Philomath rocks

I live in Corvallis. Five steps away is a town called Philomath (pronounced Fuh LOW meth). There are farms, warehouses and big open grassy spaces. Downtown Philomath is super cute and a tiny bit funky. Which is why Sara of www.Saralil.com suggested it for our most recent workshop/get together. Me and 3 other photographers get together and learn from each other. I always walk way inspired and happy (especially when working with models, like Grace, below).I love the shape and size of her ring. So interesting.There is a HUGE antique warehouse off of 13th - where we found 3 antique tubs, 4 sinks, iron beds, bricks & a helicopter basket. All sorts of things to prop a model onto.Yeah, did I mention the awesome bright blue clawfoot tub? LOVE.

a family that apples together stays together

My friend Lainie and her awesome family. Her children oooooze of coolness. They asked for a traditional family portrait, and where is what I gave them. A true snapshot of them spending quality time together!Such cool kids. I love this shot below (although the color processing was a bit too artsy for Lainie!)

scenes from the farmers market

Almost every Saturday, Dan and I go downtown to the Corvallis farmer's market and for a weeks worth of veggies and fruits. This week we also bought pear ginger jelly (incredible) and unpasteurized honey; the locals say that this honey will help the onslaught of allergies that have kept me in a headachy state for the past two weeks.


There are always beautiful flower vendors as well. I am not sure what these flowers are, but I love them, every week.

Pinball & Madison Avenue Collective

This is Madison Avenue Collective's (MAC for short) new sign, taken on my newest favorite thing, the iPhone Hipstamatic app. The goofball below is Jeff. He is the ruler. The man who runs the whole place. I am surprised he even let me become a member (everyone else is super artsy (& polite) and cool). He is an amazingly creative graphic designer.
Web guru, vinyl record enthusiast and hip hat wearer, Ron Sparks, holds the high pin-ball record. I am pretty sure he cheats.Yeah, the MAC is so cool, it has its own retro pinball machine. And a dime pepsi machine (Jeff gives us the dimes). And the best expresso ever (Ron makes it, but you have to ask nicely).
Matt R, the MAC's newest member, is a web developer/social media guy. And a guitarist. And a father of four. And has a crazy beer knowledge base.
AND below is Sam who is perhaps the coolest design intern ever - especially if clothing style, hairdo height and laidbackness are the criteria. And Sam is handy with tools, so that should count.

Hipstamatic & me

I found another reason to be in love with my iPhone: the application Hipstamatic - a whirlwind of polariod/toy camera/random awesomeness. I was sitting in my car, waiting for the rain to stop. Even my shed looks cool.

My red kitchen with green dutch oven. Note Marvin's head and ever present crooked ears down at the VERY bottom of the photo.

First thing in the morning photograph of my super love: Dan. Look how he smiles at his sweet lab, Samson. Sooooo cute. ps. I love Dan's pajama pants.

Side of a building on the way back (home) from Eugene:

portraits, LARGE

Fed Ex just delivered these 30x36 canvas prints to my house! YES! Until now, I never got the idea of canvas prints, but all the big photographers were doing it. And now that I see these of the triplets I photographed this halloween, I love them (ignore the cellophane wrapping). Too bad I have to hand them over to my client this afternoon! Oh, if you get prints, I suggest the black border along the edge. AND make sure the staples are on the back. Otherwise you see the staples, and that is just gross.

engagement: amy & blair

I feel pretty lucky these days with the weather - as I have had perfect weather for every outdoor portrait session booked this winter. One day it was cold, but not impossible. Like for Amy and Blair's Engagement session, last week. We went to Bald Hill on a warm Saturday morning. The sun was shining, and the clouds were beautiful.

I love the big open barn for photographs.

Their wedding date is set! Congratulations to both Amy and Blair!

next year's rockwell-esque Christmas card?

So, I am LOVING myself a little too much because of this odd photo (taken during a Christmas portrait session last Sunday). I think its because of how she's positioning the little doll/santa/elf. Plus, they both have striped legs. I can see my bird logo and Merrrrrry Christmas in fancy type on it. Green sweaters and blue eyes are always a good combination. Her dad made faces at her from outside the window. Genius.We also shot in my studio, and this is one of my favorites from that session:

TWO guilty dogs

Since Dan's lab Samson has come to live with us, I have been battling with two misbehaving dogs. I just walked into the bedroom to find Marvin drinking my caramel truffle coffee on the nightstand - gross. Yesterday, Dan was welcomed home with a destroyed kitchen: apparently, Marvin jumped into the sink and shared those goodies with Samson. Also, a whole wheat bread carcass was on the floor, so an ENTIRE loaf of bread was consumed (we assume Samson actually ate the bread, but Marvin pushed it down to the floor for him).

Marvin has taken to peeing one inch away from Dan's guitar cases EVERY time we leave him. BUT if we (remember to) shut the bedroom door, (so he can't see the instruments), no peeing occurs. Instead, he poops adjacent to our music collection.

Samson's only really annoying trait is that he will plow your ass over if you stand between him and food, so after faceplanting once, I learned to just move aside. Currently, I am searching online for protective Whippet football gear for Marvin, as he continues to get bruised by a big brown linebacker K9. OK, one more annoying truth. Samson has humped holes into Marvin's beautiful argyle sweater. Proof of the bad doing. I seriously need Ceasar Milan.

Marvin's new fancy sweater

Marvin has a fancy new sweater. Evidently, 68 degrees makes him shiver, and I just can't watch that all winter long... How handsome!