Update

This weekend I weighed in at 218. I have lost 68 pounds since I started my journey on Weight Watchers last May. My next weigh-in is on my 29th birthday this coming Saturday. Will I reach the 70 lbs. milestone?

Crazy to think that I am one year away from being thirty.

New Updates

I have added four new videos and two new photos to ChrisMartinStudios.com tonight! Promotional videos for Shared Blessings and People International, an animation for Genesis Performance Systems, a photo for Renewed Life Day Spa's new jacuzzi, and a random photo opportunity from my kitchen.

Enjoy!

Weight Watchers Update

I started the Weight Watchers Online for Men program the last week of May weighing in at 286. As of Saturday, October 13, I weigh 235, which is a loss of 51 pounds.

Tomorrow is my third wedding anniversary, and I can finally wear the clothes that I wore leaving the church on our wedding day! Very exciting!!

ChrisMartinStudios.com updated!

I finally updated the design for ChrisMartinStudios.com. It only took a year and a half!

Being a dinosaur only leads to one place...

...extinction.

I say that because I have been doing web design since 1996, and I am realizing that what I taught myself 10 years ago has become antiquated, outdated and border-line extinct. A great example is my over-reliance on tables for page layout, instead of the use of DIV's and positioning in CSS. I was looking into that the other day and couldn't believe how simple and clean that process is.

The web has changed, and I haven't. Very sad. But the good news is I don't want to become extinct. Time to evolve. Time to change.

Hey, are you there?

It's been almost two months since my last post. It has been a completely crazy life. Last month was dedicated to finishing a very large project called Boeing Production Systems Fundamentals. I was on a team of four people, in charge of animation, design and programming. In a two week period, I put in over 100 hours not including commute time and waiting for the bus! This week, we are finishing up some edits and hopefully that project will be complete.

Weight Watchers update. I have been on the program for three months now, and I have lost 37 pounds, weighing in at 249. Pretty exciting! Some of the shirts that I have received as gifts a year ago are finally fitting.

Several photo shoots coming up. Tonight I am photographing a band called "Crusas." Check them out at www.crusas.com or www.myspace.com/crusas. In the next two weeks, I'll be doing another shoot for Renewed Life Day Spa, as well as another group photo for Bryant & Associates, and I get to be a photographer for my church's upcoming church picnic. A crazy amount of photo taking opportunities. I just bought a 4GB capture card which will allow me to take over 700 RAW pictures (which is the full resolution), pretty awesome! Before I had a 1GB card which only enabled me to take 178 RAW pictures. I ran out of room at a previous shoot, so I wanted to be prepared. It looks like I am going to be getting a great tripod soon. I'm looking at a carbon fiber bogen, which a ball head, as well as a separate video head for smooth pans and tilts.

Well, that's about it for now.

Fireworks and Tow Trucks

Last night was pretty amazing as the subdivision next door to the apartment complex that my wife and I live in exploded in the myriad of colors that is the 4th of July. Being on the second story has some advantages, mainly being able to see an unobstructed view of what was going on. There were some fireworks that lit up the entire sky and I couldn't help but smile, my inner child filled with glee and excitement. It was an exciting time, and I was able to live vicariously through the hundreds of dollars that our neighbors obviously spent. Beautiful!

In other news, our apartment complex is sealing the asphalt in my section this morning. They have spent the last hour and a half towing cars to various parts of the property. The final two cars were just towed away, it's nothing too exciting, but when I only see the kids in the pool, this is pretty darn exciting!

Here's to a hot day!!! One of the disadvantages of living on the second story.

Back to work my brain says. I have a busy month ahead of me. Yesterday was a nice day of relaxing, eating hamburgers and reading some books. Oh, and I even took a nap! Now that is odd, seeing as I never take naps.

Okay, now I really should get back to work!

