Maureen Oliver Photography

Christmas Card Photos

2010-12-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

Here's a little trio of photos I took a few weekends ago for this darling family's Christmas card.
Included in the session was mom and dad, son and son's girlfriend, daughter and son-in-law, and grandson. I'm not going to post all the family photos, but I just wanted to share a few of the grandson.

Here's the little guy. He's adorable.

And here he is with his grandma. I love this one.

Last one I'm going to share here. Fall lingers a little longer here in Dallas, so we've got all these lovely leaves on the ground into December.

I can't wait to see what they put on their Christmas card!

Happy early holidays.
xo
Maureen

On Photography

2010-11-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
I have spent today watching the Creative Live seminar with children's photographer Tamara Lackey. It has been great so far, and I'm excited for the upcoming events this weekend, whichever ones I manage to tune into.

I've taken a few notes so far in my handy notebook, mostly about her tips for working with different types of children, how to relate to families and get good shots of siblings with different personalities. I'm excited for her to move on to a bit more technical and business aspects, because I think one of my strengths as a photographer is my ability to capture kids' attention (I'm kind of a big kid sometimes), and where I can really use the help is in better mastering my camera and different lighting situations, as well as some marketing and business advice.

Earlier today, she talked about getting out there and just going for it. This is a lesson that probably a lot of people need to hear (myself included). I know for myself that it sometimes takes a lot to get me to really go after it and get those clients. But every day that goes by, I'm more motivated, and I'm making progress. I have a feeling that by the end of this workshop, I'll have a lot more direction and desire to follow up with my business.

I'm working on a project right now for a school in the area. I won't be able to share the photos, but it has given me the opportunity to capture hundreds of kids, mostly candid shots. It sounds kind of stressful -- get out there on the playground and start shooting, come back with hundreds of good shots -- but in actuality it has been fun, and a great way to practice capturing the more active kids that I do (and will continue) to have as clients. Kids running around all over is one of the greatest challenges of a portrait photographer, and this has given me an opportunity to really step up my game.

Now while the seminar is on an hour lunch break, I think I'll take a quick walk and enjoy the sunshine.

Have a happy weekend, everyone.
xo
Maureen

Ny Niece and Nephews!

2010-11-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be packed full of photos. I'll keep the chit chat here to a minimum so that you all have time left in your day to scroll through them.
All I want to say to preface this is... I am one lucky aunt! My niece and nephews are funny, and smart, and kind, and loving, and... you'll see from the photos, gorgeous! (Er, handsome.)

This family has one lucky girl with four brothers. You read that right!
Here are my favorite photos I took on my trip last week.
Hope you enjoy!

I don't often convert photos to sepia, but it just felt right with this one. I love her little expression in it!

She's a super star soccer player! I caught this one at half time... even though it's a grungy soccer photo, it really might be one of my very favorites. When she's a world famous soccer player, we'll resurface this one.

Another soccer one:

Now here's the new little guy! He's so itty bitty! And you know what? The noise of four loud kids running around the house doesn't seem to bother him at all. Lucky for his mom!

Okay, this guy is my oldest nephew, the kid who made me an aunt, and my godson. And I'm sorry, but when did we give you permission to grow up!? How are you so big? Please stop growing!

I will always think of him as this tiny little kid (photo taken almost four years ago, in the exact same location!) (And before I knew anything about taking good photos, apparently.)

I let my niece take a picture with my camera and she took this one. I wouldn't normally post it but it's pretty good for a six year old, right? And what a cutie-pie expression! I couldn't resist.

He's a third child like me. I understand what it's like buddy.

And this guy was the baby until last week!

Again with the sepia! Must have been in a sepia mood. I love this little man.

I hope you all enjoyed. And aren't you just a tiny bit jealous? I mean, come on. They're pretty awesome kids.
Until next time,
xo
Maureen

Back in Action

2010-11-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

Please excuse my extended silence on the blog here. After my sister had her baby, I headed on a last minute flight to California to help her out, visit the kids and meet the little guy.

