Hood to Coast Relay 2009

Hood to Coast is an annual relay race that takes place at the end of August. It starts at Timberline, on the top of Mt. Hood, and finishes on the Oregon coast at Seaside. The race is 197 miles long, includes two vans of six runners, each of which runs three legs. The legs can vary from 4ish miles to a little under 8, but the average distance each runner completes is around 16 miles or so. Over the course, there is always someone from your team out running. This basically means that you don't sleep for 2 days. Sounds crazy, right? Crazy FUN! This was my second year participating, and I hope I get to run it every year from now until eternity! Now, for a few of my favorites from the weekend:

{as always, click on any image to make it bigger!}






Keep in tune for some exciting news to be gradually announced over the coming week!
~di

Mission: Accomplished.

I embarked on this year's Hood to Coast relay with one goal (other than finishing my legs of course):

One Camera.
One Roll of Film.
One Lens.
One Day.

Preview of the weekend's events:

Film-alicious

I have my scanner set up! Oh film, how I love thee ...

{as always, click on an image for a better view}

John & Kayla's wedding:



... and Gus & Jedidah ...


... and some oldies but goodies from Josh & Cameryn last year (a la Leica = YUM) ...



Cheerio
~di

Gus & Jedidah

Phew! It's been a while! I apologize for the extended break, but I am currently traveling around my home state of Montana and internet service is sketchy. I've been working hard on a few personal projects (including an official website for my photography!) but also am finally getting these photos uploaded!

When Deyla offered up the opportunity to second shoot for her again, I said "definitely" without a second thought. But as she told me more about the wedding, that "definitely" turned into a "HECK yes!" Hawaiian bride? Jewish groom? A June wedding? Their colors are tangerine, hot pink and lime green???! I'm soooo in!

This wedding was so full of beauty and tradition, it was inspiring. It never fails to amaze me how each couple can take their different backgrounds, traditions, opinions and style and blend them into something so cohesive and beautiful. Anyway, enough words ... to the pictures!

{as always, to enlarge any image, click on the photo}




I just love when couples choose to do a "first look." It provides the couple with a few minutes of quiet time before the big "I do's" and the moment is always priceless.










Candy bar! Bring on the Airheads!





There were so many amazing details, this is all I could narrow it down to! Believe it or not, there were more to choose from. Thank you, Deyla and Mazel Tov to everyone in cyberland!

Cheers~
Di

Preview, John & Kayla

Yesterday I got to second-shoot a wedding with the always fabulous Deyla Huss. Here's a quick preview:

3.10.09 Ana!

Here is Ana ... she is such a kick in the pants. I can't start to explain how fun it is to hold a full conversation with a two-year-old - especially when taking her pictures! My favorite interaction of the day:

Mom: "Ana, don't you want to play with your umbrella?"
Ana: "No thanks, Mom. I don't need it, it's not raining."

Hah!

Ana Teaser

Little Miss Ana ...

Reminiscing ...

I discovered my missing back-up CDs! AH!

For those of you who didn't know me in college, here's a little background on the j-school at the University of Montana: we were required to shoot film. We started with b&w, then after getting into the program as juniors, we were required to shoot slide film. Even in the studio. For each assignment, we basically had 24-36 frames to get it right. Exposure, composition, framing - everything had to be done correctly in the original image otherwise you had to re-shoot the assignment, took a docked grade and ate $16 ($8 for the film, $8 for developing). We scanned our negatives and were allowed some post-processing (such as cleaning up dust), but we turned in our RAW files as well as our edited files and were graded on both. None of the wonderful editing capabilites of photoshop we now have as digital photographers that can save our butts if we didn't get it right (even cropping!). Don't get me wrong, I love digital, but mainly for the financial breaks - not it's many technological abilities. It probably explains a lot if you have ever had a conversation with me about digital photography and my end seemed anything but knowledgeable!

Now I rely on my digital for the majority of my work, but still shoot film at every session. Bottom line? I can't afford to shoot film! On top of that, I haven't found a decent place in PDX that I trust for development (I had a bad run-in with a developer in Missoula and am now uber-cautious). But I love the look of film, and I'm more comfortable with it as a medium. I think I take better photos when shooting with it and I am grateful that I was taught the essentials of photography basics with film (the U has now moved to an all-digital format). Don't get me started. I wrote my entire senior thesis on the transition from film to digital, and it's many cons ... enough of this tirade.

Anyway, here are a few images I found in my long-lost backups. They were all shot with film and I just thought I'd share since I need to blog more anyway. Enjoy!




My beautiful aunt ...

3.7.09 Timothy Arlen One Year!

Finally! Sandra and I rescheduled this portrait session about four times before we finally lucked out on weather and/or lack of sickness (on both of our parts). Timothy is technically 14 months now, and he is running and talking! It's been amazing to watch this little man grow up. What a ham. Enjoy!