Nancy Lynne Photography

Toledo shows its spirit in the Hometown Holiday celebration every year, and as part of that, Santa comes to my studio to greet the good little children and hear their Christmas wishes. This is always a fun event here at the studio. The kids get so excited about telling Santa their secrets, and I just love to capture their priceless expressions. Mark your calendars!

I was out early yesterday morning visiting Toledo's Olalla Slough, hoping to get some good shots of the kingfisher that hangs around there. I wasn't able to capture him, but I did get some nice shots anyway. The weather has been nothing short of spectacular. Canada Geese A wood duck and his bashful mate Looking downriver - a pastoral scene On the other side of the bridge - here it's called Olalla creek. I saw the kingfisher on this side, but he was too nervous and flew away before I could catch him. I also saw a great blue heron but he was too skittish to pose for me as well. Thanks for looking!!

This is the studio's entry. I'll try to get out and capture some of the other displays around town today. Here's more info on the event.

Last night we went down to check out the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftan, two brigs that are in port for the weekend for tours and battle re-enactments. The noisy rookery of sea lions is what captured my attention. There was a sea lion on almost every rock, and they blend in... but if you look closely, you can see the expression on each one's face.

Eric and I took a field trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium this morning, and I got some really fun stuff. This little purple crab was about 2 inches across. Hard to make heads or tails in the sleeping octopus. The Dungeness Crab's best defense. A face only a mother could love. Looks like the crab dance... there's another one buried in the sand under him.

I had the pleasure of capturing some amazing images of a beautiful young woman recently. Here are a few of my favorites from her Senior Portrait Session.

On the way home from the Tillamook Forest Center last Sunday, Eric stopped the car so I could snap some shots of what looks like a farm that produces giant marshmallows. We watched the machine that wrapped these giant hay bales in white plastic. Why they do this, I don't know. To keep the hay fresh, perhaps? It is kinda fun to picture these things as giant marshmallows, tho.

Of the hundreds of images I've captured this week, this one is my favorite. See more runners-up from this wedding, and other recent things on my website at www.nancylynne.com Thanks for looking!

A couple of my favorite shots from a recent Senior portrait session: More on my website at http://www.nancylynne.com/august_2006.htm Thanks for looking!

Wow, another busy week here at the studio. Here are some of the images I captured for a family visiting the beach recently. The northwest wind was blowing a steady 40 mph, so we went down the south side of the Devil's Punchbowl area south of Otter Rock. There were lots of surfers down there, and some interesting driftwood and rock to include in the images. Lately, we've been hearing what sounded like an owl in our neighborhood. The other day Gaelen pointed out to me that the sound was coming from a tree in our yard, and that the bird making the whoo-whoo-who! sound looked like a pigeon. Well of course, I had to get my camera out and get some images of it. We eventually identified it as a ringed turtledove. Apparently they are common in parks in the Willamette Valley, but I'd never seen one before. He starts his whoo-whoo-ing about 6 a.m., so I'm sure glad there isn't a whole flock of them in the neighborhood! More images and stuff on my 'What's New' pag...

Here are some of my favorite captures from recent jobs. From a wedding at the base of Cape Perpetua, a couple of young children experience the ocean waves. And the couple who were married there: From a studio session today, a 7-week old princess and her mother's reassuring hands. This is her big brother. And the two of them together.

The Reverend Eric Augustus!! He just became an ordained Minister of the Universal Life Church . Now he can perform wedding ceremonies for my clients as part of the wedding packages. He's non-denominational and offers only civil ceremonies. Of course, he's willing to work with the bride and groom to customize the ceremony to suit them perfectly. It's been another busy week! After the fair in Newport, Toledo had it's Summer Festival this past weekend, and Eric, Gaelen and I helped the Toledo Chamber get Saturday's parade organized and on it's way through town. It was interesting to say the least. Here's a shot of the parade court. I think they all had a good time representing the Chamber. And the fireworks Saturday night were nothing short of spectacular. They just get better every year. I've had several portrait sessions in the last few days and have several more coming up. They are all a lot of fun in their own way.

Here are a couple of shots of young pie-eating contestants from last weekend.

