A Small Wedding

Bethany and Jared are two people who light up a room with their smiles.  And they smile a lot.
I was honored to be asked to capture the story of their wedding day in pictures recently.
Here is link to view a small gallery from their amazing day.
Just click on the picture below and enjoy.

Thirty-Seven Minutes of Light

 Although I haven't always been a morning person, I've become one for the past 9 years. And it's mostly because I am lucky to live in a place where I have a great view of Mt. Hood. The mountain  views from our house face east.  Although I've always known the sun rose in the east, it wasn't something that I could confirm with first hand knowledge for most of my adult life.  I've been very aware that the sun sets in the west,however,  but that's another story.

I moved to Portland after more than a year of transcontinental dating with the woman who is now my wife.  During that time I came to learn that she loved the mornings and participated in greeting the sun most days of the year. Because of her,  I've come to appreciate the light and quiet of the morning as well.  But it is the dynamics of nature's wizardry that get's me out of bed and heading for my camera as the first light of day creeps across the sky.   Simply put, the sunrise and our Mt. Hood view is worth getting up for.

I shot the following three photos over a 37 minute time-frame this morning.  It's simply astonishing to me how the canvas of colors can change so dramatically in such a relatively short period of time.  And, much to my amazement, I am looking forward to getting up before the sun tomorrow and see what work of art awaits.

Trains, Disney, Baseball and Brothers

My oldest brother turned 70 in July.  It wouldn't have worked to just have a party with some funny hats and noise makers.  Steven has developmental disabilities and the "big" birthdays demand something special.  My middle brother - Jerry - and I have been Steven's guardian for the past 11 years (since our parents health began to deteriorate).  When Steven turned 60 he wanted to celebrate with Mickey, Goofy, Donald and friends at Disney World in Florida.  The three of us spent 5 days in the land of mouse ears.  We thought this birthday might need something a little different.

Jerry and I scratched our heads to come up with just the right trip for Steven's birthday.  He loves Disney, baseball and trains.  The trip we took had it all!  We decided that we would go to Disney Land in California this time.   Jerry called me a couple of months before Steven's birthday and said he had found the perfect way to get there.  We would all meet in San Francisco and board a private train car he had found that was available for rent.  I suggested we might be able to mix in some baseball and a perfect trifecta was born.

The itinerary went like this:  Spent the first night sleeping on the Silver Solarium in the Oakland train yard.  There were a few surprises during the night as they moved our train around!  The next morning our car was hooked up to the scheduled Amtrak Coast Starlight going from Oakland to Los Angeles.  It was scenic and a blast.  That night we spent sleeping in the Los Angeles train yard. (I never thought I'd have an opinion on this but I preferred the Oakland train yard!!).  The next morning was Steven's birthday.  We woke up on the train, had a birthday breakfast and headed to a noon baseball game between the Angels and the Red Sox.  After the game, we checked into our hotel and headed to Disney Land.  Any birthday that starts on a train, includes a baseball game and ends at Disney Land has Steven's approval!  He was ecstatic - and so were Jerry and I.   

The next day found us sun up to sundown at Disney.  Then, back to the train for a trip the next day back to Oakland.  We slept in the Oakland yard that night and headed to San Francisco the next day.  We took in a Giants vs. Dodgers baseball game in the afternoon and explored The City by The Bay that evening.   It was a great trip for everyone - but especially for Steven.  He's not one to show much emotion but he was all smiles when this trip was over.    Here's a few photos from the trip.

Good Friends and Small Airplanes

I flew to Cumberland Island, Georgia,  yesterday to photograph a wedding. I shoot about 4-5 weddings a year on the last island off the coast of Georgia (before you get to Florida).   Most people don't know it exists.  It's got a rich history and almost no development.  It was purchased in the 19th century by the Carnegie brothers - Andrew and Thomas.  They built a handful of mansions on the island for their children.  The family has owned most of the island ever since.  They have done an amazing job of preserving it in it's natural state.  There are no cars and no roads.  Wild horses have roamed the shoreline and inner woods since a Spanish galleon brought them here in the 1500's.  One of the mansions has been converted to an Inn and they offer weddings as well as running a regular resort-type hotel.  It's called Greyfield Inn.

