You can call it Fall …I’ll call it Autumn….

 

This year I decided that I really wanted to slow down for the Holidays, Really slow down and take in the events and activities and sights and sounds that make the magic of the Holidays so special. Last year I worked non stop editing and taking family pictures up until the last minute. It was a bit hard to enjoy the little things with my family.

The girls have grown so fast this year. Its kinda like when they were only one. That first year of life things change every month so dramatically that you feel like its a new child right before your eyes every month.  Well, that exactly what happened again this year! Both girls now 9 and 13 did a lot of growing and changing. It really never stops being amazing and exciting to think about growth.

I thought maybe I needed a a good year of growth myself. Evaluating where I need to change, fixing the broken parts and reinventing the other parts. Like a 40 year tune up. I have been running here and there, doing this and that, and maybe I need to question myself more, about all the this and thats, and does it really matter, and if not then what does.

Fall is a good time to do this. Everything changes and prepares for winter and reminds us that change is good. Change can help us be stronger, more prepared. I like calling it Autumn. Fall sounds like a negative to me, Autumn sounds graceful and mythical. Thats what Autumn is to me, graceful, colorful and strong, thats what I want to be someday…….graceful, colorful and strong.

Insects, animals, and funerals….

So, if this month has a theme, it had to be “Animals Animals Animals”.

I love animals, always have….we always had at least four dogs in our home growing up. A few horses to ride, a turtle and rabbits, geese, mice I caught in the barn, and what ever creature I could manage to capture out in the desert with my box and string traps. Many a quail made it in there only to be released since I couldn’t figure out a way of keeping them in there once I lifted the box up. I also used fishing poles to catch Lizards. Sometimes they lost a tail if I wasn’t fast enough to lasso them around the middle. Then I remember a rolley polley pill bug farm I developed over a few weeks, complete with swimming pool and  golf course. I did grow up in Palm Springs so that makes perfect sense.

So animals have a soft spot in my heart. Most that is. But I met my match this month. It started with two adorable Jack Russell Terriers.

They were so cute and I was excited to shoot them and their owners. I never realized just how much energy they have! I’ve chased a lot of things around trying to get a good shot, but I think these two little dogs have to be some of the most energetic I’ve ever tried to capture. 

Then we move on to insects…….mosquitoes to be exact!  Somewhere out in the fields of Othello on a family farm, we all got attacked as the sun was setting and we were trying to get a great shot of this adorable family.

We all got eaten alive! The father came up with a dance to keep the mosquitoes off each time I would pause to adjust my settings. It was so cute to see this father and mother and four small children dancing like crazy then freezing each time I took a shot. Im so surprised I didn’t fall off my ladder from laughing or swatting bugs while trying to hurry and get the shot.

Now that brings us to funerals…..

My 13 year old had a Chinchilla that she just adored. We have been enjoying him for a year, and he seemed the perfect pet for her, and for us, since I like animals, but not animal smell in my house. Well, we came home the other day and he had passed away. We really don’t know why, he just did. She was really upset and announced to us a couple of days later that there would be a wake the following day for him. She even invited a few friends. We all drove to a small hill we like to climb with the dog. Each of us said a few kind words and made a nice place for his box to be placed. It was decorated with wild flowers…

So animals enrich us, love us, bug us, and make us laugh.

Clover you will be missed for doing all of the above.

My sister my friend

This weekend the girls and I headed to Ellensburg well, a small town outside of Ellensburg to visit with Abby’s birthmother and her family.

Katie and I have an amazing relationship. She is more then a sister to me, she is our Angel. We had an instant friendship and love for one another, and deep respect in the roles each of us play in Abby’s life. I feel so blessed and fortunate to have her in my life. We all do.

I had a blast going on a early morning shoot around this small town. We really loved spending time with them and they are all so gifted and talented, and in so many ways, that Abby is so lucky to have such great talents in her genes.

These are just two of my favorite shots of Katie and her brother.

Yaaa girls he is single and just as sweet and amazing in person as he looks on camera. He is headed for Utah, and some lucky girl will win his heart someday. He won my girls over, as Hannah said driving home “ some girl is going to be very lucky to marry him, he is just as wonderful and kind as Katie”.

Underwater Photography

Night falls at our campsite on the island.

Our Kayak team of Six make it to Blake Island

Mark and I took our first official fun trip without our girls. We should have started this tradition about 20 years ago and seem to have a hard time when we have any fun and it doesn't include our daughters. But its good to be together and share times just as husband and wife. I say this with 24 years of regret behind me.

We decided to go on a Kayak trip across the Puget Sound from Seattle to Blake Island with another fun couple. You take off from Seattle go through the shipping lanes and over to an Island that is a state park and Indian Village. Its seven miles one way.

