Portland Vineyard

My trip to Portland wasn't as long as I would have liked but I did get to stay an extra day after the wedding to hang out with friends and relax. A bunch of us went to Edgefield, a vineyard near Portland.


I'm not much of a wine drinker. I sip it sometimes but haven't found anything I like much. I tried alcohol when I was five. My dad gave me a sip of beer and I've been cured of the desire for it ever since. But I do like pinã coladas. I had one of the best ones ever at a ritzy restaurant we ate at in Portland this weekend. I think it was one of the best ones ever because I couldn't tast the alcohol. Anyway, I digress. I was with a number of wine lovers so they tasted and I took photos.


This is the whole crew. From left to right: Shawna & Brent (friends who live here in Phoenix and are engaged), Keri (my ex-roommate who recently moved to Portland) Josh and Natalie (my brother-in-law and sis), Dawn & Pete (friends who lived in Phoenix and whose wedding I shot but who now are doing their medical residencies in Portland), and my friend Ellen (another former Phoenix dweller who now lives in Portland).


We ate at a fabulous restaurant on the vineyard:


And looked around a pretty garden:



And this is just a random shot I took in a glass blowing shop that I thought was cool:


So that's all folks. I'm safely back home in Phoenix. Always glad to be home but left a piece of my heart in Portland... And now this is starting to sound like lyrics to a song.

Tad & Diana - Portland Wedding

This weekend I shot my first wedding in one of my favorite cities -- Portland! It was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful as was the couple. The wedding was extra-special because the bride is a friend of mine, my sister was a bridesmaid, many of the guests and other bridesmaids were my friends, and two of the couples whose weddings I've shot were in attendance. Everywhere I looked there were people I knew and loved! I even gave the camera away and danced at the reception! :)

Unfortunately, I can't show you any photos of the happy couple but I will show you some of my other favorite shots from the day.

Here's some shots of the beautiful bride getting ready:



And some other fun preparation shots:



The dress was amazing:


Tad & Diana got married at this beautiful historic church in downtown Portland:



What a great wedding! I'll check to see if any of the photos of me dancing are presentable and post those later. Right now I need to sleep!!

Portico

Portico is the name of my church community. We meet on Sunday evenings at this Methodist Church in Chandler:

We're renting a kind of ugly room from them for super-cheap because we just started Portico last fall and don't have money for our own building yet. Here's the beautifully flourescent-lit room we meet in:

I was asked to take some photos this Sunday and had a lot of fun doing it. I love my church. We're small but I feel like I'm home there. I love the people and the atmosphere of grace.

Here's one of our fearless leaders, Scott:


I also got the chance to hang out with the cute kids for a bit:


Here's some other sweet moments I caught:





Fun times! Can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

New Camera!

I got a new camera yesterday! Yay! It's a Canon 5D--12.8 megapixels, full-frame sensor and bright and shiney new. The full-frame sensor means that my fish-eye lens is even fishier. I realized I haven't put some photos of important stuff up on my blog, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to have fun with my new camera. Above is my office where I spend a lot of my time. It's also where I meet with clients and boss Jamie around. This is Jamie:


Cute, huh? She's going to hate me for posting this. Ok, so I don't really boss her around. We work together and she mostly just gives me a hard time usually. And then I threaten to fire her and then the cycle repeats itself :). It's great to be able to have fun while working.

Today for lunch, my friend Marisa invited me over. She and Erik and their three kids live really close by and I love hanging out with them whenever I can. I even feel free to invite myself over sometimes. Their kids are so cute and have been my models for years.

Here's Keith eating what he refers to as a "po-ca-ca":



Along with my new camera, I also got a new lens--an 85mm 1.8. It's like Christmas in the summer :). I love my new lens too. It's got a great wide-open aperture so I can get shots like this where the whole background is out of focus:

I caught a picture of Marisa:


And then Marisa and Karina having a sweet moment:

Gotta love baby parts:

Keith is sure to be a genius one day, starting on the phonics so early:


Thanks for letting me try out my new stuff on you guys! You're great!

David & Becky in SD

I just got home from beautiful San Diego and had such a blast this weekend with my friends David & Becky. They are a lot of fun and cooked yummy food for me and put up with me sleeping in their living room for four nights--thanks guys! Yesterday we went out to a beach on Coronado Island and had fun taking some photos.

This next one of the three of us took awhile to get. I set up my camera on a timer on a small wall about 30 yards from the water and then sprinted out to jump in the shot. I just got the back of me running a couple times and had to get faster :).


David & Becky are so cute together.





What a beautiful city--can't wait to come back!