I had a great trip! I was there on Halloween, and we whipped up some pretty awesome costumes for the kids, if I do say so myself.

The first day I arrived, they had a little trick-or-treat event in the main street of their little town, so I took all of them down there. It was packed, and I was a little worried that I'd lose one of them (especially the little guy... as you can see in these photos, he was off in his own world for most of it!), but fortunately we all made it back safely, and with lots of candy.

The costumes were a hit... complete strangers were asking if they could take photos of the kids! I'm sure you'll be able to guess what they were:

Hope you all had a lovely Halloween.
I'll post tomorrow with more of my favorite photos from my trip!
Until then,
xo
Maureen

New Baby

2010-10-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have a new baby nephew!

On Saturday while I was eating dinner, I got a text from my brother-in-law saying that my sister was in the hospital and that the baby would probably be born that night. I was pretty surprised because I just had been talking to my sister all day on Friday (we talk pretty much every day) and I hadn't gotten the impression that she was that close to having the baby. But turns out, she was. By the time I got home from dinner, baby Luke was born.

I was so excited! I just really wanted to call and talk about it with one person in particular... my sister. She's the one I call when I want to talk about, really, anything. Unfortunately she was kind of occupied at the moment. Plus she already knew the news!

I have gotten a few photos from her, but I'll probably head over to California to visit them in the next few weeks so I'll post my own photos when I take them.

Welcome to the world, little baby.

xo
Aunt Maureen

More Wedding Photos

2010-10-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

I am sifting through a few more of the wedding photos from last weekend. Here are a few more that I like.
Enjoy
xo
Maureen

ps after reviewing them all, this is still my favorite.

Holiday Portrait Sessions

2010-10-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

I only moved to Texas this year, but I am a big Texas Rangers fan. I've never lived in a city with professional baseball before, so I'm really enjoying having them around. Plus, in case you hadn't heard, they're really good this year. As in, one game away from going to the World Series.
They won last night, and they have another game today. It could be the last one!

I have been wearing my Rangers jersey in full support.

On a totally unrelated note here, it's time to start thinking about holiday portraits!
I think this year I might offer some mini holiday packages. Quick, short sessions that include one digital photo of your choice, that you can use on whatever holiday cards you want to order from any other site on the internet. Would anyone be interested in a package like this? I'm thinking short, 30 minute sessions, includes online proofing of maybe 5-6 photos and you choose one. You get the high-rez retouched photo to keep.

I know its only October, but I don't think it's too early to get started on these holiday portraits. The light is still good and fall is a perfect time of year to take photos!

Of course I will still offer my regular packages too, because most people will probably want the complete photo session. But if you're good on family portraits for now, and you just can't find the one perfect photo for your Christmas card, let me know and we can book one of the holiday mini sessions.

I didn't make a fancy promotion flyer for this one. You don't need to know a secret code. Just let me know what you're looking for this holiday season, and we'll make it work for you.

xo
Maureen

Dinosaurs

2010-10-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Last night I talked to my nephew on the phone because he just celebrated his fourth birthday. I sent him a card with a pirate story that was customized to his name. So when he opened the card it said something like, "Let me tell you the story of Captain James." I also sent him two toy dinosaurs because my sister told me that he's really into dinosaurs lately.

Then our conversation went like this:
James: Did you buy the dinosaurs?
Me: Yes
James: That's what I was guessing. I thought you bought them.
Me: What do you mean? How else would I have gotten them?
James: I don't know, that's why I thought you bought them. The other way I guess you probably mix rubber together and shape it like a dinosaur or something. I figured you just bought them.

Right now my little nephew is the third of four kids (like me!) but in just a few days/weeks, he will have a new little baby around making him smack dab in the middle of the lineup. I love all of my adorable nieces and nephews... I wished we lived closer! But I'll get to see them all when the baby is born, which is coming up pretty quick here.

