He finally figured out that he could go forward not just backward. It’s funny how it takes every bit of concentration and determination that he can muster!

Also my mom was over 2 night ago and took some photos of me giving Simon his after bath massage. I love this tradition! but I am very much a physical touch person. That infant massage class that we took was money well spent and I highly recommend it to anyone with a little one. He is already grown up so much so fast. I love that we have this time together in the evenings.

With all the other stuff going on I almost forgot to post this. If you read Kate’s blog you already know…

Look closely now…
Congrats Jacob, Ryan, and Kate!

For the Photographers and scrapbookers who wanted to about how to make the color strip next to the photo. I made an action. In the past I have not been very good at making these for others. They work great on my computer but not so well for others and I have no idea why. So if you don’t mind please try it out and give me some feed back. This is designed to be run on 8X12 300 DPI vertical photos, it makes them websize and adds the color strip.I made it in CS2 Download it here.

This is how I found Simon yesterday morning when he woke up… he’s only on his knees but he’s to little to be doing this right? He can’t even crawl yet (well not forwards anyway). Just the day before I had Myles drop the crib mattress down a notch. Just in he nick of time I guess. I woke up to him making his singing sounds and when to get him out of bed. When I opened the door I was shocked to see his little head peeking over the top railing. He was real proud of himself too. I took a few pictures and then took him out and dropped the mattress to the lowest setting. He was actually upset when I took him out of the crib. Now the mattress is so low it’s a real chore getting him in and out but if he figures out how to sand all the way up Io don’t want to risk him toppling out.

I have been trying to get some decent six-month-old shots of Simon now for two weeks and he has been decidedly uncooperative.  I took him down to the beach on Thursday with a specific vision in my mind but we got down there late and the weather was not right  (it was very cloudy on the horizon).  That is why I was walking on the north end of the beach. I rarely go out that far.

On Friday night we packed a picnic dinner and went back down to Golden Gardens. I wanted to attempt to take photos again but also I hoped that I might see the paddleboarder. No luck on both counts. This is the third attempt at Simon’s 6 month photos, I cannot get him to look at the camera. Myles helped me but he was still very distracted. Simon is way more interested in the sand, the people playing basket ball, the tightrope walkers and all the million other activities. All my usual tricks have failed me. So I give up. This is how we will remember Simon at age 6 months.

I love the light in the evening at Golden Gardens. Just looking at it makes me feel warm. I am sure that whenever I go down there from now on I will think of Brent Sweet.

These are a few from my first attempt 2 weeks ago.

On Friday when were down at the beach I walked Myles out to the north end to show him where everything happened. It was sadly beautiful, there were a lot of sailboats out and the sun was setting behind them. A cool wind was kicking up off the water and the waves were splashing noisily on the beach. I took this last picture of the buoy in the daylight and I am sharing it now with every intention of being as sensitive as possible.   

Puget Sound is one of the most beautiful places on earth and this photo
does not do it justice. It is not uncommon to see otters and orcas
playing in the waves, or to see jelly fish go floating by. Years ago we lived in Port Orchard and I would take the ferry across every morning for work. In the fall when the weather was right the sun would rise behind the city as the ferry approached – It was breathtakingly beautiful.      

I have no further news about Brent Sweet, if there are any new developments I will be sure and post them here. I have been thinking a lot about what it is like to experience a news story from the other side. In the past I would read about event in the newspaper but have no real connection to people describe in the story. I think that we tend to forget that these are real people and real families being described. Please keep the Sweet family in your prayers.

Brent Sweet (Left), 21 years old, from New Mexico. He is a student at the University of Montana. Son of Martin and Tina Sweet of Vienna Austria, the youngest of three.

Mr. and Mrs. Sweet contacted me this morning and I am posting this with their permission. According to Mrs. Sweet Brent was traveling around this summer meeting people, helping people and trying to make a difference. He was loved by everyone he has met.  

Brent is pictured right.

Michael Hobbs was swimming with Brent Thursday night and was pulled from the water by the Paddleboarder. As of this morning Brent has not been found though reportedly the search was taken up again Friday morning and continued all day yesterday. The Sweet family would  very much like any additional information that anyone has about Brent or the incident Thursday night. On the off-chance Brent might have made it to shore, or that someone might have any knowledge about him, the Coast Guard said it is taking information at 206-217-6001. If you have additional information please come forward.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Sweet family in hopes that Brent will be found soon.

