Illustration Dave » photography

Swinging at Milham Park

dmiles — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:13:40 +0000

My wife had planned to help my sister with a craft project by going to Field’s Fabric. What resulted was a fun afternoon swinging at Milham park and some great pictures! Enjoy.

From Bray’s @ Milham 3/16/09

More to see here!

I’m back!!!

dmiles — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:02:00 +0000

From Honeymooners 10/14/08 1:28 PM

Hey friends, I’m back! It’s been a month or two since my last post and I’ve missed it! During that time I’ve moved to Kalamazoo, married my dream girl, and had a much needed honeymoon in Seagrove Beach, FL. Thanks so much to all of my friends and family who made our wedding day so wonderful! I plan on getting back to the art posts and letting you know what I’m working on so stay tuned. In the mean time, if you are interested in photos from the wedding here are some links to get you there.

Wedding Photos at our photographers website.

Wedding Prep 10/14/08 1:26 PM

Honeymooners 10/14/08 1:28 PM

A Weary Week with a Wonderful Ending!

dmiles — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:51:00 +0000

From Family Fun We…

I don’t know why but moving, working, and getting hitched is hard work! I feel like I should be able to handle it better but I get tired and cranky . Thankfully I have a wonderful group of family and friends to look to for support. Thanks Dad, Mom, Steve, Jim, Aunt Robin, and Nicole for helping me pack and clean up my house this week. There’s only a little left to do and closing is Friday at 4:30pm!

I have relocated my office and life to my parents house for a month until I close on the new house in Kalamazoo. It’s been a welcome relief to not be surrounded by messiness and my life in boxes. I’ve definitely slept better and feel like I have a handle on things once again!

This weekend Carrie and Jim stopped by to visit my folks and we had a lot of fun with the girls. I love em so much! Look at the photos and see .

July Showers bring… flowers?

dmiles — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Whoa… it has been a crazy week. For the past few months I’ve been commenting on how little you realize the work involved in getting married until you are actually in the midst of it. Carrie and I have been working on merging our lives together so that we can be in the same place after the wedding this fall and this has been a pivotal week for us. My house sold! So now, barring acceptance of the home inspection, I will be moving all of my things out of here before the closing on August 22nd. What an answer to prayer and a little bit of a relief. Of course, now we are looking for houses which should be fun. We have an appointment with the Realtor this Wednesday so we’re excited.

***

Now that I’ve got a few minutes to myself I’ve decided to explore my yard and take a few photos. We’ve had a some much needed rain toay and my flowers are looking fantastic. I love watching things grow and flowers provide a lot of surprises. Up top is a photo of my Nasturtium. They were grown from seeds and smell amazing!! Next are some Balloon flower I had planted last year and didn’t realize it was a perennial. Much to my surprise they popped up again this year and I’ve had a bumper crop of these cool star-shaped flowers. And finally, I shot some Elephant Ear Carrie planted for me. They are getting really huge and have some great colors in the veins of the leaves.

That’s all for now. I’ll be working on the Illustration Friday drawing this week I hope. The theme is ‘Enough’… hmmm… when is enough enough?

July 4th with Guest Stars!

dmiles — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:28:00 +0000

The Miles’ and the Bray’s spent the day at the Lake House on the 4th. Carrie and Jim had visitors all day long! Holly Henderson and her family stopped by for a dip in the lake. We couldn’t resist asking her to shoot a family photo for us and she said ‘Sure!’. It turned out great .

Norah n’ Lu

dmiles — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:03:00 +0000

July 4th was great this year. My sister, Carrie, had just given birth to Norah Laurice Bray and the whole family congregated at the Bray’s to catch a glimpse. Norah is so quiet and nearly always still and looking content (hope I’m not jinxing that . Carrie’s other daughter, Lucy, is about 17 months old, rambunctious, and full of life. For the past week it seemed as though Lucy was not interested in spending time with her new sister but Friday night she finally sat down and showed her new sister some love . I can’t wait to see the fun they have growing up together!

On the technical side of things, the pictures of Lucy and Norah were tough to take! It was a small room and a was pretty dark with all of the lights on. I had the ISO at around 1250 so they were a little grainy and some were blurry. My sister is so great with her family’s interest in cameras . She calls us the paparazzi and you can even hear me taking pictures in the videos posted to the Team Bray Blog.

So much going on…

dmiles — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:20:00 +0000

Life has been a blur lately. Work is going well for me. I have several jobs in process and a few coming down the pike and it really feels good to have that work cushion Praise God!

I am getting married in t-minus 90 days (give or take and I still need to sell my house and buy another one in our new location. I recently hired a Realtor after having a go at FSBO and I’m feeling good about that decision. I like that someone is getting paid to sell my house… it’s a lot of work for one person to do and I’ve got enough on my mind right now . She seems very positive about the house selling so I’m excited. Here’s the listing.

My sister gave birth yesterday!!! whoa! Norah Laurice Bray has left the womb and she looks really amazing. Carrie and I visited this afternoon and got to spend an hour or so talking with Jim and Carrie and holding our new niece. You need to see these pictures of her taken by our friend Holly. They are amazing.

I spent a good chunk of the day working with my future father-in-law, Rick. He is installing new flooring in the house and we had a good time working hard together. It was a long day but I think the flooring will be worth the effort… it looks awesome!

Too many tidbits about my life . I’ll post a few photos I’ve taken and sign off for now. Below is a cute photo of my folks and a few of my niece, Maddie, hamming it up .

Sitting with Lucy

dmiles — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:07:00 +0000

This past weekend was a great break from house selling and other work. Carrie and I watched Lucy while my sister and her husband went out for a movie. Lucy lives life in full tilt. When I walked in the door her face was covered in frozen raspberries and she was screaming in delight. Soon her feet hit the floor and I had fun chasing her around the house and watching her laugh. That night we played in the lake, gave her a bath, had crackers, watched ‘Signing Times’, read some books, prayed, and put her to bed. Lucy’s life is full of fun and Carrie and I had a great time with her.

Dinner and pictures

dmiles — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:38:00 +0000

My friends Jim and Nicole invited me to dinner last night. After catching up on life and some yummy stir-fry Jim and I headed out with our cameras to take some pictures. It was a great night! The sun was setting and the buildings were lit by a warm yellow light which contrasted beautifully with the blue skies. Jim held still a few times so i could squeeze off a few shots of him too.
The Notre Dame Basilica was being restored… I thought it looked like a post-apocalyptic building .
The interior of the basilica is amazing!… and so quiet.
I had a great time last night. Thanks guys!

Bubbles with Maddie and Papa

dmiles — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:04:00 +0000

Jenny and Steve had us over for dinner tonight. For dessert we blew some bubbles! Grandpa demonstrated the technique and Maddie followed suit .

I love that green behind my Dad! I don’t know where it came from but it sure makes that pink bubble wand POP! Happy accidents