SoCal Wedding: Linda+Trav

We just returned from La Jolla, CA for Linda and Trav’s wedding! Congrats guys! The day was absolutely breathtaking! Everywhere we turned was a fantastic photo op. Combine that with a beautiful bride and stunning groom, and BAM!, great imagery happens! Along with the wedding we were also able to get some much needed beach time with the Keating family. Court couldn’t surf with her belly, so I surfed enough waves for all three of us :) We flew into Bend late last night and in a few minutes I’m off the Portland for my best buddy Brendon Wiksell’s wedding! Looking forward to not shooting a wedding, and just being apart of it for a change. So here’s to a busy wedding season! Below is an image of Linda and Travis’ true behavior shining through on their wedding day! This is the power of two photographers on a shoot. Two different angles capturing the same moment! What a downright FUN couple to be around. Looking forward to hanging out with the two of you again real soon!

Wanna see their SLIDESHOW: CLICK HERE and navigate to "Your Images". Type in the password "Linda" (case sensitive) and you're there! Wanna ORDER PRINTS: CLICK HERE

The Harp

Courtney is in the midst of launching her harp business (and her website), so we did a little photo shoot with her and her harp to get some content for her new site... which is coming soon! We decided to ditch the signature “Harp Look” – you know what I’m talking about: the braided hair, the white flowing dress, in a field of daises in the middle of some enchanted forest with fairies and elves running around. So instead, we went for a little urban feel to set Courtney apart from the competition and to show her true roots of “style & freshness”. How beautiful is my wife?! Seriously! She’s 6 months prego in these pics too… A-freaking-mazing!

Golf Photography: Tetherow

Just wanted to share some golf photos I recently did for LJ3 Media Group at Bend’s newest golf resort… Tetherow. It was loads of fun shooting this interesting course, but definitely challenging since I’m used to shooting human beings and interacting with them… I could only interact with that golf flag so much… “work it golf flag, work it”

Branding: PRB

For some reason I hardly post my designing on this blog (which actually takes up most of my work week - business has been great)... it always seems more interesting to post photography and personal stories... but just incase there is anyone out there who appreciates some design, here's a concept I came up with for a client called Pacific Resource Brokers. A clean, modern approach to the Natural Resources Business. As I was researching their competitors, they all had the same "look and feel" - Rustic & Rough. With their business plan in hand, I decided to focus in on a few key words that they used to express the way they want to do business: "Forward Thinking, Earth Friendly, Clean, Modern, Fresh...". I think this logo, color scheme and brand package captures who they are and is accurately geared toward their target market... they thought so too!

We're heading to California tomorrow for a wedding and to visit friends and family. Courtney is going to eat at ALL the places she's been craving the past view months that Bend doesn't have - like "Rubios", "In N Out", "REAL" mexican food, "Rockin' Jennies"...etc... and I will probably gain some "sympathy" weight during this trip :( But hopefully will surf it all off before we come back to Bend. We'll keep you posted on what's happening in Socal through this blog. LATER.

BIRTH: Oliver Blue Dykstra

GREAT NEWS! Oliver Blue Dykstra was born early this morning. Here's his stats: June 14th, 2008, Bend OR, Room 152, 1:30am delivered, 20.5 inches long and coming in at 7lbs 8oz ... he is a happy and healthy little guy. What an unreal experience. So many emotions mixed with so much joy. Great job Randy & Kristin, you guys made all the right decisions and are truly blessed with this baby. Thanks for letting us share this unforgettable experience with you. Here in about 4 months, we'll be journeying through this same situation ... good thing we have more time, b/c we're definitely not ready yet ;) Neither of us have ever been apart of anything like that, so it was a good introduction of what's to come and what we can hopefully expect - A successful delivery! Oh, we had our doctors appointment yesterday and our Doc thinks our baby is a girl... not completely sure... 50/50 ;) But I think we're going with it. Any ideas on girl names?

If you want to see more of the Dykstra delivery, visit our Photography website (CLICK HERE) and navigate to "YOUR IMAGES", Type in the password "Maternity" and the delivery photos are towards the end of the maternity shoot... the complete package :) Enjoy!

CD / DVD Designs

Just finished up with a few antioch CD / DVD designs: "Antioch Guest Speaker Audio/Video" discs, "Kids Minsitry Music Vol 2", and "Mother Kirk Sermons Series" (on the importance of the church). All good stuff! For some reason I've really been into textures, stickers and a certain kind of roughness in most my designing this week. Next week, I'll probably go back to a more clean feel... but who know these day...

Man Trip 201

In 2007 we had our first official Man Trip, and this year we decided to try and do multiple trips that were both "Burrly" and "______" (fill in with manliest word you know). So this trip some fellas and I ventured out for the weekend to hit up the famous Salmon Fly Hatch on the Lower Deschutes River and catch some trout on the ole fly rods. The first day was trout-less, but we had a great time hangin' out, camping and cooking. We thought we were a bit early for the fly hatch, so we decided to head back to our local spot on the Upper Dechutes River and put in the drift boat for the afternoon. The minute we did so, massive thunderstorms started rolling through the area and it was a torrential downpour for several hours! However, in the middle of this rainstorm is when I hooked the fish of the trip! Finally! And then the weather broke and it was a beautiful evening! I brought home the trout to my gorgeous wife, who was stoked I finally brought back a descent enough sized fish ... we cooked and ate it ... delish ... fulfilling my role as "Hunter/Gatherer" :)  End of Man Trip 201.