Saying that I "flew" here is only partly accurate.  I took Delta from Portland to Atlanta and then another Delta jet to Jacksonville, Florida.  From there, my friend Dave, who lives on the island with his wife who is a Carnegie descendent, flew over in his little Cessna to bring me to the island.  I've flown over with him several times and my favorite part of the trip is to buzz the grass landing strip to clear the wild horses out of the way. Yesterday, we never got that far!  As we took off from Jacksonville, Dave felt a funny vibration in the plane.  We circled back around and, as I held my breath, we made it back to the airport that we'd just taken off from.  A mechanic came out and looked it over and didn't see a problem. So we hopped back in and made another attempt.  This time, the vibration was gone but Dave was having a problem getting enough speed up to fly as high as he wanted.  So he decided to land 10 miles away at another airport and call a guy who runs a boat service to the island.  Bottom line is that I made it to Cumberland Island last night, but not via the means of transportation I had expected and with a little bit more grey hair in my beard than when I started the day.  But, as always when things don't go as planned, I did manage to find a couple of pictures.  We got to the boat around sunset and came across the scenes posted here.  Sometimes the best interrupted plans offer the better pictures.   Oh, I didn't physically kiss the ground but I sure thanked my lucky stars!

The Long and Winding Road

I have been a professional photographer for over 30 years.  In that time I've logged a couple million miles on airplanes.  That's roughly the equivalent of 4 trips to the moon - and back.  While I haven't been to the moon - yet, anyway - I have been to lots of places.  I love to travel - or maybe I should say I love to see new places.  Part of the joy of being a visually sensitive soul is being inspired by new scenery, new people and interesting places.   But it's a double-edged sword.  It also means being away from home.

Over the years I've missed major life events like anniversaries, birthdays and the like.  These are the moments that bind people together and build close bonds.  I'm lucky in that I have understanding friends and family and I've managed to build those connections in other ways.  But there is no substitute for missing the last birthday of a family member before they pass away.  There is no way to replace the feeling of emptiness knowing that your wife is celebrating her birthday and everyone she cares about is at the party - except me.  I'm left with a longing that isn't cured by the joy of new discoveries.

I often find myself singing this part of an old Kenny Loggins song called "Celebrate Me Home":

Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song,
That I’ll always remember,
I can recall,
Whenever I find myself too all alone,
I can make believe I’ve never gone,
I never know where I belong,
Sing me home.

All this travel - and the resulting absences - make it difficult to get into a rhythm.  When I do get the luxury of being home for a few weeks in a row, there is a saneness that creeps into my life.  It is derived from the joy of knowing that I am waking up in the same place, within reach of the people I that help bring meaning to my life.  I love where I live so to be able to stay home and immerse myself in the warmth of family, friends and place is irreplaceable.  

With that said, I wouldn't change a thing.  Life, after all, is about balance.  For me, it's about knowing what allows me to grow and live life in a way that brings fulfillment.  Part of that means meeting new people, seeing new and different places and capturing my vision of the world in pictures. It also means building strong friendships and lasting, meaningful relationships with family that help love flourish.   My mother used to tell me that life is a careful dance of give and take.  I never understood that until I got older and realized that giving and taking come both at home and on the road.

Rocky Mountain High

I spent the past 3 days covering a corporate retreat on a ranch outside of Granby, Colorado.

What an amazingly beautiful place. The ranch has about 200 horses and it's mind boggling to watch them manage the herd.  They run them out to pasture every afternoon and back every morning. The power of 200 plus horses all running together is a site that inspires. Combine the beautiful scenery with a friendly and service oriented staff at the ranch and a great group of corporate guests and the pictures are hard to miss.  Here are a few of the images.