Celebration of Hope: An Evening with Safe Haven Ministries

Of the many non profits, organizations, and ministries that our team has gotten to know and work with over the years, one that has always been a blessing to partner with and watch as their amazing outreach helps change our community and the greater West Michigan region is Safe Haven Ministries. Through their staff's dedication of serving and educating children, adults, and families not only about domestic violence but also how to move from a place of brokenness to a place of restoration and healing, they are helping to build a world that will one day see the end to such violence.

Back in May we had the honor of spending the evening with Safe Haven's family, their many donors and supporters, and countless survivors at their Celebration of Hope benefit dinner. Throughout the course of the evening all of us in attendance not only were able to connect and fellowship with one another, but we also had the special opportunity to hear the stories of two strong, powerful, and courageous women who are survivors of domestic violence. Those two women were Erika Sanders and Sue Osterink. Hearing their heartbreaking but incredibly beautiful stories brought everyone to tears and what was arguably most amazing was seeing the out pouring of love and support that filled the entire room, pointing all of us towards the hope of life and fulfillment that can be found after such a dark storm.

These are just a few of our favorite moments from this wonderful evening that will be in our hearts and minds for years to come. We are so excited to see the amazing work of the Safe Haven team continue to change and renew our communities and neighborhoods and to also hear the stories of more and more survivors be given a platform for helping end domestic violence and make it a thing of our past. That is the hope that we all long for and believe in.

Rachel + Ryan: The Avery Wedding

One of the greatest blessings we get to experience is when we photograph the wedding of multiple daughters from the same family. Over the years, we get to know them, watch them grow, and obviously, and get to celebrate with them at some of the most important moments in their journey as a family together. Last fall, that was just the case for Rachel's wedding.

We had the immense honor of photographing her older sister, Margaret and her husband Kevin's wedding back in the summer of 2014. So when we got the email from Rachel shortly after she got engaged to Ryan asking us to be a part of her wedding as well, we immediately said yes! We truly couldn't be more thankful to have gotten to spend the day with the Arnett family once more—or with the Avery family. Rachel+Ryan’s wedding fell on what was arguably the most GORGEOUS October day and there isn't a minute we can recall that wasn't filled with laughter, goofy faces, and SO.MUCH.LOVE.

Rachel+Ryan are a couple that when you meet them, you instantly fall in love. From the way they completely welcome you in like an old friend, to how you can tell how much they love and care deeply for each other, their relationship is serious goals, for all of us. We could not be more thankful for them and their families and we are so excited for the many (nerdy and awesome!) adventures ahead for them. Sending all our love out to Mr+Mrs Avery! 

Cornerstone University: Engineering Matters

One of the things our team loves most about getting to work alongside our alma mater and help them tell their story is just that - getting to watch as their story, their journey, and the lives of their students grow and develop. Last year one of the next major chapters in the Cornerstone campus' story was the announcement of their new Engineering division and program courses. The vision for this new addition to the university's academic experience has been to equip students to learn to be designers, innovators, environmentalists, and engineers of influence and excellence in our world for Christ.

When CU approached and shared the exciting news with us we knew this would be a special project for a lot of different reasons. One of the main ones being how important this step of expanding their academics into this field was, and for such an important step, we decided to push the limits of what our conventional style and storytelling looked like. So here we present to you the official Engineering Matters program commercial developed to help connect prospective students with Cornerstone University to see how they can grow and learn to build lives of engineers that have a lasting influence on this world we all share. 

This has no doubt been a project that we have loved being a part of, getting to dig deep, connecting with the first official students of this new division, but more so we are so excited to see how the program takes off over the coming years!

Cornerstone University: 2018 Commencement Commercial Film Series

Over the last five years our team has had the privilege of helping share the stories of dozens of Cornerstone University graduates as they prepare to begin the next chapters in their journeys. Every year this commencement series offers us a chance to reflect back on these students' college career in a wholistic sense, recognizing all the ways they see themselves having grown and matured, the acknowledgment of all the academic rigor that their endured and have succeeded at, and of course the anticipation of the future they have been prepared to chase after. This particular year was a moment to celebrate these students and who they each have become during their time at CU. From stories of students finding their voice and confidence for the next stage of life, to stories of students working to build a better world for all of us to share, this year we celebrate the many stories of the amazing students who make up the CU classes of 2018.

From all of us at Shadow Shine Pictures, Congratulations to the class of 2018 and welcome to the CU Alumni family!

New Seasons, New Stories, New Adventure.