Here is a photo of the birthday boy himself, but its about a year old. He's much older now that he's four... plus he wears glasses, which is about the most adorable thing ever. Anyway, this is the best recent photo I can find today on my hard drive. I'll get more good ones of the kids when I see them all soon.

Happy birthday little buddy!
xo
Maureen

Happy Monday!

2010-10-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived the wedding this weekend! I have so much respect for people who shoot weddings every weekend. I was exhausted! And my feet were killing me!

But I had a great time. I do understand why people would want to shoot weddings. It must be nice to see so much love all the time! It is so sweet to see people right as they enter into the biggest moment of their life. All of the inhibitions are down, they are completely vulnerable and open to love.

That was what I saw this weekend. As soon as the wedding ended, we took a few portraits in the church. They were so happy to be married, I asked them to look at each other and then I had to say, "You can kiss each other! I can tell that you want to!"

I'm still sorting through my overwhelming amount of photos, but this one caught my eye so I thought I'd post it here on my blog.

I hope you find it as sweet as I do.

xo
Maureen

Have a Happy Weekend!

2010-10-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

And we're back in the swing of things here in Dallas. Last night Tony got a flat tire, so I'm off to replace that one while he takes care of some other things, and then his brother is flying in for the weekend, so we're heading to the airport at 3.

I'm shooting a wedding tomorrow, which is a rare event for me, since I typically do children and families. I've got to charge batteries and print the list of photos and prepare for that.

I'll post a few of the wedding photos next week after I've processed through them all.

Have a happy weekend, everyone! If it's sunny where you live, enjoy enjoy enjoy it!
xo
Maureen

Vacation Recap

2010-10-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend in Portland, and I got back late last night around midnight.
I'm still waking up here in Dallas, but I thought writing a quick little blog post might wake up my brain a bit.

My trip to Portland was great... my friend's wedding (the reason I went) was gorgeous, very sweet, and way, way fun.

They had a photobooth... I know those are popular now, but I guess I've never been to a wedding with one. It made me really want one for my own wedding in a few months! Hmmm. I'll have to run this idea past Mr. Tony.

I also met up with my other best friend, who lives in Portland now. We chatted.... it's been nine or ten months since I've seen her, which is probably one of the longer spans we've spent apart.

I helped my mom out with some work she needed done for her non profit. She's been working on getting a home for people who are dying up and running for almost ten years now and it's finally opening this month. It's a huge accomplishment!

I went to the park and played with my niece, also referred by anyone who has ever met her as, the world's cutest kid.

I also met with my friend, pseudo wedding planner, without whom we probably would not have a wedding. For real, this girl has made and designed our invitations, and is basically coordinating every aspect of our wedding day for us. I am lucky to have such great people in my life, that's for sure!

I need to get my day going here, but just wanted to pop in on my neglected old blog here. It is good to be back!

xo

Maureen

The State Fair of Texas

2010-10-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I sat down to write a post about the State Fair of Texas, but I didn't quite get that far.

On Tuesday a group of five of us (plus baby) went to the State Fair of Texas here in Dallas. It was one of the most fun days I've had since I've been here! We explored everything in just a few hours... the petting zoo, the cars, the dog show, the fried food and Big Tex himself.

We ate some pretty interesting (and sometimes gross) fried food, including pizza, pb&j, beer, margarita, cookie dough, frito pie, and corn dogs. While eating the cookie dough, our friend said, "This is just too much." We all laughed and said, "fried beer, fried margarita, no problem... but COOKIE DOUGH? This is too much!"

The petting zoo was among the most ridiculous displays of animals I've ever seen. It was basically a real zoo, where you could pet the animals. They had a giraffe! Zebras! Emus, ostriches, camels! It was crazy, and we fed all the animals and pet them all except for the ostrich which was frightening with its beady eyes and pointed little pecky nose.

And of course we ate Fletcher's famous corn dogs!

We had a great time, and can I say one more time how awesome it is that my best friend lives here?

