I've been told the worst thing you can do with a blog is let it sit idle. I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I've posted an update. Shame on me!

Anyway....I might not have been posting blog entries but I've been very busy with my camera. My wonderful, witty, charming, most excellent assistant Amber was recently married. Since her wedding was out of state, we didn't get to see her walk down the aisle in her wedding gown. Even worse, I didn't get to shoot any wedding photos for her.

To make up for it, we had a little beach reception for Amber. It was one more opportunity for her to wear her dress and a chance for us to see her looking like a princess. The really great thing about this from a shooting standpoint is we didn't have to worry about keeping the dress clean. The wedding was over and the dress had yet to get to the cleaners. It was time to have some fun.

Amber was a great sport. Before the evening was over, Amber and the dress were in the surf.

Squirrel Update I've had a number of e-mails asking about the squirrels I was raising. Here's the update. Ansel and Annie, the two older squirrels have been successfully released. They still visit daily for nuts and reassurance but are happily scampering about in the back yard and in the Oak trees. The younger Squirrel, Disston, who fell onto the hard asphalt is in no hurry to be released. His head injury has left him mostly blind and way behind schedule developmentally. He makes small improvements each day but will never be able to return to the wild. He loves to cuddle and has a voracious appetite. He's also quite comfortable hanging out in my dishware.

English Bulldogs- I recently completed a submission for an upcoming Popular Dogs Issue on English Bulldogs. I had the great pleasure of shooting two separate sessions with Autumn and Otis. One session was in the studio, the other at the beach. Both made terrific models!

The Family- Long time friends Phil and Melanie recently asked me to shoot some family photos for them. It was great seeing them and the kids. We had lots of fun though it was tough keeping Phil's attention off the TV. No....he wasn't watching the game. He was watching Dancing With the Stars. Phil is one of those jocks who can also cut a mean rug. While it's not so obvious here, Melanie was gorgeous as usual and the kids were total charmers. While we created quite a few lovely traditional portraits, I thought I'd use this one for the blog. That's one impressive set of feet that family is sporting. I'm sure if Melanie sees this she's going to kill me.

Olympic National Park- Last month, we spent nine glorious days in Olympic National Park. If you've never been, I highly recommend it. Covering over 1,400 square miles, the park occupies a large portion of the Olympic Peninsula. From Pacific Coast Beaches to Temperate Rain Forests, the park has something for everyone. The first part of our visit was spent on Lake Quinault. We had a lovely view of the lake and took full advantage of the hiking in the Quinault Rain Forest.

Hiking through the damp fog shrouded forests, it was easy to let go of the day to day worries. The trees were blanketed in mosses and the forest floor was a carpet of ferns. Photography was both a challenge and a delight. Like most dense forests, it can be difficult to find orderly compositions. There's almost too much in front of the camera to capture in a meaningful way. With patience and an open mind, the photos eventually reveal themselves. In this case it was the backlit leaves of the foreground vegetation that inspired me.

There's this feeling of being small and insignificant that's inescapable in such a place. It's an oddly reassuring feeling. Walking through this forest, my typical suburban life seemed so far away. I have to admit, I didn't miss Walmart, fast food, or road rage one bit.

After several days spent in the forests, I started to see it in a different light, literally. In such a dense forest, light is a commodity in great demand and short supply. There's a play of light and shadow as the sun arcs across the sky, hitting the lower valley floor only when it's at the right angle relative to the hills, mountains, and neighboring stands of trees. The light also has to muscle it's way through the fog that often shrouds the forests. When it breaks through, the nearly monochromatic palette of cool greens and blues suddenly becomes warm and vibrant. A whole new vision of forms, color, and texture is revealed.

We also spent a few days along the Pacific Coast at Kalaloch Lodge. The lodge sits right on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. What a change from the beaches here in Florida. I was immediately impressed by the pounding surf as it rolled onshore. I have to admit, it seemed a little odd to be wearing a sweater and long pants on the beach in September. Still, I enjoyed the familiar cadence of the waves, the chatter of seagulls, and the feel of the sand beneath my feet. The skies were heavily overcast for most of our visit along the coast. Again, it was quite a contrast to the sub tropical beaches I call home. My usual approach of shooting early and late in the day to take advantage of low angle sunlight had to be revised. Instead, I turned my attention to compositions that took advantage of the more subtle merging of land, sea, and sky under heavily diffused light.

Perhaps my favorite part of visiting the Pacific Coast was exploring the tide pools. Pools of water, left by an outgoing tide, reveal an amazing variety of wildlife including anemones, starfish, sponges, barnacles, and small fish. It's amazing how these animals thrive in such a brutal and constantly changing environment.

After out time along the coast, we spent several days along the north side of the park. We even managed to take a ferry across the Straight of Juan de Fuca for an afternoon stroll through Victoria, British Columbia. I haven't had a chance to go through all of the photos from this wonderful trip. I hope to have some more posted in the coming weeks.