GavinJensen.net

Soren at almost 4 Months

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:09:00 -0800

It has been a whirlwind of a ride with the new little one. I have been snapping photos of him whenever I get time but my free time really has taken a hit.

Soren is really becoming interactive now. He smiles, laughes and giggles which brightens up my day every time he does it. Here are a few of the 200 photos that I took yesterday in a 15 minute session when Holly was washing his face. It is amazing how many expressions he can make in such a short time.

Sommer and Cliff

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:05:00 -0800

I had the privileged of taking some maternity photos for some old college friends of mine. Sommer and I sang in the PLU Jazz Choir for several years together and cliff played in the Jazz band. Both of them kept gigging after college and are still playing and singing in the greater Seattle Tacoma area.

Sommer was a bit anxious about the portraits but as soon as we got started she relaxed and we were able to enjoy the process. Cliff had some great ideas at the end and I had a great time laughing along with them.

First time to St. Louis

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:33:00 -0800

I recently had the opportunity to take a work related trip out to St. Louis. This was my first time in the great state of Missouri. In my time outside of work I got to taste some pretty authentic BBQ, and spend a sunset taking photos of the Gateway Arch and the St. Louis skyline.

The Arrival of Soren

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:32:00 -0800

Holly and I are pleased to announce the arrival of our son Soren! Soren currently does not have a middle name but one is in the works.

It has been a long three days of labor birth and getting to know our son. I plan on writing up the whole story but tonight I'm just going to post some photos and the short version of the labor while Holly is nursing.

Holly's water broke on Saturday afternoon around 3pm. We got to the Hospital around 6pm and Holly's contractions started in full at 1am on Sunday morning. After 11 hours of active labor Holly was dilated to 8 cm and she was working hard each contraction. At 15 hours of active labor Holly was still at 8 cm and she was exhausted and her contractions had slowed down a bit. She elected to get an epidural and had one by 7pm that evening. She got a bit of rest while the contractions continued and with the help of some Pitocin she was fully dilated and ready to push at 10pm.

Holly was relieved to be pushing and after a few pushes to get the hang of it she was off and making progress and by the midnight we could see the first signs of a head with brown fuzzy hair. After two more hours of of pushing Holly's contractions were still strong but had slowed and the baby's head was just showing still. The midwives backup Dr. Laurance arrived and Holly pushed for an additional hour with little progress made. At this time Holly had been in labor for 25 hours and she was completely beat. The Doctor recommended we try to use suction to aid the next few contractions. On the next contraction with a bit of help from the Doctor Soren was born. After the birth Soren was placed directly onto Holly's belly while I cut the umbilical cord.

Being a part of the birth of Soren was a truly awe inspiring experience and one that I will never forget. I am lucky to have such an amazing wife who worked so hard to at getting our son into this world. Our new family is blessed to have such an amazing circle of supportive family and friends. We look forward to being able to introduce you all to Soren and have him grow to know the same support and love that Holly and I have received from you all.

Below are the first of many photos to come of my son that I have taken during his first two days with us. A few were right after being born where his hair looks crazy curly and he is a little purple is color. There is one photo of him taking his hearing test in his sleep that I thought was cute. His eyes have not been open much but I did get one photo of him peering my way that I absolutely love.

The Nursery

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:14:00 -0800

Well Holly is officially one day past her due date. We had a midwives appointment on Wednesday and everything checked out OK. We have another appointment next Thursday so we are still just waiting for the baby to arrive until then.

Holly reminded me that we never posted the final photos of the Nursery so here they are. We got the crib and dresser used on Craig's List and the night stand and bookcase are from Holly's room growing up. Holly painted the green, blue and did an awesome job of hand painting the clouds. I cut the molding for the chair rail and was happy with the way it turned out.

Back to waiting...

Holly at 35 Weeks

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:09:00 -0700

A few weeks ago Holly and I spend a Saturday afternoon and evening picking out cool maturity photos on the web that she liked and we then tried to duplicate the lighting pose and setup of the photos in our living room. I had a great time taking photos of Holly and think she is one beautiful woman. We also ran out to the trail behind our house to catch a bit of that beautiful sunset light. Here are the results.

Gerrin and Rocelle's Wedding

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:00:00 -0700

Gerrin and Rocelle are now officially married and what a cute couple they make. I have known Gerrin since my PLU days, we were both Computer Science majors, and we now both work at Boeing.

I have take a few other photos of Gerrin back when he was a single guy on the hunt and more recently photos of the actual engagement last summer. I have always had a good time taking their photos and this occasion was no different.

Their wedding was at the beautiful mansion in Gig Harbor called Kensington Gardens. The house was perched on top of a hill and surrounded by a well kept gardens and an elegant fountain just outside the main entrance.

The wedding party arrived around 1:30pm and since Gerrin and Rocelle had decided not to see each other on their wedding day the women and men dressed separately. I stapped some prep photos and then we moved on to photos of the groomsmen with the groom and the bridesmaids with the bride.

The wedding was underway at 4pm in the little courtyard outside. Gerrin and Rocelle had a unique wine unity ceremony where they mixed two different wines and drank together. They each read the vows they had written which were both beautiful and funny. Their vows were written separately but both contained a reference to died root beer.

Following the ceremony I got some time to shoot the formal group shots and lots of the new couple. I really like some of the more casual shots against a white wall. Gerrin and Rocelle were just talking, relazing and smiling at each other against a clean background. It was fun to capture their interactions.

The reception followed with tastey food and lots of heartfelt toasts from friends and family. It was clear that the new couple has a great support network and have cultivated some quality relationships.

The dancing started up quickly lead by a great set of DJ's who brought energy and some nicely placed audio humor to the event. The dance floor was filled with young and old spinning and celebrating.

Gerrin and Rocelle's exit for the evening consisted of a walk out the front door of the mansion through some staged snow lit from the ground to a beautiful purple and red.

Congratulations to both Gerrin and Rocelle and their families. What a great couple they have become.

Townhouse For Sale

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:41:00 -0700

After a long month of house hunting and a tough few weeks of cleaning and moving Holly and I have officially changed addresses and are putting our townhouse on the market.

It went up this morning and we are hopeful that all of our hard work will pay off. We already heard from our Realtor that we have a few people going to see the place tonight.

Holly did a fantastic job of staging the place which made my job of taking photos pretty easy. I had fun stitching together the panorama of the living room to try and capture the "cathedral ceiling" as the listing puts it.

Holly and I spent 5 years at the townhouse and have many fond memories of the place. But we are excited to be in a bigger place in time for the baby and look forward to having all of our friends, new neighbors and family over for a housewarming.

If you know anyone who is interested in a great little townhouse in Renton pass them this listing.

http://www.johnlscott.com/69116

4th of July with Family

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:12:00 -0700

Holly and I split the 4th of July between our local parents. We started at her folks house in the early afternoon for a BBQ and time to get caught up on Holly's parents recent trip to Denver to see Brett and Megumi.

Holly and I took a bit of time to sneak away to the beautiful backyard and shoot some maternity photos of Holly at 5.5 months. I think we got several good shots and we may return to shoot some of the next ones there as well.

We chatted for a bit and then sat down outside to eat some hamburgers with all of the fixings. It was a proper 4th of July feast complete with red, white, and blue fruit pizza for dessert. I took lots of dessert photos in an attempt to practice up for the current strobist boot camp food photography assignment that is due this Saturday.

With our bellies full we headed south and up 101 to my mothers house. We stopped along the way to pick up fireworks to light at my mothers house. With a $30 dollar budget we left the stand with a small bag of fountains and sparklers. We arrived at my mothers house just before dark in time to watch my Mom finish squeezing the last of 20 lemons for her very fresh lemonade.

After dark we spent way too much time having way to much fun laughing at and taking photos of our tiny fireworks display. We started with "Sun Bursts" these birthday candle sized fountains that would shoot sparks about 1 foot in the air for a few seconds. This caused much laughter and then we moved on to the slightly larger and somewhat more impressive fountains. We had a good time watching and laughing at and taking photos of the fountains.

Next with my camera mounted to my tripod we attempted to do some drawing with the sparkelers. After a few attempts Holly got a pretty cool signature and We were able to try for the classic heart with the two of us standing in the center. I may try this technique after some practice at an wedding that I'm shooting in August.

After we ran out of fireworks we headed to the backyard to make some s'mores around the campfire. And at 1:30 after three rounds of marshmallow toasting I was done for the night.

Little Snail

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:11:00 -0700

I found this little guy snacking on our Hosta this morning. In exchange for the meal he was kind enough to let me take a few photos of him (I insisted). I drug out my light box and set up for some table top photography.

It was interesting watching him slither up to an edge and then reach and far as he could to try to find the next platform to continue on his journey. After the photos I thanked him and set the little snail back where I found him.

We are having a Boy!

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:57:00 -0700

Holly and I just got back from the Dr's appt and we are excited to announce that we are having a baby boy. The technician was 100% sure and we have the ultrasound photos to prove it. We also got to hear the heartbeat again. What an amazing sound.

10 Second Heartbeat Clip.

David Brickley Memorial Service

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:37:00 -0700

Yesterday I attended the memorial service of my uncle Dave Brickley. Dave died of a sudden and unexpected heart attack last Saturday march 28 in the middle of the night.

On the flight to Billings I wrote a few of my uncles favorite memories down about Dave.

Sandpaper Face Hugs - Dave used to greet me and my brothers, when we were kids, by grabbing us in a hug and rubbing his stubble covered cheek against ours much to our dismay. We always knew it was coming and we would struggle to prevent this greeting.

Red Ryder - I remember one particular camping truck when Dave got a set of walkie talkies and insisted on calling everyone by a callsign. His was Red Ryder since he had just purchased a red toyota pickup.

Hearts - Dave taught me how to play hearts and there has usually been a few rounds of hearts each and every family gathering we would have. The phrase "Smoking the Bitch" was also introduced at these games and was used to describe when someone was trying to lead with successive spades to force the queen to int play.

Tennis Big Sky State Games - Dave loved to play tennis and Tyson and I played with and against Dave several times even a few in the Big Sky State games.

Lucky Motorhome - Dave also loved this old 1970's motorhome that he bought. I remember it had a Leprechaun on the back with the text Lucky below it. Dave was always so happy driving that thing but it seemed that it was never very lucky breaking down on several occasions.

Milk on the Rocks - Dave also liked his milk on the rocks. Odd thing to remember but it will always remind me of him.

The service was well put together and brought about many great memories of Dave. There was a slideshow put to music that made me cry seeing all of the wonderful happy times with him and his little kids.

I'll always miss my uncle Dave and I hope his family the best in dealing with this tragic loss.

Planting some Daffodils

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 07:40:00 -0700

Last weekend in an apparent attempt to urge spring forth, Holly planted some tulips in our back and front yards. Nature promptly responded with snow for the next three days. Just as we finished these beautiful dark impending clouds were moving over the house. The little flowers are doing great but I thought I'd post a few photos of the little adventure.

My Guitar

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:02:00 -0700

Decided to attempt some photos last night. My mother was staying at my place in order to take a beginning photo class the next morning so we decided to try one of her assignments. The assignment was to select one object and take 36 photos of it. I didn't stop at 36 but got these four which I thought were worth posting. It was fun to get the camera and one strobe back out and get the creative juices flowing again.

So I'm looking for some more assignments to try. Anyone have any ideas?

Foggy Golf Shoot

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:02:00 -0800

Recently I had the privileged of shooting some promotional photos for a local golf course. The weather did not cooperate at all as it was foggy and cold for the afternoon. I met some amazing young golfers on the course and had a great time taking some portraits.

I may get to return when the weather is better to focus on some more scenic shots with blue sky and everything.

52PP:29 Tristin One Year Old

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:33:00 -0800

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking Tristin's portrait just past his one year birthday. Tristin is an energetic boy and along with his parents we had a great time taking his photos. After setting up a mini studio in the livingroom we we started with several of Tristin's stuffed animals and got him to ride this large green dragon.

Thanks to Tristin's mother and father for all of the wonderful noises and antics behind me to hold their sons attention. Here are the fruits of our labor.

52PP:28 Kevin Freitas Light Workshop

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:21:00 -0700

While holding a little mini light workshop for a few photographer buddies of mine Kevin was kind enough to sit while I played with a few lighting setups that I had been wanting to try. All of these shots were taken against the same grey background. I was able to change the color of the background by placing a gel on the background light or just eliminating it completely for a smooth black.

52PP:27 Maia One Year Old

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:54:00 -0700

This was my second portrait session with the lovely Maia who was turning one year old. Since the last shoot Maia had become much more mobile. We tried to keep her happy and entertained while in the correct spot for some photos. Sarah had the great idea of getting some shots of Maia as she dug her way into a little birthday cake.

I had a great time taking Maia's portrait. She is a sweet girl and I look forward to the next time.

The Wedding of Nick and Jane

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:55:00 -0700

I had the privileged of being the photographer for Nick and Jane's wedding at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. We had a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies for an equally beautiful ceremony. I enjoyed meeting all of the family and friends that came to support and witness the event. Nick and Jane are truly blessed with many people who love them dearly. Congrats to the newlyweds.

52PP:26 Gerrin and Rocell's Engagement

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:13:00 -0700

I had the honor of taking photos of the engagement of Gerrin and Rocell at the beautiful Point Defiance Park. I have taken both Gerrin and Rocell's portrait before but this time there was a plan underfoot. Gerrin had asked me about a month before about taking photos of his engagement and he wanted to use the photoshoot as cover to get Rocell all dressed up with a camera pointed at her without drawing any suspicion.

Gerrin explained to Rocell that I had an portrait subject drop out on me at the last minute and that since they were going to be dressing up for dinner anayways that they would help me out and be my substitute subjects for the afternoon.

I met the couple at the Park after scouting out a few locations earlier and we proceeded to take some portraits. After 40 minutes of so I gave Gerrin the queue with my camera ready and he popped the question. Rocell was pleasantly surprised and fell into his arms with a huge grin on her face.

I took a few shots of the ring an sent them off to have dinner at the Melting Pot. Gerrin and Rocell are a great couple and I wish them the best in their wedding and marriage to come.

My first taste of PAX

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:55:00 -0700

Just got back from my first day at PAX. It was completely overwhelming and really brought out my inner nerd. Tons of games of all sorts from card, to rollplaying, to cell phone, and of course video games. Kevin and I attended the question and answer segment of the "How to Get Your Girlfriend Into Gaming" seminar that was lead by a panel of 6 or so women gamers who gave candid and enlightening answers to all sorts of girl and gaming questions. It made me chuckle a few times but the mood was positive and many of the answers empowering.

Next we met up with Matt and moved through the Expo Hall full of commercial demo video games with consoles and wide screen displays set up everywhere. There were several big titles not yet released with demo levels and large lines for a chance to play. Left For Dead was one that we gathered around and watched. From what I saw it was a 4 person coop that pitted you and your friends against an endless stream of zombies. There were some pretty brutal scenes but the game looked amazing.

Seeing all of these amazing games on a high def screen defiantly left me wanting to step into the HD arena myself.

The last event of the evening was the final round of the Omegathon where the last two surviving gamers were pitted against each other in a classic that was never released in the states... VS Excite Bike. It was hilarious to see this classic projected on two huge screens as a crowd of thousands laughed and cheered as the players battled each other for seven rounds for some serious prizes.

I had a great time going to the tail of this years event and I think I'll try to go next year.

Weekend at the Beach

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:39:00 -0700

Kyle, Lindsey, Holly and I all piled into the car and headed to Seaside WA for a fun filled beach weekend. Our weekend started out in Cannon Beach where we rented recumbent tricycles. We all enjoyed zipping back and forth and circling each other as we worked our way up and down the beach. After a quick bite to eat we headed back to Seaside to check into our room. And what a room it was folks. Complete with kitchenette and two bed and two bathrooms we were not by any means roughing it.