Workflow

Nothing will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of your personal workflow like a 3-day video shoot, with the final 30-minute video due on the 4th day. I haven't decided if it is insane, impossible, or improbable, but I think taking these projects every once and a while could be a good thing. Maybe it's God's light shining in how I do things, how long I think on things, and just getting things done and moving to the next project.

These are my thoughts this early morning. I am getting too old to stay up all night. I remember when I could go no problem, but after 8-hours of shooting, which is enough to wear anyone out, an all-night editing spree seems crazy. I think I am repeating myself. Time to get back to editing.

Capturing an Experience

I sit here waiting for the video to capture onto my computer that I shot today at the Kid's Camp that my church was a part of. Today was day three of four and shot three more hours of footage, adding to the five hours of day one and two.

Yesterday was pretty nasty as rain soaked everything and a lot of the activities were sent indoors and everywhere there was a covered space, but today the sun was shining, the outdoor activities were in full force and fun, creative shots were in force.

Now the fun begins in putting together a video for the past few days by 12 noon tomorrow. I have the soda chilled and ready, and once the capturing is done, I'll be off and editing.

I only went to a kid camp once as a kid, and all I remember was chickening out on the zip line. My thought today was that if the zip lines were as safe today, I think I would have went down the line. Instead, I had to contend with a plastic swing seat with a scary chain to the zip line. Pretty interesting the things we hold onto.

Journey Down the Road of Meaning (35 MPH vs. 1 MPH)

I have several things going through my head today. The first has to do with some reoccurring dreams that I have been having over the past six months usually entailing me being trapped in my old job and never being able to find the way out. But last night there were some new developments. First, I was being chased by Sylar from the television show "Heroes," and second I was being helped by my friend Loren.

As I went on a walk this afternoon, I was pondering about what that dream meant. Now, it's obvious what the reoccurring dream about being trapped in my old place of work says, but what about Sylar? In "Heroes" he was the evil villain who stalked the people with superpowers so that he could take those abilities for himself, killing the hero in the process. So, putting all of the three elements together, I am in the process of escaping my old ways, being helped in the process by my friend Loren, but the enemy is unhappy and is hunting me down so that he can take away what makes me unique.

What an interesting dream. Isn't it amazing that when you have such an epic dream that you wake up feeling exhausted and worn out?

The second thought going through my mind has to do with breaking out of the monotony of a mundane life. Metaphorically speaking, I have been trying to speed down the road of life doing 120 MPH, but I finally got busted by the cops and I'm forced to go down the road of life at walking speeds and what amazing sites you actually see and experience.

For the first time in a long time, I am actually attempting some new ideas on projects that I am working on. The past two days have been spent doing some new type of animation in After Effects, and I am excited as it takes shape and is different than a lot of things that I have done lately. I slowed down and took the time to actually try new things. How exciting!

What got me thinking about this was a walk I just took. I walked down 28th street to the corner Chevron. Normally, I am doing 35 MPH down this road, but I was amazed at what I saw and how much larger and open my world actually is.

If we could actually slow down more often, our lives would be that much more enriching and worthwhile, and just perhaps we would have something to be passionate about, instead of feeling tired and burnt out.

Weight Watchers Week 3

I just finished my third week on Weight Watchers and I have successfully lost 14 pounds so far. It's great! I golfed 18 holes yesterday and it was a little easier than the last time I played.

Willow Creek Arts Conference 2007 (Part 1)

Last week, I had the amazing privilege to go to the Willow Creek Arts Conference in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. For those of you who do not know of Willow Creek, they are a mega-church oriented towards seekers (people who are investing the claims of Christ and the church), and providing conferences in the area of arts, leadership, and just about anything else that is essential for church leaders and members around the world.

