A few months back, in the depths of Oregon winter, I had the absolute luxury of photographing for West Coast Athletic Club in Santa Barbara, CA for their latest branding + ad campaign highlighting their remodeled Santa Barbara Athletic Club.  With a fabulous crew in tow, we spent a day shooting around iconic Santa Barbara locations to create images that will be featured in print as well as in the gym itself.  Below is one of their preliminary ads as well as a few outtakes.

Thanks to the amazing team from WCAC, Krista Treide of Made For Good, Sports Unlimited, and the game-for-anything talent for helping to pull this spectacular day together.

I recently took a weekend trip to Vancouver, BC to clear the cobwebs and pay a visit to some dear friends north of the border. I took my “work” camera, but found myself making much more use of my iPhone. Go figure. So I spent a lot of time packing a 5+ lb hunk of expensive plastic around the city, the only benefit being a few shots shared below and a good bicep workout {which, if I do say so, are looking pretty sweet these days as a result}.

During the course of an afternoon walkabout, I made a point to pass through Vancouver’s Chinatown, one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city for the richness of color + personality.  As my billions of fans know, I typically photograph people, but found myself drawn more to people’s things, Chinatown in particular possessing some very iconic things… an abundant supply of  knick knacks {I love that word} and piles of dried fish.

Any of the other images you see below that don’t look like they were taken in Chinatown, reflect the other 2 minutes I put my camera to use during the course of the weekend.

Thank you SO very much to the wonderful and insanely creative duo Linda Hunter + Suzanne Summersgill {w the dashing Scott Summersgill rounding out our gang} for keeping me well wined + dined + otherwise entertained.  Keep your eyes peeled for future posts featuring these two and their soon-to-be-published children’s story… in the meantime, enjoy.

Oregon in February seems as good a time as any to post a few sun soaked images from Waikiki in December.

Photographer’s note: I have artfully avoided photos of my dear friend + travel companion for fear she won’t want to make return trips if she sees she’ll be turned into the feature of a girls-gone-wild blog post.

However, in addition to the usual rotation of palm trees, sunsets, and waveslappingatthesand photographs {and in absence of girls-gone-wild}, I also wanted to share images captured from an insanely ill-timed visit to Pearl Harbor the day before the 70th Anniversary.   As amazing as it was to be feet away from survivors, experiencing this place shoulder to shoulder with thousands of others, and standing in endless lines ala Disneyland, most definitely took away from the emotions I probably should have felt.  But in looking at these images, it now feels like it was a visit worth making.

I hope in the midst of your winter, wherever you are, you’re able to hear the metronome of the crashing waves, feel the warmth of the sun on your face and the crunch of the sand beneath your feet…and at the very least, a pin prick of emotion for everything those survivors represent.

I am now officially 1+ months behind in my bloggedy blog mcblog… so I pinky swear to follow up in the next few days with some snapshots of work and life over these last several weeks.

In the meantime, I’m over the moon to share with all 2 of my official followers news of my first major publication feature in the Winter 2012 issue of 1859 magazine.  Contributor profile included!  Published out of Bend, Oregon, it’s a beautiful magazine {I would have said this EVEN IF I hadn’t been published} that embraces completely it’s tagline to “live. think. explore” all the things that make Oregon so spectacular.

My feature originally started as a personal project “{Alone} on Belmont” and expanded into a more general profile of the people and places that make SE Belmont St fabulous {in my humble opinion}.  I absolutely loved the opportunity to meet so many interesting people who were so generous with their time and stories.

And now, without further ado…

Thank you for a beautiful weekend my new friend.  You are more than sweeping bridges and expansive views.

You are pillow top beds that allow for a full 8 hours of sleep and then some.  And Aveda soaps that make my running clothes smell like they just took a jog to the spa.  You are Sunday markets out my front doorstep.  And hot from the oven bread samples at the Sunday market that remind me that a girl can’t live on bread alone and could sure use a cup ‘a joe to go with that bread.  You are strangers in hotels and coffee shops and on the street who don’t remain strangers long.  And who go out of their way to give directions, share some history, tell a story, charge a dead car battery.

Yes, you are more than sweeping bridges and expansive views.

{and for dessert}