Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Memory Itself

A portrait I did recently has been causing all kinds of excitement amongst her friends, and I wanted to comment on personal portrait art.

I truly believe that we all need portrait art that captures our heart & soul. A good portrait is MEMORY itself. It reminds us who we are, and tells succeeding generations about our unique spirit.

Yes, we want images with our families. With our pets. With our children and our spouses and our friends.

But we are all unique individuals. At some point, we should have a portrait that commemorates who WE are - a portrait that points us to ourselves. That reminds us that we are unique, special, and that we each carry within us an eternal Spark that causes us to shine brightly in each others' eyes. Because sometimes we forget that truth about ourselves.

Great portrait art is indisputable proof that we are special - to ourselves, to our families, and to the universe.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Seniors as Art


Eli is one of those well-connected people who just seems to know EVERYONE. It doesn't matter if I'm talking to a student at West Salem, South Salem, or North Salem - everyone knows Eli! I think that's partly because he is a very caring person. For example, he volunteered to take care of my doggie a couple of years ago when my dad was ill and I needed to travel to Portland often. That's why, when he came and told me he wanted to work for me, I was happy to hire him.


Well, we FINALLY got together for his senior session. He was more nervous about it than anyone! :) We talked about what he'd like to see in his session. He said that he wanted some images that had an artistic feel to them, something a bit out of the ordinary. I think we succeeded - what do you think?

Thursday, September 10, 2009

BeadForLife


This morning I found this website, BeadForLife, which sells unique, affordable, beautiful jewelry. And it's made from paper! I thought these items were very groovy, and wanted to share.

As an added bonus, it's a fair trade business. What is fair trade? It's the idea that craftspeople in developing countries should be paid sustainable wages for their products. One Fair World in downtown Salem is a fair trade store, and has beautiful items at very reasonable prices, too.

Monday, September 7, 2009

A Day to Remember

Jordan & Andrew were married on Saturday. I originally knew Jordan as a classmate of my son, Nicholas, and as a participant in South Salem High School's EXCELLENT music program.

Time moves on, doesn't it? She has been attending college in Seattle for - is it three years now, Jordan? - and while there, she met Andy.

Jordan & Andy have something special going on. I watched them during our engagement photography session, and you can see the love & the respect they have for one another. They are very affectionate - and SO cute!

The wedding was held at a beautiful old church in Albany. It was raining most of the day, but we managed to sneak outside for a few shots!