I'm going to Portland for a wedding this weekend. I'll be gone tomorrow through next Wednesday and I won't be blogging. Check back next Thursday!
xo
Maureen

I'm New Here!

2010-10-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

I was going to post about our trip to the State Fair of Texas yesterday, but this post just came rambling off my fingertips when I sat down. So tomorrow I'll blog about the State Fair, and today, you can read my diatribe on how I learn to love my new city.

---

I just moved to Texas. I am new here, and there is a lot I have to learn. But I can say that, at least until I met and fell in love with someone from Dallas, I never would have even considered this as a good place to live. Honestly, it never would have crossed my mind. In fact, the whole state of Texas, save perhaps Austin, would have been pretty much off my list. And I can admit that Dallas is not maybe the coolest place to live. I have friends in Chicago, Seattle, New York, Boston, etc, and yeah... those cities are charming and cool and universally acknowledged as fun places for young people.

But then I discovered Dallas. And it has a lot of things that I don't like, I can admit that. Freeways, strip malls, and fast food franchises galore. And yes, my hometown of Portland is awesome with its great public transportation and bike routes, funky cool neighborhoods, and a focus on local business. But I live in Dallas now, not Portland, and I have found it surprisingly easy to love Dallas too.

I've actually spent short (1-2 month) stays in many U.S. cities, and I had the same philosophy towards them as I do towards my new city.

1. Make friends.
I came here with my fiance Tony, so I'm not here all alone. That definitely makes it easier, as does the fact that his family is not only awesome but HUGE, which allows us plenty of social interaction and family time. I think a subset of point number 1 is that if I can find a family, anyone with kids, that makes it feel so much more like home than finding a group of 20-somethings. Not that having 20-somethings as friends isn't awesome (it can be!), just that a family is settled and established in their community through their school, church, neighborhood, etc. And for me, that makes the city seem like home.

2. Explore
It can be easy for me to find one or two places that I know and then continually frequent them. But after living in lots of new cities, I have learned that the only way for me to learn to love my new city is to explore. I take those independent newspapers that every city has, I look up "best breakfast" online, I go to the tourist attractions, and I go to the cultural events. Just last night we were given tickets to the Mavs game, and as silly as it sounds, cheering for my new city's sports teams seems to always instill a little bit of hometown pride.

3. Volunteer
I am still looking for the right volunteer position for me in Dallas, but I have an information session tomorrow night for one I'm considering. I have found that volunteering, through either a regular commitment or a one-time soup kitchen night, has a lot of value when living in a new place. For me, it instills a sense of pride in my community, as in, I care about my community enough to work to make it better.

4. Make dates for events in the future
I only have a couple of friends here so far, all people I've known before I moved here and who happen to now live here. But with what few friends I have, we are working to create our own little community here. We are starting a book club next month, which will give us a monthly meetings to look forward to. I also find myself hearing about events coming up in the next few months and gathering interest from my small social circle. I even have tickets already to some things so that I can look forward to them.

And you know what? I like it here. I like it a lot.

On Wedding Planning

2010-10-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Today Tony and I parked ourselves in a coffee shop and talked wedding. We've done this a few times... sat down, opened up our computers, and refused to leave until we had worked out at least a handful of wedding details.

Last week we received our sample wedding invitations from our friend who is designing them. They look amazing; I can't believe how good of a job she did! She sent us two different samples, both very similar but with important differences. So today at the coffee shop, we sat down and disected them, word by word.

First of all, there were some small things. A wrong address, and extraneous word, some blanks where we needed to fill in info.

Then there was the font. The invitations have two fonts. One, the one our names are in, is cursivey and loopy and very pretty. The other, the one our parent's names are in, as well as the location, time, etc, is a small, simple, and sleek capitalized font. I like it. It's modern, it juxtaposes with the old-fashioned cursive font, and it looks nice.