I started to get nervous when I realized that it takes three hours to Kayak seven miles and there would be no potty breaks. You are out in the middle of heavy shipping traffic with huge ships passing by and large large barges going each way. I started to wonder what kind of sick person would take a women in her 40s and throw her on water for three hours with no rest stop in sight then add on top of that Crones problems and what Jamie Curtis calls "occasional irregularity" on her Activia commercials, and you get the full scope of my dilemma. Did I mention all the water. Yaa so, I started to panic a bit that morning and decided I needed a back up plan just in case heaven forbid my bladder or even worse gives out in open water with a cruise ship looking down on us. Just the thought of this made my whole insides scream out "Are you insane women!"

So I did like any good boy scout would do, or soldier facing war. I grabbed a zip lock bag, the gallon size ones, no pint size or snack size ones , but the gallon freezer ones, and put it in my pocket for safe keeping. When you go into battle, you must be willing to do what it takes to survive. I felt prepared for the worse. As we were loading our Kayaks I kept checking just to make sure my survival gear was still there. It was my lifeline. I was even more excited when I found out that one of the things you do when you Kayak that far is wear what is called a "wet skirt". It wraps around you and secures to the outside of the Kayak keeping the water out. This little wonderful invention would give me the privacy I needed just in case things should go in the critical direction.

As we got out on open water, it was breathtaking. The Seattle Skyline, the harbor, all the boats. Wow. And here we were inches off the water gliding alone taking it all in. Then a sea lion decides to say hello and glides feet from our Kayak. We saw starfish, all colors, and lots of Jelly fish even huge ones as we glided along the Puget Sound.

Hours went by and I was gaining confidence that I would make it without having to break out the zip lock. The funnest part for me was when the tugboats pulling the big barges went by and caused nice sized wakes that made us roll and rock over the waves. If you are not turned the right way it can tip over the Kayaks, so that was a bit thrilling.

Once we reached the island we saw racoons down by the waters edge playing and washing themselves. It really was a beautiful trip. We stayed on the island that night and slept while a family of racoons tried to rade our camp at midnight. It was funny listening to them right outside the tent doors. Then the next day we kayaked seven miles back to West Seattle. Mark and I couldn't feel our bottoms for a few hours after we finally arrived back on land.

We took a couple of cheap cameras and Mark and I both managed to dump them into the water as we were trying to get out of the Kayaks. So we only have a couple of pictures that turned out to keep as memories.

I'm so glad we took the time to share the fun memory together. We are already planning our next adventure. This time we are thinking sailboat around the San Jaun Islands. Of course the sailboat must come with a private bathroom, and I might take a zip lock just in case. One can never be to prepared.

Partners In Crime

So I have a business partner. We set up this photography business together almost four years ago. We always like to shoot weddings together to make sure and cover every angle and situations that may arise. Weddings have a way of developing those "got to get" moments at a fast pace.

Here is a shot of Keslie my partner getting a shot of the brides expression as her father is giving her away, and I'm taking the shot of the Grooms expression as he is about to take on this union. Since the sun was playing tricks with my exposures I'm taking a good guess that Keslie's shot of the bride was better then my shot of the groom. It's a total game of chance. You might get the shot, or you might miss the angle. So having two photographers is a great advantage.

We always kid each other that we end up with shots of each other in less then flattering poses and positions and we could really embarrass each other by posting them. Well, I certainly don't want to start something I can't handle so I will keep my really funny ones to myself, plus a can make good money of eBay with them.

Bri & Me

My Sweet 16 almost 17 year old neice came to visit for a few days from New Mexico.

She wanted to get her senior pictures done and it was a real treat to spend some time with her.

You can learn alot from a 16-17year old.

The top 5 things I learned:

1. Lots of Blond jokes...

2. The art of flirting (My 13 year old daughter took notes)

3. Dont count a flip flop out just cause its broken (crazy glue)

4. Who needs TV when you have UTube

5. Dr. Pepper is a food group

She was a real pleasure to have around, wish they lived closer.

Heres one of my favorite shots we took of her.

Photography Smoography......

Its wedding season....love is in the air, my photography partner and I are now fully aware that to make the magic happen behind the lens their has to be real magic happening in front of the lens.

The lens doesn't lie. (photoshop does, but the lens doesn't)

something that I find refreshing and challenging. I'm sure that's why babies and children are the purest shots for me. But I always love a good challenge, so shooting a couple who are having a bad day with unruly children and then making them all look like they are a fun amazing family is when I feel I nailed the gig.

But, here we are in the heart of weddings and I sure find the whole production really fun and romantical. (words used widely by my family).

It works to my husbands benefit too. Since after a very long day of shooting a wedding. Seeing the new love and sparks of a sweet couple in love, I come home with renewed feelings of warmth and appreciation for the man I married some 20ish years ago. Corney I know.....but true it is.

So I love this job of mine....to see and capture things trivial and great. Then make sure they are
here for years and years to enjoy and remember over and over again. It's so much like being
a mom. We do things all day with our children that are trivial and great mostly trivial, and we pray that something we do or say will make them happy long after we are gone. Wouldn't that be great to go before the judgment bar and hear ........." You nailed the gig".