Blog
Social Distancing
April 2020
After spending a month apart, my grandson started to run out of hug us after we dropped some masks off. Our daughter, who’s exposed to the coronavirus every day at work, stopped him for our protection.
Sticker Balls
When I was a kid, there was a sweet gum tree out in front of my house, planted around the time I was born. The kind that sheds those little prickly seed capsules. The fresh, heavy green ones hurt when they hit you in the back of the head, and the dried brown ones really hurt when you step on them in bare feet.
Some of the more colorful names for these spikey things include gum balls, space bugs, monkey balls, bommyknockers and sticker balls. Even though they can live to be 400 years old, some cities have vowed to destroy the trees, citing them as nuisances.
But I loved my tree. I learned to walk under it, and to ride a bike, and I sat in its shade on hot summer days. When I looked out of my bedroom window as … Read More »
The Last Mom
Quick trip to the old neighborhood today, and I visited with the last mom living on our cul-de-sac. Everyone else is gone, literally or figuratively. While I’m very lucky that I still have both of my parents, they moved away long ago, and she’s now the only friend that I know in my home town.
In 1955, nearly all our neighbors moved into brand-new identical tract houses, on GI loans, and their kids grew up around the same time. Most of us did kindergarten through high school together, as people just didn’t move around that much.
Moms usually stayed at home in those days, and because their kitchens faced the street, this was a place where you could get in trouble from anyone’s mom, if you were doing something you shouldn’t. However, anyone’s mom would also feed you if you forgot your … Read More »
Number Fifty
Well, there goes state #50. One of my wishes was fulfilled in July when I had a brief visit to Alaska; partly for a work project, but mostly so that I could get a little taste of the last frontier.
It took me a while to see all 50 states, beginning with a family road trip across the country when I was nine. I had just enough Social Studies (is it still called that?) to appreciate the history and geography of what I saw. I noticed accents, license plates, regional food and countless other things that kindled a lifelong love of travel and faraway places.
I’ve had a hard time getting a sense of the proper set of rules: Do you need to eat a meal in a state in order for it to count? Stay overnight? Pee? Touch your toe across the border, a … Read More »
You get what you need
During a recent trip to Vancouver Island, in a little place called Tofino at the end of the Trans-Canada Highway, the weather was alternately foggy and sunny (mostly foggy). On my last evening, I wanted the obligatory sunset shot, and went down to a nearby beach. The fog, seeing me coming, rolled up and along the beach in a shallow dense layer. Disappointed, I almost turned around and gave up. But the sun began to bore a hole through the fog, and allowed me to photograph what looked like the last two people on Earth. Which would beg the question of who took the photo. I might have put it on a timer, but then who posted it?
“The last people on Earth” Tofino, British Columbia ~ July 2014
Meanwhile, Back in the Old Country
It started with a walk in the woods in the Pacific Rim National Park in coastal British Columbia in 2006. Walking through the lush green canopy of the rain forest, I saw a number of fallen trees, with other younger trees growing out of them, their roots straddling decaying trunks.
One memorable scene (for some reason, I didn’t take a photo of it) was a row of small trees growing in a perfectly straight line, each of them bowlegged, and growing out of an invisible giant that had long since disintegrated into empty space.
It struck me that the mother tree had grown, flourished, died and returned to the earth over a period of hundreds of years, never to be seen again, and yet here she was; her ghost clearly visible, her influence still being felt many years into the future.
Writers, composers … Read More »
Four Haircuts in an Hour
Last week I was asked to help a fellow photographer and friend by photographing her haircut. Four haircuts actually. Kimberli was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and will soon be losing her hair due to chemotherapy. True to her spirit, she decided to turn last week into a celebration of her hair, which she has worn long since junior high school.
It was quite a wild ride, seeing her transform into 4 different women in such a short amount of time…and a bittersweet session at that. Luckily we got to see how she could look when her hair comes back. I think she is radiant in all of her “do’s”
Soon the hard part of her journey will begin. So many people face illness in so many ways, but I’m so grateful to have experienced the grace and good humor with which … Read More »
MHCC Class of 2013
Great reconnecting with my my Fall 2011 students who just graduated from Mount Hood Community College‘s Integrated Media program. Last night was a portfolio show in Portland. Some great work shown!
Here’s wishing them all everything they wish for themselves.
Summer Workshops 2013
CAPTURE WHAT YOU SEE
Photography Workshops in Portland, this Summer
Group or Private
Street Photography – Step out of your comfort zone, and capture people and places in a whole new way
Off Camera Lighting (Strobist)- Take studio-quality images using a Canon or Nikon speedlight
Adobe Lightroom 4 – An Introduction
Get your camera out of “Program Mode” – Don’t let the camera be in charge! Capture an image the way you see it!
Intro to iPhoneography – We have a great camera in our pockets! Learn some new tricks!
Contact me for more details regarding rates and dates!
Children’s Cancer Association – 2013 Heroes
I was recently honored once again to create portraits of 24 children from Oregon and SW Washington, who are battling life-threatening illness or injury. These kids were nominated by local hospitals, and then selected to become Children’s Cancer Association Community Heroes for 2013. Each child has a unique circumstance and personality, but they all demonstrate a special spirit and grace that inspires others.
Earlier this week I attended the unveiling the 2013 “Wall of Courage” at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), which will travel around Oregon as a year-long exhibit to inspire others to get involved with kids and their families.
CCA tailors opportunities and programs to support kids, teens and their families as they face the realities of isolation, hospitalization, and a limited ability to participate in school activities, clubs, sports, etc. The programs range from the Chemo Pal Mentor … Read More »