Seven years: Seven years of adventures. Seven years of living the dream. Seven years of storytelling. The number seems to become harder to comprehend with each passing season. It's nearly impossible to remember back to sitting in my dorm room on a Friday night in April as a Junior in college realizing everything that was before our team, then flash forwarding to now. While seven years feels like such a long time, there are so many parts of it that feel like near no time has elapsed at all. As if just a month ago we were heading to our first wedding, delivering our first corporate commercial, or even getting to start our first passion project. So much life has happened in these seven years and yet we still can feel ourselves growing and stretching every day.

Any journey, any story, worth its merit is both equal parts bitterness and joy, struggle and the strength to overcome, and not least of all, the outward personification of inward growth. I am not the same person I was sitting in that dorm room all those years ago, much the same way I know none of us are the same people we were even just a year or two ago. Being allowed to grow and be present with this team through every success, every failure, every road trip, every celebration, and every reflection has been a blessing. To have walked through countless personal trails with one another and to see how yourself has changed and matured, but then also some of the people you are closest to? That has been an adventure all its own right, and one I am forever thankful for.

I know I've said it before; this adventure for our team is one filled with highs and lows. The moments of pure excitement and the painful ones we'd all rather avoid, but we know all too well that we have to work through them. In all of that, in every season, to be surrounded by a wonderful team of caring individuals who point each other towards truth and the desire to tell a story of the world we want, well, that makes every high and low utterly worth it.

So here it is, seven years of filmmaking, seven years of learning from the failures, seven years of growing to be a deeper community for one another, seven years of working harder and harder to serve our clients and their stories, seven years of being better humans to everyone and everything around us, and to seven years of unfolding journeys. May we be blessed to see yet another one. Thank you for joining us on this adventure.

-Matthew

Rachel + David: Charleston Engagement

While Michigan continues to try and make up it's mind which season it's going into next, we are day dreaming back to this gorgeous sun filled day down in Charleston, wandering all around the city with these two beautiful humans!

We've known Rachel for what feels like forever at this point and when we had heard the news that David, this southern gentlemen that we had seen photos of and heard all about, had asked her to marry him we were swooning from all the emotions! And the only thing better than that news was getting to spend a day with them down in the warm ocean breeze and southern sunshine. It was our first time meeting David that day, but it was apparent almost immediately how perfectly he complimented Rachel. They both are incredibly selfless having two of the purest servant-hearts you could ever find, they're constantly focused on caring for the other, they laugh loud and they laugh often, but above all they live out their lives as an ongoing act of worship to bring glory back to God.

To say we are looking forward to spending a weekend with them this fall down in the gorgeous Hilton Head area is a LEGIT understatement. Aside from the trip down south, the beautiful backdrops that will be aplenty, and some time to hangout beachside, we are just stoked to be spending time with these two wonderful souls who have captured our heart completely.

Seriously counting down the days till this Fall!

Paige + Noah: The Lehmann Wedding

There are few things that get me more excited than spending a day with dear friends, and when those friends ask you to spend their wedding day following them around taking photos of them, obviously I'm in, no question about it! I've had the privilege of knowing Paige and calling her a friend for a few years now, and we've even traveled the world together a bit. I remember hearing about Noah when he first caught Paige's eye and there was something about the way she talked about him that you just knew he was the love of her life. Needless to say it's been an honor and privilege watching these two grow together and lift one another up in the highs and lows of life and I cannot say enough how thankful I am for their example of love and devotion.

In complete honesty this day was a dream in every since of the word - it wasn't work, it was a celebration; it wasn't an event, it was this beautiful unfolding moment of joy; it was everything you ask for in a wedding, especially for your friends' wedding. Getting to watch these two love on each other, make the other laugh, have quiet moments of rest, and then also ecstatic "oh my gosh we just did that!" moments; it was amazing through and through.

I think all our team ever truly wants for any of our couples, above everything else, is just for them to have the absolute perfect day. Now, yes, 'perfect' looks like a lot of different things, but it's more than the perfect weather, the perfect location, the perfect backdrop. Those are all great and important, but the perfect wedding day is something that transcends all of those aspects, in fact it's simpler than those; the perfect wedding day is solely a day focused on your love. This day right here embodied this hope, desire, and idea beautifully and holistically, and I could not be more overcome with thankfulness that Paige + Noah had this perfect day together.

These two have an amazing and bright future ahead for them, and while I may or may not be ugly crying over here because I don't know when I'm going to see them again next I know that these two wonderful souls are setting out in the direction the Lord is leading them, working to love those around them unconditionally, and to bring glory back to their Creator in eveyrthing that they say or do.

Here's to the beautiful and gorgeous Mr+Mrs Lehmann, two of the most kind, silly, most intentional people you will ever meet - and two people I am never going to stop loving!

-Matthew