I had never been to Willow Creek before last week, and I had heard a lot about the church, mostly negative things, and as I walked through the main doors and wandered through the lobby and main auditorium, those comments replayed in my mind as if I was hearing them for the first time. The lobby reminded me of a convention center. Waterfalls, escalators, elevators, television screens, book kiosks, coffee shops, bookstores, atriums, chairs and benches to sit in, and free wi-fi. When you walk into the main auditorium, it’s like you are walking into a miniature arena. Giant windows frame the stage as a fog machine pumps out enough fog to define each and every light. Three levels of seating provide enough room for thousands of people to be able to gather, while gigantic high-definition video screens provide everyone with the ability to see, with amazing clarity, what is going on. The whipped cream of this audio/visual sundae was the sound system, which easily rivaled anything that I have ever heard at the myriad of concerts that I have been to. As I pushed those comments to the back of my mind, I really wanted to be open to the experience of this place that I have wanted to visit and be open to what I hoped that I would learn and be reminded of: creativity, inspiration, and passion for communicating the truth through art.

My first thought regarding this conference was the impact that it had on me personally and professionally. Before I left, I was getting pretty tired, drained creatively, and unable to be passionate about the work I was doing. Through the keynote speaker Dewitt Jones and breakout session speaker Mark Miller, I learned that in order to continue providing creative and inspirational creative solutions I need to spend the time and energy to keep my creative toolbox full and if I don’t feel passionate or inspired that I should act as if I were passionate and inspired.

Now, it’s not that I didn’t know these things before, but when you open yourself up to needing to hear the truth, you’ll hear what you need to hear with an incredible clarity.

I’m going to continue unpacking the things that I learned on the trip, but for now, I’m pleased to know that I won’t be giving up anytime soon.

Nikon 12-24mm Lens

One of the disadvantages of a Digital SLR is the 1.5x magnification factor on lenses. I have a 24mm lens that is a great wide-angle on my film SLR, but is a worthless 36mm on my DSLR. Thankfully though, Nikon has the very expensive 12-24mm lens (equating to roughly 18-36mm). I have rented it twice from Pro Photo Supply in Portland, and I love the lens! I did a photo shoot yesterday at Renewed Life Day Spa, and it really made the architecture look fabulous. I was able to get the shots that I wanted without wishing the wall behind me was gone. The next lens to rent is the famous 18-200 VR lens that will be on eternal backorder.

Fragrance of Worth

I have been toying with the idea of doing a photography/poetry book, something that would merge my love for writing and for photography. After dragging my feet for a couple of years, I have decided that I am going to work on this project all summer long and release a free e-book to anyone interested on September 4, 2007.

Enjoy an excerpt from "Quiet Silence" up above, which is a taste of my vision for this project, and stay tuned for more glimpses along the way.

Going to Chicago

On June 12-15, I get the opportunity to go to the Willow Creek Arts Conference in Chicago, Illinois. I am very excited to go, as I have wanted to go for the past two years, and this year it is finally going to become a reality! More to come about this conference in the coming weeks.

Week 1 Status Report

After one week of Weight Watchers and exercise, I am pleased to report that I weighed in at 282. That is a loss of 4 lbs. Stay tuned each week for a status report!

Five Reasons for Losing Ambition

I just spent the past 20 minutes looking at old designs and artwork that I created between 1998 and 2005 and the first question that came into my mind was, "what happened to my ambition?"

In that period of time I must have changed the design of my website every other month, always experimenting, trying new ideas out, seeing what worked, what didn't work. I had an unlimited amount of time, energy, ambition, and my passion was seemingly endless. But things are a lot different today. Today, I am tired. I lack energy, and the only real motivation is to get stuff done so that I don't have to worry about it anymore. The money doesn't really motivate much anymore. That is perhaps the worst thing that could happen to an artist.

Here are five initial thoughts as to why I think I am in this place of discouragement:

1) Somewhere along the journey from passionate amateur to cynical professional, I let fear enter my creative process. What if this doesn't work? What are people going to think? I began to think too much about my audience and what their expectations were. I worried too much that something wouldn't be accepted because it wasn't perfect. I believed the lie of perfectionism and anything less than that was cause for reprimand, unsatisfied clients, bad grades, and less satisfaction. No longer was I able to learn from my mistakes, because I wasn't going to put anything out that was filled with mistakes. That sentence makes me laugh, sigh, and feel sad all at the same time.

