Celebrating 60 Years of Service!

I am so pleased and honored to be a member of Soroptimist International Hood River. Members are compassionate and professional women who are committed to the betterment of their community through service that uplifts, supports and encourages women and girls. The name, Soroptimist, means "best for women," and that's what the organization strives to achieve. Soroptimists are women at their best, working to help other women to be their best.

In May of this year, our club will celebrate 60 years of service to Hood River and it's being done with the usual sense of style and community spirit! The first ever Spring Fling is going to be a fun day to share, so plan on bringing your Mom, your daughters and your girlfriends! The event will feature a fashion show sponsored by 7 local retailers (Wearhouse, Ananas, Doug's Sports, Flow Yoga, Outside Baby, Ruddy Duck and Shortt Supply), a buffet lunch, first class entertainment, raffles and great door prizes! All this happens Saturday, May 10th at The Gorge Room in the Best Western in Hood River. Tickets will be available soon from the participating retailers and Soroptimists members.

Pictured above are some of the Soroptimist International Hood River board members who generously donate their time to coordinate club activities; they are, from L to R, starting with the top row: June Knudson, President - Carolyn Van Orden, Treasurer - Sheryl Carey - Lisa Hargrave - Harriet Kelly - Kate Brownback (who was named Club Member of the Year 2007 in recognition of her energy, enthusiasm and commitment to Soroptimist ideals and goals).

SPRING is in the air!

...along with a couple of Girl Scouts! I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I've been asking almost everyone who gets in front of my lens these days to JUMP FOR JOY!

Today was the third get-together with the Gorge Girl Scouts who I am currently helping earn their Photography badge and we had glorious weather for a change, bright and sunny - a perfect day to go outdoors and explore the difference between (say it with me, girls!) Direct, Indirect and Diffused lighting. The girls paired up and created portraits of each other using all 3 different kinds of light - they learned the very best light for an outdoor portrait, but also how to create a great portrait in whatever light you find yourself in. Afterwards, since I still had my high key background set up in the studio from a previous client session, I took what little time we had left and snapped a headshot of each girl - and couldn't resist adding to my Jump For Joy series! (I even got the troop leader into the act!)

This is such a wonderful group of young women - intelligent, animated and sparkling with personality - it IS a real joy for me to be around them and a real privilege to work with them. I'm sooo looking forward to the next couple of weeks as we work closer to our final goal - a group exhibition of their photo project (subject to be announced - watch this space!) during the month of May at the Garden Cafe (at Good News Gardening) in Hood River.