He began singing to a crowd of friends, family, and fans. He premised the song with a disclaimer that these lyrics come from the deepest parts of his soul and he apologized in advance if he was unable to make it through the entire song. And so it began. I smiled. I cried. I cried when Carl couldn’t sing. I smiled when he could. I smiled, because I know we are all OK.

“We’re OK” is the song that had the most impact on me. Everyone has lost someone, and everyone can relate to the words in this amazing song. “Every time I turn around, someone else is gone.” He had a tough time recording this song, and an even tougher time singing it live. I feel fortunate to be one of the lucky people to hear him sing it live, because I don’t believe he will be performing it very often.

“The Ties The Bind” is the first song on the album and the centerpiece of this work. Carl begins singing about the ties that bind us all in a great singer-song-writer fashion, and it’s beautiful. One minute and 29 seconds in, I had goose bumps and tears in my eyes. That’s when the chorus begins singing and filling the song with emotion and it brings a smile to your face when you hear it. It’s a chorus made up of people that have impacted Carl’s life in one way or another. I had the great fortune of photographing the recording of this song in the studio of Carl and the Chorus, and some of my photographs were used for the CD. Below are a few of the images from that recording session.

Where can you find this CD? For now, send an email to CVZOOMS (at) gmail.com And when he has a website, I’ll be sure to let you know that as well.

Last night I joined Melanie and several of her closest friends at Boogie Fever in Ferndale Michigan to photograph her 50th birthday celebration.  I had a fantastic time dancing and documenting the night for her.  I found that photographing in the dark night club offers a lot of similar challenges to shooting a wedding reception.  The lights are all over the place and you can really do some fun stuff with it.

Being a camera man in a night club came with some unexpected happenings.  In addition to photographing Melanie and her friends dancing, I heard a lot of this ” Hey, camera guy, come take our picture.”  Before I knew it, I became the photographer for a group of friends, and bachelorette party (for a few group photos.)  Not a bad gig.

Independence Village Online Proofs