And just like that, its Fall again!!!

It is finally my favorite season of the year, FALL! Although this year, doesn’t feel very Fall like. We are entering into our 17th day of temperatures over 80 degrees in October. This is the longest hot flash Oregon has had in October in the record books to date! The colors are late in turning because we just have not had that snap of cold yet…Why is this an issue, because outdoor photography during Autumn is huge! People love the fall colors, wearing scarves and sweaters, women get out their tall boots and pumpkin spice lotion! Nobody wants to wear shorts and flip flops to a pumpkin patch but it is so warm we have no choice! Come on Mother Nature, enough of the menopausal hot flash, bring on the fog, the rain, the wind, we want to dress like storm troopers and see our breath in the morning as we clutch our latte’s!!! Ok rant over, on to the business of Fall Minis!

Fall Minis, to some it is the bane of their existence, to me Its a blast!! I love meeting new families and bringing them amazing and quick little sessions. Some clients are old hats at it but sometimes you get those families that have never had a professional photo session and they are dipping their toes in with a mini! I had two of those families last year, they were amazing! This year is even busier with brand new clients! I had my first weekend of Fall minis this past Saturday and it went beautifully! The set up with the farm truck in the orchard is spectacular this year. I had this adorable 3 year old named Bethany who just made my job so easy! After her images were delivered and a package was decided on, her mom wrote me the most beautiful message. I could barely read it out loud to my husband because i was crying. As most artists know, imposter syndrome is a thing. We don’t feel we are good enough and therefore feel like we are posing as something we aren’t. This simple, beautiful message that Grace wrote validated that what i am aspiring to be, where I want my photography to go, I am on the right path. I will leave you with this, follow your dreams, you get one life, don’t waste a minute of it!

Artells Magazine Cover

This was what i woke up to this morning, an email from Artells Magazine alerting me that images i submitted had been accepted…ON THE COVER!!! I am absolutely over the moon! This is a huge step in my photography/studio journey. Yesterday I was photographing my co workers in my studio. I lost my tripod somewhere, my back up tripod took an adaptor plate that i did not have, they wanted gray background instead of white so my shooting bay got just that much tighter and with 4 people and a dog, it was impossible. Plus i was taking the pictures with me in them so i had to use a remote shutter release. The air conditioning was not working, it was blazing hot and i have to say my boss is not patient at all. So i felt rushed, sweaty and like a complete failure. The group shots were pure shit, the headshot was beautiful and the pictures of us wearing hats (2 person shots) were adorable…Oh and the dog took amazing pictures! I don’t like feeling like i don’t know what I’m doing and getting direction from someone who knows far less is even worse….. So today I wake up, get to work and start checking emails. What do I see but this Image of the children i photographed last year. I had sent the images to Artells thinking maybe they’d like them…They put them on the cover of the June Kids edition. The knowledge that I do know what I am doing, I’m not a failure by any means and not every shoot is going to smash it. My studio is not big enough to have 4 adults and a dog photographed in it. But, my studio is perfect for kids, portraiture, headshots. Just had to share that…Happy shooting people!

Summer time = Photo time! Senior Portrait Season

Here we are, smack in the second week of July and what tops my mind, Senior Portraits! It is about that time when students and their parents start thinking about their senior pictures. I really enjoy photographing kids on the cusp of a new adventure. Some are going off to college, trade schools, or are planning to take their first steps into adulthood with gainful employment. Which ever choice or path they take, its a huge step both for the seniors and their parents. I see the countdown that parents do on Facebook with their kids and the posts of them not looking forward to the kiddos leaving. This is why photography is so important during this time. Documenting the kids, the parents, siblings, it is a special time that deserves special attention. This year i’d really like to do some fun parody photos of empty nesters, i think its time to really embrace the fun side of photography with signs that say, “don’t let the door hit ya!” or the parents throwing confetti while the kid scowls in the background….Anyway, the time is here to get those appointments scheduled for senior pictures! Don’t wait too long, books fill up quickly and nobody wants to shoot pictures in the rainy season!

