I spent a few days watching Creative Live videos focused on a new way of looking at photography — at least for me. Using selective focus to create an image that almost looks like a painting. By using a shallow depth of field and positioning your subject very carefully, the background starts to blur and look almost like paint strokes. Kathleen Clemons Photography's classes are truly inspiring, not only for the images she shares which look so much like paintings, but for her po

Think you can't afford to hire a photographer for your gathering or event? Content is everything for a business to tell its story, so maybe you can't afford not to? It doesn't have to be a big deal or a large expense. I hire myself out for $75/hour and deliver a minimum of 25 images for each hour of shooting. That's basically a month's worth of instagram posts, or at least a few blog posts worth of content. Owning and operating a winery has been on my wish list for as long as

Daylight Savings time never really bothered me before. I can adjust, not a big deal. But when we brought home a puppy who thrives on routines, things changed. Twice a year we play along with it, but Whiskey does not. No matter what the clock says, she will get up at the same time every morning. So last fall, we turned the clocks back an hour, but it was actually 5:30 am instead of 6:30 am when she nudged me awake the next morning. I decided to embrace the challenge and got ou

If you've been following me even for a short while, you're probably familiar with my gorgeous Brittany Spaniel, Whiskey. We brought her home in 2017 when she was 8 weeks old, diligently took her to weekly puppy classes for a full year where we learned to capitalize on her intelligence and treat-motivated behavior with training and tricks that delight anyone who meets her. She is full of energy and loves to run and play with other dogs. And while we had a little bit of snow la

One of my favorite ways to spend a free afternoon is wandering an area taking photos. It's a luxury to not have an agenda sometimes. Maybe I'll focus on practicing a technique or composition, and I always manage to get lost. Last fall I had a free Sunday and decided to chase the the sun right up until sunset. I would drive toward the sun and get out of the jeep and walk around a bit, testing the light and the angles, and then drive a bit more, repeat, trying to find the weste

Winter sunsets on the beach are truly spectacular in the Pacific Northwest. It's the most unexpected part of living on this island for me. No matter what the weather has been like that day, the sky gives you a show. Sometimes it's a stormy show, but a show nonetheless. Adrian started walking Whiskey off leash last summer, not really telling me he was doing it, but it was an experiment and a bold move given her obsession with birds. She was once transfixed by a Killdeer that w