Posts in Category: Lifestyle

I’m Moving to Africa… Yes, Really

Hello photo friends!

It is with mixed emotions that I officially announce that I’m not booking any new work.  I’ve loved these last few years as a photographer, for all that I’ve learned, and most of all, the people that I’ve met along the way.  I think I will always smile when I look back on this stage of my life.

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(My photo radar going off at Inna and Jared’s wedding… photo by Josh Premako)

However, the day has come to move on to bigger and better things.  If you haven’t heard, Rachel and I are moving to Malawi, Southern Africa in about 19 days.  Yes, moving.  Yes, to Africa.  We’re going to be serving at a church in that very needy country.  You can read more about it here.


(That’s NOT me and Rachel… it’s the chief and his wife in Gulule, a village in Malawi I visited in 2007)


(Lake Malawi)


(It’s always a race to see if I can take the picture before there are too many kids to fit in my frame.  The kids won on this one…)


(Fishermen’s children jumping off the boats.  That’s a fishing rod in the background, not a spear… though they have those too.)

The only difficult part is saying goodbye to all the friends I’ve made along the way.  I recognize that my business has grown because my past clients have trusted me and referred me to someone else.  Thank you, each of you, for your support of me and my photography.

But I know I’m leaving you in good hands.  If you need photos in the LA/OC area, I’ve updated my site with a list of photographers I recommend.

What direction will my photography take once I’m in Malawi?  I’m as curious as you are.  The best way to find out is to watch this blog.  You can subscribe to the RSS feed, or sign up to get my latest posts by email.  It might be a while before I figure out how to post photos via the African internet, but when I do, I’ll put them here.

Until then, as they say in Malawi:

Zikomo kwambiri!

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(Photo by Josh Cook)

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The Gundersen Family

Like the Kellers, the Gundersens also contributed in a big way to our wedding day.  Cindi made an individual cake for each one of our guests.  We didn’t learn until later that she recruited a whole team of people to help her pull it off.  So, I offered to do some family photos for them as a small way of saying thanks.

The Gundersens adopted Judah from Uganda about a year and a half ago, and he’s grown so much since then.  I’m convinced that he’s going to grow up to be an entertainer of some sort.  He’s very perceptive of what makes people laugh, and knows just how to act to get everyone to smile.  Which made this shoot a lot of fun.

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Judah wanted to drive the train… to Oklahoma.
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King of the rock!
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I love this one.
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Every hole we passed was just screaming for Judah to throw rocks into it.
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Judah was singing “King of New York” from Newsies.  I couldn’t believe he knew all the words…
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Gunner, Cindi, and Judah, thanks for being involved in our wedding and our lives!  We’ve loved going through life together with you, and look forward to seeing where God uses you in the future!

Jared & Inna (bonus material)

When I shot Jared & Inna’s wedding in August, we ran out of time to do the photos on the beach that we had been planning on.  So we set up a time to do a post-wedding session to make up for it.

Ironically, after they drove down to sunny Malibu from San Francisco, we got up that morning to find SoCal was socked in with fog.  But it proved to be a blessing in disguise: Rachel (my voice-activated lightstand) and I were rewarded with the best natural light diffuser you ever saw. I came home with a collection of photos that were very different than I expected, but still very, very cool.

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And just as things were starting to get cold and dark, I decided to try one last idea… and wow.
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Jared and Inna, thanks for being such an encouragement to Rachel and I. We loved getting to spend some time over dinner and The Newlywed Game with you, too, even when you had such a tight schedule. We’re so grateful for your friendship!