Lucky 14

Today is Lucky's 14th birthday. He is just doing so well, and I'm so tickled to have him in my daily life.

He came into my life when he was 3 1/2 years old. He was owned by a young woman who had no time for him, and she traded him in at the car dealership where I worked in December of that year. As soon as I saw they had taken him in on trade, I had my hand up, asking can I buy him? I hadn't even met him yet. I drove up to Otis to meet him, and he was in a huge, multi-stall barn with a covered arena - all by himself. He only had chickens for company. Poor guy. He was being fed one measly bucket of oat bran a day, and was so skinny.

He was tall, gangly, and YOUNG. It was winter so he had a long dull coat. Didn't look like too much of a prize, but I didn't care. I rented a trailer and borrowed a truck and went up and got him with the help of my co-worker, Damien. We took him to the fairgrounds to stay a while, and they assigned me stall #13. I ended up giving a dollar for him, to the dealership, and still have the bill of sale. So he is my Lucky Buck. His previous owner called him "Sweet Pea" - I thought that was way too demeaning for such a beautiful creature.

We've been together almost 10 years... we've had a lot of fun together. I think I'll keep him. Maybe I'll marry him... :) Happy Birthday, Big Guy!

Another busy week

Last weekend was Loyalty Days in Newport, and the Toledo Chamber served up breakfast and lunch at the PUD building for the car show. It was cold but we had a great time. Here is Newport's Mayor Bill Bain and Celeste Mathews cookin up a good time...


I was hired by Newport Tile Works to capture the essence of their products for their website, that was a really fun job. They do beautiful work. Here's my favorite. Big surprise, huh?


I was hired to photograph a wedding at the Oregon Coast Aquarium last weekend, what a great place to have an exceptional event. This group was more than exceptional, they were all theatre folks, and VERY outgoing. What fun!Nice 'do, huh?

Last night, Brooke and I took advantage of the mild weather and cajoled Lucky and Quincy into a stroll around the pasture.

Back to raining again today, but I hear the forecast is for sunshine and warmth... finally. Yay!!

The Circle of Life

My favorite uncle passed away over the weekend. The Outlaw Joe Billy Venn was an awesome guy, and loved by many. Here he is with my aunt Irene at their daughter Rhonda's wedding in 1974.

A beautiful portrait of them I found in my Dads stuff, and had published in the local newspaper in honor of their 55th wedding anniversary...

And a more recent photo, taken several years ago.

And then there is little Liam. His mommy and daddy and grandparents brought him in to see me for some newborn portraits this week. He was 4 days old at the time.

In Daddy's hands. Liam was calm and cooperative thru the whole session.

His Mom's long slender fingers make this a graceful and beautiful portrait.

The glowing quality of this image just keeps me enthralled with it. I was amazed at how far he could spread his toes!

This is my favorite shot of the session.

Awesome Seniors

I have had a couple of awesome senior sessions this week. Here are a few of my favorites. This rock is out on the south jetty at Newport, someone has carved their thoughts into it:

It was an amazing evening out there last night, the light was gorgeous, the subject just as beautiful and photogenic, setting was spectacular. The weather was mild and still, a perfect evening for a bayside session.



I had a fun studio session earlier this week too with another absolutely gorgeous model.We're planning her location session next week when she gets back from Disneyland.

There is still time to get yours done if you're graduating in June, call the studio today to make your appointment! 541-336-2606

Brooke and Jerry Tie the Knot

As promised, here are some of my favorite shots from the Bates' wedding.
The rings nestled in Miss Brooke's bouquet.

Beautiful Miss Brooke and her Mother Pat are very close.

Pat with her husband Bob. What a gorgeous couple.

And with her friend Beverly.

Beautiful Miss Heather, the Maid of Honor.

Jesse, friend of the family. A real nut.

My favorite shot of Jerry.

The happy couple embrace after the ceremony.

The photo guestbook I created for them.

The glowing bride. What a fun day. Thanks so much you guys. Happy Honeymoon!!

Wowsers

What a couple of weeks its been. I met my sister Shari and nephew Scott for the first time. Scott is only 5 years younger than I am. What a trip. I'm so tickled to finally meet Shari tho. Here she is with Scott and our dad.

I was hired to cover a wedding earlier this month in Seal Rock at this gorgeous home.

Here are a few of the images I caught that day.

This is Coin of the Realm. They are absolutely awesome! Check them out. They play a lot of local events and venues. Definitely worth making the effort to get out and enjoy their amazing talents.

My friends Brooke and Jerry got married this weekend, I'll post some of my favorite shots from that this afternoon.

Apparently our weather still seems to think it's November. It's raining sideways here today. My calendar says it's spring. Sheesh.

Another awesome weekend!!

The weather was definitely here over the weekend. Friday it hit 76 in my backyard, so I took advantage and played hooky from the studio to mow and do some yard cleanup. It felt SO good. Friday night, my friend Bobby and I went to see Louie Anderson at the casino in Lincoln City. What a hoot. We had a great time.

Saturday, did the usual Weight Watchers meeting (down 34 pounds now, YES!!), had breakfast with my girlfriend Amber, then shot a wedding at a home in Seal Rock. It was a great time, and I'll post pics of that here tomorrow.

Sunday morning, my girlfriend Brooke loaded up her horse Mocha and stopped by and picked up Lucky and me for a beach ride. We went to the south jetty in Newport where there is an equestrian area, trails, dunes, all kinds of fun stuff.

A waterfall runs down onto the beach and into a driftwood pile.

Lucky and I watch Brooke work with Mocha. Watch and learn, Lucky... watch and learn.

What a photogenic pair...

The view from Lucky's back, looking north toward the jetty. I love the view from up there.

One of the neighborhood cats likes to come into Freckles' yard and torture her. So Miss F spends a lot of time staring out the glass door, with her paws crossed like this. What a dog. I'll be taking her to the beach today for some run time. I am also going to meet my half-sister and nephew from Missouri this week . What a trip. And, how exciting! Life is good.

I love the Oregon Coast

Miss Freckles and I met some new friends at the beach on Sunday, and of course got some exercise in. I found this rock-stack intriguing.

And this rock pattern was really neat.

And yesterday, Miss Brooke invited us to go to Florence for the day, to meet her Mom and another friend for lunch and a little shopping. On the way back, she showed us the Horse Creek Trailhead area where we will be taking our horses for some fun as the weather warms up. What a gorgeous place. Freckles had a blast running circles around us as we hiked thru the woods.
The view from the top. Gorgeous.

A trillium in bloom already. We saw lots of little wildflowers and the brush is greening up very nicely.
There was moss everywhere, it was just beautiful.

This is an alder tree bloom, with the cones it also produces behind it.

A fat, brazen squirrel, he let me walk up fairly close to him without a bit of concern on his part.

The foxgloves are going to be blooming soon, they look very healthy.

This is a pretty little plant nicknamed Miner's Lettuce.

A Sitka Spruce branch with cones, it reminded me of a hand or bear paw.

On the way home, we stopped at a wayside park for a quick agate hunt, and found these huge, ancient stumps. They were just awesome. You can see three of them in the picture above.

This one reminded me of an octopus-type sea monster.

There were huge stumps in the creek too. Gorgeous.

What a great day! I got to meet some wonderful people, do some fun shopping, a nice lunch, a traipse thru a dripping forest, a treasure hunt at the shore, and then dinner... and I got to spend the day with my girlfriend and my sweet doggie. What could be better? Oh, well ok. Having the horses there would have been better. But we'll be doing that soon. Yay.