Cornerstone University: 2017 Commencement Commercial Video Series

Every year, we get excited for one of our largest corporate cinematography pieces, the Cornerstone University Commencement Series where we have the privilege of showcasing a few of these unique and weaving colorful stories that make up CU's students. People of varying ages and walks of life, seemingly so different, but united under a hunger for knowledge and a search for a deeper understanding of our Creator. It is a converging of many distinct stories. Different walks of life and experiences meeting and cooperating to reach a goal together that is both individual and collective: Commencement. This is a time of celebration and reflection, but it also serves as a checkpoint, a chapter change in a larger narrative of lives.

These are just a small sampling of the students and lives that have been changed by the community and experience here and we are so excited to see where each of these nine students' journeys take them in their continuing adventure. 

From everyone here at ShadowShine Pictures, congratulations and best of luck to the 2017 Cornerstone University graduates!

Peep-TSD (Easter Bunny Challenge)

Spring is just around the corner, which means it’s almost time for warm nights and campfires! Well, we decided to get a jump start on a campfire game with our Easter-themed version of “chubby bunny” using marshmallow Peeps! The competition is fierce, and choosing a winner comes down to splitting “hares” with how close it gets!

Sure, we get a little choked up, but we thought it would be a colorful way to say “hoppy” Easter! And trust us…it gets awfully colorful with all this sugar. But in all seriousness, we at ShadowShine Pictures hope you have the sweetest holiday this Resurrection Sunday!

Happy Easter friends!

Out of Luck: A St. Patrick's Day Story

St. Patrick's Day is here! It's time to wear green (don't pinch too hard those who forgot!), enjoy a beverage or five, and pretend to know the history of the holiday. Even if you're not Irish, you can partake in the festivities - but be careful: luck can be a fickle thing. 

Here at ShadowShine, we were planning to give you a pot of gold worth of photographs, but...as you can see from the video...our rainbow wasn't so lucky. Watch our new St. Patrick's Day video and good luck out there today!

Shadow|Shine Singles

Love is in the air. Sure, the naysayers will tell you how Valentine's Day is a made-up holiday to sell greeting cards and make people feel bad, but here at ShadowShine Pictures, we're feeling the love.

Check out our singles video where you'll meet a variety of individuals looking for that special someone! We've got a hopeless romantic ready to make your dreams come true! We've got a rough-around-the-edges fella hunting for the perfect lady to mend is broken heart. We've got an elf prince looking to be your fantasy! Or maybe an experienced lady looking for a good time that doesn't come in a bottle? We've got a respectful man who wants to see your smile, and a lady who is ready to commit! And there's Alan too.

Ready for some romance? Give ShadowShine Singles a try. Who knows? True love could be just a phone call away...so press play. Happy Valentine's Day!

Bye Felicia... I mean, 2016

2016 has in the most literal sense been one heck of a year. Both with high points and moments of moruning and sorrow. For our team we celebrated 5 years of storytelling and had the opportunity to help tell so many stories of some wonderful and amazing people around our world. While some days were more difficult than others (as that's just life some times) we each enjoyed the many lessons we learned along the way these past twelve months. But if we are being honest, nothing can quite sum up how excited we are for all the promise and hope held within 2017! Here are just a few of the things that our team is looking forward to this coming year...

In 2017, I am looking forward to new creative endeavors... to growth, discovery, and wonder. I look forward to connecting with old friends and making new ones. To learning more about myself and the world around me. And not least of all, trying new local pizzas!

-Alan

The fresh start of a new year is what I am most excited for in 2017. Most people fear the unknown, but I am excited for the opportunity that it brings. The opportunity for growth and change. We can't go backwards, but here's to going forward and all the stories that lie before us!

-Kristin

While I'm without a doubt looking forward to the bigger things 2017 has lined up, like traveling to new places, finishing up projects that I'm eager to show to the world, and creating new ones that are just ideas as of right now. I find myself almost being more excited for the quiet moments- walks through the forest, movie nights, grabbing a cup of coffee, and doing so with the people that have grown very near and dear to my heart.

-Andrea

The things I'm looking forward to the most in 2017 are watching films I've never seen, hearing songs I've never heard, reading books I've never read, and creating more stories about love and hope, all with friends or in solitude. Newness, that's what I'm looking forward to the most. Oh, and the new Chik-fil-A locations within short driving distance.

-Adam

This past year has been quite the adventure, both in good ways and not so amazing ways also. But through it all I am thankful for the blessings that I was able to receive and the lessons that I learned. More than anything I  am looking forward to the many ways that my passions, my art, and my faith will be stretched in 2017. Growth isn't always easy, but it is necessary. While I am uncertain all of what this year will bring with it, I pray that 2017 would continue to teach me ever more what it is to care for my neighbor both here and abroad.

-Matthew

In 2017, I’m most looking forward to exploring new places, meeting new people, learning about other’s passions, deepening the relationships I’ve already been so blessed with, and taking time to ponder more. I’m also equally excited and terrified to be graduating and figuring out how to be a real person too I suppose. Onward and upward!

-Noah

2017 is going to be great, because my eyes will see new places, my heart will bond with new people, my ears will hear new music, my hands will experience new art and new stories and new connections, as well as hold my very first college degree, which means that I will be in the beginning of a new stage of my life. 2017 is going to be great, because it's a fresh opportunity for all things new!

-Chloe

Silver and (Squad) Goals: A ShadowShine Christmas Story

Christmas is such a fun and joyous time of year. From the bright colorful decorations and displays, to the nostalgic feelings of child like wonder that the season stirs within each of us - this is honestly one of the most wonderful times of the year. And while presents and gifts and material things tend to be on our minds for the holidays, the truth is that it isn't what you get that makes the day so festive and bright, it's who you have by your side.

As we begin to look toward the end of this year and think back on all the journeys, adventures, and stories we've been able to share in telling - just this year alone - we are incredibly thankful for this team. These wonderful people and artists that make up our family. The real present is being able to call them friends. 

From our squad to yours this Christmas season, Merry Christmas and may you all have a very blessed holiday season and New Year!

Maja Lisa Engelhardt's the Golden Cross

Born in Frederiksberg, Denmark in 1956, Maja Liza Engelhardt had a troubled upbringing with a father who was mentally unhealthy and a mother who was an alcoholic. Growing up in the countryside, however, Maja found strength and hope in not just the enrapturing and gorgeous landscapes filled with rolling green hills, ocean views, and waves crashing onto the shores of her childhood, Maja also found a deep faith in the Lord. From an early age Maja loved painting and knew even then as a child that her hope and desire was to become an artist, capturing and depicting the majesty of the created world around her, by tying together her understanding of God, the unseen, with the world he had created, the seen. 

Over the years Maja's faith grew and deepened much as her skill and love for the fine arts. In time it was Maja's relationship and faith in Jesus Christ that led her to find the ability to forgive and love her mother despite the violent and often times turbulent moments she experienced as a little girl.

In 2014 Maja was commissioned by an American friend to create a sculpted cross for Cornerstone University's new Christ Chapel space. Maja's approach for this particular sculpture, portraying a risen Christ through the symbolism of an empty cross, is the same she has taken for many other sacred spaces across the world. Maja notes, "a cross with a Christ figure on it - I could never relate to it... I have made a cross, which is a cross of joy, a resurrection cross, life's tree, joy's tree." Her focus on the resurrection of Christ's story, verses the suffering of the cross, is for Maja the most important part. She notes that "if there was no resurrection then we would be not here, we would not be believers."

Maja's work is a perfect addition to a space developed to be such a beautiful reflection of the hope and promise of life everlasting that is all because of the power and glory of the resurrection of Christ.