Megan and Ryan

When my friend, award winning photographer Ean Perkins of Studio190 called one Saturday morning with "What are you doing today?" I almost immediately said, "Yes!"

I met Ean one year at the PPO Summer School. When he found out I was going to shoot my first wedding later that year, he graciously invited me to photograph/assist at weddings he was photographing so I could get some practice. How cool is that?

I quickly got ready and headed down to Kaizer, just north of Salem to the afternoon wedding. It was cloudy and a bit breezy too. Fortunately the rain did not come down, and the wedding and reception went smoothly. The wind only blew over two pillars.

Weddings can be stressful for all involved, but it is also one happy occasion where family and friends come to celebrate and give their best wishes to the newlyweds. It doesn't take long to be drawn into the celebration. And having the privilege to document the joyous occassion? Awesome.

Congratulations Megan and Ryan!!

These are a few of my favorite things

I love photography. I love food. I love to photograph the food I eat. I love to eat the food I photograph, when I'm allowed. I love to photograph the food I make, on rare occasions when I'm so inspired. Only at the difficulty level of say, waffles, however...



We bought a waffle iron earlier this year, so on Saturdays when we're not traveling, I'd make waffles for the family. With blueberries on top. And whip cream too. The reserve of frozen blueberries was running low, so we went out to Majestic Farms and picked some more...







"This is your face, Daddy." said the little girl.


I kinda prefer this one myself...

PPO Summer School

At the annual Bend Summer School, there were programs on lighting, posing, post-processing, marketing, selling, and so on by various speakers, but the Most Memorable went the sunrise landscape workshop with Adrian Klein. The program said the meeting time for the workshop was at 5 a.m., but the day before at lunch Adrian pointed out a small mistake.

"Sunrise's at 5:10 a.m., so we are going to meet at 4 a.m. so we can get out there and set up before sunrise. How many are still going to go?" About 20 some hands went up.

With less than 4 hours of sleep, I got up and quickly readied myself to meet the other brave souls. At least a good 15 people showed up. The caravan traveled westward from Bend on the Cascade Lakes Hwy towards destination: Sparks Lake. It was mid June and there was still snow on the ground past Mt. Bachelor. The area had also been experiencing unusual thunderstorms and flooding from sudden downpours. Not enough to deter us. Adrian said even if it were pouring we'd still get out there because you just don't know what it's like 20 miles away. We turned off the highway onto a Forestry Service gravel road and arrived at the Ray Atkeson Memorial Trail. It was a short 1/3 mile hike from where we parked. The sky was clear. Almost too clear. We quickly set up our gear as Adrian shared tips and tricks with us. The predawn air was crisp, and the color blue dominated the surroundings in a peaceful way. In the midst of shutter release sounds came occasional wing flaps of water fowls. Fog rolled in as the outline of South Sister and Broken Top vanished from view. Several times we started to pack up, only to be lured into a few more frames by momentary clearing of the clouds. Nutty? You bet. And absolutely worth it. Nothing like photographing in the Studio of the Almighty.

It's a beautiful thing

It's a beautiful thing when photographers learn from one another. On this particular occasion, three of my friends volunteered to demonstrate some techniques so others can learn from them. Darcie brought her daughter Aubree to show how to photograph children, Tammy demonstrated location lighting with a high school senior model, and last but not least, Ean talked a recent bride he had photographed into coming to the session to be a model, in her bridal gown. How cool is that? Ean's the master of dramatic lighting on location. Be sure to check out their sites.

Location: Sauvie Island at sunset. What lovely light! I was so excited about these images I had trouble sleeping that night!

A huge thanks to Kevin for organizing this!









That's a wrap!

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!