it’s windy in nebraska ok.

It’s called the ripple effect.

My friend Emily German is involved in a program here at the University of Nebraska called NHRI which pairs college leaders with outstanding young leaders in Lincoln Public Schools- people like Ashlie. Emily has told me that she’s been unbelievably blessed to have worked with Ashlie over the past three years, working to develop their leadership and who they are as people.

Ashlie is an incredible leader with an unparalleled and just found out she’ll be attending NYU and joining the diving team next year! On the shoot, I could see how much they have rubbed off on each other in the best of ways. It’s amazing to watch people my age giving back to high schoolers and being that extra encouragement as they enter college. Emily is such a good example of a college student that is giving, helpful and involved inside and out of school, and is really there for people. I have no doubt Ashlie will be that kind of a person in college after being mentored by Emily.

And that’s the ripple effect. Pour who you are into someone else’s life. Pour your love, your time, and your heart into helping a young person get to where you are. In the simplest of terms, help a bro out.

And here’s what’s even better- You learn so much about yourself in the process. Emily told me that that she’s discovered so much of who she is through the ripple effect and said Ashlie has impacted her life in an equally positive way giving her joy, encouragement and love right back.

And here’s the best part- Once you change someone’s life that person is bound to go out and change another’s. And so it goes. The love gets passed on. The ripple effect. It’s pretty neat.

DESIGNER: ERYNN HALE

MAKE UP AND HAIR : NORA MURPHY

PHOTOGRAPHY: WYN WILEY PHOTOGRAPHY

MODEL: ALY OSTERBUHR

love was in the air. wind was too.

2012 you were so damn good to me. i could not do what i do without the people you see below. thank you for being a part of my life, friends.

I’ve lived 20 years. Here are 20 things I’ve learned.

-Address small problems. They become big problems.

-Spend more time around people that both challenge and accept you.

-Make shit- always be creating. Some of it might be terrible but some of it will be great.

-Get a library card.

-Add adventurer to your twitter bio. Then, become one.

-Find ways to cheat the system, just don’t cheat people.

-Do things that are uncool, later on they usually end up becoming cool.

-Say no to projects you don’t care about.

-When an opportunity doesn’t come knocking, make one yourself.

-Love cats.

-Get one big success at a young age. It’ll help you build up your confidence for bigger things.

-Meet new people as often as possible. Learn something from every one of them.

-Find your voice.

-Genius gets you nowhere. Execution is everything.

-Find out if there will be food there.

-Walk more.

-Be comfortable with abandonment, even of parts of your identity.

-A good haircut changes everything.

-Always remember those who helped you. Deliver two or three times as much value back.

-Fight for what matters.

but, he endend up performing and to make up for the shoot not happening, they gave us backstage passes to shoot the show. what we didn’t know was how amazing of a show it was going to be. we witnessed sweat, love, tears, a same-sex proposal, horse masks, thousands of people’s views changing about gay marriage, and way too many fur coats.

to top it all off, macklemore promised AND pinky promised that we would get to photograph him before one of their concerts this spring. we take pinky promises seriously.

here are some images from the four of us, josh solar, christian gideon, nathan stracke and wyn wiley.

PHOTOGRAPHY- Wyn Wiley Photography

MODELS- Emily Solo & Preston Kelly

ASSISTANT- Levi Baus

WARDROBE- David’s Bridal bridesmaid dress and 40 dollars of fabric from JoAnne’s Fabric Store. That’s how we do it.

see the video version HERE.