Christmas in the Park Parade

Well this is coming a little late, but seeing how it is Christmas Eve, I thought it was still fitting.

A few weeks ago we had our annual “Christmas in the Park Parade” and amazingly the sun came out just as the band was starting up! It was a great turn out, with people picking their spots on the side of Main Street nearly an hour early, hot cups of coffee in hand. Our Military led the way with a plethora of good ol’ hick town entertainment. Candy was exploding from the cheer leading squad, jacked-up 4x4’s, and floats of all shapes and sizes.

Even my step-daughter’s dance class was busting moves in the street… you will notice there is no photo of her beautiful smiling face here… that is because she forget her step-mom is a photographer and when she saw me with my camera, all I got was a dirty “take my picture and die” look. As I tell all of my clients, I told her that she had two choices: smile, look beautiful, and have a great picture to remember the day by, or don’t smile, feel uncomfortable, and look at the picture the next day wishing you had just sucked it up and smiled. I told her that the next time she doesn’t smile, I will plaster her dirty scowl all over my website and use it as a “before” picture… She has promised to smile next time. :-)

All in all it was a beautiful parade to match a beautiful day!

A Beautiful Autumn Day

Last weekend I had the pleasure of doing a session with Jet, a co-worker and dear friend. She came to me wanting to have some nice pictures taken to give to her husband for Christmas. Her first words to me were: "You have no idea how hard this is to ask... I hate having my picture taken... "

We decided to meet at her favorite local place: the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. With miles of "boardwalks", beautiful fall foliage and some magestic old barns, it was sure to be a good session. Right as we pulled into the parking lot, the looming fog lifted, taking with it our concerns of a gloomy day.

We lazily strolled one of the loops, looking for those perfect opportunities to capture beautiful memories. An hour and a half later, we had over 60 shots that were worth keeping. Below are a few samples of our day. For not liking her picture taken, she sure looks beautiful!

Thank you for the fun session, and, of course, for the wonderful "trade"! Jet's husband is the inventor of "Split the Sheets" (visit his website at: http://www.splitthesheets.com/) and she gave me two sets for the session! All I can say is, I have never slept better!! Try them - you won't be sorry!

Endless Infatuation

I still remember walking through the exhibit barn at the county fair with my Mom looking to see if I received an “Honorable Mention” for the three photos I submitted. As I walked around the corner and recognized my photos hanging on the wall I blinked in disbelief. Two blue ribbons and one red! (That’s two first place and one second, for those of you who have not been to a county fair before!) I took down the first photo to admire my newly awarded ribbon. A capture of some bright orange lilies (my favorite in my Mom’s bulb garden) was staring back at me. I flipped the poster-board frame over and saw that the judge had written some notes to me: “A well-framed capture!” she wrote. Wondering what she said about the other two photos, I quickly pulled them down to read her words of wisdom. On the back of the photo of the snow pea blossom, taken with my Mom’s old manual 35mm, she wrote: “Great focus! Remember to watch your background.” Looking closer, I saw that there was an ugly stick in the background that, if had been removed, would have made the photo so much better. And last but not least, my red-ribbon photo. My beloved horse running through the snow. On the back was written “Beautiful horse! Focus is off.”

I never met the judge that wrote those notes on my photos, but all these years later I still remember her advice, and still have the same passion for photography. Every time I frame something or someone in my viewfinder, I remember that big brown stick taking the beauty away from the delicate snow pea blossom.

Photography is an amazing art. It makes you look at things that you normally would not notice. It captures moments that you might otherwise forget. It can freeze and reflect that perfect memory, wonderful emotion, breathtaking scene, or moment of passion for all eternity. Photography, of all kind, is my continuous obsession….my eternal fascination….my everlasting passion…. my Endless Infatuation.