The many moods of McKinsey

A photographer friend came over today for a little camera play and brought her daughter with her - we spent a pleasant afternoon chatting and trying the patience of our young model! I did more talking than shooting (who me? a chatterbox?!), but am still pretty darn happy with the few images I created - here I present two of the many moods of McKinsey...can't wait to have her back in the studio again!

The "Gorge Kids" Sessions

Some of you may have noticed I have had an offer running for the last two months on the terrific parental resource website, www.GorgeKids.com - the first five people who called in November and December received a FREE session and a custom 8x10 print. Well, the response has been very gratifying! I have met some wonderful families over the last month or so. I had the opportunity to create keepsake maternity portraits, holiday gift portraits, and a signature collage for a family - I had a great time getting to know everyone and am very pleased with the resulting portraits! These are a few of my favorites...

My first snowfall in a long time!

Okay, the white stuff has been on the ground two weeks by now, but I am just getting around to playing with the images I snapped the first two days it fell...I know it sounds trite, but it WAS rather magical that first morning. I knew there was snow outside before I even got out of bed - I recognized that "hush" the world takes on when snow is falling and the light filtering into the room was nothing short of dazzling...I jumped up and peered through the blinds at a wonderland I hadn't seen the likes of in over 20 years! I was as giddy as a little kid - I ran out and built a snowman before breakfast - I stood in the yard and tried to catch snowflakes on my tongue - I threw myself down on the ground and made a snow angel (to the supreme enjoyment of my husband, who was sure I'd finally lost it!)...and then I grabbed a camera and took a few photos of the house and yard to send to my family back in Michigan (who can't believe I left California for a state where it snows) - here are a few of my faves, enjoy!

Holiday Bazaar Portraits

I kicked off December immersed in the spirit of Christmas! Spent a few hours on Friday, December 1st and Saturday, December 2nd creating family portraits at the Asbury United Methodist Church Annual Holiday Bazaar - made new friends (see the portraits shown above), ate FABULOUS desserts (genuine, old-fashioned creme puffs - to die for!), did a little Christmas shopping (beautiful jewelry made by artisans in Guatemala), and raised funds for a very worthy cause in the process.

All monies raised by Photosensitive Portraits that weekend will be donated to Los Amigos de Los Romeritos, an organization of volunteers who work to support the Los Romeritos Day Care Center in Guatemala City. Los Amigos was founded in 2003 by then-pastor of Asbury UMC, Larry Monk. This very special day care center was created by Jaime Marcia and Oregonian Meggan Parkinson as a safe shelter for some of the poorest street children in Guatemala City. For the last ten years, Los Romeritos has provided a safe harbor for these children, providing them not only shelter, but food, education and training.

Donations of any size are appreciated - the smallest amount can help to change a child's life.
• $20 provides 2 nutritious meals a day for one child for a month
• $50 provides a child's school uniform, books, supplies and school fees for a year
• $100 provides school supplies and art materials for the entire center for a month
When you give your gift to Los Romeritos, your entire donation goes directly to Guatemala and the children of Los Romeritos.

You can learn more about this compassionate work by visiting www.AmigosDeLosRomeritos.org - or you can contact Larry Monk at 503-657-5026.

Holiday Shopping Extravaganza!
Sunday, Nov. 19th • Best Western Hood River Inn

Soroptimist International of Mt. Adams is holding their "2nd Annual Holiday Artisan Shopping Extravaganza!" this coming Sunday (11/19/06) from 10am thru 4pm in the Gorge Room at the Best Western Hood River Inn located at 1108 E. Marina Way, Hood River, OR. Featuring local and Portland artists, you’ll find fabulous gift items such as handcrafted jewelry, glassware, paintings, cards, massage & more! All the artists are donating 10% of their profits to Mt. Adams Soroptimist, a non-profit organization that works to enrich the lives of women & children in the community. For more information, contact Ginger Budrius-Swanson at ginger@gorgeproperty.com or (503) 805-1292.

Sounds like a fun event with great opprotunities to purchase unique and wonderful holiday gifts! Oh, did I mention that I would be there as well?! Yes, Photosensitive Portraits will have a table at the Extravaganza - I hope a few of you will come on by and say hello! Just for this event, I will have a special Gift Certificate available for purchase: a studio Expression Session for one child that includes a 12"x 18" Trio Collage. The Trio Collage is created from three of your favorite images from the portrait session; you can even add text, such as the child's name and a favorite quote, to your custom-created collage. Each collage is designed by yours truly, one at a time, guaranteeing that each collage is an individual work of art.

Another Brisbane Beauty!

Well, I've finished processing all the hundreds of images created at the annual Halloween Portrait Party in Brisbane, CA - and this cute little bumblebee really stands out! Presenting Solana, not quite two years old and more than ready for her close-up, Mr. DeVille!

Happy Halloween!

okay, I'm a few days behind...just got back from a trip to Brisbane, California (where I just moved from) - visited a couple of old friends, did a little shopping (lots of new yarn - ethereal mohair and the softest alpaca!), but what I was there for was Halloween night! The little cutie pictured above is Madelyn - I was thrilled to see a little representative of my new home state that night!

