J.FORD Photography

New Name. New Website.

2010-10-30T09:33:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! It's time for something new!

J.FORD Photography is now jakefordphoto. You can check out the new website here: http://www.jakefordphoto.com/

I will no longer be using this blog to post photos, so be sure to bookmark my new blog/website!

Stephen and Beth \\ Engagements

2010-10-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

Stephen and Beth are great friends of mine from Sandy Cove. I have the amazing privilege of photographing their wedding. There is nothing like a wedding with two of your favorite people. (Yes, I did just call you guys two of my favorite people!!!)

Stephen and Beth were down in the area visiting Beth's family and we were able to squeeze in some photo time. We hit up downtown, went at it, and came away with some awesome shots! Enough of the blah, blah, blah... HERE ARE THE PHOTOS!!!

There you have them. Stephen and Beth. They are getting married in January and I CANNOT WAIT. It WILL be an awesome wedding. Without a doubt.

Thank you two again for being so great. I hope you found some photos you love!

John and Mel \\ Wedding

2010-07-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

John and Mel asked if I would help them out and be an additional photographer for them on their wedding day. I graciously accepted and was happy to help them out.

Their wedding was great and was such a blast for everyone who was there. The ceremony was more of a worship service than anything which made it that much better. It was great that John's dad had the opportunity to marry them. They have such an amazing family, full of laughter, joy, encouragement and Alabama. (You'll see what I mean.)

Please take some time to look through some of my favorites from the day and I hope you find some you like, especially you John and Mel!!

Below: No... the men of this family don't look anything alike, do they?

Below: One of the ring bearer's decided it was nap time half-way through the ceremony. Couldn't have been more adorable though.

Below right: Right after their first kiss as husband and wife. I feel like this picture shows off so much of Mel's personality.

Below: I LOVED THIS. They had a table full of candy. Green candy to be exact.

Below right: There it is... the Alabama cake. Apparently this is a tradition of sorts within John's family. Way to keep it going John! Oh and ROLL TIDE!!!

All in all it was a great day and I am honored that I was able to be apart of it. John and Mel, I hope you find some great shots that you love!

- Jake

New Facebook Page \\ Personal

2010-07-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

J.FORD Photography has a brand new Facebook page. You will be able to find the latest photos and news from J.FORD Photography on this page, as well as here on the blog.

Be sure to check out and "like" the new page HERE or click on the image below.

Interning with Andrew Bryant \\ Personal

2010-07-05T14:09:00.001-07:00

This summer I've been interning with Andrew Bryant. Andrew recently posted a blog featuring yours truly. Check it out HERE or click the image below:

Carson and Rachel \\ Wedding

2010-07-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well... it's about time eh!? I am so happy to finally be able to post these pictures for you. Be ready to see a lot of photos because I just couldn't choose which ones were the best of the best so I just picked a ton!

Carson and Rachel are married now and was a joy that is. They are some of my great friends and I was so honored to be able to photograph such an important day for them. They're wedding was great, tons of fun, and there were lots of pears. You see, they are the perfect pair (pear), would that be perfect pear then? Who knows...

Without further ado, I give you Carson and Rachel and their pearfect wedding!!! (Lame joke???)

Below: Rachel gave Carson a group of letters on the morning of their wedding that she had written him during their dating relationship.

Below right: This is one of my absolute favorites from the entire day.

Below: Carson and Rachel decided to do a first sight. This was my first time photographing a first sight and it was just priceless. Carson was blown away by Rachel.

Below left: Rachel's dad did the ceremony and what a great ceremony it was. It was really special to Rachel and Carson to have her father marry them.

Below: These are probably two of the most amazing, hilarious, absolutely priceless dancing photos that I have ever taken. While I was processing and editing, I would sit on these photos and just crack up. Thank you Rachel and Katie for being so great!

What a great day it was for Carson and Rachel and everyone that was able to take part in it. I am so happy of proud of Carson and Rachel and I cannot wait to see how God uses them for His glory.

Thank you so much Carson and Rachel for allowing me to photograph your wedding. I hope you find some photos that you absolutely love and adore.

Also, a big thanks to Justin Mahood who filmed the wedding as well as their engagement session.

As always, let me hear what you think! Thanks and God bless.

- Jake

Rachel \\ Bridals

2010-06-07T16:37:00.001-07:00

You may remember Rachel from her engagement shoot with her fiance, now husband, Carson.

