Shoot With Luke

Wow. It's been 7 months since I posted on Instagram. I stepped away early in the summer because I realized that God had a lot of work to do in my life. So, I turned my gaze inward and began a spiritual battle that had needed to be addressed for a long time. I will probably share more about that process in the future, but right now, I am still healing and the Lord is still moving in my life—I don't want to hinder any of that with my own words at the moment.

That being said, the story of Luke Montgomery Media has reached its end. I got into this industry to shoot for Ben Rector and I did that. Along the way, God changed my heart for why I am in this industry in the first place. I started because of what it could do for me, but I'm here now because of what I can do for Him. The next step in that process is removing my name from my work, and I could not be more excited about it. I'm so excited to be launching my new company and publication: Ellium's Spot!

I'd like to pick apart this statement piece by piece starting with "I'd rather worship God." To that, I say Amen! Someone put that on a t-shirt and I'll wear it! Literally, anything could come before that sentence and I would agree. "I'd rather worship God." Let that be how I live my life for the rest of my days here on earth.

When we returned, Phillip went into the backroom to get ready for his show. At first, I stayed back—unaware of what his preshow routine was—but his manager encouraged me to follow him. What followed was truly one of the most special times I have shared with an artist.

Reaching post 100 is honestly crazy. I started this account a little over one year ago to document my progress in photography in the hopes that I would be able to use it to look back and track my growth. Wow...I can certainly do that. A quick scroll through my feed reveals different presets, styles, and even types of photography. I began shooting random candids for my school's senior trip, worship sets at my church, and other portraits of my friends.

05.27.2022

Texas sunsets. That's one of the things I missed the most while I spent the summer in Colorado. There's something just memorizing about a blazing orange sky that cannot be achieved with mountains all around.

Of anyone I could have finished this season of concerts with (well almost finish—Clinton Kane photos dropping soon) I'm so glad it was with James. His album Back From the Edge is my favorite album ever. Period. There's not a bad song on the entire record. It will wreck your heart with songs like "Can I Be Him" "Sober" and "Finally."

What really made this concert special was the community of photographers. I learned so much from the older men and women that were also there to shoot. I heard funny stories from previous concerts, and mistakes that each had made in the past. I laughed at myself as I realized how new I still am to the space and how much more I have to go. Most of the concert to me was overshadowed by the conversations I had before and in between shows.