For our evening entertainment we headed out to a local wine bar on food and enjoyed many different samplings of wine and some great food.

For our second day on vacation we headed out to hike our way up the hills at the neighboring Ecola State Park. We found a great 3 mile loop that took us to a vista where we could see an isolated light house quite a ways into the ocean. There were even some wooden log shelters complete with bunk beds where people could camp for the evening. We worked our way though a lush forest on the way back down and saw some amazing huge and beautiful moss covered trees. It seemed that the landscape changed with each corner. With the hike complete we headed back to our room and the girls took a nap while Kyle and I hit the beach for some kite flying.

Kyles father had let him borrow a stunt kite and we took turns attempting to hold on to it in the quite gusty conditions on the beach. It was my first attempt at kite flying and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

After a shower we packed up the car and headed for the beach for some sunset portraits of Kyle and Lindsey and a beach bonfire to roast some hotdogs and of course share some s'mores together. The sunset was amazing with the mirror of the water on the sand reflecting and refracting the colors of the sky. We shot photos until it was dark and then quickly made our fire for the dogs and s'mores. For some reason hot dogs over a campfire after a day in the sun taste amazing to me.

On our final day at the beach we walked to the Pig and Pancake for a fully loaded breakfast and then it was off to do a bit of shopping, mini golf, bumper cars, and the arcade. The arcade was a complete trip back to middle school for me. Armed with a fist full of quarters we tried our hand at some basket ball, ski ball, and a few rounds of air hockey. By the end we pooled our wads of tickets and bought a few pieces of candy to share between us.

With a quick stop at the candy shop to load up on a zillion flavors of salt water taffy we jumped back into the car and headed home. I had picked up a the classic mad libs and we all had a good laugh inserting each others names into the twisted and nonsensical stories.

Thanks to Lindsey who did all of the heavy lifting for planning our beach weekend. I had a great time and have many fond memories of it that make me smile.

52PP::25 Kyle and Lindsey

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:55:00 -0700

Portraits of Kyle and Lindsey were taken at Seaside WA. Holly and I had a great weekend at the beach and Kyle and Lindsey were kind enough to let me take their portraits. We had a bit of a struggle with the wind but the beach is such a beautiful place to shoot portraits it was hard to pass up.

52PP:24 Lahaszow Family Portraits

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:55:00 -0700

I had the pleasure of shooting some senior and family portraits for the Lahaszow family. We shot in their neighbors backyard which provided many different backdrops and even the sunset didn't cooperate with us we managed to get some good family portraits. I had a great time meeting their family and I think the fun shows in the photos.

5th Year Anniversary

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:15:00 -0700

Our 5th anniversary celebration this year started with a brunch in the revolving restaurant in the Space Needle. The space needle has a special significance for us since I proposed underneath it and we watched the sunset shortly afterward from the top.

The food was delicious and the view was constantly changing. We worked our way through all three courses and took two laps around the restaurant as we ate.

After breakfast we changed into our bike clothes and boarded the fairy to Bainbridge Island. The plan was to take the ferry to the island and then ride our bikes to Kianna Lodge where were married.

I got a flat tire just after getting off of the boat so we hit the local bike shop for a new tube and pump and were back on the road. The weather was clear, sunny and a bit hot. We worked our way across the island and over the bridge to Kianna. Holly had called ahead and we had gotten permission to visit the grounds for a few minutes between two weddings.

We brought our vows and recited them to each other again by the water and surrounded with beautiful flowers. We spent a few minutes remembering our wedding day and the walk down the dock to the plane where we departed. It's hard to imagine that it has been five years but it was great for both of us to reconnect with each other and be at Kianna again.

We biked back and found a good pizza place called "That'sa Some Pizza" where we shared a pie and then headed back on the ferry and then back home by car.

It was a great day spent remembering where our relationship started and spending time with my best friend.

52PP:23 Sarah and Cheri's Wedding

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:00:00 -0700

I had the pleasure of shooting Sarah and Cheri's wedding this past Saturday. I have known Sara through Choral Arts where we have been singing together for several years. We even did a few wedding gigs as a duet. She has a beautiful voice and we have always got along.

Sarah left Choral Arts to get her masters in Hawaii where she met Cheri. Thus the lei's for all the guests.

The wedding was at St. Marks Cathedral in Seattle. A beautiful space with great acoustics for Choral Arts who was singing at the wedding. Since there are no photographs allowed during the ceremony I got to sing as well as take photos.

The ceremony was heartfelt, well thought out and full of wonderful music. The church has a particular layout where you can add music in certain places so Sarah being the music loved added music everywhere.

The reception was at the Burke Museum on the UW campus. There was great food lots of drinks folks celebrating the new couple.

Congrats to Sarah and Cheri again I'm sure the two of you will have a great adventure together.

52PP:22 Jesper and Cara's Wedding

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:24:00 -0700

I had the honor of photographing my cousin Jesper's wedding to Cara in Bozeman MT at the beautiful Springhill Pavilion. The Pavilion is a turn of the century dance hall nestled at the base of the Briger Mountains surrounded by a private working ranch. It was an amazing setting to have a wedding.

The ceremony started about 4pm and everyone looked great. The entire ceremony was well thought out and beautifully executed from the readings to their vows. The weather threatened to rain the whole time but held off just long enough for the ceremony to complete.

Following the ceremony was an amazingly tasty dinner and heartfelt toasts. Several brothers, fathers and friends had the couple laughing and crying as they told stories and honored the bride and groom.

Next came the band. The 10 piece funk band lead by Andrew Gromiller completely blew the roof off of the place. By far the best band I have ever heard at any wedding. They had everyone in the place up and dancing and even accompanied the Cara as she dedicated "Shining Star" to Jesper. We got them to take a few Tower of Power requests it was amazing.

The band played into the evening long after most had gone home. It was a beautiful end to an amazing day. Congrats to Jesper and Cara. I wish you both love and happiness as you begin your journey together.

52PP:21 Gary Cannon

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:37:00 -0700

I took some head shots of Gary Cannon for him to use in his choral profession. Gary is a local conductor and singer. We have sung together a few times and it has always been a pleasure.

I had the opportunity to try out a new grey seamless paper background that I recently acquired and was pleased with the results. It gave me plenty of room to maneuver and with one background light I was able to produce many moods out of the single background.

Thanks for being a sport Gary and I hope the shots we were able to make work well for you.

Soar with Choral Arts

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:59:00 -0700

The second fund raiser in Choral Arts history was an evening to remember. The event was executed with precision, care to detail, elegance, and style on Saturday night at the Museum of Flight.

The evening started with the choir singing "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine" under a replica of one of Leonardo's designs and continued in the wonderfully decorated banquet room on the second floor. There were flowers on the tables complete with foam planes. Two different sections of the silent auction with amazing baskets of goodies and beautiful art.

First was the silent auctions with people peering at the prices and checking back on their favorite items some even guarding them with threats of removing pens and hiding bid sheets. After the silent auctions came the dinner and wine which smelled wonderful everyone enjoyed and lead into the live auctions.

The master of ceremony and the auctioneer made everyone feel comfortable and made the live auction flow from one item to another. There were many amazing items to bid on from jewelry to weekend getaways.

Everyone in the Choir and board of directors worked their tails off for the event and the group really pulled together as a whole. Congrats Choral Arts on an wonderful evening that has helped to secure our financial future.

I was playing my usual role as photographer and here are some of the photos that I took during the nights activities.

Point Defiance Zoo - Kids' Zone

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:16:00 -0700

The Zoo opened a new section of its Kids' Zone and I got to take photos of the event. The Kids' Zone is a great combination of playground, zoo, and interactive learning stations. There are zoo exhibits surrounding the sandbox, giant spiderweb, and other kids toys. If I had a kid I'm sure it would be a hit.

The weather turned out to be great for the event. I shot the opening speeches, the ribbon cutting, followed shortly by the dash to be the first to play on the new playground and many shots of the kids enjoying the new space. Kids can be difficult to capture but I feel I am getting better by spending lots of time down a their altitude and trying to predict where they will be in the next few seconds.

For the event the zoo had hired a great entertainer who tromped puppets around, juggled, and gave high fives from his stilts. I even got him to do a huge high kick for the camera while he was up there. There was also a great steel pan player who sang some great songs like "My Brown Eyed Squirrel" and several others that the kids enjoyed and made the adults chuckle.

52PP:20 Todd and Stephanie

Thu, 22 May 2008 22:02:00 -0700

Todd and Stephanie are engaged to be married in a few months and agreed to have their portrait taken for my project. We headed out on a cloudy evening along the waterfront in Seattle and had a good time making photos along the docks and some of the fountains in the area. Todd and Stephanie were great subjects and it was fun to watch them interact with each other.

52PP:19 Mayors of Tacoma

Sun, 18 May 2008 12:39:00 -0700

Yesterday I had the privilege of shooting some promotional photos for Metro Parks Tacoma of six different mayors of Tacoma. The shoot was at Point Defiance Park on an unusually bright and hot sunny day. The photos are going to be used to promote the Wine and Roses benefit at the Taste of Tacoma where all six mayors will be there pouring some wine and enjoying the event.

LeMay's provided beautiful example of a 1930 Duesenberg J for the photos. We put the mayors with the car in some more formal poses complete with top hats and sashes and then moved to some more lighter photos of the tossing their hats and joking around. The mayors were all great to work with and had an amazing ability to arrange themselves on the car as a group with little input from me.

The thirty minutes went by quickly and after some editing I believe we have some usable photos for the event. Thanks to Nancy Johnson and everyone who set up this shoot behind the scenes that allowed it to go off without a hitch.

Photoshoot Technical Details (warning photo jargon ahead)
Since I don't own enough lights to beat the sun at its prime 1pm the first thing I had to do was to find a large slab of shade. A quick jog around the park yielded an a huge pine tree that provided enough shade for the Duesenberg and the mayors. I threw up two strobes synced by my pocket wizards set to 1/2 power. This way I would have a reasonable recycle time but a fighting chance to edge out the ambient in the shade. I put a shoot through umbrella onto one strobe and left the second bare. All of the shoot was done with these two strobes with my camera at max sync speed of 1/250 at about f8 which put the shade about 2/3 to 1 stop underexposed. This allowed me to use the strobes to bring the subjects out in the exposure.

52PP:18 Aaron and Lydia

Wed, 14 May 2008 20:09:00 -0700

Week 18 of my project brought me Lydia and Aaron. I went to college with Aaron where we played a bit of ultimate together. He went on to become a much more serious player along with my brother Tad. It was good to see Aaron and to get to know Lydia a bit better.

Lydia and Aaron are soon moving to NY on a great adventure where Lydia will be attending fashion design school I believe. So this was my last chance to shoot them.

All shots took place at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma in between little rain flurries. I did have an accident with my SB-28 flash and a little stream. The stream won and I had to say goodbye to my trusty flash with a kerthunk and a splash. I have since ordered two more.

Thanks to Aaron and Lydia for being great first time models and being able to put up with me pointing the camera at them for so long.

Seattle Flickr Light Painting at Gasworks

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:54:00 -0700

Last night I attended my first Seattle Flickr event at Gasworks Park. There were about 40 photographers in attendance with an impressive volume of photography gear. It was fun to meet other folks who were interested in photography and off camera lighting.

There were a few models who showed up to have their photos taken and I to hop in and shoot some photos of them. Molino (the guy in the blue shirt and suit) was a pleasant although cold chap with plenty of different looks. I tried a color shift with him to make the sky go blue and bring out his blue shirt.

I also had a chance to work with Stephanie who showed up wearing a red dress and willing to attempt modeling. We tried some long exposures where she would be lit primarily by the flash and then hop out of the frame for the last few seconds. This caused her to appear transparent.

There were tons of cameras there and it seems that most folks are posting to the group pool. It is interesting to see how many different great photos people are able to get from the same setting.

It felt good to meet some more folks with similar interests and share a bit in the creative experience. I am looking forward to the next "Trash the Dress" Seattle Flickr Meetup event.

52PP:17 Kelly Kirkland

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:14:00 -0700

Kelly is a Marketing and Project Assistant for a sustainable building company in Seattle. She is married to Matt Turner who was on of my first portraits.

Kelly raises a few hens for their eggs so we tried to get some photos of her with them. They have some lovely color and plumage and they kept making the warning cluck when I would get to close with my camera.

The weather was sunny and it smelled of cut grass in the air. We got out the hammock and took some portraits in the front and back yard before heading to the park. Matt tagged along and proved to be an excellent voice activated light stand as well and making Kelly more relaxed.

Hiking Little Si

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:45:00 -0700

This weekend has been a busy one For Holly and I. We have had a total of three rehearsals and one concert. We did manage to get a bit of hiking in and soak up some sunshine in the process.

Holly and I headed up to Mount Si on Saturday after our morning rehearsal to hike the little Si trail. It took us about 1.5 hours to get up to the summit going at a leisurely pace and taking in all of the beautiful scenery along the way.

About half way up as the trail progress along the side of a sheer rock face several hundred feet straight up we spotted a few climbers making there way down the face and we stopped to watch for a bit. I get a bit twitchy just standing 4 to five feet from the edge at the top and can hardly imagine what the view dangling from one of those ropes must feel like.

The weather was perfect, not to hot and not too cold. The shade of the forest kept us cool and the summit had a welcome breeze at the exposed top. The way down took us about an hour and with our legs a bit wobbly we packed up into the car and headed out.

On the way home we did manage to make the hike a zero calorie loss event by having a burger and shake at Twedees Cafe in North Bend. Their butterscotch shakes are an experience and enough to justify a road trip with a bit of outdoor activity to work it all off again.

52PP:16 Jack Wilson

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:03:00 -0700

Jack Wilson is the Executive Director at Metro Parks and I had the privilege of shooting his portrait for the upcoming Pierce County trail guide. All of the portraits were taken at Point Defiance Park, some in the gardens and some along a trail. Point Defiance is a beautiful place to shoot and I hope the photos fit the image that Jack and Nancy were after.

Jack did a great job for his first time as a model and I had fun taking his portrait and am excited to see the trail guide in print.

52PP:15 Jen Mooney

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:57:00 -0700

Jen is an aspiring fellow photographer who graciously agreed to be my portrait subject for this week. It doesn't hurt that she is also dating my brother Tyson. You can checkout her flickr stream to see some of her work.

We met in Olympia and took a few photos at a local park and then were pushed back into the car during a brief rain storm. Our session concluded on the steps of the capital building where we found a good wind block and shelter from the off and on again rain.

Jen is a bit camera shy and recently got her braces off which explains a few of the teeth shots. On with the photos.

52PP:14 Cora Foster

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:22:00 -0700

Cora was great fun to shoot this past weekend. We had plans to hit a local park for some outdoor shots but the rain kept us inside so we turned her livingroom into a studio complete with black backdrop, a lamp for a light stand and a fan. I got to play with a new reflector and try some lighting ideas out some worked and some still need some work. I also used this opportunity to try out some new post processing tricks.

Thanks for being my last minute model and being so flexible Cora.

52PP:13 Gerrin and Rocelle

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:21:00 -0700

This week I had the pleasure to shoot Gerrin and Rocelle. They were able to fill in on short notice and we had a great time trying to shoot between rain breaks. We would shoot until the rain started and then I would frantically pack my lights up and we would run for the car. They were good sports through the bad weather. Thanks to the cute couple.

52PP:12 Alicia Buechler

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:40:00 -0700

I am running one week behind on my portrait project because we had a death in the family and a funeral last weekend. I'll just have to do two some time to get caught up.

