School Days

First day of 1st Grade! I can hardly believe how times flies sometimes. There has been a lot of anxiety leading up to this day for her, I only hope it is smooth sailing for the rest of the week.

Echinacea

Polaroid SX-70/Impossible PX680 Film

Energy

One of the things on my photographic "Bucket List" was to shoot a wind farm. I would have loved for them to be silhouetted at sunset but for now a drive-by will have to suffice. I still cannot get over the enormity of their size.

Cousins

Spectra/ Polaroid Softtone Film

Sleeping in the Forest

I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.

~Mary Oliver 

My heart will forever be by the sea

Canon Beach, Oregon

Home from an amazing week on the Oregon coast. So many photos to go through. So many little treasures to remember our time. I'm so grateful for the many trips I have taken to the coast this year.

Trip highligts:

• Watching Hailee play with her cousins in the sand and run around the backyard of the beach house.
• Collecting sand dollars on the beach and giving the live ones a second chance.
• Watching sunset with my husband at Canon Beach. 
• Waterfall hunting on the drive up.
• Tillamook ice cream.
• Revisiting the shores of Manzanita and dreaming of the time when the Tribe inhabits the beach house again.
• Getting splashed by the seals at the aquarium.
• Escaping on a solo adventure to an antique shop and finding 2 cameras to add to my collection.

Life at the sea

Serenity

The View From Here

How does one become a butterfly?

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked pensively.
"You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." ~ Trina Paulus

The Right Fit

White Sage and Prayer Ties

…where we entirely miss the obvious-that is, that we are all trying to decipher life’s big mysteries, and we’re each following our own paths of enlightenment.”  ~ Dan Brown

For me, finding a spirituality that fits is like clothes shopping. It takes a lot of isle browsing, fabric handling and dressing rooms to find something that works. One dress may look lovely on one person's curvy frame yet the color may not be as flattering on another. Sometimes, later on, our needs change just as our sizes do and we have to set out in the world again searching for another dress.

I've been a skeptic for a very long time but now my needs are changing. I'm not religious and never will be but somewhere out there is a spirituality that fits me perfectly.

Next month I will be circling with a group of local women to continue on my journey. Wise women. I'm hoping to learn so much throughout the coming year. Nothing but good can come from seeking a deeper sense of self. I am ready to explore. 

What I Know About Me

Polaroid SX-70/Impossible PX680 Film

In this moment I know....

I'm an introvert through and through. I find it difficult to reach out to others and often wait for someone else to make the first move. I've learned that most of the time I miss out on friendships this way. I'm extremely skilled at pulling back instead of leaning in.

I'm well on my way to becoming the spiritual being I've avoided all my life. I'm afraid it's going to make me look like a hypocrite. I'm incredibly excited and a little bit scared about the journey ahead.

I like trips out on the open road more than I like being cramped in a stuffy airplane.

I need exercise, sunshine and nature even though usually those are the first to disappear from my routine.

I am a photographer. I'm not a portrait photographer and I don't do weddings but I make art with my pictures and that is good enough for me.

I am becoming a rock hound. The curiosity is there, aching to learn more. I want to venture into the vast desert and dig at the earth with a pick.

I like the magnetic energy in the air just before thunderstorms.

I am prone towards burnout with creative projects. Often I find myself obsessing over learning each and every detail, practicing until I feel knowledgeable and then moving on to something else.  I am trying to slow down and do less of this.

Lines

Wispy Veils

Eagle Falls, Lake Tahoe

Last weekend we took a quick family vacation to Lake Tahoe. My first time there. I can't say I was impressed with the crowds or the traffic but there were some beautiful sites. I'm bummed about how this picture came out, really bummed. Trying to let it be what it is and move forward as a lesson for next time. It comes down to it just not being as sharp as I was hoping for. Next time I will be sure to double check and turn vibration reduction OFF when using a tripod and probably use a different lens all together. I haven't spent a lot of time lately with my digital camera and I fear some of my skills are getting rusty.

Guffey Bridge

Polaroid SX-70/Impossible PX680

A little bit of pink

"Adopt the pace of nature:  her secret is patience."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I "think" that this is a Bog Mallow or at least what I could tell from my futile internet search. They were beautiful no matter what they are called.

August Storms

August usually brings a gorgeous display of lightning storms to Idaho, but that also means fire. The haze on the bottom is smoke from a fire most likely started yesterday from lightning. Our backyard yields the most spectacular views this time of year. Both for storm watching and sunset gazing.

Treasures

What remains

Spectra/ Polaroid Softtone Film (Double Exposure)

"Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be..."
  ~William Wordsworth

Cemetery on the hill

Silver City, Idaho

August Break Starts NOW

Polaroid SX-70/Impossible PX680

August Break starts today! I'm going to try my very best to have something up Monday - Friday every week this month. I have some big trips planned so hoping I will have plenty of material to shoot. Sit back and enjoy. I plan on mixing a little film, a little digital and a little bit of iPhoneography into the mix. Play along if you wish! Happy August!

This shot was taken yesterday in the ghost town of Silver City, Idaho. We found this rusty car next to an old mining shaft. I'm so bummed I over exposed it and didn't know until we were back down the mountain, it was such a cool car.