Personal

Friends Grandparents - Chermom

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I had the chance last week to spend a few minutes last week with my friend Bradley’s grandmother, who she affectionately calls “Chermom.” It was amazing to hear her talk about her home and the tree in her back yard she planted with her husband over 70 years ago. She even let me sneak Bradley’s pup Ruby on the couch for a picture. She is such a beautiful soul and it was an honor to be able to photograph her.

To see her images and other Friends Grandparents sessions please go to www.friendsgrandparents.com. If you are interested in having your grandparent photographed please contact me (I do these sessions at no charge).

Blessings. Jason

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of an era... 2504 Creative - The last party (and sale)

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Even as I am sitting here writing this I can hardly believe it. Just under 3 years ago I was fortunate to start sharing an office with two great friends and businesses that I respect & admire greatly. The last three years have been an amazing season with friends, clients that have become friends, community, and business. Now it is time for a new season. The three of us are all headed in different directions with business and life. I couldn't be more excited for everyone (and myself). Life will never be the same because of the last 3 years and for that I am eternally grateful.

Insert party (and sale).

We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the last 3 years we have had together other than to throw a PARTY.

So here is where you come in... Next Friday, April 6th (yes Good Friday) we will be having our last party as 2504 Creative. A way to say thanks for everything that everyone has done for us over the last 3 years, have some coffee, share some laughs, and celebrate the community that we have had here. It will be from 6-8p and we will be having coffee/snacks. I hope that you can join us. I am including the invite below...

Also we are selling a bit of the items that we have acquired over the last few years (desks, chairs, sofas, bookshelves, computers, espresso machines, grinders, office decor, wedding decor, office supplies) and we created a fun little video showing some of the things that we will be selling. I am including a list of what I am selling below and I hope that you enjoy the video...

Big thanks to my good friend Jamie Orillion for shooting the video for us!

Blessings. Jason

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/39367600[/vimeo]

 

FURNITURE FOR SALE - brown barcelona chair - $150 (SOLD) - black barcelona chair - $325 - long brown ikea office desk - $90 (SOLD) - short brown ikea office desk - $70 - rectangular bathroom mirror - $20

- 3 tier side desk/shelving - $150 - (2) large wire storage shelves - $60 each (SOLD) - microwave size wire storage shelf - $30 - long skinny wire storage shelf - $25 - small black ikea office desk - $40 (SOLD) - full length mirror - $100 (SOLD) - white large ikea desk - $90 - white small ikea desk - $70 - side storage table - $30 - small side table (seen in front of office) - $10 - metal worktable - $70 - tv stand - $300 - prints in hallway, office, & bathroom - $150 (for prints in hallway & bathroom) - (2) silver ikea magazine racks - $10 each

COMPUTERS FOR SALE - MacBook Pro - 2.6/500GB/4GB - $575 (SOLD) - MacBook Pro - 2.5/320GB/4GB - $475 (SOLD) - Mac Mini - 1.66/60GB/2GB - $200 - (SOLD) - HP 30in Monitor - $600 - Wacom Intous 3 6x8 - $175 - Bose Companion 3 - $120 - Bose Companion 2 - $50

 

Announcing Café Cohen - A Premier Espresso Bar & Coffee Shop

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I hope that if you have already made it this far then you will make it through this entire post (even though it is a little lengthy).  It has taken me almost a year to realize what I want to say ... even if I am just now writing it down. If you know me well, then you know that a huge passion (in addition to photography) is coffee. It has been something on my heart even longer than photography has been. I have been fortunate to experience incredible coffee around the world, unlike I had ever experienced at home. It has always been a dream to be able to share that same experience with people in a larger setting. About a year ago, I suddenly realized that my life would change more that it had in years. There was a stirring in my soul for some time that I hadn't really shared with anyone. I remember the spot that I was sitting in, the scenery around me, and I can still smell what it smelled like the day I realized that photography wouldn't be my only "job" for the next season in my life.

So here comes the news...

As of next Monday, September 19th (thats right a week from today) I will be opening Café Cohen, a premier espresso bar and coffee shop. It is something that has been in the works for months and I am excited that it is actually here (and that I can finally talk about it). The shop will be inside of Great Harvest Bread Company of Acadiana. When I was dreaming of where I would put a shop in Lafayette, I wanted to do something non-traditional. I wanted to do something that you would normally see in a bigger city, and show that it is something than can be done here as well. I wanted to partner with a company whose products and customer service aligned with what I envisioned in creating a coffee shop. I could not have imagined a better company in Lafayette than Great Harvest and it is really a honor for Michelle & JP to invite me to partner with them. They take more care in their products, customers, and employees than almost anyone else I know.

Monday, September 19th will be our first day of operation and drinks will be free all day. We will also have a Grand Opening on September 24th where we will again be serving drinks for free all day. I hope that you can come by one of those days to enjoy a cup of coffee on me and see what I have been secretly up to the last several months.

What's NOT going to change: I am still as passionate as ever about photography. This change will not affect anything for past, present, or future clients. I will still be shooting all of my present weddings as well as taking on new clients. I am excited about every wedding that I have coming up. I will still be working on commercial work, portraits, and as always shooting personal work. I know my best work is still ahead of me and by shooting more selectively it will only enhance my creativity.

