Unexpected Surprise

I had the opportunity of being one of two photographers for the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, WA last August.  It was an amazing experience and afterwards I submitted some of my favorite photos for a fair photographer contest.  I didn't hear anything and so I thought that I didn't do very well.  So fast forward to April 2014 and I've been hired to be the photographer for the Spring Festival at the Fairgrounds.   had to take my contract out to the fairgrounds and while I was there I was looking at the pictures in the display case.  I realized that one was mine so I started looking a little closer and that was when I saw the little blue ribbon on the information card.  I took a minute for me to comprehend that the picture I took of my little girl won a blue ribbon.  My boss thought he had told me but he hadn't.  Seeing that ribbon completely made my day.

Here's the story behind the picture.  I took my 2 youngest to the fair and they wanted to try and win a stuffed animal.  They choose to throw darts, even though neither of them had ever done it before.  Laura popped the balloon with the very first dart, I was shocked.  She couldn't wait to pick the red and pink giraffe, she still loves that little animal.  I love the joy that is showing in her face. 

I can't wait to take pictures this weekend and hopefully I'll be able to capture the joy and excitement for the people at the festival.

Fanny Elizabeth Dudfield

I love hearing the stories behind the pictures that I'm asked to work on.  We all have our own personal and family histories and we never know when we may find a connection with someone.  I had restored some pictures as a surprise, and when the new pictures were given as a gift, the mom went and pulled this picture and asked me if I could fix it.  Her daughter had never seen the picture and so a dialogue was opened up about family history.  Oral histories have been a way of passing down stories from one generation to another, and hopefully at one point the stories will be written down to be preserved.

Here's the before:

And the after:

Thank you for your service

It's never to late to say thank you to all those men and women who have defended our country and helped preserve our freedoms.  My dad served in the US Navy for 20 years before he retired as a Chief Petty Office.  He served as a corpsman and we were blessed as a family to not move around very much.

One of my dad's first duty stations was in Japan.  He and my mom were newlyweds and it was their first adventure outside of the United States.  While there, they adopted a beautiful German shepherd they named Kelai, which they told me means pretty.

Most of their pictures from Japan were taken using 35mm slides and overtime, the slides are starting to deteriorate.  I'm in the process of digitizing the slides and restoring them so I can get my parents to record their memories for their grandchildren.  Here is the first of the pictures.

Arlias "Art" Owens and his dog Kelai

I couldn't leave the picture as it was and let it continue to deteriorate.  So, here's the updated copy of it.

My dad will always be my hero.  Thanks dad for all you've done.

Old to New

We take pictures so we can preserve our memories and share those experiences with others. With today's technology it's not uncommon to see with iphones recording every detail.  They are used to record their kids first moments, achievements, school concerts, sports and just about everything related to their family.  But it hasn't always been that easy to record memories.  When cameras first came out, people had to sit still for an extended period of time for the photographer so he could get the proper exposure. We have the ability today to easily digitize photos through scanning or using a digital camera.  I can remember my mom making color Xerox copies of pictures that she wanted to save.  Color copies was a pretty standard practice and unfortunately at the time, copies were made of color copies and each generation of copies lost some of the original detail. With this picture, that seems to be what happened.  At some point, mold developed on the picture and then a color copy was made of it.  Having a damaged picture is better than not having a picture at all. 

With today's technology, we are able to restore images that would have been lost.  I was able to take out the coloring from the mold and clean it up.

A photo that the family thought was lost has now been back to life and family members kept close to the heart.

If you have any pictures you would like restored, please contact me for a quote.