We ventured out in the early morning to catch some pure sunrise light. It was early, but it was beautiful and we came away with some amazing photos.

I so glad I can finally post these pictures. Carson and Rachel's wedding was this past Friday and it came together beautifully.

Without further ado, here's Rachel...

Below: My favorite.

Here's a quick sneak peek of Carson and Rachel's wedding. More to come in the coming weeks.

ONLY TWO PICTURES?! Yep, that's why it's called a sneak peek.

Let me know what you think of Rachel's bridals and be sure to check back for more from their wedding.

- Jake

Tim & Lauren \\ Wedding

2010-05-29T09:08:00.001-07:00

Well, Tim and Lauren finally got married. And what a great wedding it was! The ceremony and reception were held at West Manor Bed & Breakfast in Forest, VA. It is a beautiful venue.

It's been a great journey with Tim and Lauren. I've loved getting to photograph them over the past year and I look forward to what God has for them in the future.

A good amount of the guests at Tim and Lauren's wedding were either past or present members of YouthQuest. We wanted to get a big group shot of all the YouthQuester's. Naturally we had a great time together and it was awesome that we could all be there to celebrate the marriage of friends.

A big thanks to Kelly D'Ambrosio who captured the night through video, it was great working with you and I can't wait to see the final product!

Tim and Lauren. You two are awesome and I've loved getting to know you more and more each time we work together. Have an awesome marriage and God bless!

The Fray w/ Steel Train \\ Music

2010-05-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite bands, The Fray, came to Liberty. It was a great concert and I was able to snag some awesome shots thanks to some friends getting us floor tickets. (Thanks Kyle and Ben)

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the concert.

Lauren \\ Bridals

2010-05-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

You may remember Lauren from her Save the Date session with her fiance (now husband) Tim. I had the opportunity to photograph their wedding yesterday and I am so psyched that I finally get to post her bridal portraits.

Without further ado, here's Lauren...

Below: These are by far my favorite shots from the session. She looks stunning.

TIM AND LAUREN - WEDDING - SNEAK PEEK!

Here is a sneak peek of what's to come from Tim and Lauren's wedding yesterday. Be sure to check back soon for more!

So... what do you think?

Easter in Atlanta \\ Personal

2010-05-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

Way back at the beginning of April, Katie and I traveled down to Atlanta over Easter weekend to visit her cousin, Beth and her husband Brian and their kids, Garrett and Lucy. I'd never met any of them before so it was great to finally be able to spend some time with them.

We had a great time while we were down there and I was able to take some awesome pictures, mostly of Lucy. Seriously, Lucy is the most chill baby on the planet. That kid didn't cry once and she had no problem just sitting on the couch staring, not really doing anything. Garrett on the other hand, kept himself busy non-stop. (That explains why I've got so many shots of Lucy and so few of Garrett.)

We were even able to visit some of my family that lived in the area. I hadn't seen them in over a year so it was great time catch up and hang out for a little while.

On to the pictures...

Below: Beth and Katie set up an Easter egg hunt for Garrett. I was finally able to get some shots of him (note that I said some, he was on a mission for those eggs).

Below: It was the beginning of Spring and the trees were just blooming. I threw my macro lens on a snapped some shots of the fresh flowers.

Below: Brian and Beth both minored in Photography in college. Brian brought out his first camera for me to see. What a beauty. I would love to learn to shoot in film one day.

Brian, Beth, thanks for having Katie and I down for the weekend. We had an awesome time. Sorry it took me so long to post these pictures!

- Jake

P.S. You may have noticed the new logo and watermark. Let me know what you think!

Steven Quintana \\ Headshots

2010-04-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

Steven is a team member of mine from YouthQuest. We met two years ago when we both joined the team and have become great friends. Steven is a Theater major here at Liberty and dreams of becoming a late night talk show host. (Seriously, this kid is obsessed with Conan O'Brien.)

Steven asked me to take some head shots for him a few weeks back and we finally got around to taking them last week. Without further ado... Mr. Steven Quintana.

Below: Steven had to keep himself from cracking up half the time. Made for some great shots though.

Below: We found this arm of a chair and I told Steven to hold it (jokingly...) Here are the results.

Below: The following photos are the results of 1,2,3 shots. Meaning I count to 3, snap a shot, count to 3, snap a shot. This kid is hilarious!

