Bekah + Stefan (wedding)

We photographed our friends' wedding back in January and just wanted to share a few of our favorite shots.  And just a few of our favorite things about their special day -- we loved that their parents prayed for them during the ceremony, that a bagpiper lead the way for the recessional, and the beautiful slideshow Stefan's dad created for the reception.  Oh, and the favors!  Every guest went home with a simple scone mix made by the bride and groom.  I made ours last weekend and will definitely be asking for the full recipe!  Bekah and Stefan, your day was just perfect!  We hope you're enjoying your first few months as newlyweds!

A Red Barn for your Friday

 I was driving back from Molalla on Tuesday evening as the sun was breaking through the clouds for one of the first times that day.  It was that perfect, soft sunlight that only happens right before it sinks into the horizon for the night.  It provided just enough of a glow to create a double rainbow against the ominously gray clouds in the east.  And if that weren't beautiful enough, you know how lovely a hill of evergreen trees is in the golden hour?  Well, that's what was happening right underneath this double rainbow.  Why the wordy description?  Naturally, said double rainbow occured on the day Rob had both cameras for our restaurant shoot.  Drat.

I made it up to myself though.  On Wednesday I was driving to Molalla at the exact same time of day and I was kicking myself for not leaving five minutes earlier so I could fit in a side-of-the-road photo op.  Thirty minutes and one cancelled appointment later, I was heading back to Portland and detoured by this red barn I've had my eye on for a few months now.  I took several shots and ended up liking the first one best, even though the way it's focused was initially an accident.  

So there you have it, friends -- a red barn for your Friday viewing pleasure.  Wishing you a weekend full of right time at the right place photos, err uh, the non-photographer's equivalent :)

Photos with a Side of Baba Ghanoush

 Portland's restaurant scene just got considerably more exciting for us because we can now frequent a place where we know the owners.  Our friends Tiffany and Ghaith just opened a restaurant on Alberta Street that features a middle eastern cuisine.  We've been fans of their food cart for a while now and promptly fell in love with Dar Salam where we went for my birthday dinner last week.  Rob stopped by again yesterday to take some marketing photos for them.  Look for their ad in the Oregonian!  Or better yet, head over to 29th and Alberta for your next dinner out.  I recommend the chicken shwarma flat bread sandwich and the beet salad -- yum!!

Dar Salam

2921 NE Alberta Street

Portland, OR 97211

A Photo a Day

Oh, hey there, blog readers.  We haven't talked in a while.  I'll take the blame for that one, since this is pretty much a one-way relationship and all.  Sorry I left you hanging for a couple of months!  I realized lately that I haven't posted anything since I left my old job and started to think it may not be a coincidence.  I'm loving my new position, in fact, I think that's an understatement.  I might even say it's my dream job.  Not necessarily my forever dream job, because I don't know what that is, but it's exactly where I want to be right now.  It definitely has a learning curve though, and I can't begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying the challenge.  At the same time, I realized this might be a big enough challenge for now.  I realized I need a bit of a breather from some of the work that goes into photography on the side of my full time job.  I'm going to take a break from marketing efforts for a while, which means our volume of blog posts might shrink for a bit.  It feels like 2011 ended in a photography sprint, going from gig to gig, and then starting a new position.  I loved every part of it, but as soon as I had a chance to catch my breath, I realized it wasn't going to be sustainable.  I want to be really good at being a counselor and a photographer, and I think I need to focus on just one of those for a while.  

Here's the really exciting part of all of this: we're still having a lot of fun with our cameras!  Rob has this renewed desire to take beautiful shots of landscapes and shoot at night.  And after a well timed birthday (early February) for failed New Year's Resolutions, I've committed to taking a photo a day.  My new job requires me to do a lot of driving around rural Clackamas County, which is absolutely beautiful.  I'm taking the opportunity to bring the camera along and am trying to take at least one shot each day.  So far, I've failed once.  I woke up in the middle of the night on Friday, realized I completely forgot to take a photo, determined I didn't care, and promptly fell back asleep.  We'll just say the rules are pretty loose; otherwise, I don't think I'd make it through.  I'm excited about this new project and will try to share all the shots with you on this blog.  They may not be the most earthshattering photographs, but hopefully you enjoy a look through my daily lens.

Clockwise from the bottom left: Feb. 8, somewhere off highway 212 in Damascus; Feb. 9, downtown Canby; Feb. 11, bridesmaid duty for my friend, Amanda, stuffing, sealing, and addressing; Feb. 12, we had a little bday gathering last night that featured hot mulled wine, for which we bought a jug of wine that I find really amusing.

Ali's Birthday Trip

Here are some photos from Ali's birthday trip. I've recently been trying to shoot with zero editing needed. The results are below. I did not edit any of the photos except the panorama....since they don't exactly come out of the camera stitched together. 

We spent a lot of time on the beach. 

It was 60 degrees and beautiful. We enjoyed the sunsets. 

Then after dinner we took super long exposure photos on the beach. 

The next day we saw a great lighthouse. 

We drove the Three Capes Drive and found an awesome cave that led through a cliff to another beach.

The other beach on the other side was simply lovely.

Then we ended the day on another beach and watched the sunset again. 

We had a great trip. Thanks for following along. I hope you enjoyed the photo tour of our trip. 

Rob