Portland Vineyard

My trip to Portland wasn't as long as I would have liked but I did get to stay an extra day after the wedding to hang out with friends and relax. A bunch of us went to Edgefield, a vineyard near Portland.


I'm not much of a wine drinker. I sip it sometimes but haven't found anything I like much. I tried alcohol when I was five. My dad gave me a sip of beer and I've been cured of the desire for it ever since. But I do like pinã coladas. I had one of the best ones ever at a ritzy restaurant we ate at in Portland this weekend. I think it was one of the best ones ever because I couldn't tast the alcohol. Anyway, I digress. I was with a number of wine lovers so they tasted and I took photos.


This is the whole crew. From left to right: Shawna & Brent (friends who live here in Phoenix and are engaged), Keri (my ex-roommate who recently moved to Portland) Josh and Natalie (my brother-in-law and sis), Dawn & Pete (friends who lived in Phoenix and whose wedding I shot but who now are doing their medical residencies in Portland), and my friend Ellen (another former Phoenix dweller who now lives in Portland).


We ate at a fabulous restaurant on the vineyard:


And looked around a pretty garden:



And this is just a random shot I took in a glass blowing shop that I thought was cool:


So that's all folks. I'm safely back home in Phoenix. Always glad to be home but left a piece of my heart in Portland... And now this is starting to sound like lyrics to a song.

Tad & Diana - Portland Wedding

This weekend I shot my first wedding in one of my favorite cities -- Portland! It was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful as was the couple. The wedding was extra-special because the bride is a friend of mine, my sister was a bridesmaid, many of the guests and other bridesmaids were my friends, and two of the couples whose weddings I've shot were in attendance. Everywhere I looked there were people I knew and loved! I even gave the camera away and danced at the reception! :)

Unfortunately, I can't show you any photos of the happy couple but I will show you some of my other favorite shots from the day.

Here's some shots of the beautiful bride getting ready:



And some other fun preparation shots:



The dress was amazing:


Tad & Diana got married at this beautiful historic church in downtown Portland:



What a great wedding! I'll check to see if any of the photos of me dancing are presentable and post those later. Right now I need to sleep!!

Portico

Portico is the name of my church community. We meet on Sunday evenings at this Methodist Church in Chandler:

We're renting a kind of ugly room from them for super-cheap because we just started Portico last fall and don't have money for our own building yet. Here's the beautifully flourescent-lit room we meet in:

I was asked to take some photos this Sunday and had a lot of fun doing it. I love my church. We're small but I feel like I'm home there. I love the people and the atmosphere of grace.

Here's one of our fearless leaders, Scott:


I also got the chance to hang out with the cute kids for a bit:


Here's some other sweet moments I caught:





Fun times! Can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

New Camera!

I got a new camera yesterday! Yay! It's a Canon 5D--12.8 megapixels, full-frame sensor and bright and shiney new. The full-frame sensor means that my fish-eye lens is even fishier. I realized I haven't put some photos of important stuff up on my blog, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to have fun with my new camera. Above is my office where I spend a lot of my time. It's also where I meet with clients and boss Jamie around. This is Jamie:


Cute, huh? She's going to hate me for posting this. Ok, so I don't really boss her around. We work together and she mostly just gives me a hard time usually. And then I threaten to fire her and then the cycle repeats itself :). It's great to be able to have fun while working.

Today for lunch, my friend Marisa invited me over. She and Erik and their three kids live really close by and I love hanging out with them whenever I can. I even feel free to invite myself over sometimes. Their kids are so cute and have been my models for years.

Here's Keith eating what he refers to as a "po-ca-ca":



Along with my new camera, I also got a new lens--an 85mm 1.8. It's like Christmas in the summer :). I love my new lens too. It's got a great wide-open aperture so I can get shots like this where the whole background is out of focus:

I caught a picture of Marisa:


And then Marisa and Karina having a sweet moment:

Gotta love baby parts:

Keith is sure to be a genius one day, starting on the phonics so early:


Thanks for letting me try out my new stuff on you guys! You're great!

David & Becky in SD

I just got home from beautiful San Diego and had such a blast this weekend with my friends David & Becky. They are a lot of fun and cooked yummy food for me and put up with me sleeping in their living room for four nights--thanks guys! Yesterday we went out to a beach on Coronado Island and had fun taking some photos.

This next one of the three of us took awhile to get. I set up my camera on a timer on a small wall about 30 yards from the water and then sprinted out to jump in the shot. I just got the back of me running a couple times and had to get faster :).


David & Becky are so cute together.





What a beautiful city--can't wait to come back!

Amy & Andrew - San Diego Wedding

Amy & Andrew's wedding was amazing yesterday. They are so obviously in love and it was a joy to witness their wedding. I had a hard time shooting during the ceremony because I was getting choked up. Anyhow--I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's a few of my favorite shots from the day:


The preparation time of the day is always a lot of fun.


I love this shot of Amy laughing while her dress is getting adjusted--pure joy:


The San Diego weather was perfect as the guests arrived.


Andrew tried but failed to hold back the tears as Amy walked down the aisle:


The whole ceremony was full of emotion.


A fun shot of the couple driving away after the ceremony:


The girls all carried these parasols that were painted by one of the bridesmaids. I thought they were so pretty.


The gorgeous couple:


To see a slideshow with more photos from the day, click here.


Thanks again Amy & Andrew--you guys are great!

San Diego

I'm in San Diego to shoot a wedding tomorrow. It's such a beautiful city and I'm excited to be here for the weather and to visit my friends David and Becky who moved out here from Arizona a few months ago. I love them and miss having them around so much. Above is a photo of me and Becky. We spent the day walking San Diego and I did a little shooting. It's always fun to shoot new places.

I'm staying with them in their cute downtown condo. This is the view from their balcony. You can see the bridge on the right that connects San Diego to Coronado Island.


I noticed right away that they like to make ugly things pretty in this city. Check out the metal electrical boxes that are painted--I thought this was so fun to see art created out of what would otherwise be an eye-sore:

Here's a retired Naval ship that looked pretty cool in the harbor:


It was also fun to see quotes painted on the sidewalks:


The inside of the train station:

A nice and patriotic homeless man:


Seagulls that posed for us:

Prettiness:
San Diego is a very patriotic, military town:

It was a fun day--can't wait for the wedding tomorrow!