2) I lost my desire to experiment with new ideas and learn new techniques. I would tell myself, and sadly still do, that there is no time for experimenting, because time is money, and my clients need there stuff done now. But if I was to take that mindset and really analyze it, eventually I would run out of ideas, energy and passion, just from the number of projects I have done in this decade. Without experimenting and trying new things, how do I ever expect to grow not only my in my abilities, but in the collection of ideas, techniques and confidence in what I can do?

3) I would give up on an idea in the middle of pre-production if I felt that I couldn't get it right in that very same day. Lie #3: "The only worthy idea is one that can be easily created in one day, on the spot." LIES! I am one guy, not a studio of 20, 30, 5, 100, 1,000. One guy. I'm not superman. I'm not Wonder Woman, Batman, or even Spiderman. I'm not a hero or a villain, I'm just one normal guy that loves art. Why don't I live that way?

4) I gave up thinking that I had anything worthwhile to say. So, what am I doing being an artist if I believe that I have nothing worthwhile to say. That is really the best question for me to consider right now. Answer: I can't imagine what else I would do, I love art and creativity, and I have just lost my way right now.

5) I bought all the equipment that I said that I would ever need to create works of art, only to keep looking at what everyone else was doing and told myself that I would never be able to do what they do. Thus, lusting after the bigger and better equipment that would put me in the realm of being able to successfully accomplish what others were able to accomplish.

I am saying all this right now because it is all a part of my life change. I am putting my life on a slide and looking at it through a microscope. So far, what I see, is exactly what I have told myself is not there, and it is time to stop believing in the lies that have gotten me far from the truth, and the freedom that ultimately comes from truth.

The truth is that no matter how perfect I think I can be, all I am is a wretch, corrupt to the core of my being, in need of mercy and grace. Thank God for His graciousness and His faithfulness.

In the words of Delirious, "investigate my life and make me clean."

Time for Change, pt. 1

I am finally ready for a change.

For the past 5 years, I have systematically eliminated all healthy activities such as exercising and eating right, all in an attempt to live a life that I thought that I had to live. A life devoted to work. A life devoted to taking care of everyone else's needs. A life devoted to doing what I thought everyone wanted me to do. But you know what? That kind of life totally sucks! I'm ready for a change.

Change #1: I joined Weight Watchers.
I never thought that I would join a diet program, but you know what, I never realized how much I was eating until I read about proper portion sizes on Weight Watchers website. Now I can track how much I am eating, the amount of exercise I am doing, my weight, and even download healthy recipes. Last night I made Pan-Seared Chicken with Garlic Sauce and only came out to be 10 of my 40 points for the day. That was pretty cool, and it was really good. My goal is 165 lbs., which is very far away from my current weight of 286, but I am encouraged with the fact that I have done it before, and I will do it again. I am doing it because I want to be healthy, active and be able to wear a lot of the clothes that I have in my closet that don't fit anymore. I want to be able to feel good when I run or hike. I just want to feel better, and I am ready.

Change #2: I am learning more about the guitar.
I have played guitar for 12 years. I started to play when I was a sophomore in high school, learning all of Metallica's catalog. While I have a certain adeptness to playing guitar, I have reached a point where I need to learn more, grow more, and branch out into other genres other than rock or metal. I would love to learn more about jazz, classical, country and overall guitar playing that would fit in any genre. I bought a Modern Guitar Method book that Berklee uses at their school, it even comes with a DVD, so I am really excited about learning more guitar theory and growing in my ability to play.

Well, there are two changes, and I will post more later on, but for now, I have some things to do for work.

