So, I was pretty excited when Chris Brown of Refueled Magazine contacted me about some photos of mine that he really dug. He wanted to pull some polaroids and digital shots I had taken with the super rad Natasha Terry for his 8th issue. There’s a little spread above for yah:) He placed a hand full of shots smack in the middle amongst some great stories you just have to check out… I happened to already be familiar with Roy Slaper of Roy Denim and photographer Laura Dart so to say the least, Im very honored to be in the midst of these artists!

Check out the latest issue HERE and keep up with Chris on Facebook! The guy has a great sense of art and style.

I’m starting with a post about Day 2 because that is the day that is ending. It’s all fresh and also this day has been very laid back for the most part. I’m tired but really wanted to post a brief with some photos. Yesterday was straight crazy…AMAZING though. Just too much for me to write about now since its about 12:30am and I’ll be waking up in a handful of hours.

Today we spent at a youth center in an area of Rio that was once the most dangerous slum in Brazil. This slowly changed over a period of the last 20 years when an old woman was fed up with the drug running and violence that was taking place. She started to prayer walk and preach the gospel of Jesus. Loving people. When we stepped foot here there was a spirit of calmness and of joy. I was amazed first by the steepness of the streets and old architecture. Buildings crammed on buildings with walkways and stairs just wide enough for one person. I was also taken back by the bright colors. So brilliant. The place glowed.

We were led up into the housing and fed a delicious meal before heading back down to the youth center.

The  youth center. The kids. Great great time. Our hearts were to just plain have fun with these kids and teach them of the Fathers true love. Most of the children are fatherless. This seems to be a running theme down here. So showing them Gods love has been our heart.

I can’t even explain to you the joy in these kids eyes yet also the depth. Things go deep with these little souls. Blows me away. All of this.

Good ole Aaron Strumpel sang some songs to kick off the day with Nick Kofahl dropping the beats on a djembe. These kiddos loved it. Singing, whistling, dancing. Then we went on and played some games with some giant beach balls, had a face painting station and story time.

Throughout the time I was taking photos and along with that I had a Canon i90 printer with me and was printing off 4×6′s to give to the kids. Humbling.

Thank all of you who helped get this team down there. Some wonderful things are happening. Most of all we are seeing joy in the eyes of people. Gods people. We are all Gods people. Lets keep loving.

Here are a few shots.

So check it out. Shot this quaint little wedding last month. I woke up at 5am, brewed some coffee and hit the road to Breckenridge for the day. I know you’re totally wondering about what I listened to on the drive up there soooo ahhh… I busted out all my old CD’s… MXPX, Jars of Clay, The O.C. Supertones… Ha, it was awesome. On the road into the mountains I went and a thousand youthful memories came flooding back. It was great:)

On the wedding side of things. It was really low key. Casey and Aimee had their friends and family staying at this private lodge for the weekend. It was slightly traditional as far as the ceremony went but above and beyond that it was very humble. Not much in the way of decoration, no bridesmaids, no groomsmen. The heart of the wedding was the hearts of the people. Thats sounds profound in a funny way. But its true. So here are some shots from the day. Keeping it simple.

Had a good mix of digital and film going on.

BTW. If you like some of this stuff?! Click the SHARE on FACEBOOK  or TWITTER button at the end. You’ll get a neat little surprise if you do. Try it out:)

The end. ahhhh. wait. Only the beginning. Ha. Congrats you two:)

Sunset Glow

Aimee and Casey. Amazing people who have such a fun love for each other. Aimee is an artsist with some awesomely long dreads… check out her ceramics here. Casey, he’s got a killer beard that would make any man envy. Their love runs deep and is connected by a very true, humble, and strong love for God, their families, and their friends. With 30 or so of their friends and family they rented out a lodge up near Breckenridge Colorado for a few days. Amazing setting to say the least. Leading up to the wedding they made memories by way of foosball, snowshoeing and laughter over coffee while staying comfy in their pajamas (by the fire!) Shoot what a perfect setting for quality family time and a close intimate wedding!

So anyways…Here is a little preview to this little wedding I shot last weekend! Some polaroids for you to check out as I finish up sorting through the many many other shots from the day.

Some real Polaroids for ya with a cam that was off focus. yet i still love these.

Dahhhhhh. Been really busy. I’ve let the blog go silent for a bit… but that means I’ve got a lot of work to be posting here for a while:) Been really productive, being creative, having lots of great fun.

