As most of you know, Amelia is the one who does the majority of the posts on our blog. Well, the time has come for me, Justin, to post once again.

As many of you know, I had the fortunate, life-changing opportunity of going to Haiti recently. I spent two and a half of the most intense and rewarding weeks of my life there, and I happened to have my camera with me. The following photos will help tell some of the stories that I wish to share with you. 

My love for Haiti goes back to 1996, when I went there for a couple of years to do missionary work. Prior to arriving in Haiti for the first time, I knew very little. I had heard about their vodou, the refugees fleeing to Florida and The Serpent and the Rainbow, but these vague labels tell very little of the Haitian people, the Haitian spirit, or the REAL Haiti that I would soon fall in love with.

Spending those young years of adulthood, in the service of the Haitian people, changed me and left an impression that would prove to last throughout my life. I fell in love. I fell in love with HAITI! I fell in love with the Haitians! I learned the language, Haitian Creole, and fell in love with their culture, their stories, their proverbs, their laughs, their smiles, their love, and their spirit. It is a spirit of humility, of giving, of resilience, and of a love for God.

Since '98 when I came back from my missionary work there, I have returned a few times. As you saw in a few posts back, I was even able to take Amelia there with me for a few weeks, so she could see where my love for Haiti and the amazing Haitians came from. She now sees what I see, why I call Haiti my second home.

As the world now knows, Haiti experienced a crippling blow on January 12th. The earth violently shook beneath what was already the poorest country in the western hemisphere, leaving a scar so deep that more than 200,000 people were left dead, a million now homeless, and an estimated 17 Billion dollars worth of damage! For the first few days after the quake, I was literally glued to the tv in shock as I took in any and all information about the quake that I could find. I was horrified and felt helpless! I wanted to be there and I wanted to help. I needed to be there! I needed to help! Long story short, while I was in Park City for Sundance, I found a group called the Utah Hospital Task Force that was planning a trip to Haiti. They were planning on taking 150 people - 50 Haitian Creole translators, 50 medical professionals and 50 construction professionals. The only problem was the group was scheduled to leave while I was still at Sundance. I applied on the outside chance that I would get accepted, and would figure it out from there. 

I got accepted, and I had yet to ask Amelia's permission. I figured I'd try my chances at acceptance first, and if that day came I would see what she thought, knowing there would be many willing and ready to take my place were I to decline. Amelia is the sweetest, most compassionate and supportive wife of all time. She had the heart and the strength to allow me to go, while she stayed behind with our children, uncertain of what I was about to embark upon.

These photographs tell that story, of the two and a half weeks that I spent in Haiti!

On the flight over there, two of the female translators seated behind me were holding hands. The girl on the right is Haitian, and the girl on the left is American. A telling sign of what was to come.

We had 20 Pizza Hut pizzas delivered to us on the runway in Florida by a police escort, which was what the 82nd Airborne wanted in exchange to allow us to camp with them on one of the nicest soccer fields in Haiti! The power of pizza in a foreign country!

"Gad Bless You" it says on this cast. The intention is there...

One of the children in the pediatric tent didn't make it while I was there. It was a surreal, sad and haunting moment. Immediately after the residents in the tent caught word of it they instantly took to prayer, praise and thanks! Not the reaction you would normally expect. This lady was singing a hymn of praise.

This is the dear father of the girl that didn't make it. This really affected me, especially since we had to help this man understand what had just happened. Here he is giving a prayer of thanks to God that his daughter was able to be with him for the time that she was, and asking for her to be taken into His arms. It was a sobering moment, and made me instantly think of Hudson and Sloan - my own children. What if I were in his shoes? Would I be that strong? Would I be able to stand there and give thanks when the Lord hath taken away??? My heart broke for this man.

Here is just two of the many people that I saw that had been given some sort of relief. The lady on the left had received a 100lb bag of rice that had obviously come from the US, and the lady on the left has a sack full of little bags of water.

Here is Steve, one of our translators, and a local leader as we were heading in to a tent city at a French school that had yet to see any medical help since the earthquake.

Words will never be able to truly describe the impact this trip has had on me. It was one of the most intense, emotional, draining, rewarding, tiring and amazing things I have ever done! I will always remember it and I cannot wait to return. I have to say a HUGE thank you to everyone that donated to our group and to my trip! It was seriously life-changing and for this I am grateful.

In the words of Steve Studdert about our group: "we recently formed the largest non-military emergency aid task force to Haiti. I was privileged to be part of that team of extraordinary human beings who accomplished remarkable feats of heroism and service in Haiti. Countless were the broken lives blessed by this magnificent team of gifted medical professionals, indispensible Creole-speaking returned missionary translators, and knowledgeable construction specialists.

Our brothers and sisters in Haiti were experiencing incomprehensible suffering in what one U.N. official termed the worst human catastrophe in recorded history. With determination, compassion, unity, and a respect for the dignity of every Haitian, the team engaged their innovation, skills, and resources to bless those in Haiti who are hurt, homeless, and hungry. Our ability to serve came, to a great extent, from the freedom we enjoy in North America to make a difference, the freedom to act independently, to make our own decisions as to where and how we give of ourselves and our money. Our abundance, born of the American can-do spirit in our free society, made it possible. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, 'The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little.' Hopefully we added something to those in Haiti who have so very little."

PLEASE CLICK HERE to see an online slideshow of images from the trip!

Add to that the incredible wisdom and talent that is being shared in the one-on-one mentor sessions and you have better and more successful photographers! It's truly a win win for everyone involved! 

About me and my mentor auction:

I am an Orange County based photographer. My husband and I have been shooting and LOVING this job full time for 5 years now! My mentor session can be tailored to one's specific needs. I can help with anything from how to get clients, client relationships, marketing, shooting techniques, post processing, workflow, to time management. My mentor session will take place at WPPI 2010 (Las Vegas). To bid on my auction, visit thirstrelief.shootq.com!

