A New Style of Photography

Last Friday Traci and I ventured out to see the sunset from a few local hills. I took my camera in the hopes of taking a nice picture, but none of the pictures that I took came out good. So I handed over the camera to Traci and all she had to do is take a picture from over her shoulder (she didn't even look when she took the picture).

Let me tell you... sunset pictures are the hardest. I can only recall 4-5 pictures that are actually good, that I've taken. However, when you get a good picture, it's definitely a good picture. By the way, I didn't photoshop the picture, which makes me wonder if I should take pictures without looking. Maybe I can start my own wedding photography business where every picture is taken from over the shoulder.

More Snow.

Well, it's rather exciting to see all the snow accumulating each day. Traci told me to place another picture of our patio furniture and I thought that's a great idea. So here it is...

Happy Holidays

So this week has been one of the greatest weeks of my life. The snow began to fall last Saturday and it did not stop. We got all the way down to 1 degree on Tuesday morning and yesterday we definitely got over a foot of snow. Just take a look at our patio furniture, there's no way I'm eating outside right now... nope, not on my watch, that's not how I roll. Traci has been driving my Jeep for the past few days so I've been stuck at home since all my shoes absorb the snow like a sponge, and I can't exactly ride a bike. Anyway that last picture is of her car, it doesn't look like that's going anywhere for a while.

I've been published!

Last year Traci and I attended a horse carriage parade in Pendleton, OR. Little did I know that a year later one of my picture would be published in the East Oregonian Newspaper. That's awesome! This year was the second year of the parade and the crowd that came to enjoy the event was even bigger. The first picture is of the newspaper article and the following are just a few pictures from this year. (Notice Traci waiving like a queen)

I'm taking a break

Last summer my uncle in California mentioned something that left me thinking about all the photos I take. He mentioned that this young generation takes more pictures than any other generation, however, it's this same generation that has the least actual photos.

Think about it. We are constantly taking pictures with cell phones or digital cameras but these pictures are never printed. In fact, printing pictures is easier than ever but once we see our pictures on a computer monitor, that seems to fulfill us. Long time ago while watching the news with an old friend, we discussed the top 3 things we would grab if our homes caught on fire. One of the things we both mentioned was to grab our photo albums, I mean, you only celebrate your 5-years Birthday once. 8th grade, High School graduation, your first car, or awkward High School band trips to the Oregon Coast are events that will only happen once, yet we end up trusting a digital hard drive to securely store these bits of personal relics.

Zip Drives, Floppy disks have become obsolete; even recordable DVD's are become rarer with the increase use of USB drives. It's true that computers are becoming more reliable but they still and will crash when we least expect it. A photo album will never lose your pictures.

So why am I taking a break? Well, I believe that it is for my greater good that I begin sorting out and printing many of the pictures I have posted on this blog or those that have just been tucked away in my hard drive. I have over 180 Gigs of pictures I need to sort out so it will take me some time to get through them.

Wedding Photos

Last night Ben posted a few of the wedding photos on his blog. You should check it out.
blog.benblood.com

Blue Mountain Mall

1917 Train Tunnel

Last Saturday Traci and I decided to make a trip to a abandoned train tunnel west of Palouse falls. This tunnel was built in 1917 and played a important role in connecting the Tri Cities area with Spokane. The rails are gone and all that's left is the gravel and the tunnel. I didn't walk all the way to the other side this time, since it's actually a pretty good walk and I was feeling lazy. Mark and Ti also joined us and it was great to have them around.

To end the day, we made a trip to Dayton to see a musical play at the Liberty Theater. There are playing "Fiddler on the Roof" and two of Traci's co-workers are in the play.

Janelle in South America

Janelle with her family have been planning on making a trip down to Chile for over a year now. They left just a week ago for their 3 week adventure and so far, they have been having loads of fun. Janelle, sent me a few pictures of her at Machu Pichu, holding a greeting sign for Traci and I. She is also wearing the shirt I made and gave her as a wedding thank you.

Janelle, you are so awesome!

It's a 5d!

I can finally say that I own a Canon 50mm 1.4 lens and Canon 5d. It's great. This doesn't mean I'll stop taking film pictures though. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll be able to develop some film and make some black and white prints.

It's been two months.

Yesterday was the 2 months wedding anniversary. As some of you might recall, I promised to take Traci to Dairy Queen on my wedding vows as a reward, just for loving me. Well so far she has loved me in the past two months so we made a trip to this happy place to order some delicious Pumpkin Blizzards. Anniversaries are great!