This is Alicia's first time as a model and she did a great job. She brought enough clothes a great glitter makeup that we could have shot for three days straight. The green mask was awesome and with a few gels we were able to catch some really dramatic shots. The final sunset photos worked out well as it had been raining most of the weekend.

Thanks again Alicia we'll have to try this again some time in warmer weather so we can shoot some more of your cool clothes.

52PP:11 Tad Jensen

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:18:00 -0700

Tad is my younger better looking brother who agreed to let me take his portrait for my project. The original plan was to take some action/field ultimate frisbee shots since he was in town for a ultimate tournament. But the weather didn't cooperate and we did the shoot in a small apartment instead. We'll have to try the more epic shots another time.

Tad is a man of many faces and I caught a few of them while a few of his friends poked fun at him in the living room with us. Thanks for helping me out Tad!

Bach to School

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:23:00 -0700

Today I spent the afternoon singing Bach for two different Catholic schools with Choral Arts. In an effort to increase the groups outreach to the community Choral Arts decided to present two 45 minute interactive sessions with school kids aimed at introducing them to Bach and teaching them a little about the St. John Passion that the group is currently performing.

The program was presented to St. Joseph's Catholic Church and St. Catherine's both in Seattle. The presentation included talking about a fugue and having the kids raise their hand when they heard the fugue theme be introduced while the choir was singing. The 4th grades even learned the melody of one of the chorals to sing along with the choir. The kids were given time to ask questions at the end of each session which turned out to be my favorite part. They were very insightful and entertaining questions from "How does the choir learn the German accent?" to "Do you all sing in the shower every morning?"

I took a bit of time during the second session to take some photos of Bode and the choir in action.

Choral Arts St. John Passion

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:45:00 -0700

Tonight was the first rehearsal with the full complement of musicians for the St. John Passion. Performances are Friday night at Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle 7pm and Saturday night at St. Leo's Church in Tacoma 8pm.

The soloists were all amazing and the rehearsal got me excited about performing this piece again. I brought my camera and took some photos of the rehearsal that just might be in the paper some time soon.

With that its off to bed for me. We have two more late rehearsals left and I still have to play Software Engineer during the daylight hours. Goodnight.

52PP:10 Dennis Johnson

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:35:00 -0700

Dennis is a hight school biology/chemistry teacher and my father in law. He has passion for plants and the outdoors which I tried to show in these portraits. Some of them were taken at wild woods park in Puyallup and the others were taken in the green house that Dennis build a few years ago.

Deer in our Backyard

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:13:00 -0800

Yesterday Holly saw three different deer in our backyard in the morning after I had left for work. She snapped some photos and showed them to me when I got home.

This morning as I was eating breakfast we had our second deer sighting in two days. I ran upstairs to take photos from the 2nd story to get a better view. We saw two young deer happily munching on the new green shoots from a few of the bushes in our back yard.

It was a pretty amazing sighting considering our proximity to the city.

52PP:9 Justin Foster

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:55:00 -0800

Justin is currently the VP of Professional Services at WhatCounts an email marketing company in Seattle.

We tried to make some corporate business photos with the goal of sprucing up my portfolio as well and getting Justin some images he could use. Once Justin relaxed and started to have fun the photos began to happen.

These were shot at the Olympic Sculpture Park and in an alley near Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle.

52PP:8 U W Students

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:44:00 -0800

For week 8 my portrait subjects were some students at the University of Washington all outside enjoying some of the amazing weather we had this past weekend. I had an hour to kill since Holly was attending a class on our way back from snowboarding. I was great to just wander the campus looking for good photos.

All of these portraits were taken with permission and without any lighting gear.

Let me know what you think.

Dennis turns 60

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:02:00 -0800

My father-in-law turned 60 this weekend and his family surprised him with a 50's diner themed party.

Dennis had been thrown off by the previous nights "fake" little party an another family get together. Brett and Megumi had kept Dennis occupied for the afternoon as all of the decorations and work was done to the house.

He arrived and was greeted by Ginger, Holly and my mother Nancy in poodle skirts to escort him inside the house where the rest of the guest waited inside.

There was great music, three blenders cranking out vanilla and chocolate shakes, and cheese burgers with all the fixings. Holly put together a great slide show of photos of Dennis from baby photo through childhood and on to being a Dad. It was grouped into a different sections all with appropriate music. I enjoyed watching everyones reactions to the photos.

The party ended with cake and a birthday song and a gift opening. Happy Birthday Dennis! We gotch-ya!

52PP:7 Kevin Freitas

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:51:00 -0800

Blogger/Photographer

Kevin is quite the blogger and has been blogging before blog was even a word. His site kevinfreitas.net just recently celebrated its 10th year online and Kevin leads the FeedTacoma.com crew blogging everything Tacoma. Kevin is an amazingly talented photographer with an eye for design and all around great guy who I'm proud to call my friend.

With all of Kevin's blogging I thought it would be fun to put him with his laptop and camera in a gritty downtown Tacoma setting. We ended up touring most of the Tacoma icons and got what I think are some pretty cool photos.

52PP:6 Shooting Myself

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:48:00 -0800

I am a day late and without a proper subject but at least I got some photos up.

Here are a few self portraits that are harder to take than I thought it would be. I thought I would take some pictures of how I might look taking a picture. I added a few hard lights to the mix and a blue gel one one side. The model leaves a bit to be desired but it will have to do in a pinch.

One of the shots the focus was completely off but it turned out to be my favorite.

Uptown Glass Works

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:40:00 -0800

Last Monday a friend of mine from work invited me to shoot some photos of a glass blowing class that he has been taking at Uptown Glass Works in Renton.

It was interesting to watch the molten glass on the end of a metal rod be slowly worked into a bowl or vase by a team of guys. If you have never seen glass being blown it is quite the process to watch and learn from. The amazingly hot ovens gave off this orange glow that added a lot of warmth to the photos. All of the guys were friendly and seemed to be having a good time creating their art.

The gallery was filled with some amazing pieces well worth the stop if you are in downtown Renton some time.

52PP:5 Josef Fukano

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:20:00 -0800

Josef Fukano / Break Dancer

Josef has some amazing moves. During the first part of the shoot he was spinning on his hands and head so quickly that I could not capture it with my camera. After I asked him he slowed down and did some poses for me. Thanks to Josef for repeating the same poses over and over while I tried to get the light and camera angel just right. Here are a few of the shots that I thought were worth posting.

Carla, Byron and Max

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:13:00 -0800

This morning I headed over to Carla's house to take some portraits of her son Max. Max is 18 months old and has tons of energy. We set up a backdrop and lights in the living room all of which Max was very interested in playing with and we tried to get some shots of Max. This was my first time photographing someone Max's age and it was challenging. Max pretty much ran the schedule and I followed around with my camera. We took went inside and outside taking tons of photos of Max being Max. We got some cute shots of him playing and riding in his wagon and on his tricycle.

Later that afternoon Max's uncle and his fiance stopped by and I took a few silhouette photos for their save the date card as well that turned out pretty cool.

52PP:4 Maia

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:19:00 -0800

One month down only 11 to go!

Here is Maia she is almost 6 months old and already so photogenic. Sarah and Marcus are two proud and loving parents with one cute little daughter. It was a pleasure to take Maia's portrait.

52PP:3 Megan, Josh and Sean

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:51:00 -0800

Some family portraits for week three of my portrait project. Megan, Josh, and Sean were gracious enough to let me shoot some outdoor portraits in Tacoma of them. There was a freezing cold wind on the waterfront so we only stayed as long as we could stand before rushing back to the car and then heading for a less windy spot next to the museum of glass. Thanks for being such a great trooper Sean.

A Mediterranean Murder

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:45:00 -0800

Last night Holly, Matt and I hosted a Mediterranean themed murder mystery dinner in order to celebrate Kelly's (Matt's wife) birthday. There were 10 guests each playing a part of a crew member aboard a cruise ship all with puny names. I played Bary Glitter the ships entertainer, Holly was Fifi Galores a chorus girl.

It was everyones first murder mystery dinner so we took it slow and everyone figured out the event together. There were several courses for dinner each with its own set of clues. The clues let the story unfold and gave everyone the chance to roll play their characters a bit. The characters were pretty outrageous as everyone had secrets to hide.

Holly and Matt did a great job on the food. It was all so flavorful and really gave the evening a Mediterranean feel.

After all of the clues had been revealed my character was the killer and only two people pointed the finger at me in the end correctly. It was great evening with lots of laughs and wonderful food.

Northwest Trek

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:49:00 -0800

I had the pleasure of shooting photos at Northwest Trek for Metro Parks with the goal of getting photos of people enjoying the animals. The weather was quite overcast and rained a little bit on us but not enough to send me packing.

The photos were quite the challenge since I was at times trying to take photos of animals and kids in the same frame. The kids seemed more interested in me with my lights and large camera than the wolves and wolverines that I was shooting them with.

If you have not been to Northwest Trek I think you should give it a try. The staff was friendly and the animals were great to see up close. My favorite were the Wolverine cubs. They were playing with each other like two overgrown puppies.

52PP:2 Matt Turner

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:17:00 -0800

Matt Turner / 3D Artist / Matt's Studio

Here is my second offering for my portrait project. This is my good friend Matt Turner a lover of hot sauce, computer animation and his recently married wife Kelly.

Matt was willing to try anything from laying on the floor with his head arched up like a seal for long chunks of time to his adoring looks at SPAM. I had great time taking photos of him. We included a bit of his recent artwork for his demo reel. Go check it out.

52PP:1 Kerri Beebe

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:01:00 -0800

Kerri Beebe / Pianist / Studio

This is week one of my 52 Portrait Project (52PP) and Kerri Beebe a friend of my wife's stopped by and agreed to have some photos of her taken. Kerri needed some head shots to use in program notes for her upcoming performances. She is currently studying to get her masters in a piano performance and pedagogy program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and has a new studio called Capriccio Piano Studio in Dallas as well

My 52 Portrait Project

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:39:00 -0800

As we are about to start the 2008 year off I have decided to attempt my first 52 project. What is a 52 project you ask? Basically it is a project that you complete in 52 pieces usually one a week for a year. So I'm going to take and post to this site, one (hopefully interesting and creative) portrait a week for each week of 2008.

My 52 Portrait Project Rules:

1) One portrait per week to be posted by the time I go to bed on Sunday Night. (weeks start on Monday and end on Sunday night).
2) Portraits have to include one person as the main subject of the photo.
3) Subjects must be unique from week to week. (i.e. I can't use the same person twice)

That's it! The portraits can be taken at the park, office, favorite hang out, or my studio *cough garage* anywhere really.

There have been many others before me to accomplish similar tasks and one of my inspirations for launching my own project was 365 Portraits where Bill Wadman a New York based photographer has almost finished his portrait a day for 2007. There are some amazing and beautiful portraits that he has taken take a look.

So the next step is I need 52 wonderful volunteers who wouldn't mind me taking their portrait. I plan on giving each person a copy of the photos of themselves as a thank you for helping me out. If you would like to participate in this project leave me a note below with you contact info (which will be kept private) or email me at photo(at)gavinjensen(dot)net.

Cora and Violin

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:39:00 -0800

Last night I had the chance to take some portraits for and old college friend of mine Cora Foster. Holly and I had a great salmon dinner that Cora prepared and then Holly helped Cora and I shoot some photos for her violin teaching/gig website.

Cora is an amazing violinist and I think that she would be a great teacher. We had fun trying to come up with some edgy artsy photos. I think that we got some fun shots and a good variety considering we were in here home the whole time. Next time we will have to try some location shooting.

Thanks for being so patient with me as I am learning to work with posing people Cora. We'll have to try this again some time.

Merry Christmas

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:43:00 -0800

Each year seems to pass by more quickly, and time never allows us to see loved ones as much as we'd like. As the New Year approaches, we look forward to reading your letters and catching up a bit. We want to share with you some of our highlights from 2007.

Leo and Max have taken over the house. We now own five lint rollers, and have considered purchasing more. We also have two failsafe alarm clocks, one set on "meow while standing on chest" the other on "burrow under covers and bite toes." But really, we love them dearly.

This year, our travels took us to New Orleans and Mexico. What began as a photography gig for a friend's destination wedding became a great vacation. We were excited for our first cruise, and eager to see Mexico, yet some of our most memorable times we owe to a few days in the port of call, "The Big Easy." The history, cuisine, and spirit of the French Quarter mingled to exude a unique charm.

After working at a PT clinic for much of the year, Holly returned to the UW Masters in Teaching program. Through most of the fall and winter, she has been in the trenches of student teaching at Evergreen High School in Seattle. Her Chemistry, Biology and Anatomy and Physiology students kept her on her toes, but she came out, alive, mid-December. It was a challenging, but fulfilling experience. Come springtime, she will be certified (look out!) and hopes to accept a teaching position in the fall.

Earlier in the year, Holly enjoyed teaching evening dance lessons at a small studio in Puyallup and helped put on a summer recital. The ballet was themed, "Cinderella" (a bit of both Rodgers and Hammerstein and Prokofiev), and the other half, "Dancing through the Decades" where her jazz dancers boogied to "Disco Inferno."

Gavin continues to enjoy the challenges of software development at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and will have worked there for five years in May. His interest in photography continues to expand as new opportunities for shooting portraits and events have presented themselves this year, including his first wedding and other work for family and friends.

Gavin also lends his voice to Choral Arts in its exciting first season with new director Robert Body. The group's hard work paid off with favorable reviews from the Seattle Times for their recent Christmas Concert.

We hope the warmth of the holiday season fills your hearts and homes with joy. To everyone far and near, the Jensens wish you a Merry Christmas and much happiness in the New Year!

A Choral Arts Christmas

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 12:29:00 -0800

Last night was the final performance for the 2007 year of Choral Arts. The season has started off strong with our new director Robert Bode. I enjoyed last nights performance and look forward to our next two concerts. Here are a few songs from last nights performance titled "In the Silence" along with most of "O Nata Lux". Filming was done by my father-in-law Dennis Johnson. Not too bad for his first time behind the camera.

Merry Christmas to all of Choral Arts and I'll see you guys next year!

Update: Here is a review of Friday Nights Concert from the Seattle Times.

O Nata Lux

In the Silence

Holly's 30th Birthday Weekend

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:32:00 -0800

My lovely wife turned 30 last weekend and boy did we celebrate. Holly's mother came over on Thrusday the 6th for Holly's actual birthday where she gave Holly her birthday presents and we all enjoyed some ice-cream cake. I took Holly to dinner at Salty's to celebrate her birthday and her student teaching coming to a close.

On Saturday we had a great wine tasting party hosted by our friend Kelly May Kirkland. Kelly did an amazing job and organized 6 dessert wines with corresponding dessert pairings for everyone to taste and rate. We had about a dozen people at the party. After the wines had been mostly tasted I got to present a sideshow that I had prepared with tons of photos of Holly all choreographed to music.

Sunday Holly's immediate family and my mother and uncle Danny who just happened to be in town all went to the PNB's nutcracker together. The nutcracker was amazing as usual and was enjoyed by all. Holly had a smile from ear to ear by the time we left. We all gathered at the Melrose Grill in Renton for an amazing dinner to close out the evening.

Here are some photos from the birthday events. Happy 30th Holly I'm right behind you.

Zoolights - Point Defiance Zoo

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:08:00 -0800

I had the opportunity to shoot Zoolights tonight at the Point Defiance Zoo. The weather was a bit iffy but we decided to do the shoot anyway. I arrived at the zoo around 5pm and was greeted by Sheelah who guided me around the park and even stood in as a model for a few shots. Thanks for the help Sheelah.

