CA Coastal Clean Up Day

--Click Photo To Enlarge--

I was going through my mail today and discovered that the Vacaville Community Events Guide (back of magazine) printed a few of the photos I took from last years clean up (the photo in the background and the 3 on top). They had hired me to take photos at Andrew's Park. I also organized a group of members from my church to go and help clean up. One of the photos is of Carissa & Maia. They must have collected close to 100 alcoholic bottles like the one Carissa is holding. Really disgusting what people do at the park. We found tires, bikes, clothes, and other odd/disgusting things. It's one of my favorite parks so it was such a pleasure to help clean it up. My church and my family are going to help clean up the same creek this year and take pictures of all the clean up sites in Vacaville.

Actual Magazine: http://www.cityofvacaville.com/departments/community_services/__documents/CommunityServicesEventsGuide.pdf

More Info on Clean Up Day if you want to volunteer (takes place all over California). Would love to see your family at one of the sites:
http://www.cityofvacaville.com/departments/public_works/__documents/CoastCleanup/10%20Cleanup%20Shovel%20Ad%20landscape%20v2.pdf

http://www.cityofvacaville.com/departments/public_works/coastcreekcl.php

If you don't live in Vacaville:
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html

Brown Wedding

Jen & Casey,
What a beautiful wedding! You both looked radiant and Maddison was so adorable as a flower girl. I wish you both a lifetime of happiness!

Sophie & Zachary Engagement

Sophie & Zach,
I had a fun time taking your portraits. We got some good ones in a short amount of time. I love the one you picked for your invitations (top photo). The greenery in the background of the photo complements the green ribbon on the invitation. I love your beautiful red hair!

Emma Close To Home - Magazine

Emma, of Emma Close To Home asked me to submit some photos of our ribbons from the Dixon May Fair. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. http://www.emmaclosetohome.com/

2010 Solano County Fair Awards

I entered some of the same photos from the Dixon Fair (with the exception of the Pearl Harbor photo). There was one I knew I wouldn't win, but I enjoy it, so I wanted to have it displayed (3 girls with yellow flowers). This fair has far less entries than the Dixon fair, which is interesting. You would think it would be the opposite. Dixon had 350 entries, this fair had about 150. Of the 150, only 45 of the entries were professional, with the rest being amature. I was judged only against the other professional photos. For Dixon I was judged against both professional and amature.

1st Place: Computer Assisted

2nd Place: Portrait

Third Place: Black & White Still Life

3rd Place: Color - Still Life

Hawaii Vacation

I came back a few weeks ago from a family trip in Hawaii. We went on a cruise to the islands: Oahu, Big Island of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. I loved Pearl Harbor. It's hard not to get emotional when you are there. My only regret is not being able to go to the Volcanic National Park on the Big Island. I know I would have loved to stay there all day trecking around. There's always next time. Of course I loved the flowers and landscapes. It's a photographers paradise. I was never without my camera except when I was snorkeling.
Here's a few photographs I took:

2010 Dixon May Fair Awards

This was my first time entering in the Dixon May Fair. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Best of Show purple ribbon hanging next to my photo. I had to double check to make sure it belonged to my photo. What an honor! I also won 1st, 2nd & 3rd place ribbons.

Title: "Bubble Eye"
Best of Show: One ribbon awarded out of over 300 photos
1st Place: For Computer Assisted category

What makes this photo technically difficult to create?

• Maia is holding & looking through a bubble, but she is also inside the bubble blowing bubbles. It's a composite of two photos.
  
• The opacity of her image in the bubble had to be perfect.
• The blending of the two photos had to be flawless.

How it was displayed at the fair.
It was grouped with the other Computer Assisted photos.

My friend Sandy took this photo of me.

Title: "Best Friends Forever"
2nd Place: For Children category

3rd Place: For Black & White Abstract
By the way, this is a photo of my garden hose reel.

Jennifer & Casey Brown - May 2

Jennifer, Casey, and little Madison,
It was a fun filled day of taking pictures! Engagement & family portraits all in one day. I bet you were exhausted by the end. Can't wait for your beautiful wedding in July!

March of Dimes - March For Babies 3/17/10

I was hired by March of Dimes as a volunteer photographer for their annual fundraising event. I had a great time snapping a way at the event. Of course I took hundreds of photos. Here are some highlights.