We had some fun with these pictures and I hope you find the perfect head shot from what I've taken. Love you man!

Carson & Rachel \\ Engagements

2010-04-14T17:20:00.001-07:00

Carson, Rachel and I went out last week for their engagement session and had an absolute blast! Carson and Rachel met at Liberty University during their freshman year. Carson is studying Music and Worship and Rachel is a Women's Ministries major. I have known them for two years now and have really enjoyed seeing them grow in their relationship. They have both become two of my great friends and I am totally psyched to photograph their wedding in June!

On to the important stuff...

We hopped over to Downtown Lynchburg for a little while and got some great shots. From scaling brick walls to jumping onto rooftops, they were up for anything! We got some awesome shots and I am really excited to show you my favorites.

After we finished up Downtown, we headed over to West Manor in Lynchburg and took advantage of the beautiful scenery surrounding it. Earlier this month I took some bridal portraits of Lauren Birdsall at West Manor and knew it'd be a great place to take Carson and Rachel.

So, here's the ring. It looks like a mini Eiffel Tower. It's a great ring and had so many details. Good choice Carson!

Carson and Rachel, I am so excited to photograph your wedding in June and am excited to see the Lord use you guys as husband and wife for his glory. God bless!

- Jake

Open Mic Night \\ Music

2010-03-11T09:38:00.001-08:00

About a week ago, Student Activities hosted Open Mic Night here at LU. It was a really fun night of talented artists, eager wannabe's and failed attempts. But all in all it was a great time.

I brought my camera along to snap some shots for work and decided to have some fun. Check these out:

This is my great friend Zack Cox. He did a cover of Dave Barnes' song Stick and Stones. Unfortunately the sound kept cutting off during Zack's performance. But he did a great job nonetheless.

These girls did a Christian remix of Tik Tok by Kesha. The lyrics included: "Tik tok on the clock, Jesus is my solid rock," as well as, "Today, gotta pray, that everybody gets saved."

Very entertaining.

Weekend in Raleigh \\ Personal

2010-02-24T07:05:00.001-08:00

About two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go down to Raleigh w/ Katie and meet Andrew Bryant. He is a professional photographer that I am going to be interning with this summer. It was great to finally meet him and get to know him a bit and I am now even more excited for this summer.

We were able to bunk with Katie's cousin Dan and his wife Danielle and their daughters for the weekend. Their daughters, Bennet and Eden are so much fun and grew to love the camera. Photos of the great grand kids seem to be becoming a tradition with me and Kate's family. Check out these pics of our time in Raleigh and Dan's beautiful girls.

"Eden, smile!"

We had an awesome time in Raleigh with Dan and Danielle and again, it was great to meet up with Andrew finally.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

- Jake

P.S. As always, comments are more than welcome.

Campus Artist Series \\ Lifestyle

2010-02-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

Here at LU, Student Activities hosts Campus Artist Series once a month. This series features student musicians and bands from LU. It's always a great time and usually great music.

This past CAS was all about hardcore rock. It was actually pretty awesome. Plenty of screamo music. The whole night reminded me a lot of high school. My friends and I used to go to concerts all the time.

I took this opportunity to grab some shots. It's been a while since I've taken pictures for leisure. I found myself climbing on chairs and even sneaking on stage to grab some of these shots.

As always, comments are more than welcome! I want to hear what you think!

Top 50 Photos from 2009 \\ Personal

2010-01-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

So here they are! My Top 50 favorite photos from the year 2009.

It was an amazing year filled with amazing adventures, lots of first's, and great blessings.

Please take a look through the following pictures and let me know which one is your favorite!

NOTE: These are in order which they were taken, not most to least favorite.

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Leave me some comments and let me know what you think!

Looking forward to 2010 and all of the photo opportunities that await.

- Jake

Top 50 Photos of 2009 \\ Personal

2010-01-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on my Top 50 Photos from 2009. I'll post them by the end of the week. Keep checking back and be sure to let me know which one is your favorite.

Stephen J. Weaver \\ Portrait

2010-01-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

Stephen is a good friend of mine from my days at Sandy Cove. I worked there as the Photographer for two summers. Stephen was the Summer Staff Coordinator during my first summer and has since moved on to bigger and better things at Sandy Cove.

