This is the last GEDIM shoot. Since the wind was blowing so hard I decided to abandon the great hill at Gasworks & take cover behind some tall pines. I love how my 15 minutes with these adorable girls turned out. The green of the trees & little open grass area was the perfect backdrop for tutus & balloons! I couldn't have asked for a better setting or better subjects to end such a great month with but to top it all off, they are friends of a client of mine who wanted to badly to join me in May but her little girl is battling cancer and received her 2nd stem cell transplant at the end of April so their month of May was mostly spent in the hospital. She is such a strong little girl. We were thinking of Katie throughout this shoot & hopefully these images will make her smile & look forward to her shoot with me that will happen before the endof the year. She loves balloons so I think they are going to be a must for our shoot!

Due to horrible end of May weather I did one make up GEDIM in June w/ balloons at Gasworks. By noon the weather was looking great but of course when time came to start the hour shoot grey clouds and winds rolled in...ugh this spring weather has really been rough this year. The twins almost got blown away w/ the balloons (okay, not really but it felt like it could happen) and the other two little ones just were not sure why their moms were asking for happy faces when they would've rather been snuggled up in bed. But smiles did emerge and I am actually saving the last set of pictures for one more GEDIM post...just in case you are not completely GEDIM fatiqued!
Thank you to the moms for patiently waiting for your sneak peek!

July Workshop

I finally have a date on the calendar for my next photography workshop. Weekend dates are tough in the summer so I am excited to be trying something new, a mid-week evening workshop. It will be on July 20th at 5:30. To learn more about my workshop do a search on this blog for workshop. If you want to join me call or email me asap, spots are already filling up.

It has taken a little while but I have finally completed work on my last Safeco family. It was fun finishing the day with these two. It was a birthday surprise for a huge Mariner fan and he made the most of it getting an opportunity to beat the Moose in a foot race and ending his time on the field w/ some great Griffey-like leaps. His sister came along and there was no way she could be left out on all the fun.

WORKSHOP

I have received so many inquiries the past few months about when I would be having another photography workshop. With the workload of GEDIM and summer already upon us (the NW sun hasn't figured that one out yet) my weekend days have been and will continue to be so busy. So I would like to try something different and host a workshop on a weekday evening starting at 5:30. With the long days of summer I will have no problem covering everything that is covered on a weekend day. There are two dates I am looking at right now and I am hoping to hear from those who have said they are interested to help me determine which date (if any) will work best for the most people. The dates I am considering are July 6th or July 20th. If you are interested in attending and can join me either of those dates please email or call me asap so I can determine it I can make the workshop a reality.

As I was finishing up with these boys their mom said something to me that I am sure she has no idea how much it meant to me to hear. We were walking back towards the dugouts and she said what an incredible experience it was to be there that afternoon and that it had exceeded her expectations. Relief just washed over me. When I was piecing the Safeco shoot together I had visions of how it would go but as it neared so many people questioned what I was doing and if I was really going to be able to pull off what was in my head in 15 or 20 minutes w/ each family. The morning of the shoot I started thinking I had bit off more than I could handle and the families would be left disappointed. So her words meant so much to me and they continue to resinate in my head while I work through the last few shoots.
These boys are moving to the east coast this summer so their mom was so excited to give them the time in Safeco as a little keepsake in their memory banks. Watching them run from the infield area to the warning track was priceless for me. I love the image of the youngest in an Ichiro shirt trying his best to keep up w/ his brothers. Naomi I hope these will bring you as much happiness as your words brought to me!

Last Thursday night I threw a party to bring to a close and celebrate my Giving Every Day in May event. It was so much fun to see so many of the donors again. I know I have said it before but I must say it again how lucky I feel to have met so many great people through this event. I was excited to hand over an envelope full of checks to Lynette Johnson, the founder of Soulumination and share that the total contributions was $5,200. Thank you to everyone who mailed me donations and to those who should up for a GEDIM and gave but could not join me Thursday. Please keep Soulumination in mind for your annual giving. The demand on the organization continues to grow and so must the funding.

Although the events of May are finished my work is far from over. So today I am excited to share another Safeco family. Again I am sharing a lot but so many make me smile. Getting to play catch w/ the Moose, hopefully a highlight to remember for years. His sister wasn't sure about the Moose but then gave a wave just like him. And she was full of smiles as soon as she neared the dugout. Not even one yet and she is a Mariner fan.
This family made a great donation to Soul and will be receiving all the digital images. Thank you Besecker family!