What IS going to change: The biggest change will be that I will reduce the amount of new weddings/commercial/portrait work that I will be taking on. This means that going from 50+ weddings a year to 10-20 weddings. Naturally I will be in and out of the office a bit, or rather I will be spending a lot of time at my new office :)

Our hours will be the same as Great Harvest's which is Monday-Thursday 7am-6pm, Friday 7am-5pm, and Saturday 7am-4pm. Café Cohen is located in Great Harvest at 854 Kaliste Saloom Rd (across from Fresh Pickins).

The new Café Cohen website is www.cafecohen.com. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cafecohen or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/cafecohen. This is where you can find out all of our info, updates, as well as specials. Feel free to email, call, etc if you have any questions at all or leave a comment on this blog post below. I would really love to hear from you.

This journey has been more and more about me realizing that my identity isn't about whether I am a photographer, coffee shop owner, or any other profession that I may find myself in. My identity comes from a place not on this earth and I am continually being shaped by those around me. I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported me in the last 8 years since I started and I cant wait to see what the next season of my life will look like.

Blessings. Jason.

31 days of personal work....

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That's exactly what the next 31 days will be (including today). I have a ton of images that I shot last summer while traveling that I have really been wanting to share, but just haven't had the time to do it. I thought that by posting an image a day for the month of July, it would allow an opportunity for me to be able to share these images (as well as be inspired to get out and shoot this summer). Every day I will be posting a single image from my trip. Rather than having a story or "tag line" with each image, I am just going to let each image speak for itself. Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions about any of them. Also these are all available as prints.

I look forward to finally being able to share images that hardly anyone has seen and I hope that you enjoy them as much as I enjoy sharing them.

Here is the first one...

Blessings. Jason

A Night of Relief - 2504 Creative

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This is something that we have been planning for a little bit and am excited to be able to share... As many may know I am fortunate enough to be able to share my office with two of Lafayette's brightest young minds, Valerie Woerner of Southern Fete & Daniel Kedinger of Crucé Design. We have been dreaming up a night to be able to gather some of our closest friends as well as raise some money for a couple good causes. This is all coming together June 28th from 6-8pm where we will be serving up some Café Cohen as well as taking donations for some great organizations/causes (a photo booth will be involved as well :).

Below is the information for the event or you can view it here on the Facebook event page.

I hope that you can come out to join us as we raise money for some friends and neighbors (some a little further than others).

Blessings. Jason

 

 

 

 

Abigail Rose Kedinger

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My good friend, as well as office mate, Daniel and his wife had their second child last week. The office crew stopped by the hospital to say hey and I snapped a few images. Also my good friend Jamie Orillion post some images on his blog of her as well... Make sure to check them out here

Blessings. Jason

 

 

 

My "top secret" personal project......

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I have been working on this for a while and am just now having the opportunity to sit down and edit some of the images. I have been searching a while for a personal project. I have bought random domains, thought of hundreds of "cool" things to shoot, and even hopped in the car and driven around to shoot things at random. I was looking for something that would give me #1 something to work on long term (rather than just going out at random to shoot) & #2 something where I could actually give something to someone else (rather than it just being beneficial for myself). I have been intrigued with the idea of creating something that otherwise wouldn't exist.

It wasn't until recently after my grandmother passed away I began to realize the importance of having quality images of the people that are closest to me (or at least then it really sunk in). As I was getting the images together for a slideshow at her funeral I realized that I would have been devastated if I wouldn't have had any. Right about that time it hit me that my personal project was sitting right in front of me. I know there are plenty of people who don't have fantastic images of their grandparents for who they were, and not just in an olan mills church picture.

For the last couple of months I have been asking friends to be able to photograph their grandparents to get me started on this project. In the next couple of weeks I will be  sharing some of those images and I am currently looking for grandparents to photograph in the future.

If you are interested in submitting your grandparent(s) for me to photograph please email me.

Please visit http://friendsgrandparents.com/ to view my new project and check back often for updates.

Blessings. Jason

End of the year... Some personal images

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I am just wanted to have one more post before the end of the year and share some personal work. I had a chance to sit down and go through some personal work, both in terms of not being financially rewarding and photographs of people who are close to me. In the later part of the year I realized how much through the hustle and bustle I have neglected to get behind the camera for pure pleasure. It literally broke my heart to think so much of the year had passed while my camera stayed in the bag I carried daily. I even ended up selling the very camera that I used to carry every day (don't worry I still have a couple ;).

I am not really big on "new year resolutions" but I do have one. Shoot more. Plain and simple. I hope that you see a camera in my hand just as much as you see me behind a computer. I hope that you see me capturing moments as much as you see me talking about or drinking coffee. And most of all I hope that you ask me about it and help me to get behind the camera more.

I am headed out of the door to New Orleans for the next couple days. One camera, one lens, and a bunch of film. Hopefully I can make up for all the shooting I neglected to do this year.

I didn't include the camera or lens information because I thought I would let the images speak for themselves this time around.

I hope you enjoy these.

Blessings. Jason