Nancy Lynne Photography

It's time to plan for Santa's visit and Toledo's Hometown Holiday celebration! This year we'll be at the Main Street Galleries, 305 North Main, on Saturday, December 12 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. There will be lots of fun activities all over town, and don't forget about the lighted parade at 5:30! See you there!

I joined the Oregon Coast Chapter of Sweet Adelines in the summer of 1994, just after my first divorce... because I was ready to do something just for me, and over the years it has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. The chorus is made up of some of the most diverse and extraordinary women I've had the pleasure of calling my friends, and I treasure them. Like many other members, I've come and gone from the chorus over the years, and have always been welcomed back with open arms whenever I was able to attend performances and other functions they have put on - they throw the most amazing holiday parties - and have competed with the chorus and in a quartet several times. These ladies know how to have a good time. The whole chorus traveled to Washington, DC over the July 4th holiday in 2001 as part of a Music Celebrations event, and my quartet 'High Hopes' sang our swan song, "God Bless the USA" - after an amazing 6-year run - on the steps ...

The 5th Annual Halloween Costume Portraits Event will run 2 days this year, Friday the 30th and Saturday the 31st from 2:00 til 7:00, at the Main Street Galleries, 305 North Main. See you there!!

A recent roadtrip along the Oregon backroads to see some stunning fall color yielded some of these interesting sights... A flock of wild turkeys - they were headed for the cover of the woods, making all kinds of interesting noises... A beautiful wooded path... Interesting fungi... And at a stop along the road to overlook the Columbia River Gorge, a raven stopped for a moment... it was dizzying just to watch him fly from so high up... The view from up there... the drop off at my feet was several hundred feet and very unnerving to get too close to the guardrail... The fall colors were just stunning... And a surprise along the way, a herd of bison grazing on the hillside... A parting shot before the sun went down, a highway bridge alongside a railway bridge... beautiful!! Been down with the flu all week... ugh. Starting to feel better today I think, just in time for Halloween!! I'll be doing costume pictures for Trick-or-Treat Toledo on Main Street on Friday and Saturday in the...

I had a nice lunch date with Mayor Rod today, our conversations are always interesting, enlightening and enjoyable. Thank you, Your Honor. ;) This afternoon I attended the Newport Chamber's Business After Hours, hosted by Bateman Funeral Homes . I knew it would be a fun and interesting event, they always are, this one especially because the catering was by Oregon Coast Catering , they always do such an awesome job, and live music by Coin of the Realm , which is always awesome as well. It was interesting to see the funeral home facilities in that context, rather than the circumstances under which I've been there in the past, that I'd lost someone near and dear. The Newport Chamber members are always so friendly and welcoming, it is a joy to attend their functions. I won a nice Harry and David snacky package in the raffle too... always a nice bonus. I skipped out of there and headed north to Gleneden Beach to attend a class on the " Master Key System " - which I fou...

Miss Freckles and I took a nice long walk on our favorite beach today... the weather was warm and a little windy, but no rain. It is so nice to have our 'private' beach back, where I can just let her run off-leash because there is no one else around. A nice long trip to this beach really rejuvenates my soul, and gives us both some much-needed fresh air and exercise. There was a lot of washed-up mussel shells and kelp today. I think it's beautiful. This mussel shell was about 6 inches long. Lots of interesting colors and textures to be found. Miss Freckles the mountain goat - she really loves it at the beach. We saw lots of seagulls, pelicans and some chirping oyster catchers. More pretty flotsam... Last week the weather was perfect for a road trip down south, with some trekking thru the woods to find a bagfull of chanterelle mushrooms. The scenery is just stunning. A short stop to check out the fly-eating plants at Darlingtonia Botanical Wayside... very interesting plant...

I had the pleasure of capturing some beautiful images this week of a lovely, spunky and all-around awesome high school senior. We were out in the country near her home, and so we got some portraits of her in her mom's sorority dress under one of her favorite walnut trees. She has two beautiful dogs, who were pros at posing for me. And she has one very agreeable horse. He was fun, and pretty much took whatever we dished out to him. Plus he's gorgeous! I also got to go fishing again, the ocean was nice when we got out there and I got some pics of these 4 female sea lions resting on the marker buoy. Then the wind came up and the chop made it rough out there so we headed back into the bay for some crabbing. We did catch one fish before we came back in, and a few dungeness crabs in the bay... so fresh fish and crab for dinner. Yahoo! A busy weekend coming up with weddings and singing at the local fire department fund-raiser... will be a blast. The weather has just been stup...

My friend Chuck took me out fishing on the ocean today, we had an awesome time. Fishin is always fishin, you just never know. We caught 3 coho salmon but they were all wild fish, not hatchery fish, so we had to let them go. So no keepers. But we did manage to drag in one poor black rockfish that I filleted and ate for dinner. Fresh rockfish, yum! :) While we were out there, we saw LOTS of brown pelicans. They were everywhere. You can see how big they are compared to sea gulls. They are very impressive. Just gorgeous. They are getting ready for their southward migration now. It got foggy on us off and on, and the swells were fairly big. We had a great time out there anyway. When we came back into the bay to check the crab pots - which were full of seaweed and nada for crabs - we cruised around the boat docks and I was able to take some pics of the local sea lion population. Every flat spot was occupied by a sea lion, and the barking was a cacophony... I know that if I lived near the ba...

Wow. Time flies when you're having fun! I didn't realize I hadn't posted here for so long, sheesh. Sorry bout that... been a little busy. :) Got the studio all closed down, that was a big job. Still trying to figure out what to do with all the stuff I still have. A lot of my photo equipment I keep handy for jobs, and I'm still trying to organize the rest. I'm really liking this work-from-home gig tho. Been as busy as ever with jobs and bookings, but now I don't have the studio to have to take care of and now I only have one office, so everything is consolidated into one work area. So much nicer!! And I have a great new laptop so I can show my clients their images anywhere just as easily as I did at the studio from my desktop. I've been singing acappella with a really neat group of ladies, there are 6 of us and we sing mostly barbershop stuff... here is a promo shot I did of the GraceNotes. Front row, left to right: Stephanie Howe (tenor) and Arlene Kay Havel...

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!

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...