Two looks, two soft boxes.

Behind The Scenes

Matt McCloskey

David Ramirez at the Ghost Room

when you go to Haiti your heart is broken into a million pieces and you never leave with all of them
quote taken from interview with Steven Bush (he was quoting a missionary friend, article/interview)

photo above by Daniel Davis


The HELP crew along with SOMA Austin went on our second trip to Haiti to meet with the local leaders we met with for the first time back in May.
We stayed at the Thirst No More house in the hills above Port au Prince.

view from Thirst No More house


We met with Pastor Gaeton in Petionville to go over the plans for the orphanage we are helping them build starting this fall.
This is part of the We Have Not Forgotten Campaign



One of the biggest things that effected me this trip was the relationships that continue to grow…
It gets harder and harder to adjust to life back home.
The quote mentioned above is only truly understood once your looked into a Haitians eyes and cried with them, laughed with them, hoped with them.

J Luis, one of our translators


Sylvestre, one of our translators


Christian, Pastor Gaeton’s Son


a little girl we met in a tent city, full of smiles!

I can’t wait for Tiffany to back with me in the spring. To experience such an amazing place with her is something that I’ve longed for the day I first step foot on this little island nation.

Chris (strategist-ideator-connector-misional-activist) Marlow

Chris is more to me then these things, I feel privileged to call him friend & brother! I’ve been involved with HELP since it began… that’s before this whole photographer thing even started. This guy loves the orphan and impoverished and is willing to give so much to make sure their story is heard! HELP has just launched a new campaign, WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN, so go on over and check it out… and repeat after me “We have not forgotten HAITI”.

Sometimes during or after certain photo-shoots i’ll be impacted in ways that I wasn’t expecting. And first let me say (if I haven’t before) that I’m not a writer, but I wanted to share this story with you guys.

It all started with running sound for the Christian Wrestling Federation (CWF)… yeah, you read that right. I met Jason back in 1999-ish. Back then he was jumping from the second story to crush tables stacked on top of each other during our “wrestling production”. Since then that same kid has grown up into a husband and father of 4 amazing boys… They are affectionally known as The Army of Allmans. (Side note… you should bookmark this site, Lanessa is a powerful woman of God and you need to read about her journey)

Where this magnitude of this particular shoot hit me was when I started reflecting on the journey that Jason is about to set out on. You see he just finished certification & schooling to be a Black Hawk pilot. He’s leaving tomorrow (July 13th) on a year long deployment to Afghanistan.

As a father of two girls myself… I can’t imagine what the whole family is going through. This I know… they are stronger than I could ever hope to be and trust whole heartedly in God. I feel it such an privilege to know a man like Jason… he IS a true example of loving and honorable husband & father.

I know that technology these days will allow for them to talk while he’s gone… but these pictures will be plastered in his bunk and in his helicopter. These photographs (among others they’ve collected over the years) will be in the hearts of family members that are stateside while he’s serving our country on the other side of the planet.

I not trying to “toot” my own horn at all – for those of you who know me know I’m not trying to promote myself here. But this is a true example of why I do what I do.

Please join in with me in praying for the Allmans and their families during this time – I know that they covet your prayers!!

This country has forever changed me. I wasn’t sure what to expect during my first trip to Haiti but this is an amazing country full of beautiful people.
…a few thoughts:
• Haitian people have a tremendous amount of hope and resolve – the people of Haiti GET what community is!
• I fell in love with the Kreyole language
• when driving to the airport this morning I felt sad – like I was leaving something or someone behind. I now know what it means when it’s said “Haiti breaks your heart into a million pieces and you never manage to pick up all the pieces”
• Troy Livesay is as much of a stud as I originally thought – the dude straight up loves this country and it was awesome to be able to hang out with him for a couple nights.

Now back to the ATX to see my girls… can’t wait to share these stories with my bride.

Photo: View of Port Au Prince from the mountains.

So we met up with the Cauble’s tonight to take some portraits and I had this perfect spot I had scouted…insert pause… on google maps! You see theres only so much you can see from a satellite image but I knew enough to know this location would be perfect! With one caveat…

Do we:
1. ask permission to shoot on the property
2. ask for forgiveness once someone finds us trespassing (that sounds really bad now that it’s written down)

Well we decided after a little deliberation that Aaron and I would hike up to this house and go ahead and ask… as we approached the front door you could hear a few people talking due to the fact that the front door was slighty off it’s hinges and was open… “not a good start” I thought to myself…here these people live SO FAR out in the middle of no where that they aren’t even worried that their front door is broke.


After what seems like an eternity passes I turned and asked Aaron if his heart rate was accelerating – I knew mine was! Then just as I was about to suggest going with option 2…a lady appears at the front door…who’s name we’d later find out to be “Karma”


I start to babble something about how I’m a photographer (stuttering I’m sure) and that I’m legit as I hand over a nervously-wadded-up business card. I then proceed to ask if we could take some pictures on her property. She couldn’t have been nicer…and said sure! WHEW what a relief, because I had visions as she walked up that a gun was sure to follow (too many movies I guess).


So we all four (Tiffany, Ashley, Aaron, and me) drove back out to the front of the property where google had led me, sorta. And started taking a few pictures…then something happened.


I’m not sure how I noticed something wasn’t right – or if I heard it – but something was approaching the ‘set’ and I only knew from Ashley and Aaron’s look on there face that it wasn’t good. The next thing I know is that Karma’s man-friend had decided to walk down and greet us but from the look on his face I’m betting he was coming off a bender and was lost. He said, “Do ya’ll know Karma?” After we figured out what the heck the man was saying we all quickly replied with a resounding YES. Almost as if we were trying to make it seem like we went way back with Karma – we just wanted to leave in one piece.


But just as quickly as the man walked up he was gone – we assume still on the hunt for… well whatever he was looking for.


Then just as we think we are getting over the intrusion/introduction/almost-abduction a strong wind comes out of nowhere and knocks Tiffany & gear onto the ground. The look on her face was absolutely priceless, I think she truly thought she was about to die! But I don’t blame her… she was holding onto a 84″ umbrella that acted like a sail. I’m sure the thing would have carried her away if it would have been facing the other way.


But after all that we finally settle in and managed, somehow, to pull of some great shots:

Some photos from days 2 & 3, also don’t forget to check out Todd’s photos as well.