My Help-Portrait Story

After hearing about Help-Portrait more than a year ago, I know that I wanted to host an event. But, I didn’t just want to host an event, I wanted to team up with an organization or two that were already doing great work. I guess I wanted to help both individuals and an organization. A friend of mine from grad school, Ellie, works at an international organization called World Relief. They help refugees settle into life in the United States. World Relief helps thousands of refugees every year by helping them find jobs, teaching english, find housing, and adjust to everyday life in a place that is often times so different than what they are used to. I really respect the work that they do and the method they do it, so I was honored that they were willing to let me set-up at their Christmas party.
This year, Help-Portrait encouraged the photographer volunteers to encourage people to share their stories and photo online. But, since World Relief serves refugees of war and persecution, none of the clients wanted to share their stories. Even so, we had a wonderful time, spoke some Amharic, took a lot of pictures, and saw countless smiles. I can’t wait for my next Help-Portrait event. I respect the work and people of World Relief greatly. Keep up the good work!

Please visit the Help Portrait and World Relief websites for more information.

Andy Horst helped with the help-portrait event. Since none of the refugees wanted their photos to be displayed online, I put one of the test-shots in.

My Family

My wife and I welcomed our new baby into the world recently. Rowan Ella was born on October 17 here in Seattle. We really love her and are all adjusting to life as a family of four! I can already tell, she is going to be a beauty! She is absolutely perfect.

My parents came our for a couple weeks as well. It was great to have them here. My dad celebrated his 83rd birthday this week, so we went out to dinner just the two of us to catch up and spend some time together. I didn’t have any expectations for our conversation, but it ended up being one of the best we have ever shared. He told me of his life, his journey, his adventure so far. We drove home, but I have been thinking about our conversation ever since. My dad has questions for many of his decisions in life, but he is also confident of who he is. He may be stubborn at times, but during our conversation, I saw his humility, his strength, and the courageousness of his choices, even if they didn’t pan out for what the world would call successful. At that moment, I knew that while my dad is rich in the areas of life that are most important. I was more proud of my dad that I had ever been, and I knew that things would be different between us from then on. All defenses down, all guards withdrawn. It was a beautiful, and memorable experience. Happy Birthday, Dad. You are an incredible man.

Photoshoot – Tory Cobrea and friends.

My wife and I met up with a few new friends recently for a photoshoot. It’s a personal project, which is important for keeping me sane. When the camera is the professional tool, it is easy to see it as that instead of an extension of vision and creativity. I brought a couple of film cameras along too. Overall shot 50mm on the Canon 5D Mark II, Pentax K1000 with Fuji Neopan 1600, and a Pentax SPII with Kodak Portra 400NC. Thanks to Tory, Shelby, and Rachel for modeling, and Kevin and Laura for helping out.

Evan and His Groomsmen

Here is a tiny preview from this last Saturday’s wedding shoot. There are a lot of photos to get through, but I thought that this was an easy one that could be posted almost right away. Stay tuned to the Captus Blog for more.

John Vicory

Katie Costello – Pretty Broken Things

Laura and I have a friend named Katie. She is a very talented musician, and has an incredible voice. She plays a variety of venues in Seattle. Like her Facebook page to keep up with where she will be headed next.