Tony does NOT LIKE THE FONT. I didn't realize I was marrying someone who has such an opinion about fonts! He thinks it looks like a robot font. He said, "We are not having a robot wedding. Although if we were, that would be awesome."

He went online to find alternate fonts, and he found a more old-fashioned looking boring font. I said, "Perhaps these fonts are symbolic of our personalities. I like the original one because it is sleek and trendy and cool, and you like this one because it is boring and old-fashioned." He said, "You like that one because it is a robot font, and you are cold as a robot."

Then we laughed for ten minutes. Just sat there in the coffee shop and cracked up.

We had to flip a coin.
I lost.

We found one we both can live with.

Slideshow

2010-10-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've been working on adding slideshows to my packages, so today I made one from an old session I shot of three brothers. Remember these guys?

Here is my first Maureen Oliver Photography slideshow.

I'm going to include these in some of my family packages. As I get more and more experienced with these slideshows, I'll start incorporating video and other elements. I am excited to have these slideshows because I think they'll be a great tool for sharing a family photo session! What proud mama won't want to show these off?!

These shows will be totally customized to the family's taste. Have a song that means a lot to you? Shoot, send it over! These are going to get so much cooler with time as I explore these! I hope you all enjoy my first shot at it. I anticipate that there will be many more to come.
xo
Maureen

A birthday gift

2010-09-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Last week was my birthday and I was given this lovely little gift from my friend Katie:

Isn't it darling?

Hope no one reads it wrong, but hey... I live in Texas ;)

Girlfriends Package!

2010-09-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

Girlfriends

2010-09-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a story.
I grew up on a street famously referred to as "tenth street" in Portland, Oregon. I say famously because, well, it's kind of a legend.

On our block there were no less than 10-15 kids within a ten year age group. People moved on to tenth street, but no one ever moved away. It's the kind of street they write children's stories about. You know, fictional ones. But it was real. So very real.

I could talk for hours and not summarize tenth street perfectly. To this day, the children of tenth street (all adults now, of course) are a close group. When I was making my wedding invite list, it was broken into: family, college friends, tenth street. Almost every childhood memory takes place on tenth street. We reminisce these all the time... remember that time I told you that you would get stung by a bee because you were wearing yellow, and then I sat on a bee and it stung me? Remember that tenth street talent show we did where Bekah and I wore our mouse costumes and tap danced on the lawn? Remember when we held a wedding for little Emma and little Riley? Remember later when they got in a fight and they asked for a divorce? Remember that first block party when the fire truck came and the guy climbed up the ladder for us and let us crawl all over the truck?

And of the tenth street clan, I was always particularly close to two girls. Meghan and Bekah. The three of us lived in a row of houses on one side of the street. We were all born in the same year, and we spent all of our free time together. (Except that one time when Meghan and another girl formed a Bekah and Maureen Haters Club!) In a coincidental streak of fortune, Bekah and I both ended up moving to Dallas in the same month. It's crazy for me to think about that... that we grew up three doors down from each other on this magical street in Oregon and now we live in the same city in Texas.

Bekah has a baby Evie. I have photographed her before, and I added a few more photos to my collection when we did a four month session recently. But this time we did something a bit different as well. We added Evie's friend. These two girls are neighbors. They were, like Bekah and I, born within two weeks of each other. They live half a block away from each other. We decided to take some photos of both of them because we are hopeful that they will have the neighborly relationship that we cherish so much from our own childhood. Plus they're stinkin cute!

Without further ado, introducing, for the second time, baby Evie.

(I think this following one is my favorite from the session)

And for the first time, baby Maya:

Gorgeous girls!

I will post more information this week about my new "girlfriends" package.
xo
Maureen

Computer Surgery

2010-09-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

My computer underwent serious surgery this weekend. I'm only slightly ashamed to admit that this was completely out of necessity due to a certain amount of neglect on my part. Neglect which manifested itself in overloading my hard drive until there was literally 0% free space.
Not good, people. Not good.

