This past spring I had the opportunity to work with the El Paso County Health Department, in partnership with two local high schools, to create an anti-tobacco media campaign. It was an awesome experience to work with a group of high school students to help them share with their communities their commitment to avoid tobacco products and instead pursue healthy choices.

The campaign had multiple purposes:

• Provide a platform for high school students to tell their stories about making healthy choices versus using tobacco products
• Deliver a message to the local city council encouraging them to pass legislation discouraging the use of tobacco by youth
• Create media products — through photography, video, and audio — that could be distributed through different channels in the school and community

The rest of the story and images after the jump.

If you are a photographer, and you have a heart for giving back to the community and people in need, then you have probably already heard of the Help-Portrait movement. If you haven't heard about this amazing event, make the jump to learn more about it.

When I began the redesign process for my new website I wrestled with the idea of reincorporating a blog as a core part of my web presence. In a past life of my website I had started a blog and I thought it was pretty good. I would post photos from personal projects I was doing (I didn’t have any paying clients at the time) and write down a few thoughts to complement the photos. I would post regularly, sometimes even daily. And I would rejoice whenever someone left a comment, even if that someone was my wife cheering me on. Everything was going well.