PDXSquared2019, Another winning year!

Spent last weekend up in Portland, Oregon at the PDXSQ2019 competition. Once again, an amazing weekend spent with some truly gifted artists. Thanks go to all the sponsors, organizers, ASMP Oregon for hosting the event and splash world studio for housing all of us lunatics! Happy to report that 3 of my 4 images submitted did well. Two that i submitted for Urban Landscape, made round two. 109 images to start with and 27 made round 2. Pretty stiff competition in that category. They did not go to the finish but i did get one submitted for a Craft Award for Black and White image. My 3rd image, of a Raven, was submitted for Natural World, i’m thrilled to report, came in 2nd! I loved this image the minute i saw it and to be honest it was a mistake! I was at a Taco Truck with my husband and had been doing some inside shooting and then we went to get a snack. While we were sitting there this Raven hopped over to us and i grabbed my camera and started snapping away. Well, i forgot to readjust my ISO and the pictures were completely blown out! But from that mistake came the most amazing picture, when i made some edits to the contrast it only darkened the raven’s head and some feathers…i was in love with it! Below are the 3 images that did well this year. I am super excited for next year and reconnecting with the artists that i met this year. In other news, Sunday May 26th will be the first growers market of the season in Jacksonville. I will be there selling my images, hope to see some new faces as well as our regulars. Market opens at 9 am and closes at 1:30 pm, so come on down and and meet your local artisans and craftspeople. Thanks for joining me for my latest update, see you in the Summer!

Portland Squared 2018, Winner of "Urban Landscape"

This weekend was spent competing in PDX Squared 2018, a photography competition that has 72 photographers competing for the win in 7 categories.  You pick out of a bucket a piece of paper that has a number on it.  That number coincides with a square area of Portland Oregon.  You have 24 hours to photograph, edit and submit 5 images to be judged against the other photographers images.  I have been attending this competition for 3 years and came close last year to a win but sadly it didn't happen.  This year it happened!  I submitted 2 images to the category "Urban Landscape".  Its a difficult category as it has to be man made in its environment and the most competitive.  the wording is strange and its hard to pin point exactly what the judges wanted but i submitted my two images with hope and anticipation.  The first image was kicked, not sure why but it did't make the cut.  The second image was of 3 cars under car covers inside a garage at night lit by a neon sign that said "Used Cars".  This one the judges liked but one didn't know if it fit the category.  in the second round the battle lines were drawn, 2 judges wanted it to be the winner but it took some convincing and re-reading of the categories, more discussion, some comments from the other photographers and in the end it was finally the winner.  I was so elated, i came this close to crying.  3 years of learning my camera, 3 years of working on composition and style, worth every minute!  I cannot thank Pro Photo Supply, ASMP of Oregon, the judges and my pod leader Erica.  Without them, this competition would not happen.  I cannot wait until next year!

Spring has sprung!

Well spring is here and with spring comes road trips to the desert!  Went to Las Vegas and northern Arizona a few weeks ago, had a blast!  No it was not Las Vegas that made it fun it was the Desert and specifically the BLOOMING desert!  We have had such an incredible amount of rain in the western states that the desert is having an incredible bloom this year.  We explored and photographed ghost towns, old cars baking in the sun, cacti in bloom and enjoyed some sunshine!  It was a wonderful photographic journey and those prints are for sale on this website and also on View Bug and Fine Art America.  I had a great mother daughter photo shoot with Anne and Chloe.  We went to a cute little mining town called Jacksonville and used their wonderful old buildings as backdrops.  The growers market in Jacksonville starts on May 28th and i will be selling my prints there along with our honey!  Really excited as this will be the first time trying to peddle the prints.  Fingers crossed they are well received.  I have two images having in the Rogue Gallery and Art Center, Morning Dew on Grass and Desert Botanicals.  i love that these were the images chosen, both are macro images and both black and white.  If you get a chance there will be a reception for the showing on May 19th.  I will be at a Photography competition in Portland so i won't be there but the images will!  Only 6 months until we leave or Scotland, talk about a photographic journey!  I will have my Nikon glued to me at all time, nothing will be safe! Well, thats about all for now.  I will be posting more images from the desert trip and anything else that strikes my fancy!  chat soon!

