A Rock Solid Valentine's Day!

There is something wonderful about Valentine's Day.  To set aside a single day to celebrate love is a unique idea.  After all, when you think about the things we commemorate with holidays, Valentine's Day is indeed an anomaly. We have holidays to celebrate victory in war, the change from one year to the next, Presidents and the birth of the nation. All our national holidays are about events or people - only Valentine's Day is about love.

To celebrate this year, I made a card for my lovely wife that had on it's cover a photo I took a couple of weeks ago while walking along the banks of the Cowlitz River in Washington State.  It was a beautiful, overcast day with lots of fog that created a feeling of mystery and peacefulness.  I had been walking for about an hour when I looked into the river and saw this heart shaped rock.  As soon as I saw it I knew I had my Valentine's Day card for 2011!  I hope you had a great, peaceful and love filled day. And that all your dreams of love and peace come true.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Now Owned By A Cat!

I've always been a "dog person".  Growing up, my pet of choice was a big ol' St. Bernard.  He was small for that breed but bigger than most dogs.  And, although he was large, he was gentle with a loving spirit.  In my early adult years, I was taken by a Golden Retriever.  He was also loving and gentle.  And he was always eager to please.  Happy to fetch a worn out tennis ball every time it was thrown.  He learned to sit, stay, shake and give a (dog) high five.  He even knew how to roll over and play dead.  He was quite the actor!  And, while one dog was plenty, especially for someone who was constantly traveling, a second dog was not far off from making my home his own.  But instead of an intellectual equal, let's just be kind and say that complex thought was not one of his gifts.  Sweet and a trusty companion, for sure.  But nobody would ever confuse him with Einstein.

Since those two dogs, there's been a long, pet-less period in my life.  But last week, a new four-legged friend entered my universe.  His name is Benny and he is a species I've never spent much time around - he's a cat. My wife - being the daughter of a veterinarian - is well acquainted with the habits and proclivities of felines.  I am looking forward to learning.   I'll report back from time to time on how things are going.  But I can tell you what I've learned so far:  one does not own a cat, but rather, it is the cat who does the owning!

San Francisco

Oh my I love to travel. And I love to travel to San Francisco whenever I get the chance.
My wife started and runs a condiment/sauce/spice company and the trade show for her business is in San Francisco every January.  I'm always willing to go help her with the show because it gives me a chance to be on the streets with my camera in the City By The Bay.  I've created a short - very short - slide show of some of the images from my two days of walking around with a camera.  Click here to view the slide show.

A Photo Life

It's so humbling to have others take an interest in my photography.  I was recently asked to be interviewed for a podcast about my work.  The good folks at ShootQ and Pictage have a blog that takes a look at the careers of photographers through a podcast interview.  I've never done anything like this and it was really fun to sit a talk photography with Travis Schreer.  When I listen to it I realize that my poor friends and family have been listening to me ramble on for years!   Click here to listen to my ADD mind!

"The world don't know the tragedy...."

The anniversary of the Haitian earthquake brought to mind a story I shot in 1993. Haitian immigrants were allowed to live in the Bahamas as laborers for decades, but in the early 90's the Bahamian government decided they were no longer welcome. You can read the story as it ran here: http://tiny.cc/20668. Today, the story is yet another reminder that the people of Haiti seem to suffer no matter where they go.  Click here to view a slide show of a few of the pictures made for this story. 

Time Flies

Wow, it's amazing how fast time goes by.  I guess that's why I take pictures.  It's really the only way we have of holding onto moments that would otherwise fade from view.  Photographs allow us to hold onto that sliver of time as it rushes by.  Without photographs, we are left with our blurred and distorted remembrances of life as we thought it was.  But pictures rekindle the emotions, feelings and moments that led up to and follow any given marker of a life lived.  They aren't always accurate renditions of what might have been truly happening but they allow a starting point.  And, the view captured by the photographer isn't always the view seen by anyone else experiencing the same time in the same place.  I've shot a lot of pictures of people as they live their lives.  In the past nine years of living in a place of splendid natural beauty I've added nature photography to the things I train my lens on. I once mistakenly thought that shooting pictures of a mountain or a beautiful lake wasn't all that interesting or challenging because, after all, it never changes.  A mountain is always a certain height, a lake always a certain depth. But, I've come to realize, that misses the point.  It's a view that eliminates the effects of the passage of time on the visual.  Nowhere has that lesson been more clearly learned than out my back window every day.  I am so lucky to have a view that let's me see, on a moment by moment basis sometimes, that life is a series of moments, always changing, no matter which way I look.  On this day, I looked at my cherished view of Mt. Hood and saw something I have never seen before and will never see again.  But, because I can shoot a picture of it, I can remember the beauty as it was in that moment.  I am thrilled to share it here with you.

