"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..." *

It's the end of the year and I'm busy with archiving image files, deciding what to keep and how to file it...and I always find a few surprises along the way, which makes an otherwise tedious task a whole lot more fun! The oldest sister in these images is a senior at South Wasco County HS (I mentioned I was out there this fall for a fantastic weekend of shooting - which I PROMISE to post a few of the best location images as it was a spectacular setting!) and I asked her to be my guinea pig, I mean, model while I set up and tested my lights...well, along comes the little sister to watch and she wants in on the action...then Mom comes looking for her with the youngest sister in her arms - you just KNOW I had to put all three sisters in one portrait, now, don't you?! since the portraits weren't planned, I've applied a chocolate mocha tone to the images (yummy, don't you think?!) to keep your attention on their lovely faces...these portraits are destined to be thank you gifts for the Mom - I got a feeling she's gonna like 'em!

* thank you, Mr. Irving Berlin!

Pretty, pretty lights!

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is decorating with lights - what can I say, I got a "thing" for light! Probably 'cuz it was awhile before my parents figured out I needed glasses (I'm near-sighted), and the out-of-focus lights on the Christmas tree thoroughly enchanted me - I thought they were suppose to look that way! (Street lights at night were also pretty cool...) So I just can't resist playing around a little - here's my take on our Christmas tree this year, taken with my latest toy, a little p&s Fuji F10, a pretty neat camera with a tack sharp 10mm lens - to create your own light show, just set your ISO as low as it will go, turn off the flash, then move your camera (up & down, spin it, swirl it, go wild!) as you depress the shutter button...it will take a few tries before you develop a little control, but it's the unpredicability of the final image that is the most fun! Merry merry Everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Just dinking around on the computer, waiting to take the turkey out of the oven - thought I'd post some of my favorite grab shots taken with my little point & shoot camera over the last month. A few are taken just walking around town, some spot of color or texture that caught my eye (the close ups of leaves and ornamental kale)...while out at Rasmussen Farms picking up a Christmas wreath right after Thanksgiving (snow-covered lawn chairs)...a colorful, breath-taking autumnal sunset, viewed from the backyard of my neighbor across the street....a snowy hillside, taken while my husband cut down our Christmas tree (yes, that's my handsome lumberjack!)...time to go - 'cuz it's turkey time!