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Before I’m ever a photographer, I’m mom to three little munchkins. This morning it struck me that these morning routine moments might be gone before I had taken the time to capture them. This happens at my house every day, and it’s these moments that pushed me into photography in the first place. How about your house? What do your mornings look like? Link me up – I’d love to see!
Here’s my middle one, snoring into the chair with the broken button.
My daughter at nine, who will kill me for this shot, heehee. She’s looking at the camera, believe it or not.
And the youngest, who at some point before we were up at 6am (OKAY, before my husband was up at 6am) curled onto the couch and snored profusely until 8:30.
I’ve added a flickr feed to my sidebar here just for kicks. I’m constantly taking pictures, some cool, some not so cool and some just weird. I’ve challenged myself to take at least one photo a day for an entire year, and flickr is my way of documenting that. (Lately I’ve been slacking on it and have only gotten a picture about every other day. I’ll have to work on fixing that, eh?) It will at least add some color and variety here, that’s for sure. Hope you all enjoy!
Have you ever been photo walking? It’s taking photos while you walk – noticing, breathing, feeling, experiencing what’s going on around you in a heightened way and then capturing it. Most of the time I’m convinced my family thinks I’m nuts because I do this all the time. They’ve learned to just keep walking and know I’ll catch up (but they’ve also learned to notice if I’ve been gone awhile, too.) My camera goes just about everywhere with me – I’ve gotten over the nerdy self-consciousness of it for I truly love taking pictures. So yesterday we met some friends and headed down to the Hawthorne district to do some coffee shop hopping, and what an incredible spot for pictures. The visual stimulations were as varied as the directions you could look. I had a ball.
And then Dad picked me up and we went downtown Portland to try out some night photography. Thanks to him and Steve, I really learned a lot, got to try out a tripod, and had a ton of fun wandering along the waterfront.
I’m learning to look back over a day’s worth of pictures (yesterday was about 250 of them!) and see patterns of thinking. Yesterday it was all about the color. I think the majority of pictures had orange, pink or red in them – happy colors. That makes me happy.
And now I’m off to catch up on phone calls (Marta, I haven’t forgotten you!), a few edits (they’re coming, Dorothy!), and a little bit of planning for a few shoots this week. I’m grinning, can you tell?
“Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.” Winnie the Pooh
That’s all. Hope your day is filled with a similar joy of discovery.
I read a quotation this afternoon that seemed to fit some recent events perfectly: If you’re not crashing, you’re not trying hard enough. You can’t be afraid to fall. If you are crashing it’s a sign you are pushing your limits and expanding your capabilities in whatever you are doing. There’s great wisdom there, you know? Tis true that we can’t be perfect the first try, despite how hard I wish we could. And where would learning be without mistakes? Growth only comes through struggle – just remember the bean seeds you planted in kindergarten. I’m remembering them myself this afternoon.
I keep asking my dad if there’s an end to mistakes that can be make. When will I get it all figured out? He just smiles at me. I’m taking that as a never. Forever growing – now there’s the positive thing. I think I like that spin, heehee.
And speaking of spin, check out this tongue! Our little boy lost his very first tooth this past week. Woot!! Isn’t he a riot?
There are a few new stock photography sets up in Studio Amy, too. Go grab ‘em if they strike your fancy. I’m off to edit some more pictures while you go take a peek. (Yes, that’s a huge assumption on my part, but hey, today I’m all about positive thinking. So there.) 
I had a gal pointed my way last week for a photo shoot, and we were able to get together this afternoon for a little “business” fun. What a sweet, gentle lady, and one whom I’m confident will more than meet the needs of her clients.
Tedi, thank you so much for making the long drive from Beaverton to meet in person. My dad and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with you, and hope it won’t be the last! Your heart is absolutely beautiful.
Another fabulous weekend meant a little more geocaching for our family. But first we had to live out a family tradition – grabbing dinner at Burger King and pulling in at PDX to watch the planes take off and land while we ate. The kids LOVE to do this, and the evening was incredible.
This man and his dog were pulled over on I-205 as we were getting on. You’d never guess we were in the middle of metropolis, would you? What a moment.
And this last one just cracked me up. I feel safer now. How about you?
Saturday we wandered along Lacamas Heritage Trail right here in town, and had a ball watching geese and canoers and salamanders galore. The weather couldn’t be beat.
And here we all are, watching those critters in the water:
And now just let me say – take your camera with you everywhere. It’s these little moments that make our lives so big. And if we don’t capture them in some way or another they slip by and before we know it they are forgotten. Shoot shoot shoot!
I have three more shots to share from Saturday’s road trip/hike out in the Gorge. The first is taken from Cape Horn. There’s a house down there (hidden in this picture) that I would love to live in. Can you just imagine? The road winding down through there is a dead end, and quite narrow. I’m sure they don’t get much traffic. The second shot is a grab shot taken from down on that road looking up to where the first shot was taken. (It was taken through the van window, but you get the idea . . . )
The third is from our hike, and this tree captivated me. I’d love to have a picnic here someday and spend the day musing and reading and sketching. Wouldn’t that be fabulous?
My parents have told us over and over about the beauty of Catherine Creek in the Columbia River Gorge. This weekend we were able to go out there with them and explore the vastness of it all. I was blown away first by how many people were there, but second how empty it seemed despite that fact. The hills meandered about, then the gullies got deep and stark. The wildflowers were beginning to bloom, and the trees had that new, soft greenness about them that only comes during the first part of spring. It was heaven.
The kids loved being able to run, and I just couldn’t get enough of the fresh air and beauty. We’ll be back, that is for sure. I’ll be putting together a gallery of our time later this week, but in the meantime here are a few of my favorite shots so far.
. . . And full of personality! I was able to have a long conversation with this little guy today, and it was SO entertaining! He is spunky, funny, sweet, and full of little secrets. (Shhhh, one is that he has FOUR friends, but you didn’t hear it from me. . . . ) We wandered all over the two story lobby of his parent’s office, and he showed me Superman’s flying route around the top floor. Thanks, Dad and Mom, for letting me play for a bit.
And thank you, Haylie, for joining me today. I’m kicking myself for not sneaking a few shots of you.