But I purchased new internal and external hard drives and with the help of a very crafty apple genius who also happens to be a friend of mine, I installed the new (larger!) hard drive, re-backed up everything, and updated all of the programs I've been neglecting. (No room for upgrades on a 0% free space computer, did you know that?)

All this is to say that I have some photo editing to do, and now that my photoshop will open and allow me to make edits, I'm going to get on that now.

Stay tuned. New session being posted prontissimo.

xo
Maureen

My birthday, a visitor, and fried food

2010-09-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my birthday (I'm turning 27, in case you were wondering). I am hoping that my 27th year brings the following:

Less getting carded when purchasing alcohol
Absolutely no getting carded for things that require you to be 18 or older (R-rated movies? Lottery tickets?)
A beautiful and wonderful wedding
A new place to call home
Much growth and development in my photography business

I am taking the rest of the week off from blogging. My wonderful friend Katie (see post, below) is coming to visit and I'll be showing her around our fine city. (Hey State Fair of Texas, prepare yourself! Hey Katie, hope you can handle loads of fried food!)

Have a nice week, everyone... back Monday!
xo
Maureen

Picking My Bridesmaids

2010-09-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

As you may know, my wedding is fast approaching. When I first got engaged, I read lots of wedding blogs and such, but now I've pretty much given up on all of that and settled on just plain having a good wedding, no frills attached.

Anyway one thing I noticed was that for some people, picking your bridesmaids is hard. For me, it was easy-peasy. I knew right away who to pick. My only problem was that I wish I could have asked even more people, but we had to draw a limit.

We picked six each. Tony picked his two brothers, his two best friends and my two brothers.
I picked:

My sister

Do we look alike?

I only have one sister so she'd probably be my maid of honor anyway even IF we weren't so close. But we are, so it makes it even more special. She's not only my big sister, but she's also the first person to make me an aunt (when I was a freshman in college, no less) and she let me live with her for a summer in college and she's funny and smart and even though she lives far away, we talk on the phone all the time. She also has adorable children. I mean, really, really adorable.

My two childhood best friends Rebekah

Me, with Bekah, randomly sitting on the bottom step in my old house. Why? Don't know.

and Meghan

Meghan and I in Malaysia!

We have been best friends since before we were this old:

And we're still best friends today. See? A reversed order, but we're all still there. I'm in the middle on the above picture by the way. I used to be very blonde.

My new sister-in-law Diana (Tony's sister)

Diana with Tony and his Hangover impersonation glasses

Diana and I have gotten very close these last few months since I moved here. I mean, she was going to be in the wedding anyway, but it's a good thing I actually like her and we're friends. Plus she's an awesome singer.

My current sister-in-law Sheila (My brother's wife)

Sheila with my brother Joseph

Sheila with a fussy version of my darling niece

Sheila has been my sister in law for five years or so, and she also gave me an adorable niece who has been featured on this blog before, so she's an easy pick.

And my high school friend Katie


Katie and I in Forrest Park in Portland. She's very outdoorsy.

Katie is an awesome friend who is kind and sweet and very smart and resourceful. She is awesome.

So you can see, I am surrounded by wonderful ladies who made it so simple to ask them to be my bridesmaids. Six may seem like a lot to some, but there's no way I could leave anyone out!

I have to say, picking bridesmaids was certainly the easiest part of wedding planning. If only picking bridesmaid dresses had been that easy!

Thoughts on Photography

2010-09-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone says you should blog.
Blog frequently.
Blog in your own voice.

And I believe it. It's probably the best way for people (internet strangers, future clients, my mom and dad who read this) to get to know more about me. Because people who get referred to me by a friend, and people who I have handed my business card to, and people who just did an online search for a photographer, don't know who I am.

But the truth is, I just moved here not too long ago. I'm still starting over on gathering up a new set of clients in Dallas. So I don't have new sessions to post every other day. But no one will ever come back and read my blog if I don't update it for weeks on end. So I have decided that in between sessions (I have one to post coming up very soon), I'll continue to blog anyway. Whatever is on my mind at the time, and often with photos.

