Posted by joshnapert on May 28, 2014
Over Memorial Day Weekend, I had gone Kayaking; Not something I do too often but I figured it would be fun to go on a little adventure by myself.
The Kayak itself is super old. It was my dad’s when he was younger that he brought with him to Wisconsin from New Hampshire.
I launched on the side of the road into the Rock River just outside of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and paddled into a small, connecting river called the Bark River. The banks were so flooded that the water was halfway up the trees. I even paddled over the top of a walking bridge and a few park benches in one area. It was nice to just get away, put aside the technology, and go somewhere in nature completely alone left with nothing but the sounds of the world and my own thoughts – man, what a workout!
I recommend getting out there and doing something active this summer that can exercise the body, mind, AND spirit!
Stay Strange,
– Josh
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Posted by joshnapert on May 21, 2014
The other week I was lucky enough to be the judge for Craig High School Talent Show in Janesville, Wisconsin with one of my best friends, James (follow him on Twitter, he’s a cool dude @JamesMilbrandt).
This seems like such a small role, but it really meant a lot to me. As a kid, I remember my dad taking me to this same talent show to watch the bands and entertainment. It was the first talent competition I had ever been to and I remember how obsessed I was with it for the coming weeks. I thought of all the acts as celebrities and admired every performer. My dad and I sat down in the front, critiquing every act after they performed and decided our favorites. At the time, I had never listened to “Heavy Metal” or “Screamo” music, but there was a metal band that we were blown away by. Their skill as a band, technicality, and showmanship was far better than anyone else that night. We were dead set on them winning first place. When they lost, I remember being so upset because of the judge’s disinterest in the music style and not actually focusing on what the “Talent” contest was all about. I knew that I had an open mind for everything and was so disturbed by the judge’s decision that I wanted to go in and change the results myself, based on my own opinions and observation. Every year after that when I saw advertising for the show I always thought of that night with my dad. Fast forward ten years… and who wouldve known! I got to influence the decision myself of the same show I’ve been hung up on through the years and I couldn’t be happier with the results. That little boy buried in the audience who left the show unsettled ten years ago was now the man sitting in the judge’s chair. Funny how life works… :).
Moral of the story – You have just as much a right as anyone else to do whatever it is you want to do, its just a matter of going for it. You can’t change the past, but you can start working now toward the future. Take control yourself. YOU be the judge.
Never Give Up.
– Josh
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Posted by joshnapert on May 15, 2014
This week I had to the honor to take photos with the wonderful Angelea Presti. I had heard endless good things about her from some friends and other people I work with, so we connected and did a shoot.
She currently lives in Wisconsin right now, but happens to be moving to Tennessee this summer. On this unexpected trip home, I did not pack any clothes that were photoshoot worthy. So when we scheduled the shoot for the next day, I was frantically trying to put together outfits that would work. I ended up having to drive up to Madison just to get all new clothes and made it back in time for the shoot literally ON THE DOT. Having never tried the clothes on before, I changed and just rolled with it.
We set up in a warehouse section of the radio station she works at. It was really cool and the lighting worked out perfect.
Angelea made everything fun and easy, telling me exactly what to do and how to pose. She knew what she wanted and I trusted her lead. We took tons of photos and had fun at the same time.
Here are some of the final results:
At the end of the shoot, she surprised me with needing a shot for her portfolio with her and a male model. She set the timer on her camera, and ran up to grab the shot. The second after the camera “snapped” it ran out of battery. We were left with that one shot and our fingers crossed hoping we got it right. The results ended up looking pretty incredible…
Unexpectedly, Angelea got in touch with me today and asked me to help her out with another shoot. The theme she was going for, although it sounds crazy, was “Editorial Fairytale”. This shoot is where i JUST literally got home from, so I figured I’d include a few sneak peek pics ;).
I couldn’t be happier with the photo shoots we did over the past couple days. I highly recommend Angelea as a photographer to anyone and everyone.
CHECK HER OUT AT:
www.angeleapresti.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angelea-Photography/277101342312861
Instagram – @angelea_photography
Twitter – @angelea_photo
email – angeleaphotography@yahoo.com
Stay Strange,
-Josh
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Posted by joshnapert on May 7, 2014
So today I traveled home from Nashville to celebrate my dad’s 53rd birthday, and man I had quite the adventure. Just the other day, my sister had the idea to surprise him by showing up for dinner, seeing that she lives over 2 hours away and I live 10 hours away, he certainly wouldn’t be expecting it – and he wasn’t!
This trip, however, has led me through some ridiculous obstacles along the way. It was strange because the day itself was a great day, I felt great all day but it was also one of my unluckiest days in a while. First of all, I had lots of work to finish up before I could tear down the studio and bring it home to Wisconsin. I worked all through the night and packed up at about 4 in the morning. With leaving at 5, I didn’t even have time to lay down and close my eyes once for the night. Surviving only off monster and coffee, the day just got weird. To start, when loading my things in my car I walked through a giant cobweb surrounding my face and getting in my hair. After filling up my car with gas, my card was declined. I then went to sit in my car and missed the seat, falling right on the ground. Then I drove to get on the interstate the wrong direction, and continued to miss the next 3 exits I was supposed to take in a row, leading myself in circles around the city. I stopped at a McDonalds to get an oatmeal breakfast (whole wheat 290 calories 😉 ) which advertised a free small coffee, which they then charged me extra for and denied the advertisement on the sign literally on their window. I stopped later on at a gas station to buy two of my favorite Monster Absolute Zero’s – after taking one sip, I quickly realized I bought the wrong kind of Monster, which happened to be the worst tasting kind I’ve ever had. If things weren’t already bad enough, I got pulled over in mid Illinois and was given a speeding ticket for going 15 over the limit. To cool down I pulled over at the rest stop, only to look in the mirror and top it all off with realizing I had worn my shirt inside-out the whole day.
Regardless, the day continued to be strange because no matter how many things tried to knock me down – I was still feeling great! I actually started to see the humor in the series of unfortunate events that were occurring.
Even through all the bad luck, today turned out to be a great day after all. We had the whole family together, surprised my dad, and made his birthday one to remember.
All in all – today was a terribly exhausting, horrible, great day.
Stay Strange,
-Josh
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