Over the past few months I was able to photograph several of the fires around Santa Cruz County, including the fires at Quail Hollow, Martin Road, Trabing Road, and after the fact, some aerial images of those and the much larger Summit Fire.

Additional images may be viewed at: http://fire.ddphoto.cc.

After sharing some of those images on Flickr, I was contacted by Kirby Scutter of the The Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Arts about a gallery show they had planned at the Mill Gallery in Santa Cruz.  I have provided them nine of my images and am looking forward to the show opening on Friday, August 1st.   The show will run through the month of August at:

The Mill Gallery
131 Front Street
Santa Cruz, CA

Additional details on the show are listed below:

Dear Photographer:

During the month of August the Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Arts is exhibiting a photo essay of the recent Santa Cruz Mountain and Big Sur fires in one of our downtown galleries with the goal of educating people about fires, their destructive nature and things that we can do to help prevent them. We are working with the local Fire Department in both outreach and guidance.

We are looking for photographers that have captured images of the fires and would be willing to share their photographs on the subject during the month of August. We have 30 photographers ranging from amateur to professional from the Flickr photography community contributing photographs. We had another exhibit scheduled for August, but due to the immediate relevance of the fires in Santa Cruz and California, we thought that this might be an opportunity to educate and enlighten people about fire. Photography has a way of allowing the viewer to see these fires from a more personal perspective.

This is a gallery exhibition during the month of August at the Mill Gallery in Santa Cruz, 131 Front Street. We are asking individuals in the community that have taken pictures of the various fires over the last several months to contribute to the exhibit. The show will run from August 1st until August 30th.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Regards.

Kirby Scudder
[email protected]
The Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Arts

A few weeks back I met up with Nate and Jen in Watsonville and we had some time to do their engagement portraits around a great piece of property out there that offered a lot of different options.

Below is a link to a slideshow I created to test out a service called Animoto, please let me know what you think of it compared to my other slideshows. Is it too fast/busy, or do you like the extra effects on the images? Drop a note in the comments!

Click here to view the slideshow, WordPress currently won't let me embed it without breaking my page layout.

Several months ago I donated a family portrait session to the orthodontic office of Dr. Mark Joiner for a raffle they were having for their patients. Last night I was able to meet the winners of the raffle and had a great evening on the beach at Natural Bridges. Here is a slideshow of a few images from the shoot:

Thanks to Ellen for writing the great description of our honeymoon adventures, you know me, I usually document such things with less words and more pictures 🙂 So, if you're interested in the pictorial tour of our honeymoon, here are a few of the snapshots from my little point-and-shoot 🙂

Honeymoon Flickr Photoset

Here's a note from Ellen about our Honeymoon Cruise so far!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I didn't have time to talk to y'all before we left. The flight was uneventful...very late (10pm-6am) and that was my 3rd night in a row of not getting much sleep, so that was a little rough. On the flight over we watched Freedom Writers...a very good movie as far as movies the airlines show. When we arrived, a Carnival crew member was waiting for us at the baggage claim. Boy, was I ecstatic about that! We thought we'd have to wait at the airport from 6 am until 12. She knew who we were and corralled us with another newly wed couple going on the cruise 🙂

I slept in the car on the way to the dock, it took about an hour. And all of that was just driving through the city. New York drivers are just as bad as California drivers. Our driver drove over a cement curb to avoid traffic! Glad I wasn't awake for it all.

We got to the dock much earlier than we expected; around 10 o'clock. This turned out to be very, very nice. We checked in and were on the boat, eating lunch by 1. Meanwhile, people were waiting in line to check in until 4. This was great because we got to SLEEP for a few hours before we were rudely awakened for the lifeboat drill. It wasn't enough sleep, but at least we were a little pepped for dinner and sparkling conversation with another couple.

I know when Dan and Wes cruised, they sat at a huge table with lots of people. But we got a very intimate table that seats 4. The other couple is originally from New York, so I got a chance to talk to them about things to do in NY after we get back. The man works for a Christian company that sells "Biblical" health products. He gave us a sample of their hit product, but I haven't tried it yet. It is some sort of pomegranate vitamin supplement drink. The company can be found at symmetrydirect.com if you are interested. They are a young engaged couple, so it's fun for us and we seem to have a few things in common 🙂

After dinner, WE GOT TO SLEEP!! After a full 7 hours of sleep, we woke up at 4:30 am to a WARM thunder/lightening storm. We climbed out on our balcony to take in the beauty. The time between the thunder/ lightening was quite a while, so we knew it wasn't close. But it was neat to see lightening touch down over the water. After that, we went back to sleep until 10:30am and we needed it.

