I have known both Erin and Warren since high school and was honored and excited when they asked me to photograph their ceremony. They were married a year ago but reaffirmed their vows in the catholic church. It was a great day surrounded by friends, family and fancy cupcakes.

 looks like a meteorite striking the earth!

And my favorites..... which i will be working with later...... a little 'light painting'!

  jill painting her name in cursive and a heart.

This is not okay for all parties involved. Saw this at a bar&grill this past week. Weird.

(from today's match)

AM (1st session)

PM (2nd session)

To download these videos here:  http://gallery.me.com/taylortholen

-to download click on the movie you want, choose the size you want and click it (below the video) then click download at the top of the page.    any questions just let me know.

'Quaptch' is an onomatopoeia for a sound that came from an interesting man we met a week ago.    The story from the beginning:

It was early in the morning and my sister and a friend of mine where going to a free mini-concert put on by a band called Mumford and Sons.  The music was good but the most memorable part of the entire experience was our long long wait in line.  When my sister and I walked up to the line (which was extremely long...two hours) we encountered the man in line in front of us.   We never caught his name but from here forward he will be called 'Charlie'.    Charlie seemed like an eccentric concert-goer at first glance.    Then he mumbled some things to himself and let out what can only be described as soft cackles.    He would sort of look at things and fake shoot them then soft cackle.... or just say things to himself.   It would be a full hour before i understood a single sentence from him.   He was wearing a STAFF shirt from Sturgis '08....backwards.    The Jack Daniel's logo on the breast of the shirt was now on his shoulder blade and the front (now back) of the collar dipped awkwardly low.       He didn't talk much but when standing feet from a person for over an hour you pick up on things.    Our favorite thing he did was extend out his index finger (not like E.T. but more like he was placing it on a fingerprint scanner to gain entrance to a secret layer) and make the 'quaptch' sound.   Picture the sound you would make if you were trying to mimic the sound effect of people giving a high five on a cartoon.  When he made the sound it was less enthused and more duty-driven..... like he had to touch these things.... claiming them or something.    We would walk a few steps in line and when we got close enough to a fence, building, door, light post, power pole (you get the picture right?) he would 'quaptch' the next thing.      

After an hour in line we made it to the door and he spoke his first understandable sentence and directed it at us.

 " What is this a line for?"       

WHAT!?    awesome.  

So we have been continuing his mission.... or are we competing with him?   Either way we have been 'quaptch'-ing things for a week now and sending photos of what we get.   Click here to check them out or send your own.   

Enjoy....Brenna, Seth, and I sure have been.

 Bam..... just got the president!

I have since then become a teacher, started working with student councils as an advisor, and gone back to attend MASC as an adult.   It is wild to be a peer with people i looked up to in high school but it is great to be able to give back and make this experience happen for others.    Below are some photos from the past week that i spent at MASC (my 7th summer there total).

 These are the people, like me, who have come thru this program and have returned to work as an adult.  Some of the best folks around.

 This is a photo of the group i was with this summer.   council k.  

 some enthusiasm during down time.

 our version of the show 'wild and crazy kids'.    the MASC olympics.   great team-building.

 council k in their warpaint.... ready for the olympics

 high school students from around missouri

the duck.... mascot for MASC.   This photo is at the end of the 'duck race.'   'buy a duck for a buck' to help support Special Olympics.

It sounds cliche but MASC really is a place like no other.  If you have attended then you probably get what i am saying a bit.   If you have never been I will try to explain.    Take 500 kids and send them somewhere where they can have fun, learn about leadership and hopefully better themselves.  This is a good start.  Then you divide them up into groups where they will likely know no one and make them meet some new friends.   Then put these groups through a series of activities that will slowly build them into a team.   Do all these things on a college campus and put a big emphasis on personal leadership and respect.  Encourage males to be gentlemen and treat ladies as they should be treated and encourage the ladies to earn and deserve this respect.   I am not sure exactly how it works out so well but it does.   It becomes a little week long utopia where people are kind to each other and it makes people wish that the 'real world' could be this way.   Maybe it can.... but we have a lot of work to do.  "Start small but start now"

for bunches of photos try my flickr feed or facebook album