So theres this thing me and a few guys came up with… BRAZILLASAURUS. Check out our humble beginnings as a blog… it will soon fill up with wonderful things.

Brazillasaurus is the brainchild of four dudes that love God, art, storytelling, and fun. It will be a written-narrative-photographic-outlet for the aforementioned gentlemen. There will be art. There will be stories. There will be love. There will be gnawesomeness. We’ll be heading down to Brazil as a part of the RESOUND team. We’re going to hit the ground in Rio and spend a day in an orphanage just hanging with the little ones, we’ll be spending a day in one of the worst hit areas of a recent tsunami that left massive destruction, and we’ll be putting on a Resound Worship Conference with a focus of spreading the love of Jesus and encouraging creativity in worship.

Now this is all “the plan” although everything and anything can change once there. My focus will be to find stories and follow those threads. We all really want to have very meaningful connections with each person we encounter. I’ll be bringing my cameras to document, to capture stories, to connect with people, to encourage, to instill wonder, fun and love in the hearts of children, youth and adults.

Now… since we’re a bunch of broke artists:) We’ve brainstormed and come up with this crazy thing that I believe will grow because of its massive hunger. Brazillasaurus is an avenue for us to sell off some of our art to raise money so that this trip can actually be paid for. None of us are getting paid to go down there (its a missions trip!) and the only expense that is covered is housing while there.

Head over to our shop and fish around for something. If it catches your eye, dont think twice!! Buy it, pay for it through paypal and you’ll have some awesome art to hang on your wall along with contributing to something much bigger!

PLEASE!! Share the heck out of this post on facebook!!! Link at bottom of post:)

And for some fun follow BSaurus on twitter: @brazillasaurus

Im not a technical person. I’m not a numbers guy. I have a hard time being patient when learning how something works as far as nuts and bolts and details go. My natural question is – why? – not how. I’ve always wished I could just touch a tool, close my eyes and ZIP, BAM, BOOM- I know how to use it to its fullest potential.

For the most part this shoot for me was mostly about learning my camera. Shooting manual with a 5dMkII for the day hoping that my fingers would start to remember buttons, knobs, and settings… success came slowly!  Time to get past the technical aspects of running a camera and just focus on interacting with real live people and create something amazing since my passion is for the art, the emotion, the human connection and relational encouragement. So bear with the straight facedness of these folks:) my bad. haha.

Here are some nice and clean frames from inside the Boulderado Hotel in Boulder, Colorado. Stay tuned for a dark series post with Luccia. Got some really moody shots on digital and some 1986 Kodak Ektachrome. Hints of light.

• Collab with photographer Shannon VonEschen from Shalynne Imaging
• Natosha Cooke from Aphrodite Affairs
• Gowns by Alisa Benay
• Brandice Rodriguez throwing down killer hair style
• Cassandra Rose Events for some charming outdoor decor, and
• Models: Luccia Cafiero , and Austin David Schott.

it’s the first day of spring
and my life is starting over again

-Noah and the Whale-

December 29th

I know its winter and snowy and not spring. But this leading song off the latest Noah and the Whale album sums my feelings right now as I’ve officially experienced ten years of my Twenties. This here December 29th (yesterday) is my last day before beginning another decade. It’s 5:26am and I’m waking up at starbucks with a computer screen thats a bit too bright for my fresh eyes. I’m writing this so I can automate a post on my b-day (Dec 30th) when I’ll be spending some time with the girl I love and some kiddos that have captured my heart while missing some people I wish were here.

I’ve always been really weird about my birthdays. To put it plainly I just don’t like the attention. Don’t plan a party for me, if we’re at a restaurant DO NOT tell the waiter its my bday, seriously, and don’t get me a gift unless you are family. Cause I’ll feel bad. I’ll feel like I owe you something. No need to spend money or thought or time on me, instead help someone who really needs something, and let me know that you did that instead. I’d love that. I’m not really sure where this all came from, how these feelings developed but this is the first time I’ve ever wondered why I feel this way. The attention thing? I’ve always blushed like crazy when eyes pointed at me, I was a shy little kid. Along with that there is almost a hint of denial on time passing, I don’t feel a hint over 18, there’s some running from the past, fear of the future deep inside of me, fear of myself, fear of fear. I realize that I never wanted to grow old. I don’t want my body to break down, I never wanted my family to split to different states. I’ve always wanted to re-live memories. I have so many great memories and it’s always been hard to look back and smile, more often then not I just get sad about those times, that they’re gone. Whats the point of it all? Right? If its just going to be over.

