It's been a crazy couple of months and I'm WAY behind on updating my blog. And because the title of my blog is Eric Chapman Photography, I should probably be posting more photography. A few months ago I posted some engagement photos of Kristi and Josh, well their big day finally came, and it was great. The rain cleared and the entire day was beautiful. Here's some of my favorite pics:
My apologies for the delay in writing this blog, but it's been kind of a crazy week.
Last week Tris and I took the last round of pregnancy pictures. I think this one was my favorite:
I had this plan to write a blog post with this picture and have it ready to post before we went to the hospital. Last Wednesday night Tris woke me up with one of her hourly trips to the bathroom and I just couldn't go back to sleep. I starting thinking about what I was going to write for the blog. One possible topic could be our story. I've been thinking a lot about mine and Tris' story lately. How we met, when I knew I was in love with her, when I knew I wanted to ask her to be my bride, all that sort of stuff. Its a strange feeling to connect the dots from the moment I saw her for the first time to now, watching our baby move around in her belly. I hadn't quite flushed the whole thing out because at 2:35 in the morning, she said out loud "my water broke." Just like the movies! That was just the thing they said wouldn't happen in all of our books and our birthing classes. Everyone says, "it's not like they portray it in the movies", but it was. And like a whirlwind, we had a baby in about 8 hours. I won't go into all the details of labor and whatnot, but man it was crazy.
*NOTE - The girl flailing her arms about is half of our best friends, the Etheredges. This is Brandi doing the Macarena for (or telling a story to) Tris. Tris and I have been blessed with the best friends on earth. The Etheredges are the most selfless people I've ever known, and they've always been there when we needed them. They mean the world to us.
Here is the first picture taken of Reid Chapman:
Actually it was probably the 3rd, but this was the first "good" one of Reid.
We went super traditional with this baby in that we didn't find out the sex, we wanted to keep it a surprise. It drove us nuts the whole 9 months but it was really fun in the hospital. Tris was convinced it was going to be a girl, and so was my mother-in-law (and i guess everyone else). Call me crazy, but doesn't it defeat the purpose of having it be a surprise if you go ahead and resign yourself to it being one or the other? I really didn't care if it was going to be a boy or a girl. I really wanted a son, for a lot of the same reasons Bill Cosby also wanted a son... but I also knew I'd be a great dad to a little girl. (although those little girls grow into teenage girls, and I want NOTHING to do with raising a teenage girl.) So you can imagine my joy when I saw his.... well... that it was a boy. Tris' reaction was "what!?!" It was awesome.
I don't know how to put the feeling of being a father into words. Nothing seems to suffice. When I've been asked this week, I answer with the generic "awesome", "surreal", "crazy", "wonderful", "amazing", but I don't really know how to put it into words. When people told me "it'll change your life", they weren't kidding. It sounds way too generic, but it's true.
Now this is not an easy thing. Reid hasn't learned to be considerate of his parents sleep patterns yet and for some weird reason he likes to pretend his neck is made of jello. He also thinks its HILARIOUS to pee (and poo) on us. Once he starts talking back to us, we're going to have a chat about that.
Thanks so much for everyone's thoughts, prayers, and advice. We truly do have the best core group of friends anyone could ever ask for. Now just keep praying Reid learns to sleep when he's supposed to and that his parents do their best to not mess him up. Here's a few more pics from Reids first few days. I apologize for all the sleeping pictures (that's what he seems to do best right now.) I promise there will be many more to come of him not sleeping.
I figured I should finally start posting about photography since the title of my blog has the word "photography" in it. It's been a few weeks, but I've shot a lot... just have no time to edit and post.
Here's Kristi and Josh:
Kristi and I go way back. She used to be an actress for Student Life and their Kids team. Not sure if you can tell in the pictures but she's quite animated, so it was a good fit being with kids. She's the kind of girl you always want around, if nothing else but to keep the mood light and bubbly. I'll be shooting their wedding in May but here are a few shots from their engagement session.
I have no idea how on earth to pronounce his name but here's Tekalign:
If you know me at all, then you've probably heard me go on and on about Compassion International. Tris and I sponsor 2 children with Compassion, Innocent in Uganda and Brian in Kenya (I met Brian a few weeks ago, scroll down and read that post.) It is by far the best use of our money. I've had the opportunity to travel around the world and see how Compassion works, and as of last week I became an official advocate. This probably means you're going to hear a LOT more about Compassion, but it also means you can sponsor a child directly through me rather than going on the website.
Compassion works. I've met the children, I've walked in their neighborhoods, I've been to their homes, and I've met those who where, but are no longer in poverty. If you have any questions about child sponsorship, please contact me. I'd love to share my experience. And if you want to sponsor Tekalign, let me know.
I promise the next post will be actually about photography... since that is what this blog is supposed to be about.
This is Drew:
Drew is my boss at Student Life. I'm very fortunate to say my boss is also a really good friend. I don't know how it is in the rest of the professional world, but I wouldn't think that's always the case. I like to think we here in the production department have a blast, and from these pictures of Drew, you can see why. Here is our fearless leader:
Well, the trip is over and we're all back home safe and sound. It was an incredible trip capped off by a visit to the Masai Mara National Reserve for a safari. Masai Mara is the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park and is the site of the Great Migration every year. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Great Migration, just think of that really awesome shot of all the wildebeest and zebras from Planet Earth. The safari was awesome, we saw 4 of the big 5... lions, black rhinos, elephants, and buffalo... those leopards were stubborn and wouldn't come out. Here are just a few pics from the trip:
This was our last full day in Nairobi. Long and short of it, we went to Church, we ate lunch, and we visited a college in downtown Nairobi where a lot of LDP students attend. It was a great day.
I could write a book on our Church experience, but I won't... I'll just say it was loud, long, and hot.
After the poverty we've been exposed to for the past 3 days, it was a nice change of pace to just have a day to spend with the LDP students. It occured to me that I talk quite a bit about LDP students, but I've never explained it. LDP stands for Leadership Development Program. Once a child goes all the way through the program and graduates high school, they are eligible to apply to the LDP program. It is another sponsorship based program in which the students will now be sponsored through college. It is highly sought out by Compassion high school grads, and not easy to be accepted into the program. These are the best of the best and are some of the smartest people I've ever met.
These students are proof Compassion works and their children will not know poverty.
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Diana Aluso
Ibrahim Olaiseh (photo by Drew Francis)
Faith Njeri
Hezron Aidi