. Aaron and my nephew Julian really enjoyed the experience.



One afternoon we were in the gulf swimming, I happened to look up and see about 5 or 6 dolphins come out of the water and go back in. I turned and yelled out "dolphins!" No one around me saw them. They jokingly told me I was lying about it. But on our tour, I caught some dolphins surfacing. Who's laughing now?

Eastern Greene Youth Baseball Pictures are Done!

The picture orders for the EGYB are finally complete! Parents, please visit our baseball page to see when you can stop by the fields to pick them up.

We'd like to thank all of you for your orders. We hope you enjoy our work. They turned out great!

Eastern Greene Youth Baseball Pictures

Studio 28 was selected to be the EGYB team photographer for 2011! I'm so excited for this opportunity. If you are a EGYB parent, please visit our baseball page to view the photography schedule and our photo pricing.

The gift of glam!

Ladies, if your husband or boyfriend is like I am, they know they've got the most beautiful woman in the world. Give him the gift of glam with a glamorous photo of yourself that he can display proudly at work or home. I have. Let us show you that everyone has a glamorous side!

My beautiful wife:

T-Ball here we come!

My son is going to be playing his first year of T-Ball this spring. I am proud to be coaching him as I take the helm of the Eastern Greene Youth Baseball T-Ball Pirates! This will be my first time coaching a T-Ball team, so I am excited much like Aaron is, to be a part of his team.

My first T-Ball team was the Pirates and so was my wife's. I naturally selected the Pirates to be my son's first team. Got to keep the tradition going you know.

I also put in a bid to be the league's team photographer so I am anxious to find out if I will be doing the photography.

A big thank you to the IU Credit Union for being a sponsor for our team.

Happy Easter!

I would like to wish all of you a wonderful Resurrection Sunday! This year we did not get a new puppy. (Thank goodness!)

Eastern Biddy Basketball

This year, as I did last year, I helped my brother-in-law coach a 1st & 2nd grade biddy basketball team at Eastern. Little did I know that I would end up being a head-coach for a 3rd & 4th grade team. I admittedly do no know that much about basketball, but with my brother-in-law (a real basketball man) at my side, I thought I'd give it a go. I am glad I did.

I had a group of really good boys who learned so much throughout the season. We started off good with three wins, but hit a rough patch and lost 3 in a row. The combined difference between the score of two of those games was just 3 points. We finished strong to end our season and headed into the tournament.

As the tournament began, we were playing like I knew we were capable of playing. Every boy contributed as we made it to the championship game in the tournament. In the semi-final, we were down 7 with just a few minutes to go. We tied the game with a ball that rolled around the rim (to build suspense, I guess) and finally went in with about 28 seconds to go. We pulled away in OT and advanced to the championship, where we lost to the undefeated champions.

It was a satisfying experience and I look forward to coaching again next year.

E.R. Gray & Associates logo and website redesign

E.R. Gray & Associates, a land surveying company located in Columbus, Indiana desired a fresh new look for their business. Their old design was showing signs of age and was ready for an update.

THE LOGO:


I based the new logo design off of their old well-recognized logo, making the new design more crisp and modern looking. I removed the inside of the compass, and replaced it with the company's initials. This will allow the compass element to stand on it's own in time.

I also changed the wordmark font to a modern, much easier to read font.

The simplicity of the logo design makes it functional for embroidery on shirts, coats, and hats.


THE WEBSITE:

The old website.



The new website.



The new design presents the complicated topic of land surveying, into an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand manner. The approach to the redesign was simple. What if I were needing a land surveyor? What information would I need to know? I know absolutely nothing about land surveying, so I need the information in small digestable bites.

The new "Did You Know?" boxes quickly answer frequently asked questions that an E.R. Gray client may have. The "Request a Quote" makes it easy for potential clients to initiate business with E.R. Gray.

The feedback on the new design has been terrific, and the "Request a Quote" feature is already driving business to the company.

Thank you E.R. Gray for entrusting me with the new look of your company!

Thunder football pictures are complete!

Phew! I'm so thrilled to have completed the pictures for the Eastern Thunder Youth Football League. It was a daunting task, but we delivered, and the feedback we've received has been wonderful. I'm grateful to the League for selecting us, and we are happy to announce that we donated 10% of sales to the League!

It has been a very rewarding experience for us, and I hope to have more opportunities in the future to provide my services to ETYF.

As promised here are some examples:

My nephew Braydon is enjoying his first year of football.


Each photo package included a Memory Mate and a free 3" button.


We also offer a custom magazine-style photo.


Trader cards were a big hit with the players. On the reverse side is the player's information.




Parents were also able to purchase extra prints, mugs, key chains, dog tags, and refrigerator magnets.