Ent

Have you ever been walking in the woods and suddenly got that eerie feeling that you were being watched? It can be kind of hard to dismiss, but just try to keep in mind there's nothing there - it's just your imagination running wild and you'll be fine. Easier said than done, I know, but really what else could it be?

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Marc on This is Our Town

It's another day at This is Our Town and today is Marc Franklin. Read more about him here. 

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The Neighborhood

I took a break from working this afternoon and noticed these wild looking clouds and the beautiful light of late afternoon and had to grab a photo...

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Painting of Shannon

Natural light from the window almost makes this photo of Shannon look like a painting, huh?

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Patio Furniture

Here's a view that caterpillar might have had the other day when he blew across the bricks.

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The Hunchback

Several years ago before the kids moved out, we did a big Halloween thing and we picked this guy up at the thrift store to be a part of it all. I ended up holding on to him to use as a photo test dummy to try different lighting styles on, before subjecting a human to them. So he's been around for a while, spending most of his time stuffed away in a cabinet, but he comes out now and then and this here is the result of his most recent outing. 

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Newlyweds

Shawnna Vert and John Thomas were married today out at Rainbow Lake and I had the honor of being their photographer for the big event. The weather was perfect and the setting was gorgeous. Made my job easy that way. Here's their first kiss as husband and wife.

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Already?

Holy cow man, I just barely got used to the warm weather of Summer and suddenly there's all these dead, dry leaves on the ground and the air is chilly in the morning. Is it Fall already? It's kind of nice to slow down a bit and say goodbye to the Summer crowds, but jeez, how did all these leaves hit the ground so fast?

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The Old Seaplane Dock

This little short "dock to nowhere" there in the center of the image, used to be many years ago the seaplane float if I remember right. Now it's just an old pier without a float, and it's boarded up so you can't walk out on it even. Too bad, it would be a nice place to shoot a photo like this. But I guess this location will do in a pinch.

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All Dressed Up...

...with someplace to go. I don't know where they're going, but the truck arrived this afternoon to haul them away. I should have asked the guy, but he seemed busy talking to the crane operator and truck driver and I didn't want to bother him. These elephants have been hanging out just down the road from my house for a couple months now, but it seems they are off to greener pastures. I'll miss them...

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D.I.Y. Photek Softlighter II Flash Bracket

I picked up a couple of Light Mods recently - the Photek Softlighter II in both 36" and 46" sizes. They are basically a bounce-umbrella with a diffuser panel to soften the light and give you more control over spill. The diffuser has a "sock" over a hole in the center that you put your flash through and then it's all good. The only problem is, with a standard umbrella bracket setup, your flash is going to be pointing  anywhere but at the center of this thing. I looked around but didn't find anything I could buy to fix this.
So, I went to the hardware store instead:

Shannon

I picked up a 2nd hand portrait backdrop a few weeks ago and some new lights, so Shannon and I gave them a test run. She dressed up in her blue party dress and we shot so many photos it was hard to choose just one but this was definitely one of the best. BTW - that's a dark blue blanket draped over a stool that she's sitting on, but it kinda looks like part of her dress and that she's standing and kind of crouched over huh?

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Blue Horned Caterpillar

We saw this guy go cruisin' across our patio looking like he wanted to get to that lawn quick before any birds flew over and saw him. Big fella - almost 3 inches long and 1/2 inch around. A quick search online and I'm thinking he's an Eyed Hawk-Moth caterpillar.

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Kayaking on Griffin Bay

Shannon and I took off from the Friday Harbor port docks and went to Turn Island for a snack and then decided to go to Jackson's Beach. That's Lopez Island on the left there (behind Shannon's hat) and Cattle Point on San Juan Island to the right. This was some glass-calm water, which if you read this blog much, you'll know is my favorite. What a great time. Aren't vacations wonderful? Aren't vacations in the San Juans even better?

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Joanie's Deck

We went out to my boss's place in the valley to return a Bar-B-Que and give her a recipe and ended up going out to her garden where she dug up fresh carrots, purple potatoes, huge beets and some garlic and onions. Then she took us over to her flower garden where she clipped some beautiful dahlias

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Fisherman Bay

Here's a view of the dock in Fisherman Bay on Lopez at The Islander where we went for dinner last night. This is were we parked the skiff before walking up the dock for a great meal.

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Cheating Death

Shannon and I took the skiff and razzed over to Lopez Island for dinner at The Islander in Fisherman Bay tonight. This was shot on the way over, looking west at San Juan Island (our home) and the late afternoon sun in our wake. On the way home after sunset we had a gorgeous flat-calm channel reflecting the evening sky. As my dad would say after we got home, "we cheated death once again!".
Good times....

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