I started to rain for just a bit about half way through the shoot and I thought I was going to have to come back another time to finish. But it stopped as quick as it started and I was able to get most of the shots that I wanted.

It was an amazing experience photographing this many Christmas lights. I used my tripod for most of the shots but felt that it was hard to capture the feeling of the 500,000 plus lights surrounding you.

On the way home I had a few other shot ideas that I'll have to file away for next time. Here are a few of the my favorites.

Self Portrait

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:27:00 -0800

I was a bit board today and wanted to practice some portrait lighting. So I decided to use the only person who would not complain about the photographer.

Here is one of the shots that I pulled out of the bunch. This was also a bit of a photoshop exercise for me as well. You know, ya gotta look you best for the web.

This was shot in my kitchen with a sheet of poster board over the window as a backdrop. I used two lights both strobes. The main light is through a white silk umbrella coming from camera left and the second light was bare and had a slight blue filter over it from camera right.

A bit vain but I had fun doing it. Let me know what you think.

Turkey Trot

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:00:00 -0800

Thanksgiving day for Holly and I started rather early as we drove over to the Turkey Trot put on by Metro Parks. The Turkey Trot is a family fun run event with a 5k run, a shorter walk and a kids dash. It has been running for 12 years now and I was asked to shoot photos for the event. Holly signed up to do the walk so she would have something to do while I was working so we could leave directly for my mothers house is Shelton WA.

The Trot was great fun. Several people had thanksgiving costumes and there were over twelve hundred people who signed up for the event. They had a brass band there who played the 1812 overture to start the race. This year the event was focused on recycling and conservation with 100% organic cotton shirts handed out, solar power running the clocks and PA system among other efforts. The turkey on the back of the shirts held a sign that said "Stop Gobble Warming".

Ollie

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:51:00 -0800

I recently heard that my family dog was hit by a car and killed. Ollie was a black toy poodle that we got when I was living back in Montana and going to Jr. High. He was thirteen years old when he died having slowed down a bit but still full of life.

We we went to pick a dog from a new litter Ollie followed Tad around the room and wouldn't let him out of his sight.

Once he was large enough to get a tennis ball into his mouth he always had one there. I remember times when we would be going somewhere and Ollie would not leave the house without a tennis ball and would be ripping around looking for one.

When my mother moved to Washington we had to find a new home for Ollie. Carol and Dennis, my wife's parents graciously offered to take him. He has been their dog ever since and filled a large spot in their family as well. It is weird arriving at their house now without being greeted by Ollie.

Ollie always loved people, playing fetch with his tennis ball. He will be missed by all of us.

Here are some photos that I found from my archives of Ollie ending with a few photos that I took of the grave site where he is buried at the Johnson's house.

Fort Nisqually Living History Museum

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:05:00 -0800

This past Saturday I had the pleasure to shoot photos for Metro Parks Tacoma for the second time at Fort Nisqually in Point Defiance Park in Tacoma.

The fort had a frontier feel to it with dozens of volunteers dressed in period clothes showing off trades of the times. There was a blacksmith, some women spinning wool, cooking, carving, and woodworking. It felt a bit like one had stepped back in time.

With tons of great photo opportunities the time flew by and here are some of the 423 photos that I took for the event.

Panoramas

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:51:00 -0800

Just reprocessing a few of my old photos into panoramas tonight. I really like the wide format and need to take some more of these type of shots. All of these are from 2005 odd enough.

Choral Arts: To Walla Walla and Back

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:22:00 -0800

Yesterday was spent traveling from Renton WA to Walla Walla WA, singing and then heading back for a total of 548 miles.

I was able to carpool with friend and fellow tenor Layne who drove his trusty gray VW Beetle. We were having a grand time with the tunes cranked and enjoying the sun rising as the terrain rolled on in front of us. We realized about twenty miles after Ellensberg that we had missed our turn off I-90 onto 82. With a quick consult to the map and a little spirit of adventure we decided to press on to Vantage and take the 243 south as an alternate route.

The route we chose took us down the Columbia River valley past many grape and fruit tree fields and through a dry barren section before getting to Richland. It was a good little adventure and I for one was glad that it happened.

The 243 Alternate Route
View Larger Map

We arrived at Walla Walla with plenty of time to eat some lunch and then find the St. Patrick Catholic Church with its towering steeple. The church was a small cathedral with impressive acoustics and some beautiful stained glass windows.

The choir convened, warmed up, and discussed some logistics and then it was time to sing. The crowd filled the seats fairly close to capacity as the choir performed from risers in the center of the church.

The performance went well and seemed to be well received as a standing ovation greeted us after our last notes. I quickly changed clothes snapped a few photos and then it was back into the car for the ride home.

Tired we arrived at my house around 9:45. It was a good trip but I'm glad that we don't have to perform lots on the road.

Rollin' with Matt

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 23:55:00 -0700

Matt Turner turned 29 recently and we celebrated by going to Tiffany's Roller stating rink in Puyallup.

As I was walking in to the rink the smell of the place brought back all sorts of middle school memories. They played the chicken dance, YMCA, and the hokey pokey. It was as if I had stepped back in time. For the hokey pokey Matt had to stand in the center of the circle with five other kids each celebrating their 10th or 12th birthday. It was so much fun.

It was good to get back on my roller blades but I'm sure that I will be sore within two days or so.

Kevin had never been roller skating and was a good sport and put the rental skates on. I think he only fell one time and I managed to get some video of his spill that I'll have to get from him and put up later. Way to go Kev!

Holly had an ear to ear grin most of the time because A) she was moving/active and B) she got to spin around. Pretty easy girl to please.

Here are some of the photos that myself and Kevin took.

A Walk on All Hallows Eve

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:59:00 -0700

Holly and I went for a little walk tonight around our neighborhood to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. We saw a few houses with decorations up and a carved pumpkin here and there. While we were out for forty five minutes we only saw one kid dressed as a pirate with his mother and father.

I remember Halloween as a lively time in my neighborhood growing up. There were all sorts of creatures prowling around looking for candy. Many of them laughing and running from house to house. I wonder where all of the kids go today for Halloween. I know there are many in our neighborhood because I have seen them lining up to get on the buses in the morning.

Maybe they go to the malls or some other neighborhoods where there might be better loot. I think it is a shame that kids don't go out looking for candy in their own neighborhoods for whatever reason.

Wyoming Sunrise

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:24:00 -0700

Before the sun rose on my last day in Wyoming I awoke to take photos with my cousin Skyler who had flown in for the memorial on Tuesday.

Skyler is making his living as a painter in New York and we both were excited to catch a bit of that magical sunrise light.

With our cameras and coats on we hopped into the car heading from Powell towards Deaver. Skyler had seen a row of five broken VW beatles all in a row on the road the previous day and wanted to get some photos of them.

We stopped a few places on the way one of which was a pasture on the side of the road where two horses caught our eye. The sun was just coming over the horizon and the horses walked right into the warm rays of light. The air was cold and there was a thick layer of frost on the ground.

We only lasted about an hour out in the cold but got a few shots worth posting. There is a part of me that always feels at home under the clear Montana or Wyoming sky.

Chester Lewis Zwemer's Memorial

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:39:00 -0700

The obituary as it appeared on the back of the memorial service program.

"Memorial services will be conducted today (Tuesday) at 2 p.m. at the Powell Church of Christ for Chester Lewis Zwemer, 84, Powell, who died peacefully Friday Oct. 19 at New Horizons Care Center in Lovell of complications from diabetes.

He was born April 22, 1923, in Frannie to John and Etta Zwemer. He graduated from Deaver Hight School where he participated in all sports. He especially loved basketball which he continued to play well into his sixties. He met the love of his life, Ellen M. Jones, just before he went into the military in World War II. He served in Okinawa from 1945-1946. When he returned, Chester and Ellen were married in Powell.

They lived in Warren, Mont., where their first two daughters were born. The then purchased a farm near Deaver where they had three more children and together began raising cattle, sheep and various crops. During those years, Chet served on several boards, including the REA, Farm Beareau, Deaver School Board and the Deaver Irrigation District. One of his favorite passions was horses. In his later years, he always talked of having a large herd as he once had in Warren.

Survivors include his wife of nearly sixty years, Ellen; daughters Nancy Jensen of Shelton Wash., Connie (David) Brickley of Billings, Mont., an Zoe (Larry) Brewer of Powell; two sons, Dan Zwemer of Deaver and Zan (Lila) Zwemer of Lander; two sisters Mary Ann (Gordon) Booth of Veteran and Polly (David) Lehman of Bridger, Mont,; 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Etta Zwemer of Bridger; two brothers, Richard and Virgil Zwemer, both of Frannie; and a sister, Opal Phillips of Buffalo. For those who wish, the family would appreciate memorials to the American Diabetes Association. Thompson Funeral Home is responsible for the arrangements."
The memorial service was held at Church of Christ in Powell Wyoming. We arrived at around noon with everyone all dressed up with time to set up the church for the service. A display was set up at the entrance with a guest book, family photos, programs, and a few trinkets from the farm that gave it a country feel. Inside the church near the front a table held an urn with Chester's ashes along with a photo of young Chester in the Army on the right and a folded American flag on the left. To the right of the table was Chester's saddle and there were several arrangements of flowers behind the table. On either side of the table was a boot filled with dried weeds and branches from several of the trees on the farm. I think the decorations suited him and he would have approved.

Zan Zwemer, Chester's youngest son lead the ceremony by giving a brief overview of Chet's life. Following Zan's introduction I sang the hymn "How Great Though Art". Initially I had a flash of nerves when I got to the front and looked at the front row with my Aunts, Uncle, Grandmother, and Mother all watching me with eyes full of tears. The song went well after taking a few breaths to relax. It was a great honor to get to sing at the service.

Next family and friends took turns telling sharing memories of Chester. All were fond memories and got a few chuckles as people enjoyed the stories.

After the service was over food was served and everyone milled about talking to one another. I got to see several of my cousins and their kids all of whom are great people. I wish I could see them on a more frequent basis.

I enjoyed watching peoples reactions to the slide show as they laughed at some of the more funny photos.

Once the memorial at the church concluded the family met back at the farm to spread Chester's ashes. All of his kids were there with several grandkids present along with great grandkids. We all gathered at the house and then walked over to the coral. My mother read a poem and then the brothers, sisters and my grandmother all took turns spreading the ashes. The ashes were spread in two places on the farm. The first was the coral next to the house where Chester spent lots of his time with sheep, cattle and horses. The second was in a favorite field that he created a bit down the road.

As the ashes were being spread over the field the air was still and the sun was sinking close to the western horizon. The sky was clear and the sinking sun was forming a beautiful gradient of orange, yellow up to blue. There was a feeling of magic in the air and just as the last of the ashes were spread the sun paused briefly on the horizon and winked out. Zan who had lead the ceremony and been composed the whole day said "This is his last set" as tears began to pour down his face. The brothers, sisters and Ellen all stood and watched the sunset with arm around each other. It was a beautiful moment and I'm glad I was there to be a part of it with my family.

The sunset timing was not planned and it was as if Grandad was saying goodbye to us all.

Preparations for the Memorial

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:18:00 -0700

After hearing that my grandfather had passed away on Thursday night I quickly made arrangements to fly to Billings to be with my family and to help with the memorial service. I had quite a time getting there as my first flight attempt was canceled after spending seven hours in the airport waiting including one hour when we were boarded and had to go back off of the plane.

My first full day was spent catching up with my extended family. One of my cousins I had not seen for over ten years. It was really wonderful to have lots of family under one roof for a meal again.

We also spent a good deal of time sifting through boxes of amazing old family photos. My mother selected a bunch of them to use in a sideshow of Grandad. I set up a little mini studio on the coffee table and went to work taking photos of the old photos. With a bit of editing work I had what turned out to be a great set of old photos of Grandad spanning his whole life.

Later in the evening I had a little photo shoot of my cousin Cindy's step daughter's doll. We set her up on a little book and took shots of several poses and different angles. She had a good time posing and accessorizing to match several different colored backgrounds that we made.

The rest of the evening was spent playing games with the family around the table. We played Dictionary using a 1950's dictionary to come up with the words to define. One standout word that we stumbled upon was fundament. It's definition was worded pretty funny but meant buttocks. So we were using it for the rest of the night in every place that we could.

After a round of Dictionary we moved on to play Pirates of the Caribbean dice game. The same game played in the movie. I got down to the final two and then got beat by Cindy. It was great fun to play games with the family. My cheeks hurt from all of the laughing, a good way to end an evening.

The Seahawks Defeat

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:45:00 -0700

My friend from work, Dion has season tickets to the Seahawks and asked me to go todays game with him. I don't much follow football and have only been to one game last year but I enjoy the spectacle that is an NFL game.

The Hawks lost and badly to the Saints. Right out of the gate we had a funble that was recovered and run in by New Orleans. The fans were disgusted and many left before the first half of the game was over.

I am amazed at how personal it becomes for many fans when their team is loosing. On the train ride home I overheard two guys talking as one explained to the other that for the next three days he thought he was going to feel sick to his stomach. The other nodded in agreement.

although I will not be as greatly affected by todays outcome I did however enjoy seeing all of the costumes and spirit the fans from both sides showed and I did enjoy snapping photos of the event an I always do.

So a big thanks to Dion for taking me to the game!

Create Your Own Sunset

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:51:00 -0700

Last night I finally got my camera out to take photos of our beautiful maple that has been turning many shades of red and orange as it looses its leaves. I threw on my longer lens to isolate the leaves and headed out to the front yard after getting home from work.

I took some great shots with the sun back lighting the tree but the sun sinks fast and soon its golden light was gone. So I dragged out a flash and put an orange gel over it to simulate that golden sunset light and continued shooting. I had to eventually stop when I could no longer see well enough to manual focus but I feel that I got a few cool additional shots out of my simulated sunlight.

It feels good to capture some of the beautiful colors this time of year.

Puget Park Opening

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 19:48:00 -0700

This morning I had a shoot for Metro Parks in Tacoma. They were opening up four newly renovated parks and were holding a ribbon cutting ceremony at Puget Park. The park is located at the corner of N 31st St. and N Proctor St.

I was a bit worried that it would rain and prevent kids from showing up to the opening. The weather turned out to be great for a fall morning. Besides the Metro Parks folks there was a few people from Tacoma Children's Museum who set up a kite making table for the kids. The had many other activities for the kids from bubbles to an obstacle course run for time.

The new playground was full bright colored toys for the little kids to play on. There was a great swing set, several toys designed to spin one or more children around, slides, a climbing net and lots of other gadgets to explore.

I had fun snapping photos of the events and kids playing. The kids move pretty fast and you have to be ready and in the right place to get good results.

On with the photos.

Luke - Senior Portrait

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:45:00 -0700

Yesterday was a busy day which in retrospect is the reason why I have not felt so well today. I took photos on a boat of Byron wakeboarding, then took photos at a Choral Arts function, and finally shot a senior portrait session with Luke in Olympia.

My brother's girlfriend Jen set up the shoot through someone she works with. We arrived at Luke's house to find a beautiful backyard full of great backdrops.

Just after setting up a bit of wind caught my light stand and sent it crashing over. There was not much damage but a shoe off my favorite flash got broken. I'll have to look into how to fix it.

From the short conversations that I had with Luke he seemed pretty into cars and had his BMW recently washed we decided to use it in a group of the portraits. Luke was a good sport and I managed to get a few smiles out of him. We even manage to get the family dog Echo in for a few shots. Here are some of the results from the shoot.

If you know of anyone else in need of some portraits let me know
photo(at)gavinjensen(dot)net.

Choral Arts at The Ruins

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:11:00 -0700

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking photos for Choral Arts at a donors event at the Ruins near the Seattle Center. Upon setting foot in The Ruins it was quite an adventure. Each room was beautifully decorated with paintings and great antiques everywhere. It felt a bit as if we had stepped back in time.

Robert Bode was introduced as the new Artistic Director and there was a wonderful performance by a young tenor new to the area. There was great food, drink and conversation about the exciting future of our group.

I had a great time and got some cool photos.

Wakeboarding Photoshoot

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:50:00 -0700

Carla and I have been trying to coordinate our schedules to get me out on her boat taking some photos of them wake boarding. It finally happened early this morning on Lake Washington.

I met up with Carla, her husband Byron, son Max, and a family friend at the water and within a few minutes we were off.

Byron was a brave man to get into the cold water and it didn't take long for him to pop back up on the wakeboard and begin tearing up some water. I had great fun snapping photos in an effort to capture some of the action and to freeze the water. I think we got a few good shots and I learned what I could do to improve if given another opportunity.

Byron had a few spills, but one in particular that looked painful as all of us in the boat moaned in unison as we watched face meet water. Additional excitement was had as young Max took a spill of his own off the boat into shallow water while we were trying to get the boat onto the trailer. He was quickly whisked back onto the boat and into Mom's arms He was a little shocked with a cold mouth full of water but other than that he was back to smiling in his backup dry clothes.

More posts and photos to come of today as I this is the first of three separate events where I was primarily taking photos. On with the pictures.

Update: I just added a cool little video of some of the photos. Check it out.

Portraits at Greenlake of Chrissie Graham

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:21:00 -0700

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of meeting up with a college friend of mine in order to take some portraits of her. The portraits are mainly for my portfolio but I think Chrissie will be able to use them for some other things as well.

I arrived at Greenlake thirty minutes early to scout out some good places to shoot. When Chrissie arrived we walked around to the north side of the park where I had found a great little cove of trees that provided some back light from the sun and great green cover all around. We shot some photos there and then headed back to the east side of the lake for some photos on the dock.

Next it was back to some giant trees for a few ambient light only photos and some crazy hair toss shots. Then finally we made it over to the water again to get the sunset and its reflection as a backdrop.

When I arrived home I was excited to pour over the three hundred odd photos. I think we got some great shots.

Thanks again Chrissie for being such a great sport and a wonderful model.

Update 9/24: I've been playing with annimoto and put this together with some of the photos below.

Gerrin Inman the "Talent"

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:40:00 -0700

This afternoon I had the pleasure of shooting some portraits of a friend from work.

Gerrin is a great guy who graduated with me from PLU in the computer science program. Somehow we got hired to Boeing a few weeks apart four or so years ago and have been friends since.

We headed over to Seward Park to take some shots of Gerrin. We walked around the loop and stopped in four or so locations to shoot each with different backgrounds and different lighting. Gerrin took it all in stride as I kept teasing him about being the "Talent" of the shoot. I think I may have a new nickname for him.

So thanks for letting me shoot you Gerrin. I learned a good deal and I think we did pretty good for two software geeks. Oh and buy the way he is available ladies (wink wink).

On with the photos.

Update 9/24: I have been playing with annimoto and made a little video.

Cora and Justin's Wedding Reception

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 08:38:00 -0700

Yesterday afternoon Holly and I headed over to Cora and Justin's house for their wedding reception. They got married on August 14 in St. John (U.S. Virgin Islands) right on the beach where they got engaged. How romantic!

The reception had a tropical theme and the house had been decorated up with photos from the wedding covering the walls along with maps, wedding programs, and tables full of photo albums. It was a great to get a little of the feeling of the wedding.

There was tons of great food. I had a little more than my share of the pinapple and broccoli salad that was out.

Cora and Justin were all dressed up in their wedding attire and both looked great. I got a chance to take a few photos of them out in front of their house.

Holly and I had a good time and stayed into the evening talking to Cora, Justin, and many other of their friends and family.

Congratulations to a beautiful couple Cora and Justin. I look forward to watching you grow together in your relationship.

Max - Specular Highlight Photo

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:22:00 -0700

This weekend I took a few photos of my cat Max for the strobist lighting 102 assignment. After reading it again I should have taken a photo of a person but the principle and exercise was still good for me.

The technique that we were supposed to practice and use for this exercise involves a bit of geometry and understanding of a specular reflection. It is laid out pretty well in the assignment but I'll take a stab at explaining it.

This technique uses one light to light both the subject and the background. The background should be dark and fairly smooth (ie wood, leather paneling, dark headboard of a bed). This helps the specular highlight show up better. The specular highlight is the reflection of the light source itself. In our case it would be the umbrella reflecting off the background.

The trick is to position the subject light and camera so that the light can illuminate the subject and put the specular highlight on your smooth background right behind the subject. This will make more sense when you check out the photos below.

I used some wrapping paper tapped to the wall to get a smoother surface for my specular reflection and then tried to get max to hold still so I could move and get the reflection in the right place.

This was a fun exercise and is a great way to use one light to get a two light effect. I'll be keeping this technique in my back pocket for the next time I see a good dark smooth surface to use as a background.

Let me know what you think.

Last Day at Sea

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:23:00 -0700

With the wedding now over and the tightly scheduled day on Cozumel Holly and I were looking forward to a little rest and relaxation, a day without plans.

We slept in a bit, had a lazy breakfast on the edge of the boat watching the blue gulf waters wash past us. It was great. Around noon I decided to try out the miniature golf course on the top deck with some of our new friends from the wedding party. After a few phone calls we had a group of six of us ready to play some mini-golf.

There was an added element of difficulty with this particular course given that it was on a boat. As the boat rocked a bit from side to side the balls would change course which made for an interesting game. There was plenty of kidding and good natured competition and on the last hole I choked and Holly came out the victor.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing either on the deck, in the cafeteria, or in my case editing photos for the slide show after dinner.

It was a great relaxing day and one of my favorite of the cruise.

Cozumel by Jeep

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:38:00 -0700

Holly and I had only a single day in Cozumel and we had decided to book an excersion through carnival. We chose the one titled "Amazing Snorkeling, Ruins and Lighthouse View". We started the tour at the docks just after 10am in the morning. We met our two enthusiastic guides and then split into groups of four. We teamed up with a mother and son pair who were great company. Each group got into their own jeep and tuned their radio to 88.1 where our guide would be broadcasting a running commentary and directions during the trip.

We drove twenty minutes with the top down out to the beach and dawned our snorkeling gear and got right into the water. We had to swim out to a small reef to see the fish but it was well worth it. There were lots of small beautiful fish swimming all around us.

After the snorkeling we showered off and hopped back into the jeeps for a short ride over to the lighthouse for a climb up to the top and some authentic tacos. Holly and I worked our way up the stairs and reached the top of the lighthouse. From the top you could really see how flat the island was along with the beautiful strip of blue water all along the coast. We took a few self portraits and headed back down for some lunch.

Our final stop was at a small Mayan ruin that we learned was used as one of the first hurricane warning signals. The ruin once had 12 conch shells cemented into a cone in on the top. When the wind speed rose above some threshold the conch shells would ring. I thought this was pretty amazing.

After the ruins we walked across a boardwalk to a saltwater crocodile viewing area and sure enough there were three of them there lurking in the water for us to take a look at. We were pretty close to them and as our guide explained how they can adapt to survive in either salt or fresh water one raised up out of the water and showed us all his teeth. I got a few photos before taking a precautionary step backwards. What beautiful creatures.

With another blustery ride back in the jeep we arrived at the dock and the air conditioned boat.

I had a good time on the island but felt a bit rushed in everything we did. If I had to do it again I think I would have just chose one activity and given it more time.

The Wedding of Mandi and Paul

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 23:08:00 -0700

On the wedding day I got up and got ready early in order to scout the final locations of the photos. Since this was my first attempt at shooting a wedding solo I wanted to be as prepared as I could be.

I wandered the boat and found several cool places to take photos and then grabbed a good breakfast since I would not be eating until the wedding was over. I met Mandi and Paul in their suite just as Molly (Mandi's sister) was doing Mandi's hair. I hung out with them and shot several prep photos of Mandi and Paul getting dressed and ready for their big day.

Once ready both Mandi and Paul looked great and Holly had arrived to help me carry gear and to be an extra set of eyes looking for better poses. We headed for the promenade with its white columns and red walls to match the red roses first. Mandi kept welling up every time she looked at Paul initially but we got some great shots of them individually and together there.

We tried some photos around a black leather couch in an adjacent bar and well as heading out to the rear deck to shoot some portraits of them with the ocean in the background.

Next it was on to the family photos back in the center of the boat where there was a great white marble staircase. We shot about 15 different groups of people in about 45 minutes and ended ahead of schedule with the help of my beautiful wife.

The ceremony started at 1:30 and I had enough time to set up my lights and get both cameras ready for the event.

The ceremony included a Jewish Ketubah which was signed by both parents during the ceremony and will be a beautiful piece of art for Mandi and Paul to enjoy.

I felt like I was able to capture the major moments of the ceremony well and got a variety of angles of the bride and groom and their guests. I remember thinking that the distractions of the room had little to do with the wedding once you could see Mandi and Paul smiling at one another.

With a kiss the ceremony was complete and the music, drinks, cake and dancing were not far behind. I had a great time taking photos of folks dancing and having a good time. I used a bit of shutter drag trickery to capture more movement in some of the dance photos and at other times I turned on a hard off-camera light for some moody black and white high contrast photos.

Overall I was pleased with my photos I may have had a bit trigger happy as I shot over 1000 photos of the wedding. There were many things that went right and I was able to pre-visualize some of my shots. I also learned some cool things along the way for the next wedding and I had a great time doing it.

Finally. To Mandi and Paul: Thanks for being such wonderful, fun people and for being willing to try anything I asked of you. Also thanks for trusting your wedding day photos to me. It was an honor.

Boarding the Fantasy

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:20:00 -0700

After a great day in New Orleans we started the next part of our journey. The cruise. A group of us who had stayed at the hotel all piled into a small bus to get dropped of at the boat.

We waited in several lines for the check in process. One of which was the security line much like the airports. With all of my photo gear in toe they had a heck of a time letting me through. They made me empty all of my gear out on the table before I could proceed.

Once on the boat Holly and I just wandered around from room to room checking the whole thing out. There was a casino, several pools on the upper deck, a waterside, miniature golf course, gym, theater, clubs, and several dinning halls. With all twelve of its decks this was one amazing ship.

We headed up to the top decks to watch as our ship sailed away from New Orleans down the Mississippi river and towards Cozumel.

A bit later we met up with the Mandi, Paul, their parents, and the rest of the wedding party for a rehearsal of sorts.

Mandi and Paul were to be wed in a dance / club type room on the ship called "The Cat's Lounge". It was very dark with cat and other over sized commercial products on the walls. It had a stainless steel dance floor with a blue neon swirling galaxy above it and booths that were large cat food cans. Needless to say not the typical wedding room.

I spent some time trying to figure out how to take photos in the dark room. Bouncing the flash was out because the ceiling was black everywhere. I ended setting up an umbrella to get some reasonable light.

We walked through the wedding and Mandi and Paul worked out the other details with the ships event coordinator.

Next on the schedule was our first formal dinner in the Celebration Dining room. Much to my surprise the food was pretty good. There was a rotating menu for each night complete with appetizers, salads, entries, and Holly's favorite dessert.

I had some sweet and sour shrimp for dinner and pineapple sherbet for dessert.

We then headed to the Universe theater for the tail end of some bingo and then a little show with a great live band, dancers, and singers.

It was quite a full first day and we drifted off to sleep in our room being rocked by the boat as it worked its way to Mexico.

New Orleans in one Day

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:30:00 -0700

We are packing to check out of our room in the French Quarter this morning so this will be quick.

Yesterday we got a little taste of the big easy. The highlights include some traditional shrimp complete with heads and skin. Not quite what I was expecting for lunch but interesting all the same. A stroll down Bourbon Ave. quite tacky but I can imagine the party scene at night from the size of the drink glasses and the frequency of the bars. A great walk around the town with Holly sort of doing some exploring on our own.

Later that night after some rehydrating and a nap we took a haunted history tour through the city and got to hear some of the historically accurate ghost stories of New Orleans.

One other thing. It is SO hot and humid here that I am struggling to keep my energy up. The humidity can really sap all of your energy pretty quick.

Back to packing enjoy the photos.

Arrival in New Orleans

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:27:00 -0700

Holly and I arrived last night in New Orleans for the start of our vacation. We spent most of the day on the plane or in an airport so were glad to get to our room. We are staying at the Bienville House in the French Quarter one block from the Mississippi river. It is hot and humid here and we have just finished our list of things to explore in the French Quarter.

While on the second flight of our trip yesterday we had an interesting experience on the plane. Just after the flight attendant gave us our drinks we started to hit some turbulence. The plane bounced around a bit and I grabbed a hold of my drink to prevent it from spilling. Just as I got my hand around it the plane hit a really large bump and everyones drinks went flying into the air. Holly's tomato juice was on the ceiling above us and my soda was all over my lap, arms and dripping down my legs. It was a bit scary when it happened and after that last bump the flight was as smooth as can be. The flight attendant said that she had never hit bump that bad in all of her years of flying.

I will leave you with some photos of our room as I have not had any time to take photos of anything else.

Choral Arts Summer Party

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:52:00 -0700

With the selection of a new director for Choral Arts, Robert Bode, we decided to have a summer get together. Lorin Wingate was a gracious enough to offer up his beautiful home on Bainbridge island for the party. It took a bit of travel to get there but after a ferry and getting a ride from Lorin I finally arrived.

There was great food, drink, company, dessert and weather for the event. I did a bit of photographic practice and spent much of my time taking photos of the event. Below are a few photos that I thought worth posting.

White Salmon River Raft Trip

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:14:00 -0700

For many years my mother has wanted to take her three sons white river rafting and we were finally able to make it happen. Upon recommendation from a buddy of Tad's we decided to go with a company called Wet Planet. We showed up in our swimsuits and they geared us up with wet-suits, helmets, boots, paddles and life vests.

With a full boat of seven (Tyson, Jen, Mom, Tad, Holly, Myself and our guide) we headed off. We had a 15 minute lesson on how to paddle together forward and backward and then we hit our first class 4 stretch called tripple drop. It was great fun! The water was cold and wet as the boat smashed through the white water. We hit several other rapids all paddling together as our guide called out "Forward!" or "Back!".

At one point we had to get out of the boat and walk around a class 5 rapid. On the way around there was an option to take a 20 foot plunge back into the water that Tyson, Tad, and I took. What a rush!

The last rapid on our ride was a 14 foot drop that we prepared for several times before taking. There was a photographer taking photos of everyone on the way down this drop and I purchased the sequence of photos from her. As you can see from the photos we got pretty wet and at one time the whole boat was under water. The really funny thing was when our guide fell off of the boat after the big drop when we bumped into a rock.

So if you get the chance I would totally recommend going with Wet Planet on the White Salmon River rafting trip. It was seriously good family fun.

Kent Cornucopia Days

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 22:54:00 -0700

Tonight Kyle and Lindsay invited us over to their newly built house to check the place out and then to attend the Kent Cornucopia Days with them. First off the new house is amazing with a super cool fireplace in the master bedroom and a great layout for the downstairs. Sort of makes me want a bigger place.

