Senior Grad: Masha

We had a hair-raising shoot, literally! Masha volunteers in my son's first grade class, 5'9'' and all of 17 years old. Only six more weeks of high school left. I had wanted to do some location stuff, but the weather did not cooperate. We had a blast in the studio though. Thanks Masha for a super fun shoot!!

Baby Lillian: 2 Weeks Old

Recently I had the pleasure of photographing 2-week old Baby Lillian, the second daughter of one of my best friends from college. What a good baby! She did not make any fuss for the entire session, just happy, alert and content. Of course, Big Sister and Dog Brother did fantastic as well.









"Hey, come here, Uncle Larry!" Here's to lots more pictures in the future!

Aloft Shoot

On Monday a group of friends got together for a shoot at a local hotel, organized by Kevin and Mark. We had the whole thing planned out, only to find out last minute that the hotel wasn't ready for us. At first it was not clear whether we could even hold the shoot there. It took a few phone calls, some waiting and more waiting, but finally it was a go! Turned out to be a very exciting shoot after all. I got to see my friend Laura, and met a few new friends Darcie, Jenifer, Juli and Matt. Kevin's cousin and her friends, who shall remain nameless, graciously agreed to model for us. We had 4 Nikon shooters and 4 Canon shooters, and shot with on and off camera flashes with various mods, and some with no flash. So much fun! We'll have to get together again to see everyone's pics and compare notes. Thanks Kevin, thanks Mark!

Location scouting: Panda Express

Had the kids all day cuz wifie had to attend a class in Portland. For breakfast I made some blueberry pancakes. Yum. The uncontrollable utterance of "Mmm!" as they took the first bite was a sign of success. Bursting blueberries danced onto the table as we cut into the pancakes.

Lunch at Panda Express was a special treat for all involved. They got to eat food-court quality chow-mein and fried rice that would never pass mama's standards. Plus I got to photograph them as they ate. Our local PE happened to be a great location for portraits in the afternoon. The sun lathered on the parking lot to the south, providing warm, soft reflected light. And the wrap-around windows gave wonderful catch lights in the eyes.



To finish the day with more cheap thrills, we drove to the bank of the Columbia River just north of PDX to watch planes come and go. The wind out of the gorge was rather strong today, so we stayed in the van. Doesn't get much better than this.

Meeting Jasmine

I first came across Jasmine's article on ProPhotoResource about a year ago. It was a story of how she met her wedding photographer David Jay and eventually became a wedding photographer herself, shooting some 36 weddings her first year! I had communicated with her several times in the past year, and she's always taken the time to respond and comment on my pics. Needless to say, it was a real honor to meet her in person this past weekend. Let me tell you, she's one dynamic speaker! Dynamic yet approachable. Her hubby JD is also very down to earth. It felt like I've known them for a long time. Super stoked!

Amy and Joe: A Blessed Wedding

The weather was beautiful, as was the setting. Joe arrived early with his parents. Bruce the best man was already waiting. As Joe was getting ready for the big day, he'd look out the window at the lawn as the tables and chairs were being set up. He looked through another window as he explained to me how the four mango mousse cakes were to be assembled. Shortly after that Amy showed up in her favorite red shirt, with matching red dahlias in her hair. It didn't take long for the ladies to get ready. Joe had to stay in his dressing room so that he would not see Amy until she walked down the aisle. When Dad walked Amy down the aisle, I turned around and saw tears of joy in Joe's eyes. One of most moving parts was when the dads, a pastor and an elder, prayed for the bride and groom.




The wedding ceremony was, in a word, blessed.

At the recessional the two literally dashed down the aisle. We had about 30 minutes for bridal portraits so we took a stroll around the grounds. Robinswood House was located adjacent a large park with plenty of greenery. For the first dance the newly-wed couple danced to none other than Michael Jackson. Family and friends joined in the dancing before seeing the couple off.



Congratulations, Amy and Joe! We were honored to document your wedding!!

Snow

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it hardly ever snows in winter. Not at this elevation anyway. Even when it does snow it's usually no more than a dusting. Mostly just rain. And more rain. Many locals don't even use umbrellas that much as they're so used to the constant drizzle.

Not so this winter.

It snowed a bit the week before Christmas. Then it snowed some more. It snowed so much that we were snowed in for a good week. In fact they called it the Arctic Blast of 2008. The area was simply not equipped to deal with so much snow. Chains for tires? We didn't have any. And we needed chains to get to the store to buy chains, which was kinda hard.

It started to feel like Groundhog Day. We'd get up, look out the window to a world covered in a blanket of white stuff. Feed the kids, feed the gold fish, play Monopoly, Disney/Pixar edition, eat lunch, edit photos, get on facebook, ...

Finally I had had it. I had to get out and get some photographing out of my system. A single oak leaf on perfectly fallen snow. Cool. My shoe print. Yeah. Chimney of the house across the street protruding a good layer of fluffy white on the roof. Click. I was happy.

Sure brings back memories. We used live in upstate New York where we'd get about 100 inches of snow every winter. There'd be piles of snow in parking lots taller than people. Snow blowers were necessities. And it was fun the first few times I used it. Then it got to be getting up half an hour earlier in the cold morning to clean the driveway so we could get out, it wasn't so much fun any more.

Now I miss my Snow King!