Seven years ago I created a fundraiser for the local school group, B.E.S.T. (Brisbane Educational Support Team), that helped get my name out to parents, raised needed monies for things like library books and software, and was a whole LOT OF FUN! I was sponsored by MadHouse Coffee, a local coffeeshop - I set up an outdoor studio complete with hay bale and pumpkins on their patio and for several hours on Halloween night created portraits of every little hobgoblin, pirate and princess that came by. Parents paid $5, $10 or $20 for prints; all monies excepting expenses for printing and packaging are donated to B.E.S.T. This year we raised $1,500.00, bringing the 7 year total to nearly $9,000.00! A BIG SHOUT OUT to all Brisbane parents who have so generously donated every year! Many thanks to Ron Davis of MadHouse Coffee for his continued support - I couldn't have done it without him. Kudos to all the B.E.S.T. volunteers, too many to name but I hope you know how much I appreciated the hours you have put in over the years manning the order-taking table! A special thank you to B.E.S.T. president, Diane Glazman, for playing hostess and giving me a place to stay while in Brisbane and to the Radisson Hotel, for comping a Very Tired Photographer a lovely room (with a cool Sleep Numbers bed!) to crash in on Halloween night!

I was thrilled to go back to Brisbane and create Halloween Portraits one last time and will miss watching Brisbane's children grow up in front of my lens - seeing their faces shining with excitement and happiness makes all the hard work worthwhile. Now I'm concentrating on the future and am jazzed about establishing a similar Halloween tradition in my new hometown of Hood River!

www.GorgeKids.com

Been pretty busy lately: painted the studio walls a creamy latte color - dear husband installed a ceiling track system for my backdrops (I arranged them all by color and now it looks like a rainbow in my studio!) - traveled into Portland and was overwhelmed by choices at Fabric Depot, but finally decided on a gorgeous silk in a rich merlot color for studio drapes (the copper silk I had ordered has been out of stock for so long, I just got tired of waiting!) - got not one, but TWO new software programs to study over the winter months (but that's a story for a whole seperate post!)...

AND I met with the talented Dee Holzman, creator and webmaster of GorgeKids.com, a resource site for parents in the Columbia Gorge area - the site features events and classes for kids and their parents from White Salmon to The Dalles and throughout Hood River county...she also publishes a bi-monthly newsletter with updates - you can sign up to receive the newsletter, as well as coupons from local merchants, by going to the website (you can find a link on the sidebar to the right). I discovered GorgeKids.com just about a year ago, while doing a little market research on Hood River - I was excited right away by the prospect of working with such a service-oriented site for parents. I have actually been emailing Dee for seveal months prior to moving to Hood River, so it was a real pleasure to finally met her in person! We talked about Hood River, kids, and the potential for Photosensitive Portraits to become a sponsor of this invaluable resource for parents in the Gorge. To quote a favorite old movie, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Got kids? Then get to www.GorgeKids.com - and look for the Photosensitive Portraits ad (see sample ad above) that appears in the upper right hand corner of the website!

My 15 minutes of fame!

Well, it's out and in mailboxes all over Hood River! What's that, you ask? Why, the Fall issue of Gorge Living, that's what! The creative entrepreunurial spirit known as Denise McCravey, broker and owner of RE/MAX Results and proprietor of the utterly charming Oak Street Hotel in Hood River, publishes a quarterly paper known as Gorge Living. Gorge Living features stories about residents, both long-time and new arrivals, as well as a calendar of events for the Oak Street Hotel (attend any of the "Porch Talks" there and enjoy learning something new!) and household hints and tips written by the RE/MAX agents themselves. I had the immense pleasure of working side by side with Denise as she interviewed the orchardists, Bill and "Tiny" Baskins and the Stewart brothers, Jim and Ron, in this Fall 2006 issue. All four of these men had one thing in common: their passion and enthusiasm for what they do. I gained a new appreciation for the fruit I put in my shopping cart and the families who choose the farmer's lifestyle. Many thanks to Denise for having me along as I had alot of fun and learned even more. I'm very excited at the prospect of continuing to contribute to future issues of Gorge Living.

But wait, there's more! See that pdf file at the top of this posting? Well, soon after Steve and I had settled into our new home, our favorite real estate agent, Louise McCulloch (please see previous post), dropped by to interview us for a story in the upcoming Fall issue. The resulting article features some of my portrait work and introduces me as a photographer to the community. It's awesome for a new business to receive this kind of exposure - I am very grateful to Denise and Louise for making this happen! (I'm sorry the file is so small, but you CAN read the article by picking up Gorge Living at almost any retail store in Hood River - can't get to HR? If you REALLY want to read it, email me at drehse@gorge.net and I'll email you the article!)

Postcard Happy!

Even though my "official" grand opening is months away, that doesn't mean I haven't been busy getting ready. Lately, I've been doing something I really enjoy, designing promotional pieces for the different products and services I will be offering. One of my favorite ways to introduce my work and also keep in touch with clients is to use postcards - I've finished two and have several more in the works. Both of these are oversized, 6"x9", for maximum impact.