Today what is on my mind is, as usual, photography. I have been looking through my photos to select new images for my website's opening slideshow and I became very self-reflective.

I am always, always, always trying to improve my photography skills. I started Maureen Oliver Photography about a year ago and I have to say, I have seen a major improvement since I first started. Take the following two photos for example.

[I wouldn't normally post photos that I'm not overly proud of, but I believe in growth and self-reflection and in doing this, I think it will continue to push me. Plus I'm not ashamed of transparency, I want everyone to know that I am who I am, a young photographer trying to be the best I can be.]

Here are two photos that illustrate my improvement:

This first photo is one of the first children's photo sessions I did. This is my cousin's daughter, and they agreed to let me use her as a model to practice. (So don't worry, I am about to critique my own work here, but I did this session for free.)

She's adorable and this is one of the best photos I took that session. Unfortunately, I can see now that there are several things wrong with it. First, I generally pride myself on the way I frame photographs, but I think this one is a bit off. The focus is all wrong, there's not enough focus on her face, and too much detail in the background. The image is flat, the colors aren't great, and in general, it's just not the best photo I've ever taken. All that said, this was one of my first sessions, and I learned a lot from it.

Just a few months later I took this photo of a similarly aged young girl.

See how the focus is right on her eyes? There is no background clutter? The photo is sharp and crisp? It is framed just around her face?
These are the improvements just a few months made in my photography. I am sure that someday I will look back and see all of the flaws in that second photograph as well. (I already see some... I'm my own worst critic.)

I am only showcasing my failures here because I want to constantly see my own improvement. I want to know just how far I've come, and just how much farther I can push myself. I am not ashamed to share this, even with potential future clients, because I believe that this is what will continue to make me a great photographer. Continual self-evaluation. It is essential to my business and growth as a person and a photographer.

This has been a long post, so let me just close with one sneak peek of the session I'll be sharing with you all shortly. These two beauties are neighbors, and their moms got together for a short session. At the end I snapped a few of the both of them together. Hopefully they'll stay friends forever and these photos will be precious to them always.

Thank you for reading my rambling thoughts! You can expect to see many more blog posts from me in the future. (I can hear you grumbling. They will be shorter, and more filled with photos, I promise!)

Until then,
Maureen
xo

Welcome to Dallas!

2010-09-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

I'll bring you all back to your regularly schedule business updates here shortly, but I figured... I haven't made too big of a deal out of the fact that I just relocated halfway across the country!

So I'm going to dedicate some blog time to it.

A few months ago, Tony and I packed up everything we own into a moving truck. (Lesson learned here: I own way more than him!)

And now we live in Dallas! We are staying with his family right now while we get settled and decide what area we want to call home. I have never lived in Texas before, and this is Tony's first time back in 10 years. So we're learning.

I really like it here so far! And not just because I'm significantly more tan. (Y'all, summers here are HOT.) It is completely different from Portland, where I'm from and where we were just living, but it's a great change.

The things we like to do here include:

Dallas Farmer's Market. Woah! It's huge and open seven days a week, and coming from the Northwest, they sell all sorts of tropical Texas fruits.

Buon Giorno Coffee Shop in Grapevine. I love spending all day in coffee shops, and this is the best we've found so far. I like to go in here and do some photo editing, write emails, read, or just enjoy a nice dark chocolate mocha.

Rangers games! We love the Rangers and baseball games are just the best, aren't they?

The races. We go to the horse races all the time because Tony's grandma loves them. In fact tonight is the first night of the season, so we'll be there!

Family time. Tony's family is very close (literally, his family, his uncle, and his grandma all live within a mile radius) so every Thursday we have "family night" where we all get together and grill out, or cook dinner together. Tony also has a brother in high school so we go to a lot of his events, soccer games, football games, etc. Of course, I have family in Portland so it's definitely a trade off, but it is nice for Tony to be with his family after so much time apart. Plus, fortunately for me, they are awesome.