The Creative Thing To Do

So, being a creative individual, I occasionally get the urge to grab my notebook, a pen, a list of things to do, and head to the nearest Starbucks. After all, what's cooler and more inspirational then working on your next big project at a coffee shop?

I pull into my parking spot, grab all my stuff, go in and order a mocha and a donut, sit down and get started. I read some notes, starting writing a couple of lines, then stop. This sucks!! Where's the glitz, where's the glam? Just a bunch of blank pages and zero ideas. Perhaps if I had an Apple laptop and I worked on stuff with that in a coffee shop, then I would be cool. Some days I really hate the stigma and label attached to creative people.

Oh well, on to actually getting some work done.

Seattle / Rent

Last Wednesday, Kristina, my step-sister Katie, and myself drove to Seattle to see the musical Rent. This was my first trip back to Seattle after leaving quickly in the form of an exodus over seven years, and it's interesting to not only think about what seven years has done to me, but to think about what life was like before I left.

We left Vancouver very early because Seattle is notorious for traffic, but oddly enough there was no traffic and we arrived in Seattle 2 and a half hours early. This gave us a great opportunity to enjoy downtown Seattle. We walked down to Pike Street Market and for the first time in my life I saw in person the fish market where they throw the fish. Talk about cool! I don't know what the thrill is, but for some reason seeing giant fish fly through the air is oddly fascinating. After that, we enjoyed the many shops in Pike Street Market, and the millions of Starbucks in downtown (one on every city block)!

Now, traveling to the Paramount Theater to see Rent was interesting, because while living in Seattle I saw several rock bands there, Megadeth and Joe Satriani, so the memories of the Paramount continue on because of this trip. Moving on to Rent, this was our first time seeing the musical, as we we had only seen and heard Rent through the movie and the movie's soundtrack. We were totally blown away by how much more there was in the musical that didn't make the movie, and it further amazed us that one man, Jonathan Larson, was able to write all of the music and lyrics. AMAZING!

I thoroughly enjoyed Rent. The visual imagery, the music, the passion of every one on stage, and the musical's ability to inspire people to live for today is addicting, and it left me wanting more. After having some time to reflect upon the experience, here are several of my thoughts.

The passion of the singers, the musicians and the story is inspiring and addicting. It makes me long to be that passionate about the songs that are in my heart, about the art that I see in my mind, and the life that I am daily living. I can't help but think the question, how would our churches be transformed if we were this passionate about the music, the drama, the arts, the Bible, relationships, living life as if it were our last day?

There was a scene in the musical that wasn't in the movie and it is right before Angel dies. The scene is very visual and suggestive of the sexual lifestyle that the characters were a part of. It shows the main characters beneath a sheet trying to break through, while around them the ensemble cast are grinding one another and Angel slowly rises up from the confusion as it continues. Not expecting this scene, I was a little embarrassed at first because it is highly suggestive, but the more I think about the scene, the more I realize how insightful it is because I think it actually shows the pain that the characters fill inside and how they want to break free from the torment and pain that they are living in. It then goes on to suggest that death (Angel rising) is the only way to truly escape the pain and be released. This scene really sticks in my head, and not because of the sex, but the portrayal of the pain that people truly live with.

What I appreciate most about Rent is that it is a story about people, relationships, and living life each day. Yes, it does have various immoral elements which unfortunately pushes people away from wanting to see this musical, but there is an amazing beauty in this musical that shines a compassionate light on the pain that people are living with and the ways that their lives change as they face the struggles in life instead of running away.

Truth be told, I was blind-sided by this story and this music. I didn't expect any of it to be that good. I expected it to be a celebration of all the things that a Christian is against, but instead I feel the words of Christ come alive within me when I think about how I should respond. With love and compassion.