But WAIT! Don’t get too deep!!  My 20′s are GONE!!! What!? The?! Hell!? It’s hard to believe. I feel like my 20′s were fairly aimless. I wandered through school, jumping from Business to Psychology to Fine Art to 3D Animation to Web Design to Film Production… with an end result being a grip of student loans and not a single degree because of my “Ohh! Thats shiny! Wait, no, now thats really shiny!” (Photography is the THING I’ve really been looking for, can’t believe I missed it till now) So all the while I worked at Starbucks, raced mountain bikes, dirt jumped and had some pretty bad concussions, visit my brother in Valencia and surf the pacific, I met an amazing girl who I will spend the rest of my life with. We had a few amazing kids. Olive. Boston. Sailor. They’re awesome, life changers. Lots to learn from them. Boom. 10 years.

And I sit here emotional for the first time about a birthday. This isn’t just any birthday though. I am at a crossroads. This past year has lead up to this. So much learning, so much refining by both water and fire. I’ve realized the power of God, of Love, of Humanity. I realize there is Hope when all is dark. Yeah, so cliche. But seriously. If we could talk face to face. I’d convince you it’s the truth. I’ll even cry a little.

A new dawn. A new day. The same sun but different clouds, different colors. For that I am grateful and hopeful. I’m inspired. I’m focused for the first time in my life. Yeah, I’ve got some hurdles to jump in the coming months but I can jump damn high with these new shoes. I’m a Renaud (pronounced RENO by the way). I don’t take NO for an answer and I forgot that. The Good Lord has more in store and I’m welcoming it with wide open tattooed arms. (uhhh…well if you feel compelled to get me something, you could hook me up with some cash for more time in the chair) Anyways….

Here are some important things I’ve learned in the last ten years in no special order (well,  maybe more like within the last year or so, haha!)

• Take  the quiet moments regularly. Force them at first because it will feel unnatural.
• When I’m scared I need to admit it.
• There is Truth.
• Listen and be patient.
• Everyone has their own # of years buried deep inside. Don’t judge them. You’re just judging yourself.
• I hide more than I flourish. That is ending.
• There are no rules.
• I am growing old but am still young.
• When I shave, I will shave with a straight razor.
• I don’t need a Faux Hawk anymore! Faux. ha.
• Photography is magic.
• This is all about people. This whole thing all comes down to relationships with each other and our Creator.
• Sometimes I’m ashamed to name Jesus as my Savior and King because of the crazies who wear a Christian badge. I’m not crazy.
• Most of the time I get too worried about offending people by being myself.
• I need to be set free every single day.
• We need to be ourselves because both me and you are worth it.
• LOVE. It breathes life. It is the wave that carries us through eternity.
• This is eternity.

December 30th

Its my birthday. I’m 30 on the 30th. Golden birthday.

The photo that leads this post, just took it. This is how I’m kicking off my 30th year. Throw away false protection and run into the cold and unknown ready to fight and love and have so much freakin fun its gonna be ridiculous. Gonna go on and enjoy the rest of this fine winter day. Hope you’re doing well. Love this day.

Life is inspiring. We realize that more and more when we do the things that get our hearts beating. So do those things.

Offering single packs too. Boom. Jet to the shop!

Spending time in the wild is an amazing thing. Growing up my parents always took me and my brother off camping in the mountains. I grew up fishing mountain streams for wild trout and hunting mule deer through the vast open mountains of northern Nevada. I always feel a spiritual awakening for me when I’m outside somewhere far away from city streets. It’s peaceful. It’s green. And at night, the stars. Just unbelievable. Had some really fun times, great memories. Had some close calls too, one being on the verge of getting searched for by a helicopter in the middle of the Montana wilderness. Fun story but I’ll make it short: Me and my brother spent a week fly fishing the Madison river and were dropped off and had to make it 2 miles to the pick up point within 3 hours before it got dark (I mean dark, like you cant see your hand in front of your face)… well, that 2 miles was actually 7 miles, not cool! So it was dark and we were second guessing ourselves thinking we missed the pick up point. One of our biggest concerns was that we left our pistols in the truck (packs of wolves and grizzlies roam the area very frequently and we smelled like fish). We spend 4 hours walking/running in our chest high waders in the pitch black towards the closest point of light we could see, hoping it was an occupied cabin. I had a video camera with a couple minutes left and saved it in case it ended up being our last words to our families. When our spirits were low we at last spotted some moving headlights about a half mile away which got our adrenaline pumping and with a final cross of the river, our blind steps brought us to safety just before they called in Search & Rescue. Words can’t describe the experience and I’m grateful for that, it was special, truly facing the unknown.  So I’ve had my share of outdoor adventures for sure and hope to experience many more as I grow old and rickety.

