Family...

"Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold."

~ Euripides

I've been blessed with a wonderful and loving family. My parents, Sig and Vivian, both now passed away, were great, ordinary folks. My brothers and sister, Bob, David and Lori are great folks as well. I've got 2 wonderful kids (although I miss the days when they were little, loving and unpretentious) and a host of friends I feel truly gifted to have as friends. My brother-in-law Curt is as good as gold and like another brother. Some friends, like Marty and Patty Prisbrey are as much family to me as any blood relative. Marty is actually closer to me as a brother/friend than my blood brothers, he knows me... too well.

A couple of weeks ago I was the photographer for my niece Kirsten's wedding. She married J.D. Frichette, a young man I truly like and I can tell is a good guy. I hadn't shot a wedding in over 20 years. I was a bit nervous (but not too much) and I did a job for them I am proud to call mine. I did miss some shots, I did not get some shots and some shots could have been better. But when shooting hundreds of pictures within a few hours, under less than great lighting conditions, there are going to be some images that just don't work. But there are definitely some images that I absolutely love.

Kirsten is a beautiful young woman and I love the heck out of her. I mean I've known her all of her life. It was a rainy day up on the Olympic Peninsula and I was hoping for better weather so I could do all the posed shots outside. Well, as much as I get along with nature (having long ago established a very close relationship) I was stuck with the wet and gray Northwest climate I remember as a kid. I mean I don't know if I knew what the sun was until we moved from Aberdeen down to Bakersfield, California, where I learned very quickly what the sun is.

Anyway... I did get a short break in the rain before the ceremony and I rushed Kirsten outside to shoot her portrait in her wedding gown and I got a shot I absolutely love. So here dear friends, is my niece Kirsten, on her wedding day. Love ya niece!



(and yes, dear friends, I am available to shoot weddings, book my services now! allan_e@efn.org )

Around the farm...

When humans were young, they were pushed around in strollers. When they were old, they were pushed around in wheel-chairs. In between, they were just pushed around.

~ Tom Robbins (Skinny Legs and All)

It has been a very mild summer here in Oregon. The days still have the same number of hours and the sunsets are still mid evening... but the wind blows almost all the time, keeping it cool in the eves.

I'm almost done with Eugene Emeralds season and have been posting pics over at the Ems picture blog, check 'em out, there is some good stuff there.

These were shot yesterday, early evening, sun low on the horizon. They've been plowing the field and I caught these images of the John Deere in "action" discing the fields. Of course the great light on the roses was a distraction as well.

As always, photography work is wanted, almost any of the images here (or at the Ems pictures blog) are available for sale. Weddings, portraits, events of any kind... I will provide excellent images at a fair price.

Thanks for visiting! I'll be doing more writing soon, so far all my clicking on the qwerty has been for other endeavors.

Just folks...

The storyteller was there to begin with. He used the fire, he used his voice; he used shadows and monsters, and he used poetry and music. And all those things worked on the audience.

~ Ken Kesey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Living in the middle of a couple hundred acres of grass (the lawn type... ) I've come to measure my year in ways I haven't before. In the late fall, winter and early spring my weekend alarm clock is the blast of shotguns from the goose hunters. In summers... the same as its always been... the shine of that burning ball at the center of our galaxy (and to think, Galileo was prosecuted for that common sense notion, whatever... ).

But here at home along with that bright ball occasionally comes the sounds of machinery. Usually tho' the folks who do the cutting and combining are come and gone almost before I notice.

Almost...

The combining is a dry and dusty task that takes place here in the Willamette Valley from Eugene in the south to Portland in the north (and even tho' people here say they are driving "up" to Portland, in actuality they driving "down" to Portland, speaking in terms of high to low rather than north to south). And every summer the valley fills with dust when the combines are running, seperating out the grass seed.

The other day the combine crew -- all 2 of 'em -- were busy raising the dust around the place. So I had to go out and shoot 'em... heh...

... with my camera...

The following pictures are from the other day. The combine drivers are 2 teens from Harrisburg, Sam and Shawn. Sam is 18, Shawn 17 and both will be seniors this year. The combines are John Deeres... a 7720 and a 9500, air conditioned and stereos. Unfortunately Shawn's radio suffered from a broken antenna and he had to listen to his own singing... ouch!

So here is a visual slice of summer here in the Willamette Valley, just a couple of Oregon folks, working: