10 on 10 - December

I say it every month, and I'll say it again, this month FLEW by. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and we always host for lots of friends and family. This year was no exception. We had friends from the area and family from Oregon and Washington. My sister even came out from the 303 for two whole weeks. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Normally, our "Black Friday" tradition is to avoid all the crazy crowds and meander on up to tMt. Hood for some family snowshoeing. It's a good way to burn off all those extra carbs that I stuffed in my face the day before, and we usually end up with a pretty spectacular x-mas card photo. This year however, the mountain hasn't had much snow. It's been crazy cold, but not enough moisture, so we sadly had to forgo that option. Instead, we decided to get a jump on Christmas and go hunt down our tree.

I thought "tree hunting" would be a fun thing to post for my 10 on 10 this month because since many of you are visiting from around the country, I thought you'd like to see where some of your Christmas trees come from! One of the awesome things about Oregon is all the greenery. There are many farms all over the area growing grapes, veggies, nuts, and TREES! We chose to head over to the Helvetia Christmas Tree Farm just outside of the city to find the perfect tree, and of course since we were in the area, we ended the day with some wine at Helvetia Winery. Nabil's cousin Connor was in town from Seattle and had never cut down his own Christmas tree, so we decided to forgo the "modern conveniences" aka chainsaws and take this thing down the old fashioned way.

Of course, it always takes a little longer than expected, so Syd and I decided to wander around with the camera while the boys finished up...

And there you have it, a Christmas tree adventure at it's finest. Now that you have soaked up your monthly dose of Oregon, head on over to all the other 10 on 10ers to check out their monthly post. They promise to be fantastic, as always, so get excited.

Anya Elise Photography

CLB Creative

Twinty Photography
Jamilah Photography - Jamilah just had a baby boy (and by just, I really mean JUST; it was less than a week ago), so I doubt she's found the time to edit and post some photos. I left her link up there just incase. If not, I bet she'll have something good for you all next month :) Congrats again Jamilah!!

10 on 10 - November

It's the 10th! Woop woop! This month I'm taking you all deep inside the Timber's Army (TA). Once you're done soaking up all the green and yellow, head on over to see the other great photogs that are participating in the 10 on 10 project. As always, their links are listed at the bottom of the post.

For those of you that aren't from Portland, or may not be into soccer, the Timbers are kind of a big deal. It's Portland's MLS soccer team. This year is their third year in MLS, and this is their first year making the playoffs... and the crowd goes wild!

My husband may very well be the one of the biggest Timbers' fans that ever lived. Normally, sports for me are 'meh. I mean, I get the strategy and love to play myself, but come on, isn't it all the same after a while? All that being said, I hear about the Timbers so often that I've been converted too. And in the franchise's defense, the Timbers' fan base is probably the most authentic, unconditionally supportive fans I have ever seen. This city LOOOOVES their team. The stadium used to be filled even back in the USL (United Soccer League = one step down from MLS) days. That's impressive considering that Americans in general don't tend to care about soccer or even know most of the rules.

Tie all that up, and the bow on top of it all was that we played (and beat) the Seattle Sounders in the first round of the playoffs. Hold on, let me correct myself. We kicked the Shittle Flounders out of the playoffs! The Sounders are definitely our biggest rival because in many ways the franchises are complete opposites. To say the least, the Timbers' Army had a fire lit in their belly for Thursday night's game.

There are great photographers like Craig Mitchelldyer  who take amazing photos on the field, but for this month's 10 on 10, I wanted the take the camera into the stands and give you all a little taste of the TA from the inside.

And now that you've seen a little more about the Rose City, head on over and check out all the other 10 on 10ers around the country. They are all fantastic, so get excited!

Anya Elise Photography

Grace Photography

CLB Creative

Twinty Photography
Jamilah Photography

Until next time...

Holiday Sale - Show me the Goods

About a month ago, I introduced my new holiday mini-session. If you missed it, you can get the 411 here. As you may have noticed from many of my past posts, I know my way around a camera, but when it comes to graphic design, I'm a flop. I know this, and I'm not trying to pretend. In fact, I'm embracing it because it means I get to team up with amazing people like Jehn Glenn.

Jehn is incredibly talented and designs everything you can think of for people/businesses all around the country. We teamed up for this project, and Jehn designed three unique cards which are specifically designed for this shoot. Before I go on to show you all the cards, can we all just take a second to think about how cool that is?! I mean this totally awesome graphic designer made three cards specifically for my clients! No one else, nowhere else will be able to use them, and they look so much better than the often cliche, overused, on-line cards (we won't name any names here...). Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty cool.  <- Curb Your Enthusiasm reference (incase you didn't get that)

Now that we've reviewed all the deets, let's get to the meat!

Option #1:

Option #2:

 Option #3:

Now that' I've got you all super excited, I'm going to reiterate some of the deets:

What am I getting?

Mini-session

$95

20-minute session

thumb drive with 10 images

$15 photo print credit

Mini-session with Choice of  Exclusive Holiday Card Design

$175

30-minute session

thumb drive with 15 images

$25 photo print credit

Your choice from one exclusive holiday card designed by Jehn Glynn

How do I sign up?

To schedule your appointment please click here and follow the instructions. I will be in contact shortly about times available on the date you choose. You may also e-mail me if you have any questions/concerns.

Anything else?

Session will cover groups of up to 4 people. You may use this time however you like: kids, whole family, couples, etc. $15 per extra person. Pooches are welcome too.

*opportunity to reschedule due to inclement weather conditions

Looking forward to showing you all some snippets of all the holiday session photos!

Until next time...

Sara Adams - portrait swap

Remember back in June when I wrote about working with another photographer in town to trade head shots? Ya, me neither. Last post I wrote that I have been super busy this summer. Because of that, I haven't had much time to work on personal projects.

Anyway, back in June, Sara Adams and I went out to scout some locations just north of Portland. We brought along our cameras and took some pictures of one another. You know, us photogs like to practice when we don't have anything scheduled. Sara posted the pictures that she took of me in a post here. Be sure to check it out. I like to see our different styles and takes on the same location and subject.

We purposefully gave ourself lots of time so that we would hit "golden hour". Ah, golden hour.

 All in all, a pretty good day.

Until next time...

Krahmer Family

This summer has absolutely flown by. Each week I keep adding more blogposts to the "to do" list, and each week I find that I have less and less time to actually write a blog post. The upside to this is that all of you fine folks will have something to read at least once a week for the next couple months! So, I suppose, you're welcome!

To get things started off right, I wanted to share a recent family session. In July, I had the opportunity to photograph one of my favorite families who just welcomed baby boy Blake.

This is the Krahmer's second child, and I have to admit, I don't have too much experience with toddlers(ish), and I was a little nervous going in. You know, it's like you're standing on the outside of a boxing ring just waiting to start. "What are they going to do to me?!"

Totally joking. ...mostly. Allie was so cute and excited to be a part of everything. It was incredible to see how much she loves and cares for her new little brother. She was very enthralled with what he is able to do, but still protective and curious.

And... Thats a wrap!

Thanks so much Krahmer family! Your family is beautiful and just keeps getting better. I'm excited to see how it morphs and changes in the years to come.

Until next time...