I'm all set up at my booth for the Lincoln County Fair , and will be there for the next four days. Hope to see you there! Eric and I traveled to central Oregon last weekend to cover a wedding in Crooked River Ranch. We had a great time. It's amazing for me to watch the foliage and vegetation change so dramatically - and several times - between here and there. While we were there we strolled through the Summer Festival in downtown Bend, and on the way home we stopped to see Camp Sherman and the head of the Metolius River where it just comes up out of the ground. I think that's Mount Jefferson peeking over the trees. We stopped to feed the chipmunks while we were there, and this is my favorite shot from that. I was a good 15 feet from him, shooting with my little Minolta with the amazing zoom. Also on the way home, we detoured to Salem for a family portrait session with some of my friends. That was fun, too! See you at the fair!!

Today is Eric's and my third wedding anniversary. We were married in the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse with only family and close friends in attendance. Then we threw a party at the Embarcadero in the Fireside Room overlooking the bay and the fireworks. Irony of ironies, we didn't hire a professional photographer to cover the event. It was a couple of months before I decided I'd look into becoming one, but back then I didn't envision myself doing weddings or portraits, I just wanted to create and sell scenics. So we only have pictures that were taken by guests with those little throw-away cameras. This is my favorite one, I think it was taken by my mother. As I posted previously, it's so very interesting to take a look at the images of our lives. In looking at this collection from only three years ago, I see one person who is now in prison for the rest of their lives, and one dear soul who was taken from us by cancer at only 44 years old... (Godspeed, Sherri, I sure do mis...

Wow, the last day of June already. It's been a busy week. I'm involved with the Toledo Chamber of Commerce on the board of directors. We have lots of fun events in the works and are spending a lot of time and effort to make sure they are successful. Visit the Chamber's website here . And come on out to Toledo and enjoy some of these great events! Or even better, volunteer to help out! I was privileged to provide coverage for a 60th birthday party last weekend. Unbeknownst to me, the honoree was one of my teachers in the 6th grade at what was Central School in Newport. That building now houses Newport's City Hall. It was really nice to see her again and meet her family and friends. Then that evening I provided coverage for Newport High School's class of 1956 50-year reunion. Ironically, I was in the class of 1981 at that same school, which was 25 years ago. I was finally convinced by the speakers at the PPO seminar earlier this month that there are some r...

On my way to visit my horses yesterday I happened upon this fawn with its mother. They ran down the road in front of me for a little ways, then the mother turned and jumped up the road bank. The fawn kept running down the road in front of me, so I stopped. Then it stopped. I turned off the car, and it started back toward me. It got right in front of the car, and as I stepped out to get a better shot, I could hear the mother calling it to join her. The fawn was about 18 inches tall, and I'm guessing only a couple of days old. I'm in the habit of driving that road - Sam's Creek Road - with my camera in my hand because a few days ago Eric and I saw a huge black bear in the middle of the road as we came around a bend.The bear was gone before I even got the camera bag open, so I want to be ready if and when I see him again.

One of my pictures was published on the cover of another local phone book. They neglected to give me photo credit though, so I'm working on getting that straightened out. Two of Eric's images won ribbons in the May photo competitions through the Yaquina Art Association Photographers. This one received an Award of Merit in the monochrome 96 square inch print division. This one received an Award of Merit in the May slide competition and is eligible for the"Top 80" Competition for 2006. This is one of my very favorite images of Eric's, and I've sold quite a few prints of this one. The YAA Photography group is part of the Columbia Council of Camera Clubs ( 4Cs ). They do intra-club competitions monthly. Good Job, Eric!

Last night Eric, Michael and Gaelen and I went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to see the new exhibit, 'Claws'. As always, there are some pretty fascinating creatures out there. Here are a few of them: This is a Tanner Crab. It almost looks like he has human-like teeth, and has a weird kind of evil smile on his face. This is a king crab. I've never looked at their faces close up, they look like aliens. It's amazing how big they are, too. This is a Moon Jelly. They are fascinating to watch. For more shots from last night's aquarium visit, check out the "What's New" link to the right. Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

I was contacted recently by the mother of a bride who's wedding I covered almost 2 years ago. She wanted some reprints from the wedding. She doesn't live here locally but her daughter and son-in-law do, and she is here visiting them. They just had a baby boy on the 15th. I am so happy for them. It's really gratifying to be able to watch my client's lives unfold and change and evolve. Some of the people in their wedding pictures have either passed on or had stroke events or other life-altering happenings in their lives. So the pictures of them alive and healthy now are very poignant. And suddenly so much more valuable. Things have changed so much in the two years since I met them... both for them and for me. It made me think about the magic of photographs. How 'every picture is worth a thousand words' is so very true. How pictures can evoke such emotion in us simply by looking at them. The new grandmother said as she looked through the images, "Wha...