Worship and the Art of Healing

I'm having one of those days where I am not only distracted by the abundance of websites at my fingertips, but distracted by the thoughts in my mind and the music playing in iTunes. I can't help but think about the future, the possibilities of the things to come, the promise of renewed hope, and the healing power of God's grace. On top of all of those thoughts, I am thinking about how my attitude towards worship music is daily changing from a selfish "how could anyone like this garbage" to a God-honoring view of "if it pleases the Lord, how can I not sing?"

When I first became a Christian, I thought Christian music was amazing and refreshing. My formative years were spent listening to a lot of hard rock, heavy metal, eventually getting into death metal and some really dark music. So, it was quite a leap to go into the synthesizer/acoustic guitar sappy sounds of Christianity, but there was something audibly refreshing. I found that I related to the messages of the songs in my heart a lot more than the other music. But over the years, my heart hardened to Christian music, specifically the songs that were sung every weekend in church. The week after week pounding of songs by Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and the local flavors just got too much and I really got apathetic and cynical, shunning a lot of artists that write the majority of worship songs.

But it's amazing what God can do with time, my love for music, and His desire for His creation to worship Him. And it all started with a Worship in the Pacific Northwest conference, a local worship leader named Mike Hohnholz (www.mikehohnholz.com), my friend Tony Johnson, and a growing church in Camas, WA, Grace Foursquare (www.gracefoursquare.org).

I have been a musician for most of my life, so I really admire musicians that not only write their own music, but also their own lyrics. So, I was really surprised when I entered the church scene and started looking at the copyrights of songs and saw that a lot of the songs were not written by the people playing the songs, but they were covering these songs. I first experienced cover songs on Metallica's Garage Days Revisited, where they cover a lot of New Wave of British Heavy Metal songs, so cover songs to me were more about a fun escape from the seriousness of the creative process. So, is the church a cover song culture? Something that is a fun escape from the seriousness of worshiping God with the gifts that He has placed within the heart of a worship leader? Is there any difference between a worship leader and a worship songwriter? Should there be a difference?

Well, when I heard Mike Hohnholz's music and his heart, I was amazed that there was a local worship leader that could not only lead worship, but also write music from his heart that reflected his love for Christ and the passion within his heart for others to worship with him. So, I visited the church he was leading worship for, and immediately found a place that valued the use of the unique gifts that God had given the people in the church. Thus, a chain-reaction was started that would bring me to the place where I am at today.

Upon leaving my position at a local megachurch in November of 2005, my wife and I visited several churches before deciding that we wanted to call Grace Foursquare our home church. During that time of visiting other churches, Mike Hohnholz moved out to Beaverton Foursquare to lead worship there and a new worship pastor named Loren Craft came to Grace, along with Joshua Son. And again, God astonished me with the talent and passion for worshiping the Lord that He placed in their hearts. But nothing would change me more than finally getting the opportunity to be a part of the worship team, filling in on bass when no one else could be found.

The first time playing bass on stage at this new place was interesting, mainly due to the song choices. Two of my least favorite songs were picked, and after playing them several times during the week in practice and rehearsal, it was in the last service of the weekend that I really sensed God telling me, "Chris, I don't care if you don't like these songs, I like them, it's not about you." And with that, my heart began to change towards worshiping the Lord.

Playing bass several times now, I have had the opportunity to see a unique perspective that not many get to see and that is of the multitude worshiping the Lord. Sometimes the eyes of the people are upon you and you can't help but examine your heart to make sure that you are truly worshiping, and not just going through the motions.

It continues to be a process and it will always be, but it helps to have truly passionate people around you who could get the rocks and every inanimate object to sing out loud.

Thanks Tony, Loren, Josh and Mike.

Paralytic

I had the opportunity to do the cinematography for my friend's fan-made music video for the song "Paralytic." Check it out today!

Over 25 New Items Added to ChrisMartinStudios.com

Hey, I finally got around to adding the latest work completed by Chris Martin Studios to the "Our Work" section of www.ChrisMartinStudios.com. I have even added several video productions, including the latest videos for First Class Homeschool Ministries. Check out all the hard work today!