Christmas is in the air!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and to you pagans Winter Solstice is almost here!  No matter what your celebration is, for me, this is always a magical time of year.  I love buying or making unique gifts for people.  Knitting hats, sewing quilts or in the case this year taking family pictures for my sister.  Last Saturday we all congregated at Buncom.  Buncom is a little ghost town in the Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon.  She managed to wrangle all her children in one location without the use of bribery.  I told you, it's a magical time of year!  Anyway, along with her wonderful children and husband was her new Grandson, Reid.  He absolutely stole the show!  You can see a couple of the images captured on the front page of the website.  It took about 45 minutes and we ended up with some fantastic images.  I'm just finishing up matting them now and will be delivering them this evening.  I really enjoy the post production part of photography, making slight lighting tweeks, choosing the perfect mat whether its single mat with an inside border or double mat with a 1/4 inch contrasting edge, I love it all.  Fingers crossed this will be one of many family picture sessions i get to be a part of.  Well, i better get back to it.  So i wish you all a very Happy Holiday season, whatever you celebration is and look forward to the new year filled with new experiences! Oh, p.s. my sister and i were able to, for the first time ever, do the dishes on Thanksgiving....my mother had to be physically removed from the kitchen but we did it! 

What are you full of thanks for?

Well Happy Thanksgiving, a couple days early.  What is it that i am thankful for this year, well always Family.  They are healthy, happy, and hilarious.  Neal and i were supposed to go on a little photographic road trip for thanksgiving this year.  The wiener dog already had his bowl packed and his favorite blanket washed and folded.  While having a quick chat with my mom she dropped the "have you been watching the weather forecast" bomb....I think mothers are genetically predisposed to this little occurrence, well lets just say mine is.   We had been planning on sleeping in our Vw bus, doing some hiking and just enjoying some quality time, but when the "you know it is going to snow, right" gets dropped in your lap, plans change.  So we are headed to the parents for a feast that you cannot imagine.  My mother is a thanksgiving martyr, she wants no help, does a lot of sighing,  and won't let her grown daughters do dishes because we don't know how to load the dishwasher properly....no i'm not kidding.  My dad will carve the 30 pound beast, my sister and i will sneak in dodging a sharp blade to swipe some crispy turkey skin.  My husband will quietly sit and watch it all shake out while everyone else will watch football, screaming and cringing when their team inevitably drops the ball.  So when i say i'm thankful for family, i truly mean it, every last one of them!  I'm bringing my camera this year and i'm going to document it all!  So to all of you, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the day and leave the blackfriday shopping to FRIDAY....Cheers!

Creating a Website, its a journey not a race.....

So i am creating a new and i feel, a very professional website.  I wanted a site that really displayed my images without clutter.  I think i found the place!  I like to watch the youtube channel Froknowsphoto.  Jared Polin is my go to guru for lenses, camera issues and just about anything photography related.  He did a little video about the biggest issue with being a professional is having a professional website.  Well i'm not going to pay someone to make one for me and i'm not alone in this.  We have beautiful images, why can't we make the website look good.  So Jared was talking about Squarespace and their very easy templates.  I thought, i'll give it a go for 14 days, what do you have to lose.  Well after getting it set up, buying my domain, getting a free logo, i'm hooked!  I got some images uploaded, put my new logo on, even have a commerce page where i can sell from.  I'm really delighted!  Hopefully when i send someone to this site they will also see what i see, beautiful images that make you feel.