Lisa & Dean

What a great way to spend a Sunday morning. It's a fabulous spring day - one of those first nice warm days of the year. Lisa and Dean and I headed out to the Pheasant Branch Conservancy to shoot some engagement portraits. I've never been out there before, so it was a new experience for me, but I'll definitely be going back. We hiked up to the top of a hill where there's a spectacular view the of surrounding area - you can see the whole isthmus and the Capitol! We even saw some baby snakes on the trail too! The area made for a great photo backdrop too. There were big open fields of prairie grass and nice tall oak tress that looked really craggly because they haven't leaved out yet.
Lisa and Dean are so easy to work with too. I'm looking forward to their wedding, which is less than a month away! Enjoy the photos!

Dawn & Greg

I've been so occupied with "backroom" stuff lately that I haven't really shot very much. Marketing and advertising and accounting are important stuff, but shooting pictures is what I love. All that made it extra nice to get out and shoot an engagment portrait for Dawn and Greg at the Overture Center. They're both so laid back - natural smiles and a great sense of humor - that it made my job really easy. Enjoy!

Last Blast of Winter

As usual we had a spurt of nice weather in late March, then we get a last blast of winter weather in Aptil before it warms up for good. We got about 5-6 inches of wet, heavy snow, plus a driving wind to go along with it. We had our winter gear all packed up to store away for the season, but Val and I couldn't resist going out one last time in the boots and hats. We stomped around the UW Arboretum Wednesday evening and saw some amazing sights. The wind blew the snow sideways in the trees, making stick in places that seemed to defy gravity. It was really cool! Enjoy the photos, and let's hope the snow is melting for good this time! I want some warm weather!

Time and Priorities

I'm trying to do as much reading and learning as I can this winter/spring, while I have time before the wedding and portrait season heats up. Right now I'm midway through "7 Habits" by Stephen Covey and I came across this quote in a section about time management. Covey writes, "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."
Now I love quotes, but I'm a little synical about them. I think most people read great quotes and ponder them for a moment, but then ten minutes later they've forgotten all about it. Even if the quote had something wonderful and powerful to teach, that person has gotten nothing from it except a deep moment.
The quote about priorities is really quite powerful, but only if you put it to use and constantly remind yourself of it. I'm going to add it to my screen saver.
So print it out and tape it up somewhere. Maybe over the front of your TV!

Cheers

Favorite Website

So at the moment I'm trying to teach myself how to do Flash web design with the hope being that I'll redesign my own website. Needless to say that while I'm learning I'm constantly looking around for inspiration and ideas. There was a website that was passed on to me a while back called
"Ashes and Snow" , and it's easily the coolest website I've ever seen. Check it out and navigate into the "Explore" section. It's so calming and relaxing; it's like it reaches out, grabs my shirt and drags me through the screen into the photos. I'm hopeing my website can be just half as incredible as that one. Enjoy!