One of my first senior photo shoot for 2010 seniors.

My show at the Hood River library ended, and it went directly to a new show at the Centerpointe Bank on Cascade. Swing by and check it out, the happy colors will warm you right up in this freezing weather.

A few days ago, I was on a shoot with my wife doing a story for Rediviva magazine about local art talent. Nicole was a fun subject. She was adventurous and unafraid to try out some ideas (and get a little mud on her boots!) Now that my wife has some more time, I am excited she will be joining me on more shoots to help. She has been giving me input for years, and I always liked her perspective. I have been teaching her and she is now helping me with the clients and some camera work. As a team, we have even more to offer. Here, she caught me in action. I have put a before and after to demonstrate the difference the time spent in the lab (photoshop) can make a great shot from a good shot.

Right now my artistic photography is showing at the Hood River Library. I have large (up to 5 foot) canvas prints of horses, flowers, and a portrait. They are done using the Giclee method. Come on by and check it out.

Last Saturday I had a photo shoot with 3 seniors all together. This was the first time that I was photographing 3 seniors at the same time. We started in Hood River on 2 different locations and ended up in Mosier for the late evening light. All 3 girls were helping each other with the poses and expressions while assisting me with some gear. It was really fun to work with them because they were having fun. The dynamic of a group is awesome when everyone is comfortable to ham it up in front of their buddies with a camera trained on them. As a photographer, I always like to do something a little different each time. I like to capture the personality of each client and find that inner beauty. Then when you see the photo, you have an experience of the personality of the client instead of a snapshot.

I’ve spend most of yesterday shooting and editing photos from windsurfing contest at the hatchery. It was fun to watch and take pictures of the best windsurfers in excellent conditions on the river. There wore many photographers clicking away all the great action. After about 9 AM you have to shoot directly in to the sun what makes it very difficult to get great photos. Here is a link to photos from the contest.

Friday afternoon I was photographing Tom and Abby’s wedding in The Dalles, Oregon until evening. Right after the wedding we went back to Hood River for the reception and were able to get few photos of the just married couple with Mount Hood in the background. Tom and Abby were excellent to work with. I photographed their engagement session earlier in the spring, so they were quite relaxed and not at all camera shy. The weather was excellent to have an outdoor wedding in the beautiful garden (there were lots of excellent backgrounds for the wedding photos). I’m always excited to see new places to photograph here in the gorgeous Columbia Gorge area with endless photo opportunities. You can see more of the wedding photos if you click on the client access and enter the gallery.

I’m still in middle of wedding book design from my first wedding of the season at the Columbia Gorge hotel. Here is one I’ve just finished. Looks like I’ll be on the water later today to take a break from the editing.

Here is a photo from my Friday photo shoot of a gorgeous condo in Hood River. As a photographer I enjoy photographing people alot, but I also love variety. Anything could be interesting and beautiful from the right perspective.

I’ve taken few hours of from editing yesterday to play in big swell at the hatchery. The current is now incredibly strong which makes the swell that much bigger. Here are a few photos of the Columbia River from the hatchery with windsurfers having the time of their lives. As a Photographer and windsurfer I’m torn between shooting or windsurfing when the conditions are just right. There is very little window of opportunity to get great windsurfing photos. You have to have good light (early morning or late afternoon), have the best windsurfers out there at that time and have lots of wind and waves. Here is a link to my favorites 100 windsurfing photos from last year. Many of the photos are published in magazines.