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.

Baseball, Brothers and the Great Midwest

My oldest brother, Steve, has lived his entire life with  developmental disabilities.  He shares  a house on a street with two roommates who are similar to him.  He has a good life and he's a great guy.  My middle brother and I have been co-guardians for Steve for about 11 years.  Jerry - my middle brother - and I go visit Steve twice a year in our collective hometown of Des Moines, Iowa.
Steve also comes to Portland, where I live, and Atlanta for his birthday and other holidays.

Jerry and I usually try to make the trip in May and October - two months where we are likely to avoid the harsh winters of the mid-west and the hot, humid summers we recall from our childhood.
I love going and walking through the memories of my childhood.  Seeing how a smaller city struggles to change and stay relevant have been good perspective lessons for me as the years have ticked away.  

There's usually a visit to the cemetery where our grandmother is buried.  As we walk to her headstone, the names of the parents of friends from my youth surround us. Their voices and laughter randomly fill my mind as I think about a time that will never be again.

There's the trip by the old, small, humble house where we all grew and learned many of the lessons that inform us to this day.  And there is baseball.

Our father was an avid fan of the one-time American Pastime.  We breathed the game.
So it's only natural that when we are all together in our old home town, we go to the local game.
The team is the Iowa Cubs and they are the AAA farm team for the Chicago Cubs.  The baseball is always fun and the seats are always great as there aren't usually too many people at the park.

Here's a picture from the most recent trip to see Steve near the end of May.  Fun, family and baseball.   What's better than that?!

The Long And Winding Summer

Okay, it's been a while since I checked in. I'm guilty. Between Facebook, Twitter, travel and, oh yes, some work, I've managed to neglect my blog. Well I'm back. I don't have a lot of time to get into the stories from the past couple of months right now, but I will catch up on all that's gone on in the next several blogs. To start with, I shot a lovely wedding the weekend before Memorial Day here in Portland. The bride and groom were in their 60's and had a small ceremony that was short and sweet. They were surrounded by their close, life-long friends that gave the wedding the feel of a warm, loving and intimate event. Here is one of my favorite photos from their day.

All In The Family

When you are married to a photographer, there is good news and bad news.  The good news is you are likely going to have a pictoral record of a lot of moments in your life.  What better way to get great pictures from that amazing vacation than to bring along your own personal photographer.  But the bad news is your life becomes an open book and there is always a camera lens popping up in the least expected places.  My wife knows this so very well!


She is a great subject.  And that's a good thing because I enjoy taking her picture.  There are just too many visual opportunities to pass up around the house.  Here are three recent moments.

Selma To Montgomery

On a sunny, surreal March day in 1995, I was in Montgomery, Alabama to record an event that was 30 years in the making.  In 1965, the most famous march in the history of the American Civil Rights movement shook the soul of the country.  Members of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Council) and SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) had set out on a peaceful protest going from Selma to Montgomery - the Alabama capital - to bring attention to the discrimination and inequality that was an everyday reality of life for blacks in America in 1965.  As they approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Alabama State Troopers and local police blocked their way. When the marchers refused to turn around, the troopers and police waded into the crowd, firing tear gas and swinging billy clubs.   Over 50 people were hospitalized and the images of Americans violently turning on their fellow Americans were broadcast  around the world.  This is one of a few events that is often credited with turning the tide against institutionalized racism in the US. 

The tone of violence that played out that day had been set from the Alabama governor's office in Montgomery. George Wallace had been spewing racial hatred for years.  On that day - March 7,  1965 -  Wallace's view of the world had created what became known as "Bloody Sunday".  But, two weeks later, the same marchers, joined by many others, were protected by Federal troops and escorted the 54 miles to the state capital.  Wallace refused to meet the marchers and the civil rights struggles continued.  

But by 1995 the thirty years that had passed since that ugly day had given birth to a changed George Wallace.  He had run for President in 1968 and, during that campaign,  an attempted assassination that had left him paralyzed from the waist down.  Time and events had altered Wallace's view of the world and when he heard there was going to be a re-enactment of the Selma to Montgomery march to mark the 30th anniversary, he decided he had a chance to right a wrong.  He met the marchers in Montgomery and, though he wasn't able to speak, his mere presence was a stirring spectacle and battered symbol of how far he and the country had come on the issue of civil rights.  

