Life Changes

It's been a long time since I posted anything on here.  Mostly because we've had a super busy summer, fall, and Christmas.  But now it's time to tell the news that we're leaving Vilonia and taking on another full time job in ministry.  Brent and I are excited to say that we will be working full time for a church camp that we absolutely love... Camp Caudle.  Before we started our photography business here, Brent and I worked in ministry, leading teens to Christ.  Photography started out as a side job to help make ends meet and soon took off so strong that it became more of a full time job which led us to build our studio and put down roots here in Vilonia, AR.  Over time we have felt God pulling on our hearts to get back into ministry again.  We're taking a leap and joining the crew at Camp Caudle.  It's a Christian church camp that Brent grew up going to.  We've always spent many days there, every year, volunteering or helping run sessions and Brent has served on the board of directors for a little over a year now.
Our photography business will not shut down entirely.  We may shoot a few portrait sessions here and there as time allows, but we will definitely keep shooting our wedding photos.  So please don't forget about us when you are searching for a wedding photographer!
We'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to our many wonderful and faithful portrait clients that have used us over the past 7 years.  Without you we wouldn't have had food on our table.  We have made friends with so many of you... laughed a lot and even cried with some of you, and laughed until we've cried.  We've gotten to know your kids and you've gotten to know ours.  You have been wonderful to us and we appreciate each of you!  We hope that we have made some photos that will hang on your wall forever and give you some blessed memories of your family.
We also hope that you know that God is the center of our lives and we have always tried to run our business with that showing.  We pray that each of you will put God first in whatever you do and live your life for Him!

We will keep posting the few portraits we shoot, weddings, and maybe some personal updates of our life at camp.  So check back in on us sometime!

Thank you again and God Bless!

Brent and April Ruple

For all of our clients, we have tried to get a letter out to you in the mail explaining how to get a hold of us if you need to reprint a photo or if you need graduation announcements this spring.  Here is a pdf of that letter to download if you did not receive one.
LETTER TO CLIENTS

New camera!

Yes, I am way behind on my blogging.  We've been so busy this summer that I've got a load of photos to upload and show off.  However, I'm taking a minute to show a pic that Brent took of me with our new D600 that came in the mail today!  This was shot at 6400 iso in our low lit office.  I was pretty impressed with it's performance!

Happy Birthday Lou-Lou!

This is Lou-Lou - more commonly known as Louisa ... but to me BFF Lou-Lou.  Tomorrow is her birthday so Brent, Jack, Grace, and I threw her a little party!  We also took a little mini photo session in the studio afterwards. 
Louisa and I became friends at Harding University in 2000.   It's amazing how God brings certain friends along right when you need them.   She's as gorgeous on the inside as she is on the outside, and I love her so much! 

My boys

Here are a few photos I caught of Jack and Brent playing football last night at dusk when the fog was rolling in. I love how much Jack looks up to Brent...and these photos say it all.

My little Grace is 9 months old

Sometimes I forget to show pictures of my own adorable children. Here is my Grace at 9 months old. She usually gets professional photos done when I need a test shot before a photo. I use her as my little model. I actually took these as her own "9 month indoor session". I want to do some fun outdoor shots at 1 year old. But her birthday is December 24th, so I doubt we'll get those outdoor pics. I may have to wait until she is 18 months old.

Thank You Vilonia!

Thank you for voting us BEST OF PHOTOGRAPHERS! Voting is now open on the Log Cabin Democrat website at the link below for BEST OF FAULKNER COUNTY. Please go online and vote for us. Thank you to all our supporters!



Vote now! - http://thecabin.net/best-faulkner-county

Vilonia Tornado

On April 25, 2011 a tornado classified as an F2 bulled through our small town. It wiped out 50 or more homes and killed 4 people. Brent and I were with our two kids, his mother, two aunts, and his grandmother in our basement. We've went to the basement several times in the past for warnings of tornadoes. It's never been a big deal - almost a family get together. But this one was different. I still thought "no big deal" until I heard our windows and house rattling and Brent could see through our small basement window our barn roof fly off. I thought "okay, this is for real" Moments later, we walked upstairs and heard sirens, saw several trees down, and major damage. The side of town we live on caught the tail end of the tornado... the other side of town where the rest of his family lives got the full twister. Below is a photo that a friend texted me of the twister from the bank beside our studio and house. Note: I did not take this photo and I don't know who to give credit to - but it's a great shot!



Brent spent the next week cleaning up the damage. His aunt and uncle completely lost their home. His mother had damage to her home and numerous trees gone. And his grandmother had most of her trees blown over and some roof damage. Most importantly - we're all safe and I give glory to God!

Here are some photos that Brent and his sister captured on the day after the tornado came through....






This is Brent's aunt's house.


A view looking at his aunt and grandmother's property from the above the house.


This is his cousin's basketball goal in the field beside the house.


The front of the house.




A photo of Main Street through Vilonia.

Nikon D700

Yes, we're moving up in the world of cameras. We just got in our new Nikon D700 and we're pretty pumped about it. The plant that makes the Nikon cameras was hit hard by the recent earthquake in Japan. So we decided we should order the camera now. We were unsure as to how bad the damage was or when the facility will be up and running again.

Catching Up

I've never been a very good blogger and it I believe it shows. I have LOTS of catching up to do. We've had a summer, fall, and winter filled with weddings, senior portraits, and family portraits! We've also welcomed a new addition to our Ruple family - Grace Evelyn born on Christmas Eve. So much blogging to do... so here we go!
Let's start with some of my personal pregnancy pictures. Brent took these of me and our son, Jack.