The first one features some of my favorite headshots from last year - an actor, a director, a CEO, an interior designer, an actress, a real estate broker, a newlywed, an engineer (not necessarily in that order). I thorougly enjoy working with people, bringing out their very best for all the world to see. Now that I've done a business portrait for Louise, I've set my sights on the rest of Hood River's real estate professionals!

The second postcard features some of the work I've done for a couple of San Francisco artists, Denise Duffy (www.DeniseDuffy.com) and Elizabeth Jonasson (www.ElizabethJonasson.com). Photographing artwork is a challenge that is completely different from portrait photography - correct perspective and color accuracy are critical components when producing images that the artist will use to represent and promote his or her work. It's a nice change to work silently and slowly as opposed to my typically lively portrait sessions! I am currently working with the Columbia Center for the Arts to provide photography services for artists - I will announce more details about this very soon!

Thank You, Louise McCulloch!

Finally, another portrait - I received the opportunity to do some headshots for my own terrific real estate agent, Louise McCulloch - this is her looking fabulous and ready to do business! Louise works for RE/MAX Results in Hood River and let me tell you, you will have to look hard to find a more personable or knowledgeable agent than Louise! I originally called her while we were still living in California and she made doing business long-distance easier than I ever would have thought possible. Then once we were in town, she continued to smooth the way for us - my husband commented that he has never had a real estate transaction go as efficiently as our recent home purchase in Hood River.

So, no matter if you're buying or selling, please consider using Louise's services - I can guarantee you won't regret it! You can contact her at RE/MAX Results by calling (541) 387-6700 or (800) 387-6703; her email is Louise@GorgeProperty.com. You can learn more about RE/MAX Results by visiting www.GorgeProperty.com.

Yeah, I like Louise alot - and I love my new home here in Hood River! Thank you so much, Louise, for helping make our dreams come true.

Hostess with the Mostest

As in "most cool truck"! Jonny, our hostess for yesterday's Ring Kings' get-together, has a really fine truck, built for her by her personable and charming husband, Moe...I just LOVE the decal Jonny has on the back window! It reads, "This is NOT my husband's truck!" They have a beautiful piece of property up above Hood River and it was the perfect setting for shooting this classy-looking truck...

More hot rods

Went on a little jaunt today to visit with Hood River's hot rod club, the fabulous Ring Kings! Everyone drove their hot rod, of course, presenting me with several squeal-worthy moments as I hopped from one vehicle to another, chasing that "just right" angle to showcase each car's unique features...here's my favorite - this one belongs to Ring King member Dennis and it's sitting pretty on his '37 Ford sedan!

Hot Rod Swap Meet

Traveled to Bend/Redmond for the weekend to check out the Oregon High Desert Swap Meet - went looking for parts for the 1934 Ford pickup truck that is my husband's latest project. Even though the trip was a bust as far as finding parts went, we still had a great time! In addition to the swap meet, there was also a little car show - and of course I brought my camera to add to my collection of hood ornaments...here's three of my favorites from the weekend.

A lovely afternoon

One of the adventures in moving to a new place is meeting new people. It's a littler easier for me than for most, I admit - I'm a chatterbox, I'll talk to just about anybody who will listen! Well, I met a young woman a few weeks ago and in the course of conversation I told her I was a photographer (I tell EVERYONE that - can't help myself, I love being a photographer) and was looking for someone who would be my "guinea pig" (I think I used the word "model" actually). I explained I was working in a new space and needed someone to practice on - I promised it would be fun and that I would be happy to give her prints in exchange for sitting for me. Imagine my delight when she said yes!

And so the lovely Yasmin Acosta-Myers visited my studio about a week ago and boy howdy, did we have fun! These are are a few samples from our afternoon together - I am ecstatic over how well they turned out! Yasmin is a delight to work with - easy going, warm, fun-loving and photogenic as all get out - what more could a photographer ask for?!

Look Ma, I'm blogging!

I'm pretty excited - this is a brand new thing for me, "blogging." Yeah, for a photographer, I'm a bit techno-phobic (!), so with the help of a good friend holding my hand the whole way, ta-da, here it is, my very first blog, Light Reading.

I wasn't so sure about doing this at first - who would be interested in what's going on in MY head? Then I realized that through this medium, I could introduce myself to alot of new friends...see, I should tell you this right off, I'm new here. Not just to blogging, but new to Hood River, new to Oregon. Ok, not "new-new" since I've been vacationing here every summer for the last 18 years - but when my husband had the opportunity to retire this Spring, we made the big decision to follow our bliss and it brought us here to Hood River. So far, so fantastic!

We've been residents of Hood River a whole 2 months now - things are finally all unpacked and we're starting to settle into a comfortable rhythm. I'm converting the downstairs living room into a studio - there's still painting to do and draperies to be sewn. (I've ordered the most gorgeous copper-colored Dupioni silk! Can't wait for you to see it!) I hope to integrate myself slowly into my new community, so don't plan on opening my doors "officially" until Spring 2007 - then "watch this space!" because I've got a truly grand Grand Opening in mind!

Well, this is pretty good for a start - it is truly a pleasure to be here, like a dream come true! I'm looking forward to meeting you soon...