I was sent to cover the story in March 1995 by The New York Times.  It was a particular thrill for me to be there as the civil rights movement had captured my attention as a young child and was one of the main factors in me choosing to becoming a photojournalist.  Although I was too young to meet or cover Dr. Martin Luther King, being in Montgomery on this day, at this event, was a moment that gave me a small sense of what those times must have been like. The story and photograph ran on page one of the NY Times.  You can read the story by clicking here.

Food For Thought

The International Association of Culinary Professionals held it's annual conference in Portland this past week.  I was hired to document some of the events.  While most of the photography was similar to shooting a wedding reception, there were a few people who made it unique. One was Judith Jones.  Although Judith is not a household name, the women she "discovered" are very well know.  Judith was responsible for the publication of  'The Diary of Anne Frank' as well as  Julia Child's masterpiece: "Mastering The Art of French Cooking".


To know those two things about Judith is to know a lot.  Being able to recognize the importance of just those two books when seeing them in manuscript form is amazing and likely unprecedented.  In today's start struck world of glamor and glitz, Judith goes against the grain.  She is humble and unassuming. She has a quiet presence and grace that informs the way she has lived her life.  It was a pleasure to meet her and an honor to aim my camera in her direction.  She is a little known hero who has made all our lives richer, tastier and more peaceful.  

Turn On, Tune In, Take A Picture

On friday, I spent a few hours photographing Dr. Clark Martin at his home in Vancouver, Washington.  Actually, I spent about an hour talking with him and then about an hour shooting pictures.  He's a fascinating man.  Unassuming, soft-spoken and thoughtful.

The New York Times had sent me to Dr. Martin's house to take a picture of him for a story that reporter John Tierney had written about his battle with cancer related depression.  Whenever I meet someone who is fighting some dreaded disease, I'm always humbled by their ability to see beyond themselves.  They seem to understand what's important in life.  It's as if their disease has narrowed their focus and yet given them the ability to see life's bigger picture.  Dr. Martin possesses that trait.  Although the depression he suffered made life more difficult, the journey from there to the experimental psychedelic treatment he volunteered for, has given him a richer, more appreciative view of his time on the planet.  Here's the link to the story and a couple of my favorite photos from the day:  (Click here to read the story)

   

Snapping A Snapper

Cooking has always been a lot like the old days of working in a darkroom for me.  You start with a vision of what you are trying to create, mix up a few ingredients in a measuring cup, "cook" them together and, presto, out comes a creative result - most of the time.  Although I don't spend any time in a dark room these days, I do find myself in my kitchen about 5 times a week.  My wife is in the food business and is an amazing chef. As a result, one of our combined hobbies is cooking.  A fun Saturday night for us is coming up with an idea for a meal, going to the grocery, buying the right ingredients and spending the evening creating our dinner.


Last night was another masterpiece.  We've had risotto on our minds for weeks so we went to the market and look around for what might work well together.  We settled on asparagus with morel mushrooms and some nutty tasting Italian made sheep cheese.  While we were at the market, we walked by the fish counter and a beautiful line caught red snapper grabbed our attention.  We debated a while but decided that stuffing the snapper with lemons, garlic, onions and fennel sounded too good to pass up.  The only thing missing was a salad.  We ended up with a few simple greens, toasted almond slivers and a blood orange.  Although the risotto is always a labor intensive dish, it was all mighty yummy.


And, although I wouldn't want to combine anything from a darkroom with anything I would make in a kitchen, I do often combine my love of cooking with my love of photography. Here are a couple of pictures from last night's meal.  Bon Appetite!

Best Seat In My House

I live in a picturesque city.  Mountains, rivers and stately tall trees create the ever-present backdrop that makes Portland a visually inspiring place to live.  Over the past 9 years, I've had the luxury of making hundreds of photographs of Mt. Hood from my living room as it shows off it's splendor during sunsets and sunrises.   A couple of days ago, the clouds added a frame to the mountain during a sunset that seemed to last forever. The one new element was the random flight of a jet as it makes it way toward PDX. While the view from inside the airplane must have been spectacular, this one from my living room wasn't too bad either.  At least I didn't have to deal with the person in the row in front of me suddenly reclining their seat back as I attempted to eat my dinner! Here is my favorite image from that moment in time.