Engaged: Amy and Joe

Amy and Joe met each other by devine arrangement, through Joe's mom. Mom introduced them but it didn't click at first, so it took a bit more nudging on her part to get them to go on a first date. Mother knows best. The rest, as they say, well, you know the story.

Amy was a missionary to China for 6 years, so she speaks perfect Chinese. In fact, better than Joe's Chinese.

They walked through the South Park blocks, chasing the imaginary squirrel.


Did I mention they're a very adventurous couple?


Stay tuned for the wedding pics...

Farewell, Summer

Wherefore, Summer, hath thou gone? Days are getting shorter, and the rain has returned. There's a frost advisory issued for the area over night, and we're but in the second week of October. We had a busy summer. Both kids started soccer, but the 3- and 4-year-old teams were by far the cutest. On the first practice, Coach Jason divided the 8 kids into two teams, told one to go this way, and the other to go that way, but short attention span got in the way. Finally he just threw the ball and said, "Go get the ball!" And they did. "Keep going!" And they did.

This Is Now

The studio can be anywhere. Outdoors or in. Here in the Pacific northwest where we spend half of the year in the rain, indoors it tends to be less wet. It can be as simple as a plain wall and a small light, and voila!























Little girl, 4 years later. (Nikon SB-800 speed light with shoot through umbrella. Pocket Wizard. If you must know.)

Brother fell off the monkey bars and injured his wrist. Guess he's not a real monkey after all. (Similar setup) Doesn't seem to bother him very much. Still very active.















Other times we'd set up the backdrop and bring out the big studio strobes. Good for Kung Fu Girl shot. Who says having your picture taken isn't fun? Haaaaaaaaaiiiiiiya!






















My approach to photographing children is very much let kids be themselves. There's one rule in the studio. We never say "cheese." A contrived smile does not a good portrait make. We'll play a game, tell a story, say "1, 2, 3, jump!" or play peek-a-boo. Much more genuine expressions this way.

Jump, KFG, jump!

That Was Then

Fast forward a couple of decades, we were expecting our second child. Showed up in the hospital with two cameras and a camcorder. The nurse saw me and asked, "Are you doing a documentary or something?"

"Heh, heh!" I chuckled.

The delivery of our second child went much more smoothly than the first, but not without a few scary moments. Minutes after J was born, I snapped this shot.

Here We Go

I shoot people. They call me PD. Welcome to my blog.

I was 14, I needed a hobby. "Hey, Dad, I'm thinking about taking up photography." Old man said, "OK," drove me to the camera store and bought me a brand new Nikon FE, an SB-15, two lenses and a tripod. Just like that.

My buddy's Dad moonlighted at the local newspaper as a photographer. He showed us how to use an SLR. We used to roam the city in search of subjects. Sunrise, sunset. Used import car dealer. Whatever.

"Hey, how about taking pictures of lightning?"
"Great idea."

Up the roof we went, umbrella in one hand, and cable release in the other. The thought of being struck by lightning never crossed our minds. Somehow the pictures never turned out the way we wanted. They were all white.

"Wanna try to take pictures of trailing headlights?"
"Yeah!"

We'd set up the tripod in the middle of the crosswalk. Boy did we get some extra bright headlights...

Those were the days living dangerously.