Stephen needed a new shot for the Cove's website and I was more than happy to take some pics. We had a blast over on Main Street in Newark although it was, without a doubt, the COLDEST DAY EVER! The wind was ridiculous and my hands were about to fall off. We were both bundled up in about 25 layers each and persevered through the cold weather. I think we came away with some great shots!

I hope you guys enjoy them and remember that comments are always accepted and appreciated!

ABOVE: This might be my favorite shot from this session and of course it was one of the first we took.

ABOVE: We were on the hunt for a good window for a reflection shot and came across this bench in front of this cool little store. I think these pics turned out great!

BELOW: I think these two pics ALMOST show how cold it was. I'm sure it was hard to keep smiling with the crazy cold wind but you did a great job STEVE!

Anyway, it was great catching up with you Stephen and I had a blast surviving out there with you. I hope you find a shot worthy of the Sandy Cove website and whatever else you wanna use em for!

- Jake

Ford Family Christmas Card 2009 \\ Personal

2009-12-23T12:06:00.001-08:00

I can't remember the last time my family sent out a Christmas card. After some inspiration from some photographers that I follow, I came up with this idea. I literally was making it up as I was explaining it to my family. They loved the idea and I immediately got to work on making my idea a reality. Anyway, here is the Ford Family Christmas Card for 2009. Let me know what you think.

Oh and of course... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This first picture is the front of the card.

And this is the inside.

Please tell me you get it.

Gingerbread \\ Personal

2009-12-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back Katie and I put our creative spirits together and did our best to make some gingerbread cookies. I'm glad I had my camera with me because I am quite proud of some of these cookies. We had a blast making them and I thoroughly enjoyed eating them. I think Katie ate two of them, maybe. I took care of the rest.

Above: What would we do without you Pam?

Above: My personal favorite. It's a pineapple!

Above: This is my favorite picture of Katie right now. Look at those eyes!

Above: My mustache cookie wouldn't stay. I've got a real one so... no big deal.

Above: Manger scene?

From McDonalds \\ Personal

2009-12-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

The following photos were taking at McDonalds. It's amazing what fun you can have when you have willing participants and a camera.

I got some awesome shots over the weekend with YouthQuest while we were in Raleigh. Here's a few. I posted almost all of them on Facebook and you can see some of them at my LibertyU.com blog too.

Natty \\ Portrait

2009-12-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

I spent last week at home in MD with my family for Thanksgiving. We had some family friends over one night and they just recently adopted a boy from Ethiopia. His name is Nathaniel, but everyone just calls him Natty.

This kid is hilarious. He's so curious and loves to explore. He discovered my cell phone and thought it was the coolest thing.

I grabbed my camera because I had been itching to take some pics (it's been a while). He also loved the camera and wanted to see every single picture right after I took it, as do most kids.

More Photoshop Fun \\ Personal

2009-11-19T12:10:00.001-08:00

I am currently on my 15th day of my 30-day Photoshop trial. I'm trying to learn some more within Photoshop and I've been having a lot of fun with it. Here are a few things I've been working on. They're a little extreme, but definitely fun to create.

ABOVE: Ok, this is maybe my favorite picture of Katlin and this was one of my first Photoshop creations. I had a lot of fun with it and it was cool learning new tricks.

ABOVE: This one was very time consuming, but still fun to make.

Blue Bikes \\ Personal

2009-11-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday was Election Day and we had the day off of school. Lindsey, Sam, Katie and I decided to got bike riding downtown. We had a blast even though we only got to ride for about an hour. We ended up losing one of the bike keys. I thought I left it at Katie's house so we drove all the way back, searched for it for a while, only to discover that it was in the back seat of the car (where Lindsey and Katie were sitting). We still don't know who's fault it is...

Anyway, here are a few pics from our outing.

ABOVE: My broken reflector. The bikes weren't in the greatest shape.

ABOVE: Sam and Lindsey patiently waiting for Katie and I to catch up.

ABOVE: My broken bell... like I said, the bikes weren't in the greatest shape.

Fall and Photoshop \\ Personal

2009-11-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

As you know, it is Fall. A great time for pictures. It has become my favorite season. The weather is great and the earth is beautiful.

I had some extra time one morning a week or so ago and so I decided to grab my camera and see what was awaiting me outside. It was a perfect fall morning and the sun was giving me

perfect light. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

I've also been learning some new stuff in Photoshop so I may have gone a little crazy.

Lauren and Tim \\ Save The Date

2009-10-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

For the longest time, Lauren and Tim and I had to keep rescheduling this shoot.

