Back to work. Back to class. Back to the books. Back to the office. Back home. Back to bed. Back to the Future. Back to Back.

I’d like to go back to this place.

Astoria, OR | Portland, OR

I was raised up believin’
I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake
distinct among snowflakes
unique in each way you can see

And after some thinking
I’d say I’d rather be
a functioning cog in some great machinery
serving something beyond me…

If I know me one thing
it’s that everything that I see
of the world outside
is full of such wonder
that often I barely can speak

Yeah, I’m tongue-tied and dizzy
and  I can’t keep it to myself…

{Lyrics from Helplessness Blues by Robin Pecknold.  Listen to it here.}  Long Beach, Washington

Long Beach, Washington
Ocean Park, Wasthington
Fort Canby, Ilwaco, Washington

In honor of my beach vacation starting tomorrow – I thought I’d scour the web and find photo inspiration for a week of salt water taffy, kite flying, niece & nephews sand castle-making, bike riding, sand dollar finding, ice cream licking, sand in unmentionable places, concert going, Powell’s scouring fun!  Excited to shoot it all!

{PHOTOS  via : Once Wed, Design Sponge, Sweet Little Photographs, Steep Street, Jagger Photography, 100 Layer Cake}

Film Burn & Color Correction from Zack McTee on Vimeo.

I am a happy photographer today!  Here’s a peak at one of the portraits (below) I took for Fonte Coffee Roaster’s feature in Wine Spectator.  Should be on newsstands in the next week or so!

Rickety Deck + Sunset + Pork Carnitas + Sangria + New Friends & Old Friends + Family + laughter + Apples to Apples =

Yes, please.

…look and feel wonderfully similar.

Pull up a chair!

Today’s Photo Love is all about gathering around a (stylish) table and eating a meal.  Who wouldn’t want to have a meal at any one of these settings!?!

The warm summer nights lately have me thinking I want to once again have a regular meal with friends. Once a week.  Every other. Doesn’t matter.  All I know is that there was something special that went on during those meals I had in the cafeteria during college.  We’d sit on the deck in the warm breezy evening and our long meandering “can’t-remember-how-this-started” conversations were filled with laughter, teasing, debates, stories, brainstorming, flirting…the stuff of life and friendship.  And while I know that I can never recreate that time again, I look forward to setting my table for new friends -  sharing meals… sharing life.

{Photos via:  Once Wed,  A Cup of Jo, Hugh Forte }

Lately, I’ve been so inspired by these two ladies.  Sometimes I’ll take their book on the bus as a type of tranquilizer. I sit there, page after page, calm, amidst the strangers left and right, and smile and smile.

Here’s a few from my Sunday.

LOVE love loving the work being shot lately by Kristen Marie (above) – perfect summery shot to lead us into the weekend.  I plan on taking a little trip to the fruit stand and having a special fruity photoshoot.  Maybe even use some of the bakeware I snagged this winter at an estate sale  – to bake it all up!