Almost a month ago, Alycia and I took her parents, Scott and Ann, to Laurelhurst Park, in south east Portland, to take portraits with them. In addition to just going out for fun to take pictures of them, Alycia was looking for experience and I was looking to get used to my new camera and flash before shooting a wedding later in August.
We had a lot of fun wandering around taking pictures and Laurelhurst is such a beautiful park. It was funny watching them react to the "Paparazzi", but after a while they relaxed to the cameras and had fun with it.
A couple more of my favorites from the session:
September 10, 2008
Scott & Ann, a.k.a. "The Inlaws"
September 8, 2008
Forest Fire and Fireweed
Tree's Burned in the B&B Complex
During a recent backpacking trip, I spent a lot time hiking through burned out trees. Between the B&B Complex of 2003 and the Lake George Fire in 2006, there were only 5 or so miles of trail between McKenzie Pass and Santiam Pass that we're green trees. The rest of the trip was either burned out or lavabeds, both of which make for some surreal environments.
In 2003, the Booth Fire and the Bear Butte Fire burned over 90,000 acres of forest, primarily in the Mt. Jefferson wilderness. As we approached our destination at Santiam Pass we hiked through a small section of the B&B Complex. This area was in stark contrast to the area's of the more recent Lake George Fire we had hiked through on the previous day. There everything was desolate, but here renewal had already begun.
Fireweed, named such because it is one of the first things to grow again in burned areas, was in bloom. Every time I see Fireweed growing amongst the burned out trees, I marvel at how something so beautiful could come out of such desolation. In a lot of respects, it becomes an image for my life and how even amongst times of devastation, God is planting the seeds of something beautiful. A reminder of God's desire to restore and renew and an illustration of Romans 8:28 - "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (NASB).
September 6, 2008
My Dad, Hiking the PCT
This is my Dad. A couple of years ago he decided he wanted to hike all of Oregon Pacific Crest Trail in sections. He got a guide book and started highlighting sections of trail and writing the date he hiked it. Today, about 3 years since he first had the idea, he now has nearly 150 miles logged on the trail and, even though Oregon still has a ways to go, is already talking about doing Washington sections.
Because of his goal, a lot of the hiking or backpacking trips we take together involve at least a chunk of the PCT, that is if they are not composed entirely of it. During our trips, I've ended up hiking some fantastic areas, many of which I would love to go back to. The PCT is a fantastic way to see the Oregon Cascades. Staying basically at the crest, it loops around numerous mountains and goes through some amazing country.
This was taken on base of Mt. Washington during a recent backpacking trip. Although we never did see the mountain, it sure was a pretty area in the fog and the wildflowers were in bloom.
September 5, 2008
Backpacking the Mt. Washington Wilderness
"Did I look miserable?"
"Yeah."
"Good! I want something to show my kids some day."
A couple of weeks ago, my brother, dad and I did a bit of backpacking in the Mt. Washington Wilderness. We had been planning a trip in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness for weeks when we heard that a storm would be blowing in on our first night. Because we were planning to have a late start and 40 mile an hour gusts, at 1am, on the side of Mt. Jefferson didn't sound fun (or really even all that safe), we decided to start a day later, hopefully miss the storm coming through and do a shorter, 2-day trip through the Mt. Washington Wilderness.
Looking out over the lava beds
So, we start out at McKenzie pass, with the rail falling sideways, and go trekking through the lava beds. As if to mock us, while we were getting soaked, it wasn't raining at all just a couple miles to the east. About a mile in, the trail was sheltered enough for me to snap three or four pictures before the lens was covered with rain drops. This would be the last section of trail with any kind of visibility we would see for a long while. We continued our climb through the lava beds and the higher we got the harder the wind blew and the harder rain fell and the more the visibility dropped. When we hit the tree line, and the welcome shelter from the wind and rain, we had walked right past Belknap Crater (6,872 feet) and Little Belknap Crater (6,305 feet) and simply didn't see either one of them. We plugged on for several more miles before deciding to wait out the rain in the tent.
We soon discovered that the tent leaked.
After waking up wet and putting on wet boots and wet...well you get the idea (if not, see the picture at the top of the article for a visual reference), we continued around the base of Mt. Washington.
Into the Mist, On the base of Mt. Washington
Day two started off great. That is to say, the rain wasn't coming down sideways and their wasn't as much of it. The base of Mt. Washington sure was pretty in the fog, although we never did see the mountain.
Zach, Resting at the Lake
As we continued, the weather got better and it turned into a nice day to be out for a hike. After realizing that we were a bit ahead of our scheduled pickup, we took it slow and easy for the last few miles, stopping for a bit to enjoy places like the little lake pictured above.
In the end it was a good trip. Very wet. But, I enjoyed it, I like the pictures I took and I would totally do it again next time.
September 3, 2008
Shinji & Vanessa
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of shooting an engagement session for my friend Shinji and his bride-to-be Vanessa. The engagement session was kind of a last minute thing, shot two weeks before the wedding. We decided to shoot it primarily for two reasons; the first being, my wife Alycia (you may have seen her picture) was going to be shooting the wedding with me and was looking for as much experience as she could get before hand. The second reason came from a conversation with Andy and Elisha at e[a] studios about how much more relaxed the wedding pictures are when you get the couple in front of the camera before the wedding. After having a "NO DUH!", "Shoulda had a V8" moment, we promptly called up Shinji and Vanessa and suggested meeting up at Edgefield, to which Vanessa responded "OH! Edgefield!".
So one hot August evening, we all wandered around Edgefield and had a blast taking pictures of these guys. After a while, they relaxed in front of the camera and when time came to take pictures at the wedding, they were totally relaxed.
Here are some highlights from the session.