So after checking out their new house we drove down into Kent to check out the Kent summer fair thats called "Kent Cornucopia Days". There was lots of tents set up along the downtown streets with clothes, jewelry, balloons, hemp tattoos, and all sorts of other random booths. Some of the signs made me laugh out loud. One read "Free Spinal Exam" and we saw another sign giving away free lasik eye surgery. It seems these activities would be worth paying for. There was also a baby t-shirt shop that we stopped to take a look at that had some pretty funny logos on their t-shirts like "Jedi in Training" and "iPoo" among others.

We ended eating at a Greek restaurant which had some rather tasty treats but was rather empty for a Saturday night. Our evening ended with some dessert at the McClellan's house and then we headed home early because Kyle and Lindsay are to run a 5k tomorrow at the Narrows Bridge opening. We might bump into them there as we were planning on attending and meeting our old college friends Cora and Justin to meet their new baby daughter. Well new to us at any rate. Those darn kids seem to grow up so fast.

Olson Family Portrait Session

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:57:00 -0700

This evening I was able to practice my first family portrait shoot of Holly's cousin's family. Christine, her husband Kerm, and their two kids Bo and Abby all dressed in white looked great. We met at the Tacoma lawn and tennis club which is where they spend many of their summer days together and holds many fond memories for them.

We tried several poses and I was pleased with the results. I hope the Olsons enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. What a handsome family.

After the photo shoot Kerm and Christine made a great salmon BBQ dinner for us and we hung out at the pool chatting. A bit later Holly, Bo and I all went for a few rounds of tennis. It felt like a mini vacation with the warm weather, late sun, and hanging out by the water.

Thanks again to the Olsons for being patient with me on my fist family shoot. Here are some of the many great photos that we took tonight.

Freedom Fair, BBQ, and Fireworks

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:45:00 -0700

My fourth of July was divided into two major parts this year. For the first half Holly, my mother, and I met in North Tacoma to walk down to the waterfront for Tacoma's Freedom Fair. We have been a few times before and I think it is a lot of fun to go. They have lots of fair type food, Corn on the cob, lemonade, ice-cream, to name a few. They also have lots of other booths selling crafts and an assortment of folks playing music or entertaining.

But the main reason that I like to go is for the airshow. They usually put on a good show and this year was no exception. We saw a Russian Yak-55 performing some aerobitics, an amazing Extra 300 S, a Harrier (man was that loud) and a F-18. I managed to get good photos of most of the planes in the air but that does not do them justice. The Harrier literally shook the ground we were standing on. It was great!

The second half of the day was spent with Holly's mothers side of the family. Since there is a family reunion this coming weekend there was a good portion of them who met at Jim and Barb's amazing house on the water in Gig Harbor. We did a lot of talking, eating, played some crokett and then had our own little fireworks show. It was smaller than the Tacoma or Seattle display but we had front row seats. It was almost a little too close at times.

After sunset there were folks shooting off fireworks all around the bay. They were coming from so many directions that it made it hard to set up for each shot. I was patient and ended up with a pretty good shot in the end as two neighbors across the bay both launched a few mortars at the same time.

I had a great forth of July thanks to Holly's family for putting on a first class celebration.

Cleaning My Camera's Sensor

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:20:00 -0700

In preparation for the 4th of July fireworks where I will be taking photos of lots of sky I decided to attempt to clean my camera sensor with the copperhill cleaning method that I had stumbled upon the internet. I purchased their $30 basic cleaning kit with Pec pads, elicpse cleaning solution and a little sensor swipe.

The problem is that with a digital SLR camera that can have its lens removed is that you will eventually get some specs of dust on the piece of glass that covers the sensor. These specs can only be seen when the aperature is at its smallest. F-stop 16 to 22 is usually a good place to find them and when you shoot against a uniform bright background they will right jump out at you(ie the sky or a white wall).
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Below are photos of before I cleaned my sensor, after one swipe, and after two swipes. The last few photos are of me changing the f-stop from 22 to 16 then 11 and 8 to show how the spots tend to show up at the 22 range.

I was pleased with the results and will continue to use this method. There were a few little spots after my two attempts but as you will see overall it was much cleaner.

My 29th Birthday Party

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:40:00 -0700

In order to celebrate my 29th birthday Holly invited Kevin, Sarah, Matt and Kelly over to go on a hike. Since I am a rather fair weather hiker and it was raining pretty hard we decided to have a BBQ and play games instead.

I put the grill to good use and made some hamburgers for everyone and Holly made some rather tasty mojitos using the mint that we had gotten from the previous day.

After feeding we all gathered around to try out the interactive dvd trivia game "Scene It". It was a good time but there were quite a few questions where we all just let the timer run out with blank expressions on our faces. I guess it is harder when some of the questions are about tv shows that were playing before you were born.

I received one great gift that everyone chipped in on. It is called a momento 100 and it is a digital photo frame. I had seen one at a friends house and been pretty excited about it one night when telling Holly about the device. She was paying very good attention and decided to get me one for my birthday.

I was able to get it set up and connected to my home network within 20 min of opening it. After some windows media player configuration I was able to stream photos wirelessly to the frame from my computer. Way cool!! I think it will be a great way to get some of the 60k photos off my hard drive and out in public or at least my living room.

So a big thanks to my friends and my wife for a great gift and a great birthday party.

Whistling Train Farm

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 22:23:00 -0700

Holly and I have signed up to do support some local farmers by purchasing a share of their crop for the summer. Truth be told this was Holly's idea and I was just along for the ride.

So we headed down to Kent to the Whistling Train Farm to pick up our produce. We eventually found the place and no one was there to help us pick up our food. We did find some particularly picked over bins of veggies and eventually got to talk to the owners. They explained that the first week was usually a confusing one and that there had been a rush on the food earlier in the day. So the husband offered to go out and pick us shares of the missing veggies.

So we left with our basket which came with the following greens.

Spinach
Small Onions
Pea Greens
Fresh Mint (the whole car smelled of this within no time)
Beets
Some other leafy green that I'm not familiar with

Next week the fruit starts and we will be getting strawberries along with more veggies.

Jamie Balducci Maternity Photos

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:59:00 -0700

Tonight Holly and I went over to the Balducci's house for some pizza, to get caught up on each others lives and for me to shoot some maternity photos of Jamie. Jamie is due on the 6th of July and has the tummy to prove it.

We all had a good time shooting photos and came up with some keepers for Jamie and Anthony. Some of which I'll be adding to my portfolio and using to try to convince other people I really know what I'm doing with the camera in my hands.

Thanks Jamie for being my test subject and I hope to shoot some newborn Balducci photos soon.

Potential Improvement

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:38:00 -0700

Ever since I discovered the strobist and David Hobby (the author) started his "Reader Hotshots" I have had the goal of having one of my photos selected. Well that day has come and I'm proud to say that my most recent photo entitled "Potential" has made the cut. I realize that this is a small achievement but it is something I am excited about none the less. So here is a copy of that photo along with a link to my flickr stream where I currently submit all of my strobist photos into the pool. Check out the Reader Hotshots if you have time. There are some quite amazing photos in there.

The Dance Academy Recital

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 23:17:00 -0700

Holly has been teaching ballet and jazz to three different classes at the Dance Academy for the first time this year. Tonight I got to take photos of the culmination of the yea the dance recital. The recital was in two separate performances. The first was the wee little kids who all look cute as a button in their puppy and rain hat costumes as they try to keep up with the music and are a bit wide eyed being on stage for the first time. The second was the older more advanced dancers who for the first half of their show performed their rendition of Cinderella. The second half was different classes performing decades of dance.

I got to go backstage before the recital and watch the herding to and fro of the little ones and snapped a few photos of them coloring and playing backstage.

I was shooting the show from the balcony with some new camera gear that I got recently. The gear worked out great but the heat in the balcony was difficult to bear. By the end of the evening both Holly and I were beat and glad to head home.

Here are some of the photos that I took.

Dinner at Ray's Boathouse

Sun, 27 May 2007 23:05:00 -0700

To celebrate our Memorial Day weekend Holly and I were originally going to take a road trip and stay in a bed and breakfast. We were unable to book anyplace that we really wanted to stay so instead we treated ourselves to a massage and a fancy dinner and Ray's Boathouse.

The massage that we had was at The Dream Clinic in north Seattle. I would go there again as they had reasonable prices and you got quite a good massage. Now I'll admit that I'm no massage expert having only a handful in my lifetime but this was the best one that I have had.

On to dinner. Holly and I both had this wonderful fresh copperhead salmon with asperagus and mashed potatoes. And for dessert I had a chocolate mint icecream with real mint and Holly had an orange chocolate cake.

We ate, talked, and watched the sunset together. It was a great end to a relaxing day.

Strobist practice with Dion

Sat, 19 May 2007 23:03:00 -0700

Dion and I had a little strobist practice today over and his house. We started out trying to emulate one of the on assignment articles that David Hobby had written about how he had shot and lit a
cake.

We didn't have a cake but did manage to find a cool little tea set that Dion had recently acquired that was also the same yellow and white of the cake we were trying to emulate.

In the Spring Desserts article David Hobby had placed the cake on a table with a window behind it. He then placed a flash on a stand with an orange gel over the flash which makes the flashes usually white light the same orange color as a regular tungsten light bulb. He then set the camera's white balance to tungsten which makes the orange light of the flash seem white and the light coming in from the window behind seem blue. We duplicated his setup but ended up with two flashes gelled to orange and grid spotted to control the light spill more.

After the mock up tea product shoot we decided to try shooting each other :P
We messed with a few other light setups and got some descent portraits of each other. The main thing was that we were both learning while having a great time doing so.

Here are the photos that we arrived with after our evening of play.

Matt and Kelly's Reception

Sat, 12 May 2007 00:00:00 -0700

After printing a photo of Kelly and Matt of their wedding the previous night, Holly and I drove to a Park north of Seattle on the Sound for the wedding reception. We headed to the banquet hall and helped set up for the guests.

After setting up the Kelly and Matt's guests arrived. There were lots of extended family, friends and great food. The reception included brunch, some great toasts by Kevin, Mandi, and a real tear jerker by Kelly's father.

After the Brunch there were many games to be played. Kelly and Matt had arranged for a bunch of board games to be present along with some yard games. Everyone broke off into groups and there were games going on inside the hall and out.

Holly and I had a great time seeing some old friends of ours who now have twins and playing games. We headed home with tired smiles on our faces. Congrats again to Kelly and Matt.

The Wedding of Matt Turner and Kelly Kirkland

Fri, 11 May 2007 23:01:00 -0700

I took the day off work to help out with Matt and Kelly's wedding day. I had planned on sleeping in but the kitties would not hear of it. Since I was up early anyways I decided to wash my car since it was in need of a good spring cleaning. I washed myself up after the car and Kevin and I headed over to meet the groom and lend a hand.

We arrived at Matt and Kelly's house loaded up my car with wedding video gear for the reception the following day and followed Matt and Kieth (Kelly's brother) over to a pool hall in Seattle to meet up with the other guys and kill a bit of time drinking and shooting pool. I played one game and got beat soundly by Kelly's father and then had a great time shooting pictures of the other guys games.

Next it was to a B and B where Matt and Kelly would be staying the night for the guys to change into full wedding regalia. Being the guys that we were it was about a 25 min stop then back to the woodland park zoo for the pre-wedding photos.

Matt and Kelly's story goes way back. Their families were friend when they were kids and they have these amazing photos of Matt and Kelly playing together. One particular photo has both families and kids sitting in a tree at the Woodland Park zoo. So to come full circle some of the wedding photos were taken in front of the same tree.

The ceremony started at seven thirty in a small intimate setting near the butterfly exhibit with Matt and Kelly surrounded by friends and family. The ceremony was hand crafted by bride and groom with their own wedding vows and all of the parents giving their consent in turn with text they each had prepared. It also included a bread and tea ceremony reminding them to honor each other with every meal.

There were cheers and applause erupted as they kissed and now married, Matt and Kelly walked hand in hand back down the isle beaming the entire way.

There was a small reception that followed with wedding cake and gifts given to the parents. Matt and Kelly talked with all their family and friends and had their first dance as the sky faded to black.

Congrats Matt and Kelly. I wish you the best and hope to remain a part of your lives as you both grow together.

Matt and Kelly's Rehearsal Dinner

Thu, 10 May 2007 21:40:00 -0700

Tonight I participated as a groomsman in Matt Turner and Kelly Kirkland's rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal came first at the Woodland Park Zoo just north of downtown Seattle. Kevin, Sarah and I arrived quite a bit early and got to walk around the zoo and check out the gorillas, penguins and a bit of tropical birds. It was quite amazing to see the gorillas playing with one another.

After we found the rest of the wedding party waiting outside for us the rehearsal went into full swing. Complete with imaginary table and real wedding props we walked through the ceremony a total of two times. Kelly and Matt both looked excited and a bit nervous which is what I would have expected at this point in the process.

After rehearsing we all headed over to Zeek's Pizza a few blocks away enjoying the amazing weather all the way there. With everyone gathered around one table and several pizzas we chatted it up and passed around each of the gormett pizzas. There was a thai pizza, one that had dragon in the name that appeared to be quite hot judging from the faces of people eating it and several others. I got to meet Matt's sister and Kelly's brother for the first time along with both sets of parents / step parents.

With our appetites satisfied we headed home with less than 24 hours to go now until Matt and Kelly's big day. Congrats and cheers to our friends Matt and Kelly.

Little Portraits

Sat, 05 May 2007 22:35:00 -0700

On Saturday I headed over to my buddy Dion's house to shoot some photos of his son Harry. Some other mothers showed up with their kids for a grand total of three baby subjects volunteers.

Dion had set up a make shift studio and we happily clicked away learning a bit about lighting as we went. I think I came away with a better understanding of what shooting baby portraits is about and maybe got a few shots for the portfolio.

Here is the fruit of my labor. Let me know what you think. Thanks goes out to Dion, his wife Mardy, Harry and other Mom's and kids for all the good practice.

Max being Max

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:12:00 -0700

While cleaning today I happened to open the closet where we keep, among other things toilet paper. When I returned to close the closet door I was greeted by our cat Max doing his "lets see if I can fit into this" thing. So I ran and grabbed this cute photo of the little guy.

The Tulip Festival

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:45:00 -0700

Today I spent the day with my mother. We headed up to Mt. Vernon with cameras in hand to get some pictures of the tulip festival.

The weather started a bit threatening but turned out to be a great day. The clouds cleared and by mid afternoon we were warm in the sun.

This being my second trip to the Tulip festival I knew what I would be getting myself into but was amazed again by how beautiful the fields of tulips can be.
We took many photos of the fields before heading to one of the gardens where they grow many amazing varieties of tulips. Almost every color in the rainbow was present. From the traditional red, yellow, and white to dark purples, hot pinks, and oranges. It was good to hang out with my Mom and share our interest in photography together. She is quickly learning how to run her camera in full manual and is completely engrossed while composing a shot.

After the garden we headed into town to get some food and enjoy a bit of the street fair that runs all weekends of the festival. We stumbled past a grill with hamburgers and were unable to continue without each purchasing one hot off the grill. The air smelled of kettle corn and there was a local band warming up on a little stage close to where we sat to eat our lunch. With our appetites satisfied we meandered through town looking at local art particularly photography and enjoyed a pan flute group for a few minutes.

We headed home a bit early on account of my foot telling me that I had done enough walking and stooping for the day. When we arrived at my house we stopped to download our photos and look at our work. Below are some of my favorite photos from the trip.

Tide Flats with TPG

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:49:00 -0800

I saw a post on kevinfreitas.net earlier in the week about a group of Tacoma photographers getting together to take some shots of the tide flats. So not having taken any photos for a couple of weeks I jumped at the idea even though I was feeling a bit under the weather.