"Let's do it this Sunday."

"Hey Lauren, I can't go today."

"Oh hey Jake, Tim is sick today so let's reschedule."

One thing after another... We finally just buckled down and got it down! We had a great time in Downtown Lynchburg. We tossed around a ton of ideas and basically just went at it. I had a bag of miscellaneous props and things in my trunk. We definitely put those to good use.

Lauren and Tim asked me to shoot their wedding while we were taking their "Save the Date" pictures. I gladly accepted. These two are some of the funnest and funniest people I know. I'm excited to see them get married and go on with their lives.

Thanks for such a great time, Lauren and Tim! I can't wait to shoot your wedding.

ABOVE: Lauren got this idea to use the chalk on the brick wall. These pics turned out great!

BELOW: Ok, please allow me to preface the following pictures. Like I said before, I had a bag of miscellaneous objects, like these masks, in my trunk. Lauren and Tim were good sports and put the masks on. These are the results.

BELOW: I tried to make it look like we used the chalk to write SAVE THE DATE 5.16.10 on the road. Would've been awesome if we could've really done it!

BELOW: I brought along some window paint to put this idea into action. Once I perfect it, it might end up being a staple photo.

BELOW: Lauren loved the idea of a photo booth strip. We had a blast taking these pictures. I made like a real photo booth. Giving them 3 seconds between each picture to grab the next sign and pose. Honestly, it was hilarious to watch.

Some Macro Shots \\ Personal

2009-10-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

I was kind of bored last night so I decided to put on my macro attachment and shoot some pics. I looked around my room and picked a few miscellaneous subjects and went at it.

Check em out:

Carmen and Sarah \\ Portrait

2009-10-22T08:16:00.002-07:00

Carmen and Sarah are hoping to be extras in the final Twilight movie and they asked me to take some head shots for them. After postponing and postponing, we final got the time to go shoot.

Above: This is my favorite of Sarah. Her eyes were crazy blue!

Above: This is one of my favorites of Carmen.

You can see more of these pictures HERE.

Blogger Pics \\ Portrait

2009-10-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I work for University Advancement as a writer and blogger. We recently hired basically a completely new roster of bloggers and I had the opportunity to take their pictures for the website. Our boss, Carmen, suggested we have a little more fun with the pictures this year. We decided that we would have each blogger holding a polaroid of themselves. The polaroid would be a funny or crazy picture, basically whatever they wanted to do. The picture turned out really great! Check them out.

I realize that I am the only male blogger. We couldn't find any male writers that could match the greatness that is Rory Tyer (former LU male blogger.)

We had a ton of fun with these pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

Another Facebook find.... \\ Personal

2009-09-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Just Read & try it...

Here is .

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it with this text in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in.

Snapshot \\ Personal

2009-08-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

Found this on Facebook. Thought I'd give it a shot.

RULES:
a) Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b) Using ONLY the first page, pick an image.
c) Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3 (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php).
d) Save the image and post it!

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Jake
2. What is your favorite food? Steak
3. What is your favorite color? Red
4. Favorite band? The Fray
5. Dream vacation? Rhode Island
6. Favorite hobby? Photography
7. What you want to be when you grow up? A good dad
8. What do you love? Many things in many ways
9.One word to describe you? Inquisitive

Wherever the green screen takes me... \\ Personal

2009-08-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

I took a trip with my Green Screen. These are the things we did, the people we saw, and the places we went.

We visited an old friend.

We went to a Rave.

We made Oprah laugh.

We saw the Pyramids.

Visited my relatives of course... and Charlize Theron.

Ve vent tu Pari! (We went to Paris)

In Hawaii, I doubled as Matthew Fox's stunt man... and then I got mad at Hurley for eating all the freaking food.

And finally a relaxing day at the beach.

The previous photos were taking at a time when sleep was lacking and ideas were cracking! (Whoa... too much there Jakers.)

Faces \\ Portrait

2009-04-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

I was looking through my iPhoto the other day and realized I have a lot of close-up pictures of faces. I thought I'd share some with you.

Don't know what it is about the human face, but I find it fascinating. I know half the time I take close up pictures like this whoever it is usually hates it. I love how you can see all the details of their face. Freckles, acne, eye color... so many details.

Caroline \\ Personal

2009-04-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

I took this picture of my little sister last year over Thanksgiving Break.

She's crazy hardcore.