Exodus!

WOW!

What a wild week it's been! I shot the engagement session with Shannon and Trevor last Saturday got on a plane flew to Chicago had a couple of intense days of shooting for Exodus came back and shot another engagement session and life has FINALLY settled down....for the moment! :)

This was my third time shooting for Exodus and everytime I do I'm completely blown away by what this organization does. They help refugees who have fled persecution from their home country and have come here to seek a better life. However, their lives in their home countries were much different from what life is like here in America. They need help learning American culture and how to function in America. From things as simple as how to turn on a light switch, to how to use a yellow pages, to how to shop in a groccery store.





So Exodus helps place American volunteers into these people's lives to not only help them get started here with learning the essentials, but ultimately to befriend them because often these people have left their communities and come here knowing nobody, and often not even speaking English.



It was really amazing to me to see the Americans interacting with the refugee familes. Not only to see the adults becoming friends, but the children of both families becoming friends as well.





By far one of my favorite things to shoot when it comes to refugees are their faces. With weddings, you can often say SO much about the joy a bride is feeling just by capturing the expression on her face.



The same is true for refugees. When you really look into their eyes you can see their stories. You see their past. It's truly a sight to behold.









One little side story....

One of the towns we were shooting quite a bit in was Wheaton, IL. I actually grew up in Wheaton until I was in the 5th grade when my family moved to another suburb. It's not often I'm in Wheaton so during on our breaks while we were shooting, I asked Julie (my AMAZING guide from Exodus) if we could stop by and see some the old house I lived at which we did. We were driving around the neighborhood and I remembered this super old candy store that was really tiny. I asked Julie (who when to Wheaton College) if she knew about it and was like "Oh yeah, the popcorn shop!" We drove by it and went into it and it is truly an amazing store!! :) They basically built a itzy bitzy little candy store in an alley between two buildings. I totally remember my parents taking me there after my little league baseball games! So funny! We saw the owner and talked to him a bit. He told us it was built in 1921!! UNREAL! I love living in Southern California, but cool little things like this you'll really only see in small towns in the midwest! :)




All in all, I can't wait till the next time I can go back and shoot for Exodus again. Hopefully sometime this fall maybe if I can find a break in the wedding schedule. Oh yeah, speaking of weddings, when I finish editing through the engagment session from Saturday I'll throw a couple up here. Stay tuned! :)

See ya!