We started out at an old abandon drawbridge and worked our way under and over it taking photos of lots of gritty things. Someone in the group of us took a group shot of everyone standing in front of the bridge which should be a pretty cool shot to see. I found an abandon white livingroom chair under the bridge falling apart that looked like someone had set it up to use recently. It made for a great subject and I spend a good chunk of time shooting it.

Next it was a quick stop by an old abandoned brick one story fire house. The fire house was covered is dead vines making for some scary looking scenes.

Folling the fire house we stopped next to some abandoned warehouses that had about half of all of their windows broken and were usually surrounded by odd rusty trash. Again some great texture photos were to be had here.

The last stop was just across the water from the Glass Museum. We got a good look at some of the new condos built along the water and all of the ships parked at the docks.

All in all a good day of picture taking. Originally I was geared up for a bit slower shooting experience an I was wanting to focus on my off camera lighting but I was pleased with the photos that I came home with and it was good to meet some other photographers.

Know when to Hold'em

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 23:48:00 -0800

Holly competed for the first time in a Texas Hold'em tournament put on by my friend Carter and his friend Cameron. Folks gathered around 6 at Cameron's house and the first hands were underway by 7pm.

Before arriving since Holly had never played Texas Hold'em seriously (ie for money) I walked her through a few hands so she would have a bit of time to digest the game without lots of people there to watch. We stepped through five or so hands playing for butterscotch chips and she had it.

Back to the tournament. There were about 35 players or so and everyone was in with $15 to get their stack of $1000 worth of chips.

I made it down to the last two tables and placed 9th in the game. Not a bad showing. But Holly way outlasted me and made it to the last table where she proceeded to tie for best headhunter by eliminating 5 other players. Holly ended up placing third in the wee hours of the morning and won $57 bucks which put her $43 in the black. She was one happy girl.

We both had a good time playing and thanks needs to go out to Carter and Cameron for hosting such a well planned event. Thanks Guys! We'll be back again next time.

Megumi Performs with UW Orchestra

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:40:00 -0800

Tonight Holly and I went to hear Megumi (my sister in law) play a saxophone concerto with the University of Washington Orchestra. The concert included a cellist, a flautist, and a pianist also performing with the Orchestra.

Megumi was the second to perform and was great. She had a smooth tone and amazing control of phrases and the piece. It was a pleasure to listen to.

With a quick congrats out in the lobby we got to meet Megumi's saxophone teacher, snap a few photos and head back home.

Congrats on a performance well done Megumi. I look forward to hearing many more.

Kelly's 30th

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:10:00 -0800

My friend Kelly turned the big 30 and had a great bowling party at West Seattle Bowl. I had not gone bowling for at least a year but managed to score pretty well. I got the turkey (three strikes) in my second game. What a turkey has to do with getting three strikes is still beyond me but I'll take it.

Holly and I had good time throwing balls at the pins and meeting some nice friends of Kelly's.

After bowling we were to walk a few blocks to Cupcake Royal to get some birthday cupcakes. We arrived around 9:30 to find that they had sold out for the day. What!? We all thought it rather funny that a cupcake place that does cupcakes and coffee and has the word cupcake in the name could run out of cupcakes.

So Holly suggested that we head to the Husky Deli to get some ice cream. On the way there we got to cross the street at one of those funky all way walk intersections (yes I got a photo of the event).

As we walked up to the Deli we discovered that it was closed and there would be no birthday ice cream. Laughing a bit at Kellys luck we continued on after losing a few people who had to head home we eventually arrived at a Safeway's bakery section. We had Kelly pick out a few different small desserts that included strawberry cheese cake, a marble cake, and an eclaire.

We all gathered around some small tables and with plastic forks and knives we shared the birthday feast.

So Happy Birthday Kelly. We had a great time seeing you and a memorable adventure in getting your birthday dessert.

Moms Got a New Car

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:27:00 -0800

My mother stopped by today on her way from a class up north to say hi and show me her new car. This is the first new car she has ever owned and I think now she will be forced to stop giving me a bad time for always washing my car.

She didn't want to take photos of in because of all of the dirt on the car but I managed to persuade her to pose with her car.

Congrats Mom on your new purchase. I for one am glad you are now driving a more reliable vehicle.

We'll have to take more photos when its clean next time. =)

Walk in the Snow

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:00:00 -0800

Snow is falling again here in Renton. We got about 5 inches so far and Holly and I took a late evening stroll since my choral rehearsal and her dance class were canceled.

The snow always reminds me of growing up in Montana and it was great just to get out and be in it. The quite and bright evening was a walk down memory lane for me.

When we returned I recruited Holly to be a second light stand and I took some flash photos of the tree out front. They were taken quickly as the snow was still falling and as a general rule is not good for camera gear.

I hope you all had a chance to get out and enjoy a walk in the snow before it is all gone.

Christmas with the Jensen Family

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 21:04:00 -0800

Holly and I did our traditional house hopping during the Christmas season this year. We spend the first part of the holiday with my side of the family at my mothers house near Shelton WA. My brothers Tyson and Tad were there along with Tyson's girlfriend Jen and my Mom.

We arrived in the afternoon on Sunday, Christmas Eve with a car full of gifts and food. My mother made a wonderful turkey on the BBQ which was super easy to clean up and tasted great. There were cookies, candy, sweet bread among other treats all over the kitchen from which to snack on.

Tyson brought his new Nintendo Wii which has some new innovative controllers that can since there position is space which we played for a while.

I spent some time messing with a few new off camera lighting toys trying to light the Christmas tree from behind. I think it turned out OK. I was just having fun lighting anything I could find in the house for a while there.

We decided this year to open the gifts on Christmas eve for scheduling reasons. There were some great gifts given. This year my brother Tad got a guitar from my Mom, Holly and I. Tyson got a huge selection of games for his Wii and Nintendo DS. Tyson gave Jen her dream gift a Canon Rebel XT. Jen is very interested in photography and I know she will use it. My brothers and I all chipped in to get my mother an ipod nano. There will be a learning curve there but I think she will learn to enjoy having her own music where ever she wants it. Holly got a plethora of Thorlos socks which she loves, a yogurt maker and small food processor.

For me it was the year of duplicate gifts Holly and Tyson both got me a Nintendo DS and Tad got me one of the same games for the DS that Holly had purchased. It was quite the mix up. In the end Holly agreed to return hers as she had another gadget in mind for me. Oh Boy!

We went to sleep that night late with tummies full of sweets and good food and with smiles on our faces. It was a great night.

The next morning we all had a tasty breakfast together and played a new board game that my mom had purchased called loaded question. The game had some pretty funny questions that everyone would write down an answer to and then one person would try to guess who wrote each answer. The game was fun but after playing it for awhile people got wise and would deliberately try to make their answers as generic as possible so that the person guessing would have a more difficult time. The game was still fun but I think that the rules need a little more work.

I am thankful for my family as always during this time of year. It was great to spend a day with my brothers and mother and wife. I hope you all had as good of a Christmas as I did.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Strobist Challenge: Water

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 21:31:00 -0800

Below are some highlights of the photos that I took for the strobist bootcamp: water. I used a mirror laid on the table in my kitchen that was sprayed with a bunch of water to start off. There were two flashes used. The first was pointed at the bottle of water to light the label the second I set an empty blue wine bottle on the top of the flash pointing up. This way the second light gave the room a dark blue glow and shown up very well in the mirror. I'm having a great time completing these assignments and feel that I am learning some photography tricks along the way.

Paul Kawabori In Concert

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 23:56:00 -0800

I had the pleasure of seeing my good friend Paul Kawabori perform at a small church in Mukilteo Washington. Paul has released his first CD this past summer and has been working his way up the adult contemporary charts and was at position 18 the last time I checked.

Paul's wife Amy was delayed in getting to the concert but finally arrived about half way through. Paul stopped in between songs to give her a hug. I managed to get a few shots of the impromptu embrace.

Paul sang a number of Christmas songs, classical, traditional and threw in his hit song "Don't Stop Now" which blew the hair back of some of the congregation members but I thought it was great. Paul has been working hard on his singing and it shows and it was great fun for me to watch him perform.

Best of luck in you bright future Paul.

Holly's Portrait

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 18:27:00 -0800

Tonight I got the chance to set up and shoot some photos of my wife. She needed a headshot for a new job teaching dance and I have been itching to try out some new lighting tricks I have read about. Before we got started the new kitten Max got on the chair and I was able to get a few shots off of him. Man they get big fast.

We got off to a rocky start but after some chocolate and music Holly was ready to snap some photos. It can be a nerve racking experience to have a camera umbrellas and lights all pointing at you driven by a guy who is still learning what he is doing. I tried about three different light setups and was pleased with the results for each. We had a good time and Holly even agreed to pose for me again. She thought it was a little fun. We came out with what I think are some great shots of a beautiful woman. But given my position (camera man and husband) I can see why one might think I am a little biased. At any rate give them a look and let me know what you think good, bad, whatever.

My Thanksgiving

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 23:07:00 -0800

My Thanksgiving this year was spent at the Johnson's house with the Schaffeur side of the family (Holly's mothers side of her family). Carol did most of the cooking and boy was the food great. She had a wonderful table setting with a beautiful centerpiece of which I spent some time shooting. There was all sorts of food. Some of my favorites include the potato rolls, fresh cranberry sauce provided by grandma Alice, and the apple and quince pie that Holly made for desert.

Near the end of the evening being that I'm a budding strobist. I had everyone line up for a Thanksgiving family photo. You can see the results below. Not too shabby but I still need more experience shooting large groups of people.

Meet Max

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:39:00 -0800

Well we have decided to name our second and final kitty Max. He comes from the Bellevue Humane Society, is two months old, and weighs in at just over two pounds. Our hope is that Max and Leo can become the best of friends and keep each other company when Holly and I are at work.

We have started the introductions and so far Leo seems to just growl and hiss at Max. We had them playing in the same room today for a few hours until it got a little too heated and Leo and Max were taking a few swipes at one another. We have high hopes and this is only day one.

Max seems to have a great character so far. He is curious like all kittens and plays very hard. He is also one quick little bugger and can throw himself pretty high in the air. I spent a little time taking some photos of him playing below.

The next time you are over we would be happy to introduce you to the newest member of our family.

Leo's new Playmate

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 23:09:00 -0800

Today Holly and I had decided to go to a humane society just outside of Bellevue to look for a possible playmate for Leo. Since we have adopted Leo he has been lots of fun but we were worried that he has been getting too board during the day when we both were away at work. Many people have told us that two cats are better than one. So we decided to try a second cat on for size.

Leo's new playmate is 2 months old and was called "Cricket" during his stay at the shelter. We are still working on a better name but we have already fallen for the little spunky guy.

We are working on introducing the two cats to each other by swapping blankets and trading rooms but their first sight of one another through a half inch crack in the bathroom door went pretty well tonight. Leo wanted desperately to get in and see more of the new kitten and kept trying to wedge his head into the crack in the door. The kitten was a little bit preoccupied with his new surroundings to pay a whole lot of attention to Leo.

At any rate our cat adventures continue. Here are some pictures of the new guy. He has a tail that reminds me of a racoon's and looks a bit like a Siamese in color and the brown tipped ears. Feel free to suggest names and if we use yours we'll be sure to give you credit.

Shooting with my Mother

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:01:00 -0800

This past Saturday I spent time with shooting photos with my mother at her house. She shares an interest in photography and being that I am a bit further along in the learning process I was happy to teach her some fundamentals of exposure. We shot and learned for most of the day and into the evening. I borough along my $10 DIY light box that we used on some random household objects. I also shot some pressed leaves that we lit from behind and boy did the colors pop on some of those shots.

My mother had also recently been to the beach and had some shells that were great subjects against a black background. I took ten minutes at the end of the night to shoot some portraits of my mother in an effort to fulfill the head shot strobist boot camp assignment. I think the head shots turned out well. You can see my head shot submission to the strobist pool and any comments that people post about it along with the head shot assignment. Let me know what you think of the photos below.

Learning Off-Camera Lighting

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 07:22:00 -0800

Recently I have been reading a great blog called Strobist. The blog is all about using small shoe type flashes off camera and you brain to elevate the quality of light in your photos. I had been on a quest previously to find this sort of information and this is the place to get it.

On Strobist the author Dave puts together a "Starving Student" Off-Camera lighting kit. After reading everything I could find on the blog I excitedly decided to get my own kit. The final piece of the kit fell together on Friday night with a great find of a 1990's vintage Nikon flash called the SB-28. I was looking for the lesser SB-24 for price reasons but could not find one locally for less than $85 and that was a very used model. Because I couldn't find a SB-24 for a reasonable price I had resigned to purchasing a few expensive connectors to get my old Quantaray 383 to connect to a PC sync cable. The sad part was that these connectors were going to cost $35 bucks and I had heard that they could be unrelaible.

So Friday I headed up to Glasiers camera to get the connectors and instead found a used SB-28 which, unlike my 383 has an external PC sync connector on it and does not need the $35 worth of parts to get it to work. The flash was in great condition and I got it for $65. What a deal! So with my new SB-28 and my starving student off camera lighting kit I am ready to take over the world.

The Strobist had a series of learning assignments this summer fondly named Lighting Boot Camp. The due dates have all expired but I am going to submit my photos and post them here for each assignment just for my own learning experiences. If you want to do it with me let me know. It would be great to have a partner in crime.

Below are some photos that I took yesterday while getting to know my new off camera lighting setup. Next stop Lighting Boot Camp Headshot Assignment. We will soon see just how much my wife Holly likes to model for me.

Update:

There is a series of photos below of my mother that was an exercise in controlling available light and flash exposure. I thought it was a fun test. The series starts here.

Adventures in Lighting

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:50:00 -0800

While I've been recently home a lot with the flu I have been scouring the internet for any good information on good flash photography. Well I think I hit the jackpot with this one. The blog is called Strobist and has a lot of great examples of how to use off camera light to increase the quality of your photos. There is a gear list on the site of which I have already ordered my first umbrella and stand. There are also a ton of DIY (Do It Yourself) articles on all sorts of lighting accessories. So while waiting for my new gear to arrive I decided to try my hand at the DIY Macro studio.

The tutoril can be found here. I found a little bigger box for mine at 18 inches square. And after completing the box I decided to give it a try. Since I don't have any to sync my flash off camera yet I have resorted to the following method. It is crude but works. First tripod up my camera and set it to f16 at 1/4 sec on manual. This is a small enough f stop to kill all ambient light and the 1/4 shutter speed is for what I call my manual sync. I stand with my camera remote in my left hand and the strobe in the other. The sequence goes left, right. So as long as I can fire the strobe before the stutter closes I get a reasonable shot.

So here are my first attempts with a few household objects that I found in our living room. I expect to get better control of the light once I get a sync cable and can sync the off camera flash at a more reasonable speed.

3D then Pumpkin Carving

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 23:51:00 -0800

This afternoon Holly and I spent some time with my friend from work Kyle and his wife Lindsey. We had two events planned, 1. See "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D, and 2. Get and carve some pumpkins. We were able to accomplish both of them with much enjoyment.

We caught an afternoon show of the Nightmare Before Christmas. I love the music, the big screen was great and the 3d really added some cool effects to the movie. I was impressed.

Before the film we stopped by the Carpinito Brothers pumpkin patch, each picked out our own pumpkin to carve and headed out with 114 lbs of pumpkin in the trunk.

After the movie we went to eat at a Noodle shop called Zao Noodles I think, in Kent's new center. The food was good and we all headed back to our house to carve pumpkins.

The carving went smoothly following the gutting and we have some pumpkin seeds to bake, salt and eat. Being that it was late I think we all hurried through the carving process although I was impressed at the amount of deliberation that went into Kyles design.

