This summer is crusin' by so fast! We wanted to quickly give you an update. So far the summer has been filled with lots of travels, camping, boating, floating the river, man-trips, fishing, photography, BeerBQ's, bonfires and babies... yah, babies are EVERYWHERE! Courtney is due at the end of Oct and we will be having a baby girl. During a visit from Gary's side of the family, we tried an experiment and peed on Drano Crystals (which is supposta reveal the sex of your baby - thru magic I guess). Amy (Gary's sister) is pregnant as well. With everyone at our house watching the spectacle, some non-pregos decided to try the test as well and here's the results: Courtney is HAVING a girl, Amy is HAVING a boy, Gary IS a boy, and oldest sister Angela IS in fact a girl. Anyways, so much has happened this summer, and it's not letting up. We leave for SoCal tomorrow morning and the adventure continues... we'll keep you posted! Check back often. Much-o Love-o!
Hello There & Welcome
- We're The Christensons
- This blog reveals stories and imagery from our professional work and personal adventures. We are creative portrait and destination wedding photographers that live, work and play on the west coast of the US of A. We also run an award winning graphic design studio. But more than that, we’re a young abstract family trying to live this life to its absolute fullest. As you look through some of the blog entries below you will get a good feel for what makes us tick, and you’ll be introduced to some of our latest design and photo projects. Check back often for updates, and if you see something you like don’t be afraid to leave a comment.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Summer Update
Friday, August 01, 2008
Natasha + Mike Lincoln
Weddings are stankin' sweet... such a blast! Just cruising around taking photos and hanging out with the two most stoked people on planet earth... the bride & groom, of course (incase you were thinking that WE were the "most stoked people on planet earth"... which we are, but that's beside the point - come on, get y'er head in the game)... moving on... Mike and Tasha, it was a true pleasure to celebrate with the two of you! Congratulations!
View ALL photos & order images from Pictage: CLICK HERE
View Slideshow: visit our website and navigate to the "Your Images" page, type in the password "Natasha (case sensitive). Enjoy.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Lincoln Family
We had the best time with the Lincoln Family yesterday (the fam's in town for Mike and Tasha's wedding this weekend - so we took the op to get some family shots). Their interaction with each other was LOADS of fun to capture! We're really looking forward to visiting with these fine folks again this weekends!
Ah, Brother and Sisterly love... takes me back :)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sarah & Brandon: e-photos
We had an awesome e-session with Brandon & Sarah this last week, and we're really looking forward to their wedding in September! What a b-e-a-u-tiful couple! Stunning really! On this particular day, it was overly sun-shiny (real word :) google it) so we took the opportunity to do some experimenting with light... don't worry, we got the regular solid shots we always get, but had a blast getting creative and working with the sun - reflecting if off of shop windows, shooting right into the intense light, getting some sweet flares all over the place... just throwing all rules out of the window and coming up with some fun and creative imagery! Brandon & Sarah, you guys are fun, romantic and so in love! Thanks for letting us capture those things, and thanks for spending the afternoon with us! We really enjoyed our time together!
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Art Book is HERE
The ART BOOK(s) has arrived in all of it's glory. Its sitting in huge boxes waiting for its release date... July 20th - in the evening. The Art Book Reception is going to be sweet! We're going to be highlighting various contributers, displaying the original art pieces from the painters, sculptors, and photographers. We'll also have some open-mic time for the folks who wrote poems and short stories. As well as open-mic for some of the musicians who entered lyrics. Looking forward to celebrating... it took a long time and lot of work to get this puppy done! Facts: 189 pages & 36 featured artists ...
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Courtney's Harp Site
The Belly!
Many of you have been asking for some belly shots of Courtney and "Baby Christenson"... so here's a few shots now that there is somewhat of a belly to show (it's been pretty unnoticeable up until the last 2 weeks). "Sweetness Fact of the Day" is that I (Gary) felt the little baby kicking last night for THE FIRST TIME... unreal! It's actually happening... consider my mind BLOWN! At this point we're pretty confident that "Baby C" is a GIRL. The baby was being very difficult when we were at our last doc appointment trying to find out the gender of the child, so we're waiting a few more weeks and then we'll find out for sure. But we're banking on a beautiful little girl... can't wait... October 26th is the date when craziness happens. Keep us in your prayers.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
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!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
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”
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
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?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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...