We got to book our shore excursions yesterday. It looks like we are taking a walking tour of old San Juan, PR. We'll proably hit the beach and shops while we are there. At Tortola, we are taking a Hike, Kayak and Snorkel tour. Apparently we take a hike in a wildlife area, kayak to a private beach and snorkel. At St. Thomas we will do a SCUBA wreck dive of an 1800's mail ship. And also, we will do the gondola skyride. It's touristy, but it sounds like a pretty view; Cathy cued me in on that one.

Last night was the formal dinner and Captain's cocktail party (free drinks). Dan and I danced for the first time as a married couple up on stage 🙂 We got lots of beautiful pictures of us all spiffed up for the night. To check out our pictures of the cruise (which we will update periodically) go to the honeymoon gallery at Flickr. The photographers are all over you like a dog after a three legged cat. You couldn't walk 10 feet without the paparazzi wanting to take your picture.

Oh, I forgot to mention the food is excellent...I have no words to describe it. I will deal with losing weight later!

Today we have a another full day at sea, and then we hit Puerto Rico in the afternoon tomorrow! Today we hit the gym, went to a margarita and chips party, Dan taught me how to play roulette, got connected to the internet, enjoyed our chocolate dipped strawberries and relaxed a little. I can't wait to get off the boat and see the sights tomorrow.

After we get back to New york, we are hoping that Mark, Terri and Becca (best man + family) can join us in seeing the sights. The ship had "Night at the Museum" playing on TV. I had wanted to see the movie before going to the Museum of Natural History in NY myself. So that was kind of fun it worked out that way 🙂 There is about 50 million things I'd like to see in NY, but we don't have that much time! The only scheduled event we have in NY was a tour of the Statue of Liberty, Hudson bay and Ellis Island. Other than that, we'll see what comes our way!

Um, that is the skinny on things so far... we are just out in the middle of nowhere, sailing along. I hope everyone is well and the sun is shining on your end 🙂

Love,
Ellen

In preparation for my own wedding, Mark Bronson and brother of the bride, Wes Taft, took me skydiving in Hollister! Five years ago, when Mark was getting married, I took him skydiving, so this allowed him another chance to go and return the favor! Thanks Mark and Wes! It was awesome!

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I met up with Matt and Karen a bit before sunset at Natural Bridges a bit before sunset and we had a great time on the beach. We talked a lot about wedding planning, honeymoon ideas and all the details required to pull off a wedding and had a great time. They knew I was getting married much sooner than their November wedding so I had plenty to add to the conversation for once!  It was great hanging out with the two of them again, and I look forward to their wedding in Los Gatos in November!

We started out around the commons area of Mount Hermon since many of the trees were in bloom and the lighting was event. We took all of the family variations we could think of, then headed over to the Felton Community Hall for the ceremony. It was Cinco de mayo and their party fit the theme! Great Mexican food, and lots of fun! Thank you Pam and Jim for allowing us to be a part of your celebration!

What an incredible day! The weather when we started was absolutely perfect for taking pictures. Some really thin high clouds kept the light soft, and as that cleared it was the most beautiful blue sky. After Danielle Gillett and I got the shots of the girls getting ready and some formals outside, we headed over to the J & L Ranch in Gilroy, the site of the ceremony, to start the pictures of the guys and preparations for the cerremony. It was a really neat location with a lot of different options for where to take pictures at.

 

If you like the sound of the music on my website, you definitely need to check out some of Karly Jurgensen's other music! Knowing I was launching a new website, I've been keeping an eye out for music that fit the style and mood I was looking for, and just as important, I wanted something I could use legally on my website. Well, I found the perfect match as I came across Karly's MySpace page and listened to a few of her sample tracks.

So after finding her music, I put a sample track up on my site to see how it would work out, and sent her an e-mail to ask for permission. I was so excited when she wrote back, "Thanks for your email. I'd be honored if you'd use my music to accompany your beautiful pictures!" Awww, thanks Karly! And then, just a few days later a client wrote back after seeing my site and said, "Great slideshow on the website. The music was perfect, too."