Rallied in opposition of Prop 8 today as part of the nation wide protest pulled together by Join the Impact. It was great to see so many people come together and let our voices be heard.

Check out more of my photos from the day.  Also check out photos from across the nation at flickr.

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On assignment for USA Rugby, I recently photographed the Colorado Youth Rugby High School Girls Championships in Broomfield. I forgot how much I love photographing sports. Congratulations to the Summit County Tigers who defeated Chaparral High School 20-0.

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The Olympic Sculpture Park is one of my favorite spots in Seattle and for me it’s hands down the best place in to sit and enjoy the sunset. Whenever I shoot there, I always take a few minutes for myself to sit and enjoy the moment. The park itself represents one of the things I love about Seattle: valuing green space and creating a balance between nature and big-city concrete and steel.

The last shot above is of my favorite sculpture in the park. It’s a lone, isolated, stainless-steel tree seemingly trying to blend into nature. In complete silhouette, you can’t tell that it’s not an organic tree. I find myself wondering if the tree feels anything when people realize it’s not a “real” tree. It may sound strange, but I can relate to that on a personal level.

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Window over isle, for sure. This is the view over somewhere in Texas while on my way to Austin last month. I thought the clouds looked pretty cool.

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Nothing like a really bad senior portrait to motivate me to post something else in this category.  So, last month was my 38th birthday.  Obviously this isn’t a recent photo.  It’s from about 30 years ago…I’m pretty sure it was taken at my 8th birthday party.  This photo brings to light three things about me: my bad memory as I only remember two people from this photo and one of them is my older sister, my great fashion sense , and my love of CHOCOLATE CAKE.  But not just any chocolate cake…the PERFECT chocolate cake.  My mom made this cake for me on just about every birthday.  To this day, when I go to visit my parents, she still makes it for me.

As a treat to you all, here is the recipe for the PERFECT CHOCOLATE CAKE (it’s seriously called that):

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

• 1 cup unsifted unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 1/2 cups granular sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting

• 1 package (6oz) semisweet chocolate pieces
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2 1/2 cups unsifted confectioners sugar

Filling:

• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 1/4 cup unsifted confectioners suger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION

Cake:

In medium bowl, combine cocoa with boiling water, mixing with wire wisk until smooth.  Cool completely.  Sift flour with baking soda, salt, and baking powder.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease well and lightly flour three 9-by-1 1/2 inch layer cake pans.

In large bowl or electric mixer, at high speed, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, scraping bowl occasionally, until light - about 5 minutes.  At low speed, beat in flower mixture (in fourths) alternately with cocoa mixture (in thirds), beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Do not over beat.

Divide evenly into pans, smooth top.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until surface springs back when gentely pressed with fingertip.  Cool in pans 10 minutes.  Carefully loosen sides with spatula, remove from pans, cool on racks.

Frosting:

In medium saucepan, combine chocolate pieces, cream, butter.  Stir over medium heat until smooth.  Remove from heat.  With wisk, blend in 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar.  In a bowl set over ice, beat until it holds shape.

Filling:

Whip cream with sugar and vanilla, refrigerate

ASSEMBLING

Cake:

On plate, place a layer top side down.  Spread with half of whipped cream filling.  Place second layer, top side down and spread with rest of the cream filling.  Place third layer top side up.

Frosting:

With spatula, frost sides first, covering whipped cream filling.  Use the rest of the frosting on top, swirling decoratively.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.  To cut, use a thin-edged sharp knife.  Slice with sawing motion.  Serves 10 to 12.

A little side note on the frosting.  It’s really good but was always a little too sweet for me so my mom would make more whipped cream filling and use that to top off the cake instead of doing the frosting.

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Last month was my 20th High School reunion, Chandler High School Class of ‘88, which I did not attend.  Thankfully, I was on a Colorado Fall Colors assignment (not that I had even planned on going to the reunion).  But to commemorate the occasion, I thought I’d post my senior portrait and share some embarrassing details from my teen years.