Anyways… came across OldSchoolTools and these two items caught my gaze. The Longbow, definitely old school. I’ve dreamed of hunting with one of those. So pure. The knife. So classic. I feel like every guy needs a good knife. I still have the first knife I was ever given, and use it. But a nice size fixed blade with a leather sheath, so classic, so useful.

What do you think guys?

This fam is RAD!! They liked my old polaroid cam:)

Olive – 3 years old

Boston – 2 years old

Sailor – about to be born. I’m talking like any day now!

When me and Tess got married we decided that once we got pregnant the first time… we would do our best to go for a couple more. Thats exactly what happend! We’re super excited to say the least. Of course we get the big nervous grins from friends and family… the look that says “Whoa, you guys are CRAZY!”

We’re blessed. Kids are amazing. They see the world so different then we adults do. I’ve been learning from that.  My kids have re-ignited my imagination. Somewhere along the way my childhood imagination turned into fear based worry about the future. Does that make sense? You too? Adults can so easily worry about the future (our imagination) Now I’m back to creating worlds and living in wonder. Its awesome, probably my favorite thing so far about having kiddos. Well, and the moments when a fragile little soul looks into my eyes and in a quite moment tells me they love me. Dude. Words can’t descibe it.

Here are some shots from last weekend. Taken with my Polaroid 250 and some expired Polaroid 669 film.

A little time-lapse action of a mixed media/image transfer painting for you to enjoy. Super easy to do and at least for me, its a very free form of visual art. Me. I am not even slightly patient, its definitely something that I constantly work on but it has kept me far from using paint in general as a medium. I don’t ever want to wait for the layers to dry and I’ve always been a perfectionist and have had a hard time learning the art of acrylic or oil, because of the waiting process, ha! soooo…. with this type of stuff I feel like its okay to just let the magic happen. I don’t get too worried about being sloppy, its actually almost part of it. With this video I ended up running out of tape before I finished the painting. What you don’t see is the last layers of paint and stenciling of the letters. Anyways…. Here is my general process:

1. Pick out some images

2. Hit up KULER and find the color palette that catches your eye.

3. Put a composition together in Photoshop using images, colors, whatever else you want in there. This gives you a good idea on how to go about layering and general direction.

4. Throw down some background paint or design and realize that this will all show through and be the background of the images transfered.

5. Print out whatever images you want to be a transfer. I just print off using a color lazer printer on standard paper. Apply acrylic medium to the face of the image (which is mirrored!) Place and let dry a good 24 hours. Then when its dry I use a sponge to get the paper all soaked up and slowly rub away the paper and you’ll see the image has transferred. Be careful not to wipe away the image though, take your time with this.

6. Finish off with more paint to blend everything. Easy.

Really these are loose steps. Do whatever you want, everytime I put one together I tend to go about it differently when it comes to the details. Just let it flow and realize you can paint over things you don’t like.

I’ll put in anywhere from 10-30 minutes at a time then let dry overnight and come back to it the next day. Nice and quick and gives you some time to develop other ideas to impliment. Boom.

Post some links to your art! I’d love to check it out and so would everyone else who jumps on this site!

(Music by Shipwrek Check out his music! )

Mixed Media / Image Transfer from Jarrod Renaud on Vimeo.

I read this book a little while back and am going through it a second time. This time around I’m going to be posting some excerpts and thoughts as I go. 1. Ignore everybody.

The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. When I first started with the cartoon-on-back-of-bizcard format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasn’t I trying to do something more easy for markets to digest i.e. cutey-pie greeting cards or whatever?

