Mt. Hood Organic Farm is one of my new favorite venues in the Hood River area.  It’s jam packed with charm and style + the owners are super legit and down to earth.  Katie & Jeremy were so fun to photograph on their wedding day.

We’re number one. Soccer team mates from all stages of life unite.

There were lots of awesome designed out signage - we photographed them all.

Pop’s gettin down.

Venue: Mt. Hood Organic Farm
Floral: Zest Floral
Pies: Pauline’s Country Fresh Pies
Catering: Orchard House

We’ve been traveling and shooting so much lately, so it is just now that I’ve found time to share some images from my wife Jacqi’s charming beach picnic birthday party on Sauvie Island.  She is beautiful and wise, and I’m so happy to be married to her.  Also, she just started a Doctorate program in Psychology, which amazes me.  It really is a perfect and natural fit for her so needless to say she’s doing great in the program.  I call it sleuth camp.  Beyond that, she amazes me the way she invests so deeply in relationships and genuinely cares for people.  So celebrating her life and the way she lives with her closest friends was perfect.

As our friends arrived we all enjoyed cocktails and appetizers.  We settled down and shared lots of laughs and spent time talking and eating Jacqi’s favorite, her’s dad’s meatball recipe!  After dark the lanterns were lit and over campaign and cake, we all toasted to my beautiful wife.

The guest list was a group of her closest friends who also helped me pull it all off.  I also had some timely help from Common Wealth who specializes in vintage event rentals in Portland.

p.s. I shot the majority of these photos on my hand-me-down Nikon - the same camera that our Grandpa has photographed our family with since the 60’s.  He gave it to me in jr. high, which was a huge stepping stone in my love for photography.  You’ll find it makes a guest appearance further down.

We served ’sauvie island iced teas’ in mason jars which was a peach and ginger concoction I spend the week prior perfecting.  And that’s a blanket from my childhood from my Grandma Emmy.

We were featured in this Summer’s Oregon Bride Magazine’s article Best Photos: What Only the Pro’s Know. The image featured was from an amazing wedding we shot at the Lake Oswego Lake House.

Oregon Bride loved this image but wanted to know what makes it different… what is it that draws you in. Well I shared the recipe of my secret sauce with them so I’ll share it here too.  After shooting a frame that shows the guests and venue in the background, I started to look for another angle that would allow for some more creativity.  I dropping to my crouching tiger stance to get a low angle and by underexposing with my shutter speed, I silhouetted Libba & Walker and pulled in the rich tones of that beautiful late summer evening sky.  To top it off, I had used my magic 50L f1.2 to make the focal point tack sharp, creating separation from the background while using the lines of bulbs to lead the viewers eyes towards the couple.

Check out more from that wedding here.

I had a blast shooting Brandon + Elisa up in the snow at Timberline Lodge. Their fun loving energy is so contagious, I’m so pumped up for their wedding in May.












To see more snowy portraits from last year, check out our post nuptial photo session with Jenette & Collin at Snoqualmie Pass. Cheers!