I was kind of a nerd:  First off the sweater says it all…I LIVED IN ARIZONA!  Who wears a sweater in the middle of summer in Arizona!?! Oh, and yes, those are pleated jeans.  Ahhh the 80s.  What else,

1. I was in Jr ROTC
2. I was a member of the National Honor Society
3. My favorite class was Chemistry but only because I had a crush on my teacher
4. Contrary to current popular belief I did not play any sports
5. I almost signed up for band (I’d played the trumpet and the flute since grade school, I wanted to play the drums but my mom said absolutely not).  When I found out it was a marching band, I opted out
6. I only skipped school once, to go to an airshow.  Back then I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

The three highlights of my high school years were:

1. Getting accepted into the US Air Force Academy Prep School (after a year there I went on to the Air Force Academy, Class of ‘93)
2. Seeing U2 live at Sun Devil Stadium
3. Winning my first art award

Riveting, I know.

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Was on assignment in Las Vegas in early July…wow was it HOT!! While I was there I spotted a couple of guys offering free hugs on the Strip. I admit, I thought it was a little odd and sightly creepy. Several weeks later a friend of mine sent me the following youtube link.. Free Hugs Campaign. Lesson learned…don’t be so synical and loosen up for &*#!s sake.

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And to avoid wearing a bridesmaid’s dress, I volunteered my photographic talents.  Thank goodness for canon auto focus because I probably spent 60% of the ceremony and bit of the reception in tears.  Let me tell you, taking photos when you have tears welled up and streaming down your face is somewhat of a challenge. 

This is my favorite photograph from the bunch.  It was taken at the rehearsal and was the first time Stephan, my sister’s then fiance, had met my grandmother.  I was, and still am, moved by the sincerity and love you can see in Stephan’s face.  It was a great moment to witness.

Here is are a few more of my favorite moments:

My older sister Lorraine getting her hair done the morning of the wedding.  I absolutely love this shot because it’s payback for all those years she tortured me when we were younger.

I walked out of the ladies room where my sister was getting ready to see if Stephan had arrived yet and in the hallway was my dad decked out in his tux.  He looked so handsome, sweet, and very proud.

My nephew Alex get’s the squeeze from my cousin Lynne.  What I love about this photo is that everyone is smiling.  In my family that’s quite a feat, especially with my mom.  Usually when I point my camera in her direction she gives me some sort of wacky expression.  I was lucky enough to catch a few more of her with a smile.  The one of her dancing with Stephan is just adorable…she looks so cute.  And the next one was at the end of the night…she’s basically telling me to get the camera out of her face but she does have a smile on her face.  I think at that point she’d given in to my jedi mind tricks.

Another favorite moment was the “father/daughter dance.”  My sister opted to dance to the song, Rubberband Man by the Spinners which is one of dad’s all time favorites.  I spent the entire song laughing and crying because they were both so adorable and it just brought back a waves of memories from our childhood.

Lastly, a shot of just my little sister.  Except, she’s not so little anymore.

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In June I had the opportunity to photograph the Mile High Music Festival, my first time shooting a music festival…very exciting! I was only able to make the first day, so I was a little bummed about missing Rodrigo y Gabriela and Dave Matthews …next time. Anyway, these photos represent a few of the highlights for me. Spoon, awesome…love these guys. I’d never heard of Michael Franti & Spearhead and boy had I been missing out. They are fantastic. Powerful lyrics and their performance was outstanding. Lupe Fiasco was another artist I hadn’t heard before. He gave a great performance as well and his fans were CRAZY, in a good way. His set was super energized.

All in all it was a great experience and with the exception of the three song rule and the pit packed with other photographers, I think shooting music festivals is a great gig.

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For years I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a photo project centered around the GLBT community. These photos are from my first shot (ha ha) at the project. They were taken at the Denver PrideFest. If you’d like to see more I’ve started a website/blog for the project… www.facesofgay.com

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