Lukas VanDyke Fine Art Photography

I had so much fun doing the underwater session I posted yesterday, that I decided that I want to do another one! But this time I’m going to make a contest out of it, and will give away the session for free to one lucky couple. I have some really awesome ideas for the next session, so it will be even better than the first! The great part is a little pool water isn’t going to do any damage to most wedding dresses, so you can do the session and still save the dress for your kids! For those of you who like the idea but don’t feel it’s for you, I would love if you would tweet this link, set it as your facebook status or email it to all your married friends who you would like to see looking gorgeous in the pool.

How to enter the contest

To enter you need to write a blog post on your personal blog or a facebook note and include the following:

1. Why you want to do an underwater session & any creative ideas you have.

2. Why I should pick you to do the underwater session.

3. A photo of yourself in your wedding dress with your husband.

4. A link to this page “http://www.lukasvandyke.com/?p=5234″

Once you have finished your post you need to either tag me in the note on facebook or leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog. The contest ends at midnight on Monday 9/13 at which point I will pick the winner!

If you’re not sure how to write a note on facebook, there is a great help article here
If you want to start a new blog check out Google blogger
Contestants must be married, still have the wedding dress they were married in, and be available in the near future to do a session
Contestants agree to pay to have an underwater makeup specialist do their makeup. ($60-80)
Session will be at my place in the East San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles CA
Winners will be picked based on the creativity of their blog post and ideas for the session.
Click here to see the photos from the last session
If we aren’t facebook friends and you want to enter feel free to add me “Lukas VanDyke”.
Feel free to enter if you live in another state, you will just need to provide my flight there and the pool.

The last few years I have had the privilege of getting to design the screen art for the stage during the Resolved Conference. Filling over a thousand square feet of screen space is somewhat of a daunting task. Two years ago the theme was “heaven” and you can see the results of that project here. Last year the theme was sin, and this year the theme was “Jesus”.

As we began to think through the project the one thing I knew from the beginning is that I didn’t want some cliche Christianese photo of a cross, or nails, or someones feet in the clouds. There is some beautiful art out there representing Jesus, but in all reality we don’t know what He looks like. I wanted something that felt modern and had a lot of color, but also somehow tied back to the theme.

We went through a good number of concepts and shot a lot of demos before we landed on the walls and picture frames. The walls simply because they were bright and modern and worked good on a 50 foot screen. We choose the picture frames because we were framing, or showing pictures of Jesus. Inside the frame were a lot of little clips from the life and ministry of Jesus.

The first seven images were designed with a frame in the very center so we could project picture and picture and put the lyrics in the middle during the worship time. The second seven were displayed during the actual preaching.

For those of you wondering how all the graphics came together; the walls I collected mostly by wandering around in the industrial center in downtown Los Angeles. The picture frames are from antique stores, my house, or museums. The images inside the first seven were from some of my stock photos or personal design work. The second seven are a mix of my photos and art from old books.

Vineyard.

Parable of the soils.

View of the dead sea from Jerusalem.

Sheep.

Grapes.

Magi coming to see baby Jesus.

Sea of Galilee

The end of the Resolved Conference was nothing short of amazing. Sunday night there was well over 100 people in the lobby of the hotel hanging out, talking, and playing games. It was so much fun just wandering around and catching up with old friends.  It felt like all the camps and retreats I’ve been to in the past and loved so much. Monday I was standing in the front row for much of the worship and literally had goose bumps for many of the songs as the power of thousands of voices behind me sang to the Lord. I missed the first three messages on Monday, but was able to sit in on CJ Mahaney’s last one and was very much impacted by the practical and insightful advice on how to come home from a conference. For all of those who missed the conference, today is the day to decide to sign up for next year!

Below are the rest of the photos from Monday with a few thoughts. You can see all the photos on my proofs page

I prefer to photograph people and rarely make an attempt at landscape photos. But here is my one attempt for the weekend.

I admit I was hoping to win this raffle item.

John Martin, Al Mohler, John MacArthur, Rick Holland, Steve Lawson, CJ Mahaney, Jon Rourke.

Three piece orchestra playing while everyone waits to be let in.

Enfield!

The one photo of Suzy and me!

Everyone entering the session! The whole thing just cracks me up!

The strongest man in New Zealand rolling up a frying pan with his bare hands!

Rourke doing a CJ impression.

CJ watching the CJ impression.

I loved the song closing the conference!

Day three of Resolved was so much fun! For me for some reason it felt a lot like the church summer camps we used to have. In the morning there were a lot of people I knew at Starbucks. In the afternoon I went to the pool and played in the pool with Rick Holland’s kids and a bunch of their friends. The Q&A session in the evening was very relaxed, fun and insightful, and then back in the lobby at the hotel everyone was just hanging out, playing games, enjoying the night air and having a good time. It had that great good friends camp feeling!

Below are a few photos with comments. You can check out the rest on the Resolved Flickr page.

You guys who dive for the seats crack me up, but someone needs to explain it to me. =)

Yesterday Jon Rourke gave away some Moleskin notebooks and said they were made from “real moles” and there was a protest today. The funny thing is I think they will be giving away iPads today.

A few of Jon Rourke’s children drawing for the raffle.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen John MacArthur in jeans and tennis shoes WHILE preaching. Way to go casual.

I’m also not sure what this was about but I was walking by and it happened, so I caught it.

C.J. looking at the photo of Rogers in Lawson’s Bible.

I think the big thing I heard from the Q&A was “READ GOOD BOOKS!” I love reading and read dozens of books, but I will admit they all aren’t the most profitable and many are purely for entertainment and don’t push me to any growth. I think it’s time to check Al Mohler’s website for a list of suggestions.

C.J. Points to those smarter than him lol. =)