With all four pumpkins carved we plopped some tea candles into them and enjoyed the orange glow that they emitted. I got my camera out and took a few photos as well. Thanks to Kyle and Lindsey for a great evening of Halloween fun.

Oyster Fest 06 - Shelton WA

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 23:00:00 -0700

Today was spent with my Mom, my grandma (Gammie), and Holly. We met about mid morning and went for a run on the Huff and Puff trails in Shelton and then headed over the the Oyster Festival near the airport in Shelton.

Being that none of us had ever gone to the festival we didn't know what to expect. We were surprised at the number of people that turned out and Holly and I had quite a walk from our cars to the gate.

It cost three bucks to get in to partake in the seafood goodies and other events. The first place that we stopped was at a BBQ oyster stand run by some local boy scouts. They had the oysters in the shells over a bed of hot coals. Once cooked they split the shells open added butter and garlic and they arrived in the half shell still steaming. With a gulp of apprehension my Mom, Holly, and I slipped the first bite into our mouths. Much to our surprise they were quite good.

We walked through the grounds and had some clam chowder, crabwitches, grilled oyster, Holly and Mom got caramel apples, and Gammie got some cotton candy. The grilled oysters were a different experience than the BBQ'ed ones that we had tasted earlier. After the first bite there was a greenish goo that came from inside the oyster that had a bitter fishy flavor that I didn't enjoy too much. Holly agreed and we talked about doing a bit of research into oyster preparation to see what could be the difference between the BBQ and grilled varieties.

One of our favorite buildings had the water equivalent of a petting zoo. They had several aquariums some of which were open so anyone could touch several different species that live in the tide pools. We saw several, geoducks, starfish, a few species of crab, and anemone among others.

There was also a little three man band called The Bobbers. With drums, bass, lead guitar and all of them singing they were able put out a tight sound of, from what I could tell, were all original songs all about fishing. They were all wearing waiders and crazy fish themed hats and having a great time.

We left the Oyster Fest with smiles on our faces and would definitely go again if the opportunity presents itself again some year.

We spent the rest of the evening at my Mom's house. She showed me the progress that her garden, both vegetable and flower, had made since I was last there. We had a great dinner that included some fresh garden beans with garden lettuce and cucumber it the salad. For dessert there was a frozen banana split pie that was so good that I had to have a second piece.

28 at the Steak Out

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 08:53:00 -0700

This past Thursday Evening Holly and I met Kevin, Sarah, Steve and Angela at Gary's Steak Out and Bar in Tacoma on 6th Ave across the street from Chopsticks. The occasion was the 28th Birthday of one Kevin Freitas.

We all sat down to a wonderful meal together. I got the 16 ounce New York steak and ended up eating the whole thing. Kevin opened a few presents. We gave him a home made coupon for a lift ticket so we can all go snowboarding together as Kevin is getting into it a bit this year. Sarah and the Fergusons teamed up to get Kevin a wonderful tripod and ball head for his camera. From what I saw it was pretty hefty and should serve him well.

It was great to see Kevin and Sarah and good to see Steve and Angela again. Here are some photos that I took during the event.

Leo at Play

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 18:20:00 -0700

Here is a collection of photos of our kitty Leo at play. The photos were taken at three different times and show how fast kittens can grow.

Leo is fitting in great here and is getting to know the house rules. He loves to play with any waistband ties or similar and also enjoys steaking up on me and attacking my leg as I walk by.

He has not gotten into too much trouble... Yet.

Back in MT - Lunch with the Grandfolks

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:57:00 -0700

Today we drove into Columbus to meet my grandparents for lunch. It was good to see them in good health and good spirits. My grandfather has been having some passing out episodes the last few years every few months for almost five years now. The doctors have him on some new medication and he has not passed out for over six months which is good news! My grandmother is sharp as a tack and I hope to be in as good of shape as she is when I reach her age.

There was a beautiful sunset this evening that I was able to get some photos of as a summer thunder storm moved in. I miss the summers in Montana with the afternoon storms that come barreling across the blue sky. There is some excitement in the air just before the rain and wind commence.

Back in MT - Deer and the Fleet

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:25:00 -0700

This morning the deer were out so I grabbed the long zoom lens that my buddy Shane had lent me for nature photography on the trip and headed out the door.

The first deer I saw was a Doe eating right next to the neighbor’s house while the dog watched the whole thing. Once she saw the dog she slowly crept away. Down closer to the water there were four more females all eating breakfast together and I saw one shy fawn poke its head out of the grass.

I spend about an hour shooting the closest Doe who didn’t seem to mind me creeping up on her one step at a time. I got a few funny shots of her with her tongue out which made me laugh.

Later that morning Dad and I got all of our planes out for a fleet photo. It was quite the static display with all sorts of planes from my three electrics, powered gliders, to some very old 25 plus years trainers that I learned on, all the way to the Focke-Wulf D190 that my Dad has put countless hours into this past year. It was cool to get a few photos of all of our planes.

Work on the Funtana continued later in the afternoon with completion of the electrics and wiring.

Back in MT - Air to Air Video

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 23:10:00 -0700

This morning my Dad wanted to try some air to air video. He has a large powered glider called the Butterfly that has a RF camera mounted on the shoulders of the plane. This allows him to record his flights form the point of view of the plane. So what he wanted to do is to get some footage of my plane in the air with the Butterfly.

It is a bit tricky to fly your own RC plane and keep track of where someone else is flying but we were able to do it and we got a few flights recorded with the little white Shockflyer darting about in the frame.

It was a lot of fun to watch the footage after the flights as we spotted the Shockflyer each pass around the field.

The rest of the day was spend relaxing and working on the mini funtana. The rear horizontal stabilizer and rudder were mounted today. It is almost done and ready to fly.

Back in MT - Mini Funtata Taking Shape

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:51:00 -0700

This morning was spent on another photo talking walk but in a new direction from my Dad’s house. We headed downriver and took a mini tour of some of the neighbors houses and cabins. On the way back we stopped to visit a few friendly horses and then headed home.

Once home the remainder of the day was spent in the garage assembling my new electric plane the Mini Funtana. The first task was to strengthen the landing gear supports to make sure the gear does not come off. With a nonstandard motor we had to attach a custom motor mount that my Dad’s friend had supplied. The assembly went well and we had the motor mounted by the end of the day along with the aileron hinges well in place.

Back in MT - Seize the Good Weather

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 22:48:00 -0700

Much of today was spent with my Dad doing a pastime that we both enjoy model RC. Since the air was calm in the morning and rarely is in Nye MT we thought we had better jump on the good weather and make the most of it.

My Dad got out the old eagle trainer which I learned to fly on and I grabbed my trusty Zagi and ShockFlyer from out of my car and we were off. I forget the total but it was somewhere around 13 flights for the day. The weather held and we flew on into the early afternoon. It was awesome to fly off of the makeshift model runway right in Dad’s back yard.

Later that evening we took a walk down to the Stillwater River and I was able to snap some landscape photos. All in all, a great way to start my stay off back in MT.

Back in MT - Driving to Dad’s

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 21:53:00 -0700

Today was spent on the road. I pretty much woke up with my car already packed for the trip to Nye MT to visit my father. I got on the road at 6:30 am PST and arrived at my Dads cabin at 8pm MST for a total of 829miles in 13.5 hours. I made a total of 4 stops, three for gas and one to go to the bathroom. I’m a slave driver when it comes to road trips.

At any rate it was great to finally get out of the car and my Dad was waiting to give me a hug when I arrived.

The New Member in Our Family

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:51:00 -0700

Three days ago just as Holly and I had shut the lights out and were headed off to sleep we heard a rustling in our back yard. It sounded like leaves and sticks were being pushed around. After awhile it stopped and we went back to bed.

The next night we heard the same rustling but this time it was followed by a small kittens cry. The crying went off and on through the evening but we couldn’t see the kitten making the noise. In the morning I awoke, started my morning routine and after I got out of the shower I saw Holly sitting at the back edge of our back yard smiling.

She had put some tuna on a plate and was feeding the source of all the noise. I got out in the back yard in time to see a small kitten creeping toward the plate of tuna about 30 feet from Holly and myself.

The kitten would run back into the woods when we approached but we continued to watch and feed him later that evening. The next night we listened to the same crying and decided to try to rescue him in the morning.

When we awoke, bright and early to more crying, I gathered a plastic box, a stick, some string, and a plate of tuna and headed to the back yard. I placed the plate of tuna under the box which I propped up with the stick. I then tied the string to the stick to complete my kitten trap. It only took a few minutes of waiting until the hungry kitten overcame his fear to investigate the wonderful smell of tuna. With a yank of my hand the stick came out and the box fell down and we had a kitten to take care of.

The kitten was confused about the box and I was able to grab him by the back of his neck and take him inside. Within minutes we had him warmed up and purring like crazy.

Holly has been taking great care of him and we made a cardboard home for him complete with mini litter box, a bed, food and water. The little guy is pretty cute and we have already become attached to him as well. He or she will go to the vet today to get checked out and once we find out the sex we can settle on a name.

Here are some photos that I took with my newly arrived 35mm f2.0 lenses. So far I am pleased with the sharp optics and great ability to take available light shots inside of our cute little kitty. So here are some photos of the kitty and some other random neighborhood subjects.

10:58 am - Update: We just found out that our cat is a boy! You were right Kevin. Well now we have to name him. Feel free to suggest boy cat names that you think would fit.

5:56 pm - Update: Well you all missed the boat because we have decided to name him Leo! So the next time any of you are over we will be happy to introduce you.

The Blue Angles

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 17:10:00 -0700

Today Holly and I hopped into the car and headed to Seafair to see the Blue Angles. We took the shuttle from Boeing down to the Genesee Park.

I was under the impression that the event would be open to the public and free but was a little shocked when one needed tickets to get down to the water for $30. So we just sat in the park and enjoyed the air show.

The Blue Angles were great!! I love to watch precision flying at any time and this was some of the best. I was kicking myself a bit for not owning a longer lense but was pleased with the photos that I got from my trusty Rebel XT and my 17mm-85 IS.

So enough with the chitter-chatter on to the photos.

Back in MT – Lunch with the Grandfolks

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:45:00 -0700

Kauai - The Wedding Day

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 23:41:00 -0700

Holly and I awoke bright and early on our last full day on the island with an ambitious schedule ahead of us. With a better forecast we had decided to drive up to the north side of the island in order to swim in some choice snorkeling grounds. We were up, packed and on the road in no time.

We worked our way around the entire island following Kuhio highway through Princeville and a bunch of small towns along the way. The north side of the island was lush and green and from the greater amounts of rain it receives. We stopped at a lookout to see flooded rice patties along the valley floor surrounded by green mountains.

After Princeville the road became more narrow and winding with glimpses of the ocean and white beaches at every other corner. We arrived at the end of the highway in Haena State park and headed for the beach.

The Beach was amazing with the emerald blue water and white sand. The particular beach that we stopped in was sheltered from the waves by a reef a couple hundred yards out providing calm clear water. Holly and I grabbed our snorkel masks and after weeding out one leaky mask we had a great time in the water. There were fish everywhere all around you. We took turns with our one good mask just watching the brightly colored fish swimming just feet from your hands. It was quite amazing.

I took some time to shower off and take some photos while Holly took one last swim and then it was back into the car to the other end of the island for the main event, Paul and Amy’s wedding.

A little bit crunched for time Holly made sandwiches in the car on the way back which shaved off enough time for me to get ready for and head over to the wedding, guitar and all for some wedding party photos.

The groomsmen looked especially dapper, if I may say so, in their white pants and black Hawaiian cut dress shirts. We were given the traditional long green lays that were draped over our necks and went down almost to my knees.

We all watched as Paul and Amy got to see each other for the first time on a little bridge. Amy looked amazing in her white dress with long flowing train and Paul complemented her wonderfully in his white suit, pants and black shirt. Being that they both shoot wedding photos for a living they had tons of photos taken during the event.

I had a chance after the bridal party photos to set up my guitar and do a bit of a sound check for the ceremony. There were white rows of chairs on the grass facing out to the ocean with an arbor made from bamboo and palm branches. It was a beautiful setting for a ceremony.

The guests all trickled in and the ceremony soon started with Justin Kawabori playing “A Trumpets Lullaby” to start the event. Amy looked amazing in her flowing white dress coming up the isle lead by her father. With Paul in his white suit the two of them looked great together. A greeting by Pastor Roy Sasaki was to followed the processional and then I sang a quick accapella version of “Love in All I Say” (I Corinthians13). The families and congregation then gave Paul and Amy’s marriage a hearty blessing.

Pastor Roy lead a prayer and talked a bit about marriage which lead into the vows. Paul sang “Meant to Be” which he wrote and sang to Amy before he proposed to her on Kauai two years previous with an instrumental track backing him up. He sang beautifully and I could see Amy starting to tear up as he sang to her. Following was a beautiful Pau Hone (Honey Flower) Hula performed by Mariko Kawabori.

Pastor Roy then Blessed the rings as Amy and Paul exchanged them. The Hawaiian sand Ceremony was to follow with two bottles of sand one purple and one pink representing each of the families. The sand was then combined into one bottle representing the joining of the two families. Paul’s middle brother Matt, gave a scripture reading and then introduced the song
“Your Love in Life to Me”.

I had a great time singing during the sand ceremony and only had a little trouble in that when I looked over at Paul and Amy I started to get a little emotional. After the sand ceremony Paul and Amy were pronounced Husband and Wife and Roy almost forgot the traditional kiss. The bride and groom recessed to clapping and cheering and smiling faces everywhere.

The reception had wonderful food with great Hawaiian music. We did get a little rained on just before eating but other than that everything was great. After dinner the reception moved inside and the toasts began. There were many great and sometimes long toasts with well wishes and remembrances, embarrassing stories but all glasses were raised to Paul and Amy. Dancing followed the usual wedding events as the evening melted away.

Holly and I hugged Paul and Amy and headed out tired but happy as we drove home.

The wedding was a beautiful ceremony that I felt honored to sing and play a part in. Congratulations to Amy and Paul may their love for one another surround them, protect them and only grow.

Kauai - Eggberts and the Rehearsal Dinner

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 23:50:00 -0700

After getting up and ready for the day we hopped in the car and headed toward the north side of the island with the intensions of going snorkeling. Much to our dismay the clouds thickened and the rain proceeded to fall. So with the weather turned sour we decided to stop in Kapaa and eat a late breakfast at Eggberts. Holly had read about their famous pancakes and wanted to try them. We each had two huge pancakes. Mine were both macadamia nut, with a side of ham while Holly had one banana and one macadamia nut and a side of spam. We each drizzled some coconut syrup on top and dug in. The pancakes tasted great and were very filling. We left with smiles on our faces and would recommend it to anyone who asked.

With the rain still in full effect we decided to do some souvenir shopping. A few hours later we had gotten gifts for our family members and a cool wooden sea turtle for ourselves. Then it was back home to get dressed for the rehearsal dinner for Holly and to the Hiatt for the rehearsal for me.

The rehearsal was on a beautiful section of grass next to the beach and surrounded by palm trees and lush plants. We stepped through the wedding, and walked through the processional and recessional and it was over in about an hour.

Next I picked up Holly and headed back north for the rehearsal dinner at a wonderful authentic Japanese restaurant. We all sat on the floor at more traditional tables and the food was tasted as it came in waves to our table. After dinner the groomsmen sang “In the Still of the Night” and “So Much in Love” with Paul singing the lead. We did a good rendition of both and I’m proud of the work that the guys put in to sing the songs. There were lots of wonderful toasts, a few funny stories and the night ended with a slideshow of Paul and Amy from birth to where they are today.

It was a great rehearsal dinner that honored each family and the joining together of Amy and Paul.