The identity of the Paddleboader is still unknown to me.  A paddleboarding message board was discussing this story and linked to my blog so I asked about the proper name for the sport. When I was in Hawaii I was told that it was called "Paddle Surfing" but apparently it goes by multiple names. This is what I was told by  the paddleboarding community "While the sport is ancient Hawaiian; it’s resurgence is called by several names Stand-up paddleboarding is probably most common. Paddlesurfing is used in Hawaii where the main purpose is to catch waves. "

I submitted my photos of the incident to KIRO 7 TV and yesterday they called and asked if they cold interview me. This surprised me but I said yes anyway and then spent the entire next hour frantically cleaning so that my house looked presentable on TV only to have them interview me outside in front of my wilting petunias. They ran the story last night at 4 and 7 pm and I didn’t appear nearly as dorky as I feared. My neighbor Hayven TVoed the interview for me but we  have no idea how to get it from the TV to the computer so we are holding out hope that KIRO will just post it on their web site.

I am not used to so much attention on this blog, mainly my readers are my clients and friends and family. Thank you to all the new visitors for all the kind comments and emails, but I don’t think that I did anything that anyone else would not have done if they were in the same situation. The true hero in this story is the paddleboarder.  

Tonight I took Simon back down to the ocean (Shilshole bay/ Golden Gardens) in hopes of getting some decent six month photos of him. The lighting wasn’t great as it was very overcast so I was just walking the beach with him in my pocket sling. I was at the far north end of the beach when I heard what sounded like someone screaming "HELP! HELP!" from the water. I scanned the water but I couldn’t see anyone. Then I spotted what looked two ducks out on the water near a buoy about 500 yards off shore. Then a train came, the train tracks run parallel to the beach and the train was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else. I looked through my camera to see if I could get a better view but it just looked like two dark spots on the water and I just wasn’t sure. There was a family a little ways away from me on the beach they were also scanning the water so I walked over to them and asked them if they thought they had heard someone calling for help. They had heard it too and they were debating whether or not there were people out in the water and whether or not they should call 911. I encouraged them to call and I told them that I would call myself had I not left my cell phone in the car. So the dad of the family called and was on the phone for some time with the operator giving details and trying to describe where we were on the beach. This whole time the train was still passing so he had a very difficult time talking over the noise. We kept watching the two dark spots on the water. Then I noticed a paddle surfer about 300-400 yards off shore but much further south. He was heading in the direction of the buoy. I pointed it out to the mom and said "Look he heard it too, he is going to investigate!" We watched eagerly as he headed out towards the buoy. But then he turned back and started heading south again. At this point the dad was still on the phone but I thought I should to do something. So I ran down the beach towards the paddle surfer and started calling out to him. He was quite far off shore and couldn’t hear me over the train (seriously, I think this was the worlds longest train – and it slowed WAY down). He came closer towards the shore and I waved to him and called out to him again. He called back be we couldn’t understand each other over the train noise. He slowly started making his way back towards the shore and I shouted "Did you hear someone call for help?" and I pointed towards the buoy. "Can you check?" I screamed. He looked out towards the buoy and then turned and started paddling in that direction At this point the tide was really starting to come in and the wind was kicking up so it took him really long time to get out there. I walked back up the beach towards the family and we watched him approach the buoy. Pretty soon we could see that the paddle surfer did see something in the water. He went to the north side of the buoy and stooped down. It looked liked he was pulling someone on to his board. By this time I could here the ambulance and fire truck sirens coming into the park.  We were at the farthest possible point from the parking lot and they could not see us. I started to run back down the beach to the parking lot tell the EMS personnel where they were needed. On the way a young man stopped me and asked if I was going to get the firemen. I responded that I was and he said he would run for me since I had a baby.  I went back to watch and pretty soon a coast guard boat came and went out to the paddle surfer. By this time the sun had set and it was really dark so we couldn’t see much other then the lights of the cost guard boat.  A bunch of the EMS personnel came out on the beach and the cost guard boat sped off towards the dock at the marina at the south end of the beach. The paddle surfer was  left alone out in the water and we a waited eagerly as he made his was back to the shore. A crowd started to gather on the beach around the EMS personnel. It soon became apparent that only one person had been pulled from the water and that the coast guard as looking for a second. One of the EMS personnel had some sort of a night vision camera and was scanning the water and pretty soon four more cost guard boats started crisscrossing the area.  When the paddle surfer made it back to the beach the EMS  personnel started hounding him with questions. I felt bad for him, he was wearing a wet suit top and swim trunks but it was starting to get chilly and no one handed him a blanket or anything.  I stayed and listened to what he had to say hoping to get his name. He said that when he got out there that there was only one guy in the water, he was conscious and knew his name but was very distraught and kept saying that his buddy was gone that he had gone under the water.  The paddle surfer had asked him what had happened and he had said that the two of them had thought it would be fun to swim out to the buoy but when they got out there they were too tired to swim back and the current was very strong and they started to get too cold. One of them EMS guys asked if they were wearing wet suits, the paddle surfer responded that no, they were not. A police man got out a note book and flash light and started taking down details from the paddle surfer but I didn’t catch his name. In my mind he is a true hero and Good Samaritan.  The wind started to really pick up and since I didn’t have a hat for Simon I decided that I better head home.The cost guard was still looking for the other swimmer when I left and I hope they found him though I am fearful that he was overcome by hypothermia and exhaustion. I am sure that his story will be in the news tomorrow so hopefully they Good Samaritan will be credited with saving at least one life. If anyone knows his name please email me. This was quite the event for me to witness. 

