Megan and Kevin

One of the weddings we photographed this summer was of Megan Brown (Tayler's friend) and Kevin Robinson. We took over 500 photos and these are just a few of my favorites. My friend Patty assisted me because my sister-in-law was out of town. The reception was held at the LDS Colonial Heights building. It is such a gorgeous old building. I was able to do a bridal photo shoot with Megan a few days before the wedding. She looked so beautiful in her wedding gown. Megan's mom, Lesa, also had me take some photos of the couple to use as wall decorations at the reception. It was so fun to see the photos enlarged to 12x18 and up around the room! They are such a cute couple!

Jenna and Stephen

Another wedding we photographed this summer (this time with my sister-in-law, Kathi) was of Jenna Trone and Stephen Johnson. Jenna and Stephen were alot of fun. Their reception was at the Ainsworth House in Oregon City. The grounds were beautful -- a perfect setting for a reception. My sister, Darcy, was here visiting from Tucson the second week in August and showed me new things to do in Photoshop--especially how to selectively colorize an image. As you can see, I kind of went crazy trying it. It was so easy to do and so cool!

Grandpa Knowles

I take a lot of photos of the Knowles family young grandkids, but we don't really have current photos of any of the adults. And we don't have any "portraits" of Grandpa; just casual photos taken at family gatherings. So at one family gathering this summer, I brought my black drape and set up a "photo studio" on Grandpa's back deck. Grandpa was very cooperative and I was able to get this shot.

You Never Know

You never know when you photograph young kids if you've caught just the right shot. When you have TWO young kids that you are trying to get to sit together, it becomes quite the adventure. These two adorable little boys, Sean and Nicholas, came over to my mom's backyard for a summer photo shoot. We tried a variety of poses and I could not tell if we had anything with both of them looking (I wasn't even counting on them both smiling!) and with everything in focus! After much silliness (a big plastic bug on my head) and bribery (smarties), the shoot was over, we were all tired out, and I discovered that we had some terrific shots. They're not even my kids and I could hardly wait to get prints made! I'm so happy with how these turned out.

Senior Photos

Here are more senior photos. I always have fun on these photo shoots.

Another favorite family photo

A year ago, I photographed the wedding of my friends, Kelli & Mario. Before the wedding we took some family shots. The front lawn of Kelli's house was the perfect spot to pose Kelli, Mario and their eight kids. Again, you can see a "triangle" in the pose. It looks casual but not haphazard. I really appreciate my friends allowing me to be their photographer.

My Guinea Pigs

My friends, Monica and Scott, and their kids have been my guinea pigs through the years. I've honed my portrait photography skills on their family. This was their most current family photo and it was one of the quickest photo shoots I've ever had. I think we took about 15 shots in all in about 15 minutes (hey, that could be a new niche market for the impatient!). Lucky for us, we got a good photo of the family. I like it because the pose forms a triangle--just what the photography experts say is one of the best ways to arrange a "pleasing" group portrait.

wedding details

One of my favorite things to capture on a wedding day are the individual touches that sets each wedding apart. It may be the cake or the decorations, the church or some other aspect of the big event, but it's so much fun to capture the details and try to find a new way to photograph it. I gather inspiration from all types of magazines and from other photographers.

babies, babies

Kathi, my sister-in-law, and I got to do photo shoots for two adorable babies last month. We did Mikayla's one year portrait (Mikayla is Kathi's granddaughter). We also took baby Sophia's portrait at 9 weeks old. Both were sooo cooperative and so much fun to photograph. For Sophia, we experimented with a white backdrop and actually had our whites look really white! Usually, the winter in Oregon can have gray, dreary days, but we were lucky to have sunny days for both shoots. I also got to take photos of another little girl, Anna, in December. She came with her older brothers and while it was a challenge to get all 3 of them together, she was so good in front of the camera!

senior photos

The last few months have been filled with senior photos. It is so much fun to take their photos. I'm posting just a few of them here.

looking back

I've been putting my old negatives on cd. I started with photos of my kids and our best friends, the Robinsons, as a birthday present for my friend, Marian, but have kept on because it's so much fun to see my kids when they were young! I like having easy access to all my old photos now. It's nice to see that my photography has changed too (not as many blurry photos!). Here are just a few of those photos from years ago. The "dancer" is my oldest who is now 19. He was just two years old when he took tap and dance lessons with some of his friends from church. The dark-eyed baby is my oldest daughter. She's now 17 (almost 18). Don't you just love those big, dark eyes? The just-bathed babies in red jammies are my now-fifteen year old daughter (on the left) and a family friend.