Meachell and Daevion

I met my good friend Meachell and her son Daevion on one of the hottest days of our summer and both remained super cool during our portrait session.  Meachell is an awesome hairdresser in Portland, and Davion is her fast growing - almost teenage son.  Thank you for letting me take photos of you lovely people!

Glacier

It's been far too long since I have posted on my blog!  I have a lot of posts coming, but I wanted to start with my trip in July to Glacier National Park with Brodie.  We hiked and camped for 8 glorious days and both agreed we could have stayed for several weeks and still not have seen all we wanted to.  The landscape inspired and helped foster my great appreciation for the beauty and power of the environment.  And as we spent much time in the quiet of the outdoors (actually not quiet, but a different kind of sound from the city i'm used to) I had a chance to meditate on many aspects of my life.  Few conclusions were made, but I did walk away with a renewed gratitude for the people in my life and the things they have helped me accomplish.

I am really looking forward to seeing what my film cameras captured on this trip!  So more photos to come.

Ethiopia

Austin and I flew to Ethiopia after Uganda and spent a few days in Lalibela, a holy city with 13 ancient churches - some carved into the ground.  They were a magnificent sight.  We took mules to the top of a mountain to see the final church.  Some day I hope to return and visit Ethiopia again - there is still so much exploring to be done.

Uganda

A few years ago I traveled to Uganda and Ethiopia with my good friend, Austin.  We first flew into Kampala and took a 10 hour car trip over poorly paved roads to Lake Bunyonyi where we met our guides for the next few days - the head doctor and nurse of Bwindi Community Hospital.  We swam and hiked around the lake for two days, then traveled to the hospital which was on the border of the Impenetrable Forest.

There we were put to work: taking testimonies and photographs of mothers and their children on the children's ward for the fundraising newsletter.  For the first time in my life I witnessed great poverty.  I saw how a child's life could balance so precariously on proper nutrition, or access to clean water or medication common in the United States - but scarce in Uganda.  The experience left a lasting affect on me.  I have published some of the images on the US Fund for UNICEF's website and am revisiting the photographs again.  Because I can never forget.  And ultimately I hope to continue to expose how many live - or rather, struggle to live in this world.

Batwa pygmies have lived in the Impenetrable Forest for thousands of years.  Above is a photograph of a young Batwa boy.

Some children play with a tiny fruit they toss in the air and catch repeatedly.

A healthworker facilitates a nutrition class for the parents of children on the ward. 

3-year-old Moses and his mother, Turinawe came to the hospital three weeks before to receive treatment for Moses' malnutrition.  Turinawe walks four miles to collect drinking water for her family everyday, and she walked for four hours from her home sub-county of Mpungu to the hospital so that Moses could get medical assistance. 

The young girl was admitted to the hospital that day with what appeared to be an unhealthy liver.

Anna and her 11-month-old daughter, Rachel arrived at Bwindi Community Hospital after a 5 hour walk from their village of Kyishegeri.  Anna sought medical treatment at the hospital for Rachel's severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhea.

Shebang!

Back when I attended the University of Oregon I photographed a drag troupe called Shebang! for the Daily Emerald - the student-run campus newspaper.  I ended up doing a short project with them for one of my photojournalism classes and here is a collection of photos from the project.

Bahama Mama!

Ahhh, sun, sand, rum…what more could you ask for?!  Brodie and I recently took a week-long trip to the Bahamas for a well deserved vacation. The first thing we did was rent a moped for the week to explore Great Exuma. We ate conch salad, drank rum and coconut water (which we drained from coconuts we gathered from our yard), we snorkeled, sun bathed, watched the sunset and the sunrise, walked along the beach under a dome of bright stars, and all-in-all had a fabulous time!  We were both sad to leave, but have great memories now…and a tan to beat the winter white!   

Fall in Forest Park 2012

Oregon Coast

Last Christmas my family went to the Oregon coast and spent a lovely time in a house hanging by the fire reading and cooking and watching movies.  Molly's boyfriend, Dan joined us on Christmas Day and the next day on our way home we finally went on a little hike to a lookout and took in the cold beach.  I accidentally dropped my camera in the water while attempting to jump to & from slippery rocks. That's the beauty of a plastic camera - resilient to the end!