These photos are very poor quality, there was almost no light and I didn’t have a tripod so I had to use the highest ISO on my camera.

The paddle surfer approaching the man in the water. The blue dot is the light on the buoy the paddle surfer is standing on his board to the right of it.

The paddle surfer assisting the man. You can see that he is bent over and has pulled them man up on his board.

The coast guard finally arriving.

Coast guard boats looking for the second swimmer.

EMS personnel and by standers searching the water for the second swimmer. You can see the EMS man with the night vision camera slightly off center. The buoy is above the head of the man 3 people in from the right edge of the photo. This just gives you an idea how far out from shore these men swam.   

…………………. UPDATE………………….
The news and newspaper are saying that the search was called off around 11pm last night. No other substantial details have been given other then the fact that the missing man is in his 20s and is wearing white shorts and no shirt. However, there are some other photos on the My Ballard blog.

Seattle Times Story
King 5 Story
Seattle PI story
KIRO TV story
MSNBC AP story

Updated PI story from Friday morning (8/22)

This is my take on the chair in the field. I am hardly the first photographer to attempt this. I have to admit that I have always liked the look but never had the impetus to try it out.

Some of you may recognize this chair… Yes, it lives in our living room and before that it lived in the Montero’s living room. When I asked Myles to load it up in the back of the truck for me he said "Why!?" I told him I was going to use it in a photo shoot he said "that’s a stupid idea." I think he said it because it was early Saturday morning and he didn’t want to move furniture but he did it anyway. I am totally up for trying it again so if anyone has a chair or love seat that they feel like dragging through a park on their photo session let me know and we will make it happen!

This was Jacob’s final session in his milestone plan. I photographed Jake every 3 months. (Newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 1 year.) If you are interested in a similar plan for your soon to be little one let me know. And stay tuned for one more photo, Jacob has something he wants to say.       

Others… Not so much!

but they can’t help being cute anyway.

No, I didn’t tell her to hold the lolly in front of her face, she was genuinely trying to keep me from taking her picture.

No, I’m not a vegan (not even close) but I am a big fan of  the Vegan Lunchbox blog by Jennifer McCann. Jennifer, makes these extremely elaborate vegan lunches for her son and then blogs about them.  Right now she is having "fill in the blanks" contest where she asked her readers to submit their own vegan lunchbox.  This is my entry.

I am not a food photographer but it looks good doesn’t it ?

This is what’s in it.

Whole wheat Pita Pockets from trader Joe’s filled with plain and tomato basil hummus. (I also bought  basil hummus but when I got home I was disappointed to discover that it was NOT vegan.) Yellow bell pepper, carrot sticks, and cucumber with Vegan Tzatziki dipping sauce.

Quinoa salad with plum tomatoes, cucumber, mint, parsley and a lime and olive oil dressing. Blueberries and strawberries for dessert.

This Quinoa (pronounced KEE-wah)salad is seriously delicious! I got the recipe from Hayven. I know a lot of people are not that familiar with Quiona, it is a South American grain that is very high in protein. You cook it like rice though it must be washed first. (Yes, I know a lot of people wash their rice too but they shouldn’t).

Here are the recipes

Quinoa Salad


Ingredients:

1 average jalapeño pepper(s), minced

1/2 cup Roma tomato, cup, diced (I used plum tomatoes)

1/4 cup fresh mint, cup, diced

Preparation:

Cook Quinoa, drain and let cool. Mix together oil, lime juice and pepper
and add mix together with other ingredients.

Vegan Tzatziki

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plain soy yogurt
• 2 cucumbers, diced small (it helps if you have a Kitchen Aid slicer attachment)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• dash salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped mint leaves
• 1/4 tsp paprika

Preparation:

Mix together all ingredients. Chill for at least an hour before serving to allow flavors to mingle.   

My friend Jennifer (middle) is expecting and told me last week that she would be having her ultrasound today. I told her she needed to come up with a witty way to tell everyone whether it was a boy or a girl. She smartly told me "you come up with a cute and witty way to tell." So I did : )
She came over last week and we took two photos. One that said "XY" on her belly and one that said "XX" Today she posted the appropriate picture on her blog.

Actually I can’t take the full credit for this idea I was inspired a long time ago by another photographer who did something similar.

And yes it is seriously difficult to draw “X”s on the tummy of a squiring toddler.