Something to think about.

I ran into a Bible verse last week and surprisingly, I don't think I've ever read it before. Anyhow, it's a very powerful verse and I thought I should share it. It comes from Luke 6:32-36.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Meet my Best Friend

Honeymoon Day 1 (Sunday)

So whatever happened to the first day of our honeymoon? Well, surprisingly Traci and I didn't take any pictures, it's ridiculous given the fact that we carried 6 cameras, one of which was a Polaroid Camera. Anyhow, the only pictures that we had were those that Janelle (my highly reliable bestwoman) took.

The plan for Sunday was simple. Drive to Cottage Grove, Oregon, and sleep. Nevertheless, as it is the custom with Traci and I, we got distracted a couple times. Our first distraction was at Pendleton and visit Janene (Janelle's sister) where she was working at a animal rehabilitation center. We got to see several eagles, owls, hawks and squirrels. The squirrels were the best because they were just infants scrambling around at lightning speed. We also got to meet Stella, (we forgot what kind of bird she is, but you can look at the last picture) and she was able escape momentarily out of cage. Janene, however, show the patience of the saints trying to catch this bird with her bare hands.

Day 8 (Sunday)

Since Sunday was our final day, we didn't plan much and the goal was just to get home. We started our day with a healthy breakfast and a few laughs with our friends, Dorane and Robin. Before we left, we made a quick stop by IKEA to buy a few miscellaneous items. Through out the week, I had been carrying my wedding boutonniere in the back of my car since I had forgotten to give it to Janelle to drop it off at the house with the other wedding gifts. I am really surprise there is anything left of it after the many times we loaded and unloaded the Jeep.

Anyhow, One of the wedding gifts were two large bags of Cotton Candy (Thank you Betchtels'), Traci made sure to have her healthy dosage every morning when we got in the car. But anyway, Traci and I had talked about driving back from Portland on the Washington side of the river so we took this opportunity to do so. We began by taking the Historic Columbia River Highway from Troutdale to Hood River, where we stopped by Taco del Mar (it's a tradition). There at Hood River we crossed the bridge and travel along the Columbia River all the way to Umatilla. I did notice that the drive from Hood River to Umatilla is far more scenic on the Washington side. We made sure we stopped by the Maryhill Stonehenge located a couple miles north of the Bigg's Junction. This fullsize replica was completed in 1930 as memorial of the lives lost in WWI. Finally, it was with great sadness that we made our final "Honeymoon activity" as pulled over along the Washington and Oregon boarder for a quick picture.

Through out the day, Traci and I were filled with a nostalgic feeling as we looked back on the many adventures, sights, and fun times that were soon to end. Several days we felt like we had plan too much driving or activities, nevertheless, we both agree that it's not every day that we get to enjoy the Oregon Coast.

Day 7 (Saturday)

I'm not sure about many newly weds, but I'm pretty sure that there aren't many couples that would plan on visiting an elderly guy who owns several Hudson automobiles; a line of vehicles that haven't been in production for half a century. We met this guy "Chuck" back in the early summer at Tri Cities and we knew that we had to visit him and his collection of Hudson's, so what better time than during our honeymoon.

For our last two nights we stayed at "Dorane's Bed & Breakfast." It's not really a bed and breakfast open to the public, it's more like Janelle's (the bestwoman) aunt. We met her a couple years ago during a visit to Portland and now we see her more than Janelle does. (JANELLE, LET'S ME HALF WAY... HOW ABOUT PORTLAND?) The agenda for Saturday was to visit Chuck and his collection of Hudson's, celebrate our one week anniversary with a trip to Saint Cupcakes and play with Mac and Cheese, the two dogs that live where we were staying.

As we began our adventures we came across a car show, so we had to stop and take a look at the cars. There were several neat vehicles, including a fully restore Plymouth Special De Lux from 1941 and the Batmobile. When we arrived back to the Jeep from the Car show, I noticed it was leaking radiator coolant, so I took out the tool bag and got to working to fix the problem. As we left the car show, we stopped by the nearest gasoline station and to my amaze, a late 70's jeep honcho sportside pulled up. Let me tell you, these are highly rare jeeps, I'm surprise it wasn't in the car show. After visiting the Hudson guy and Saint Cupcakes, Traci and I made our way to the river front, opened a small bottle of Martinelli's and enjoyed our cupcakes to celebrate our one week anniversary.