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
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.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
We [still] Heart Bend
Yup, we still heart Bend, even if it refuses to be summer! We had some uber-fabulous friends from Maui over at our house for the long weekend (Casey & Mele Butler - who recently moved to the Portland area), and the crazy thing is that we didn't even get one picture with them during their visit! Bum deal! We had a killer weekend though... hicking around, eating out, doing a Deschutes Brewery tour, catching some concerts, and all the while wearing our winter jackets :( It's been down in the 50's and a bit raining. But hey, that doesn't stop Bend-ites from getting out-and-about and having some fun. We were able to catch The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, and Death Cab for Cutie (shown in pic) all in concert this weekend at our outdoor amphitheater in the Old Mill District (Bends new "hip-kat" place to be).
Our house is only a few blocks from the Old Mill so we were able to walk to all the weekend "happenings". In doing so, we ran across our favorite little creatures... "Yellow Belly Rock Chucks", or some mights say "Marmots". There is a whole "gaggle" of them here in Bend. We actually have 2 of them that live behind our house on our property and constantly watch us (and we constantly watch them). They are actually cute and cuddly...but rather large! Don't let the photos trick you... they are bigger than house cats! Anyways, that's our crazy weekend! Good Times, Great Oldies... Kool105
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Maternity - "Oliver Blue"
Courtney and I were able to do some maternity photography recently with our good friends Randy & Kristin (she's do in a month - having a boy named Oliver Blue). These two have an incredible story! In short: they're newly weds, moved here right after their wedding, didn't have jobs, no insurance and found out they got pregnant on their honeymoon! In addition to that, Kristin finds out she has cancer and is seeking treatment! It's been a real testimony of faith and we feel honored to share life on a weekly basis with such extraordinary people!
Mums-Day
We went down south for a surprise visit to "The Christenson" side of the fam - in honor of Mums day. It was GREAT to get out of town and to just have some fun with the fam. We did a little "Guitar Hero" action... never played it before, but it was really entertaining! Here's some photogs of an evening rocking out with our nieces and nephew!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Austin, TX - Engagement
Introducing Jessie Woods & Craig Gipson! Their wedding date is August 9th (in Laguna Beach, CA) and Court & I will be there capturing it all! What a fun, romantic, cute, energetic couple to shoot for engagement photos! I had such a great time with them Monday afternoon & evening! I flew out for the afternoon and spent about 4+ hours running around Austin photog-ing up the place! What a great city... such character! First we went to the Botanical Gardens, then to the University of Texas (Jessie just finished Grad School and Craig is prepping for the BAR - they are both HUGE Longhorn fans), then we went to the capital building to finish off the shoot. Afterwards they took me out to celebrate Cinco De Mayo at this rad little "TexMex" place with a live mariachi band. 10 hours later I flew back to Bend. What a great quick trip! Congrats Jessie & Craig! Thanks for letting me get a sneak-peak into your life together! Your love for each other is inspiring ... you are an outstanding couple!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Art Book Event
This Sunday evening marks the ART BOOK EVENT, where we will raise awareness (and hopefully some fund-age) for the publishing of the Art Book and it's partnering network we created called "LAB" - short for "colLABeration". The Art Book is antiochs tool to begin connecting local artists together. Come and find out more information about the Art Book and LAB.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Oregon Beach House
We just returned from a stellar weekend at the Oregon coast. We stayed at our friends beach cabin right on the water just north of Tilamook... the best news was that the coast was absolutely beautiful! Clear skies and warm! Yah, who would have thought! We were prepared for the rain and cold but were delightfully surprised the whole weekend. We made the trip with the Parlas (Anthony, Heather, their baby Samantha) and the Fithes (John, Jamie, their puppy Aspen) ... and then there was the two of us ;) Once we have our baby we'll fit in a bit better with most of our friends and their kids / dogs. It was so good to spend time and reconnect with the Fitches and Parlas. It had been way too long!
Although the trip was a couples get-a-way (well, semi-family get-a-way) the boys were still able to get a descent amount of surfing in on Friday and Saturday - thanks girls :) The surf was chest high, clean, and it wasn't that cold! The air temp was in the 50's and the water temp was high 40's. Still cold compared to good ole Maui, but totally doable! Oh, we also went to the Tilamook Cheese Factory... call me "old fashion" but factory tours are so interesting! I feel like an old man writing that, but the fact is that I enjoy finding out how things are made! Just look at those blocks of cheese! So weird!