Hidden Places

I've heard of beautiful places in nature hidden from the main stream. On labor day I had the opportunity to see one. My in-laws invited us on a hiking outing. They'd told us of this place, but I was unprepared for it's Beauty. To give you an idea of it's location . . . . we drove through a tiny tiny Oregon town, up a long winding road (called crooked finger road). After quite some time the road turned to gravel . . . then turned to rocks! No joke, we were driving over rocks. I felt like I was on a ride at the fair. It was a super narrow road. If another car came along, we had to decide to either go over the edge or drive into the wall on the other side. Finally we parked the truck. We all climbed out of the truck and started our decent down the side of the "mountain". We walked down and down and down. Over trees, through brush, around rocks, sliding down loose dirt . . . we kept going down. I kept thinking . . . . we're going to have to go back up this! We finally get to the river . . . walk along the river bank . . . over more rocks. We turn a corner and see . . . the most amazing site!!                 I believe if you click on the photo you can see it larger. To understand the size of this place . . . . my husband, 2 boys and father-in-law are in the lower right corner.

Last week I was able to do a photo shoot with my 3rd niece born this summer. Daisy Lucas was born earlier this month. She looks so much like her mom and her older brother Nick. For the photo shoot Elizabeth wanted pictures of her Daisy with her pot of daisy's. But I knew a pot of flower's wouldn't work. So I asked my Mom to pick some cut daisy's on her way to the photo shoot. (Thanks Mom!!) I had so much fun playing with the baby and the flowers. When I got home and uploaded the photo's I realized I didn't have many photo's without the flowers. And since Elizabeth wanted some photo's of Daisy and her son Eddie we decided we'll have to do another photo shoot. Oh darn! So here are a few of the images we've gotten so far. There will be more to come in the weeks ahead.

My Nephew Oliver

Earlier this summer I asked my Sister-in-law if I could borrow my 2 year old nephew for a photo shoot. The idea was to get some photos to use for my portfolio. However, I left my camera on the wrong settings. The last shoot I'd done had been inside a very dark church. So my camera was set for indoor shooting. Well that doesn't work so well when your shooting outside. So most of the photo's came out "grainy" or "noisy". Of all my photographer friends, I have yet to talk to one who's never done that. It seems to be a common problem. :) However I thought you might still enjoy seeing the photo's I got . . . . a few of them turned out usable. But I'll probably have to borrow my nephew again and do a re-shoot . . . . oh darn!! :)

Daisy

Well the last baby of the summer has finally arrived. Daisy Madelyn Lucas was born on Sunday, August 8th. She was 8lb 14oz, 20in long and she looks just like her mom! I captured a few shots on our 2 visits to the hospital. All the boys (except Eddie) loved holding her. They'd even fight over who was next. When they weren't holding the baby, they'd all crowd around my Dad trying to watch "Cars" on his phone. It was pretty funny to watch. Favorite Aunt        

Playing at Silver Falls

To commemorate the end of July, I thought I'd share some fun photo's of the kids at Silver Falls. Elizabeth and I took the boys to Silver Falls one day to play in the swimming hole. It was a beautiful day! However there was enough of a breeze to keep me out of the water. But the boys had a great time playing in the very cold river. Devin was even brave enough to go all the way under the waters . . . . TWICE!! Crazy boy!

Family Photo Shoot

Just before I left for Florida I did a family photo shoot. This family won a photo session and free 8x10 at an auction I'd donated to. Though I enjoyed meeting the family, I didn't feel like the shoot went very well. But after editing the photo's I feel like we did pretty good. For my first family shoot I'm happy with the results.

Elizabeth and I flew to Florida to help our sister Milne with her first baby. While there I did a photo shoot with Baby Beth. I'm posting just a few of the pictures. I'll be posting more after I've had more time to work on them. She is the cutest, sweetest baby. She is around 10 days old in these pictures. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you'll see a picture of my sisters and I & a picture of Beth with her favorite Aunt. :)