Family Portrait Time

Last week I drove out into the country to capture a beautiful family for a big wall portrait. What a gorgeous place.
We got the whole gang in on it. What fun!

Scenes from a Boat Show

Toledo's 5th annual Wooden Boat Show was last weekend, and what a blast it was! The weather was perfect, attendance was great, and the exhibits, live music and other events were awesome. The Toledo Chamber did a pancake breakfast both days, and it was a huge hit! Mayor Rod Cross and his clan stopped by to fuel up on Saturday.

Former Toledo Police Chief Jerry Pryor and his wife Debbie had some breakfast, too.

Along with Margaret Epperson and her granddaughters.

Toledo's Port Manager Bud Shoemake came by for some hotcakes, too.

This guy was really getting into it. Yum!

There were artists...

Log-rolling demonstrations...

The life-ring toss was a big hit for folks of all ages... it's harder than it looks to get that life ring on the post!

Live music on Saturday with a great variety of styles...

And the family boat building was an interesting thing to watch. Six families built boats from start to finish over the weekend and launched them on Sunday afternoon.

Some brought their "Buddy"s...

The kids boat-building tent was hopping with activity the whole weekend... a very popular spot. I saw some awesome little boats and boat-builders filled with creativity.

There were many interesting vendor and information booths, this is Bruce Koike from the Oregon Coast Community College. There was a fiddle workshop where folks could learn to play...

Rides on the rail cars by the Yaquina Pacific Railroad Historical Society...

Tom Chandler and his friend were on hand to give tours of the YPRRHS museum both days.

There were pirates with potato cannons...

With pretty good aim! You can see the spud in this pic, in the air to the left of the sail on the boat they were using for a target. Bullseye!

Former Mayor Jim Chambers flashed me a nice smile...

Chuck Gertulla was the announcer both days, and he offered free rides on his boat, the Captain Ben F. He was a very busy guy all weekend.

But he took a moment to let me capture a nice shot of him.

Tom Murphy gives the safety talk before the big "Yaquina Run-Off" boat race.

And he did kayak safety demonstrations both days. Very interesting!

And his wife Karel staffed the Port's info booth all weekend. And of course there were boats. Lots and lots of boats. An awesome sight to see.

A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into this event, and it just gets better every year! Great job, folks!

Time for a cool change...

Seems the time has come once again to make some changes. I will be going completely mobile starting September 1st and not working from the studio location anymore. It's time to cut down on the overhead and work strictly on location with the stunning scenery we have here as a backdrop.

I'll still be offering all of the photographic services like High School Senior Portraits, Family and Individual Portraits, Weddings; everything I have been doing, just not from the Highway 20 location that I've occupied for the past 5+ years. If you'd like a studio portrait made, I'll bring my lights and backdrops and come to you, and we can set up an indoor location for the session.

The website and blog will remain up and running, the cell phone number will remain the same, the new mailing address is PO Box 501 in Toledo, so you can still reach me... and I will still be plenty visible at Newport and Toledo Chamber events, other local events and as a Toledo City Councilor.

I'll be having a moving sale on Saturday August 22nd here at the studio, so stop by and see what kinds of treasures you just can't live without. I have a big, heavy, old desk that won't fit into my house, and some other furniture along with plenty of odds and ends...

Earlier this week I was treated to a day on the mighty blue Pacific, trolling for salmon. Caught one nice keeper, and released a bunch more that we couldn't keep. The ocean was beautiful that day, and late in the afternoon we came in close to shore to try for some rockfish. Here's a pic of Yaquina Head Lighthouse from the ocean side. What an awesome day!

Toledo's Wooden Boat Show is this weekend, will be a great event again this year, I'll see you there!

Photo Class Field Trip

Had a great shoot last night on the Newport bayfront... we met at the Port Office and started looking around. There was a boat unloading some of the last dungeness crab of the season... I was struck by the pile of crab pot buoys where the captain would be steering the boat. They had a small catch, only enough to half-fill a couple of plastic trash cans... but they were big crabs. And pretty lively.
He sat down to wait for his partner to go get the truck, and allowed me a quick shot.
Then it was off to the docks where we got to watch a Great Blue Heron catch several fish for dinner.

I don't know what the significance of the deer antlers hanging on the anchor might be, but it caught my eye.

One of my all-time favorite movies is "Jaws" - the name of the boat in the movie is the "Orca". This boat has been around Newport for as long as I can remember, and it still makes me smile to see it. Even feathers laying on the docks make good photo subjects.

Here are some pics of my students as they enjoy making pictures.

We saw several canine crew members on the boats... this one is just gorgeous.

Lots of sea lions in the bay right now too, all over the breakwater and barking up a storm.

They seemed a little worried about these guys fishing so close to them...

And here are some pics emailed to me by one of my students.

We had a great time, the weather was just perfect, overcast and calm but not too cold. A great shooting trip!