*The Thirst Relief Auction will also provide clean water to the people in Haiti...This hits home for us, so PLEASE BID NOW!  You can also make a donation by clicking here. The following is Thirst Relief plan for Haiti:

"Before the 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of Haiti on January 12th, 80% of Haitians lacked access to safe, clean drinking water. Long after the dust settles and emergency responders return to their homes, Thirst Relief will still be there working to bring long-term, sustainable, clean water solutions that will serve as a building block for the future of the Haitian people. Designate your donation to the "Haiti Water Project". Your donation will expedite the launch of this water project and help provide the suffering people in Haiti with the clean water they desperately need."

For those fellow photographers that have had the opportunity to attend one of our LYON-SHOP classes, they can vouch for Justin and I when we claim that we are BIG believers in outsourcing! What is outsourcing?! Outsourcing is the answer to gaining more freedom in your business, more freedom with your family, more freedom for yourself, and freedom in order to keep you sane when you are bringing in more work then you can handle on your own! Outsourcing is the act of sending out tasks to another hired professional to work on so you can have more time to spend elsewhere.

One of the biggest tasks that we outsource is the post processing of our proofed images. Our company of choice is FOTOFAFA, and to say that we love them would be an understatement! Literally, we no longer have to spend countless hours filtering through thousands of images, we no longer have to spend countless hours adjusting contrast and white balance, and we no longer feel guilty taking a day off here and there to spend quality time with our children. In our book, Fotofafa equals freedom! That is one of the reasons for this post, we feel that they deserve a huge pat on the back for giving us our lives back!

When we say "proofed images" we mean that these are the images that our clients get to see online before anything goes to print and then ultimately will go through an artistic edit. For outsourcing, we'll first: go through and choose images that are our favorites for the blog (which we will process and edit ourselves...we still love working on our favorite shots), second: outsource the remaining work to Fotofafa to be filtered through and then proofed (white balance adjusted, contrast added, exposure perfected, etc....), then third: put the proofed images online for our clients to view for the purchase of prints or albums. Simple as that!

If we had one thing to suggest to each and every photographer out there who wants to have more personal time, we would say OUTSOURCE! Fotofafa is set up to process raws, jpegs, and album design.

Here are some before (raw images) and afters (proofed images) we've recently received from Fotofafa:

raw.

We shot Lindsey + Mike right before Christmas in Palm Springs. We started their session out at the Viceroy Hotel and then courageously ventured out toward the desert to the windmills (I say "courageously" because the winds were INSANELY fast that day and there was all sorts of dust and debris flying around in the air, but the light and backdrop was too amazing to pass up).

I absolutely ADORED this shoot because of all the thought Lindsey put into her "look" and outfits (Mike looked dashing as well). You'll see what I mean below. Plus, to make things even better Lindsey hired Nicole DeAnne to come out for hair & make-up...it was a RAD shoot, to say the least!

I shot Whitney + Steve's engagement session at Balboa Park in San Diego. I always enjoy shooting at this location, there is so much architecture to play around with and random hidden doors to use as backdrops. What makes it even better is when I get to have a fantastically gorgeous couple like Whitney + Steve to work with as a subject!

This is Justin and I in a river swimming with the Haitians, that was a really great day!

Please follow along at http://www.facebook.com/justinlyon and http://www.twitter.com/justinlyon for my personal account.You can also see what the group is up to at http://www.utahhospitaltaskforce.blogspot.com and follow them at http://www.twitter.com/uhtf

Mesi Anpil Zanmi'm Yo!!! (Thank You So Much My Friends!!)"

I am SO PROUD of my husband for giving up his time and talents to go help those in need. I feel such a deep love for my husband and see what a huge heart he has. I know he will be doing the work of God and helping the people of Haiti. I only have 21 more days until I get to see him again and I know he'll do an amazing job. I love you sweetheart! The boys and I will be praying for you to have a safe and successful trip and to arrive safely back home to us!

Before I show the recap, we are holding another LYON-SHOP (Part Quatre!) in Las Vegas on March 6th, just before the big WPPI Convention and we STILL HAVE A SMALL AMOUNT OF  SEATS AVAILABLE!!! So if you are wanting to attend, hop on it fast and email amelia@amelialyon.com asap and I'll let you know how you can go about reserving your seat for that day!

The Shade Hotel was very accommodating and it was the perfect place for us to hold our group.

*Thank you to the lovely Jenn & handsome Will for being our models that day!

We also don't want to forget our amazing sponsors for helping us make the LYON-SHOP possible:

On top of sharing such a wonderful day with Jenn + Seb, we had the best sky to work with as a backdrop and the ENTIRE group in attendance at this wedding were the sweetest, most loving friends and family one could ever meet! This was such a good day all around!

What a great first trip to Hawaii...Maui was certainly my favorite! Thank you to Jenn + Seb for having us out, you two are beautiful! Click here to see their online slideshow!

Melissa + Bryan's wedding was fun, funky, colorful, and romantic all rolled into one! So, without further ado we present to you the newly married Mr. & Mrs. Bryan Huber!

The Rodgers needed their photos taken because they will soon be going on tour with PPA around the country, teaching and inspiring hundreds of other photographers along their way. I'm not going to lie, I was VERY surprised that they wanted us to photograph them and I was that much more intimidated once we got into town and toured their amazing studio. These people really know what they are doing, and it was great to see how a different studio across the country runs their photography biz. Despite my nerves, Justin and I were glad and excited to do them the honors!

Of course we had to take advantage of the the twiggy trees...I have a slight obsession with this sort of setting (maybe it's because we don't get to see much of this here in SoCal).