Sandhill Crane Migration

Hi all! Last weekend I went to see the Sandhill cranes, who spend their winter in and around Wilcox, AZ. The total bird population ranges from 30-40K, although this year it has reached over 47K! These images were taken at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. You can view my full Sandhill Crane documentary here.

Trying something new

Since teaching social sciences and photography at high school, I’ve lost the time and motivation to continue developing my photography skills. It’s been years really – with the exception of helping out yearbook, teaching my students how to handle a camera, or shooting the occasional senior portrait – since I’ve purposely picked up my camera for the pure joy of it. Then @timothyeyrichstreet, a guest judge for my photography class end-of-semester final, reignited my photo soul via a simple 10 minute conversation.

I realized that I’d been mentoring students, but hadn’t had someone mentor me for a long time. In those 10 minutes, Timothy Eyrich opened the wonderful and thrilling street photography door back up for me, one that had been all but shut for years. He also reminded me of some good advice I received years ago from Leanne Cole. Find your niche, develop it, and stick with it. She gave me this advice because my portfolio of work was all over the place in terms of style and genre. Still is….

Street and night photography is my favorite genre in this artistic world we call “painting with light.” I think I learned that when I lived in Korea, spending day after day walking neighborhood and city streets with another photographer who also happened to be my good friend.

So, here’s to developing my own personal and identifiable style, sticking to one specific genre, and actually getting good at it! Here is a look into my home life. We are old car junkies and big time gear heads. Expect website changes and updates!

Drama Kids summer program

Boy, I tell ya, it sure is nice to have kids back, doing what they love! We stumbled upon Drama Kids this year and were thrilled for an opportunity to let our daughter try out her musical theater skills! Shannon Sievert, the director, is A.MA.ZING! In two weeks she had what looked to me like 50 kiddos perform the best musical I have seen in years. I laughed and was entertained the whole time. Bravo!

90th Birthday

My grandpa’s 90th birthday was this past December. For this very special day, I thought I would hire a photographer so I didn’t have to worry about taking pictures, but then it hit me, COVID. Having a small family gathering was one thing, but asking a stranger to come into the fold was, it seemed, too dangerous. Maybe one of these days life will be safer to live again. Until then, we all must do our part to keep our loved ones safe. 

My family spent the celebratory day outside. We went fishing in the morning and then had dinner and cake back home in the garage!

Something new I tried was a photo booth. I got the idea from a high school prom event years ago. I don’t have an extra camera so I used my cell phone instead. It turned out to be a big hit! (I am the crazy lady in the zebra sweater.)

Photographing the stages of our lives.

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