So true but often very overwhelming and very counter to how we’ve been conditioned. As artists we get ideas all the time and I’m not sure about you but I think most of us let the majority of those ideas slip by. We can easily convince ourselves that the idea isn’t really as grand as we first thought (when the rush of emotion is tied to it). Our brains start to resist by throwing in a dash of doubt and the reality that solid ideas require lots of work and follow through. Somebody else can do it better or already has, right? I’ve seen this pattern play out in my life over and over. I believe the first step in over coming this is to acknowledge this resistence.

Nobody knows for sure whether an original idea is going to be good, or even great. But the fact that it came to you one night at 3am or during a quick daydream during an important office meeting means something and I think you should go with that gut instinct.

This chapter  touches on the fact that original ideas that start to take root and grow will also begin to change you. This makes sense for sure. You have a great idea that you believe in and you start putting things together with the crayons, glue, and paper and get all excited about it. You’re glowing from the inside out and some people might not like that, they might be put off because of the natural cynicism this world imbeds in us. They’ll compare themselves to you and may start to feel inadequate because more of your attention is on this ‘idea’ and why don’t they have an ‘idea.’ etc. They’ll shoot those little doubting phrases at you about how its not practical or even just give you the little “Hmm, yeah, I like it,” and then change the subject while you over analize the glint in his eye and tone of his inauthentic, artist destroying voice. You can see how some little feelings and observations can snowball into massive self doubt which can snuff out the flame.

Bottom line is. When you have an idea that is your own. Don’t compare it to anything else out there. Don’t you dare care about how it measures up to someone elses idea. Put in the work and chase the light, make it happen and realize you will face resistance along the way. The journey is never easy. Even just flying from Denver to San Diego for a beach vacation isn’t easy, you’ll be so excited about the destination that you’ll speed past the sneaky police officer who is about to write you a ticket that cost half as much as the vacation. Don’t let that stuff ruin everything. Put a smile on your face and keep driving. Right?

Let me know if these kind of posts are worth your time? If you really digg it then theres a twitter, digg, and facebook button below. peace.

Shannon! She helped me out with the wedding and I definately would have been pulling my hair out if she wasn’t there. She’s an awesome photographer who has been growing tremendously as an artist. Definatley an inspiration and got me to shy away from my analog film attitude and give digital a try. Art is art no matter the medium. Anyways… she is awesome and I hope to shoot more with her!

Here’s some fashion shots…

Right? And I don’t think its just true for artists. I think any time that anyone is walking on the path which brings them the most joy and satisfaction, the thing that burns in their heart, the thing they are truely passionate about there comes a wave of resistance and then another and then another. There is always something that just needs to come up and get in your face to distract and stress you out thus keeping you from the ‘thing.’

I find this to be true in my life. Its very dangerous, especially in this day and age when our culture has been forming our young minds into thinking that things should come easily. But its not easy, the thing that we’re, (let me say) “were made to do,”  that thing is not going to be easy and if we give up everytime we hit an obstacle then we will be tormented on the inside. This brings up another point;  our focus and measurment of ‘success,’ I believe, is skewed.  Its not the final grade that counts, its not the final product, its not the size of the bank account. Success measured in all this gold and glitter is a false end and will lead you to want more. It seems that when success is measured in a tangible outcome there will always be dissapointment.

The success is in the process.

The process is the point.

There are obstacles in the process, victories and defeat. But to learn and to grow and to push through and realize that all of this is where the magic lies. This is where we live and love… in the process.

Is this relevant? Ring true with you? Lets talk about this. I’d like to hear your thoughts –

Wow. Can’t believe the amount of work that goes into the photographing of a wedding! Seriously a lot of time and energy but thats pretty much okay because it’s been fun. Here is something I put together for Erik and Brianne before the wedding pulling inspiration from the engagement shoot we did. Its a 12×12″ mixed media painting using acrylic paint, some patterned paper, pieces of a 1979 calander and some transfered images. The image transfer is the key, its something I was introduced to in art school a million years ago but was reignited after seeing Promise Tangemen bust it out (she’s a killer artist). So here is the finished product and I’ll soon post a little stop motion of the process.

So let me know what you think! I’m learning the whole wedding scene and have some ideas floating around on how to let my creativeness drive the final product for these couples. I really want to bring something special to the couple other than some rad photos, you know?  If you’re in the same boat post up some links to your stuff in the comment section! Peace. By the way, thanks for checking out the blog!

With my first wedding I also built an awesome little photo booth. Here are a few of the 200+ images. If you were a part of this rowdy crowd then head over HERE to see the rest!