So that's how I spend my time in Dallas! I'm off now to explore the Grapevine Grape fest. It's free during the day on Friday (yay setting my own schedule!) so we're going to check it out.

If you live in Dallas, what am I missing? Say hello if you ever see me at any of these places!
xo
Maureen

ps most of these photos taken with things like iphones and powershots... more quality photos coming your way soon!

Some Business News

2010-08-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

I want to take a moment to give you all a bit more information about my life, and my business. Let's start with me.

By now you know that I am Maureen Oliver. I am getting married in February (and I do plan on changing my name, but I'll keep my photography name as Maureen Oliver to avoid confusion!)

I just recently relocated to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area in Texas. I am originally from Portland, Oregon where many of the photo sessions up to this point were taken. We moved halfway across the country for a mix of personal and professional reasons. My fiance Tony is from Texas and we're excited to be here... me for the first time ever, and him for the first time in a decade.

For the last four years, I have been employed full time and pursuing photography on the side. I have been experimenting and growing my style and brand, and know that it will be an ever-developing process. It is through this process that I have determined what I always believed going into this. My focus and passion within the field of photography lies in the area of children and family portraits.

Now that I have moved to Dallas, I'm looking forward to expanding and growing my photography business in ways I couldn't before. I have huge goals for myself, and I'm my own most critical judge. I promise this much: my business will constantly be improving as I evaluate and re-evaluate my style and brand.

My goal is to create timeless family photos. I would love to provide for your family photos that mean something to you. Photos that capture the perfect lazy Saturday afternoon. Photos that you'll look back on in the future and remember fondly. No stuffy poses, no foreign props. Just your family... being you.

If you are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and are interested in family portraits, please contact me. I am looking forward to sharing this new business future with many families in this area.

Thank you for reading,
Maureen

Business Cards

2010-08-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I just placed an order for a new batch of business cards, and thought the info should be available here on my website as well.
Here they are!

Ramona!

2010-07-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

Meet Ramona!

We took these photos on the day before Ramona's first birthday.

Ramona shares a name with my favorite literary character of all time, Ramona Quimby. I just love that her name is Ramona! She's not quite as mischievous as Ramona from the books, but she's certainly a cutie!

It was so nice to meet Ramona's beautiful family. They are so sweet and proud of their little one-year-old!

We'll close with this one. I had a great time photographing Miss Ramona, and all day I had "To Ramona" by Bob Dylan stuck in my head! (I'm not complaining, it's one of my favorite songs!)

It was a treat meeting this beautiful family. I hope Ramona had a great first birthday!

Thanks for allowing me into your lives to capture these for you. I hope you all enjoyed Ramona's one year session!

Until next time,
Maureen

Baby Evie

2010-06-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to share with you the photos of baby Evie. She's the daughter of my very best friend! Of course I'm a proud auntie and think she's just the cutest baby (tied, of course, with my five other nieces and nephews!)
Here are a selection of photos from her newborn session we shot:

Evie was named after her great-grandma Evelyn who passed away a few months before baby Evelyn came into the world. She's got big shoes to fill, but I suspect she'll fill them.

Baby feet are just the best, aren't they?

Congratulations friends, I am so excited to watch Evie grow up, and of course we'll be taking many more photo sessions as she does.

Nine Month Portraits!

2010-05-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here are the photos from that nine month photo session I promised you!

Those blue eyes just kill me! They are really THAT blue!

And this one is my favorite!

A Hike, A Nap, and Nine Month Portraits

2010-04-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

First of all, I am very sorry for the long absence from blogging! I'm still alive, just been crazy busy lately.
Buuuut, I am back.
And I have a great session to share with you today:

Do you remember this blue-eyed baby?

Well I am sure you won't be surprised to learn that the little one is growing up, as kids always seem to be doing.

But those blue eyes are still there! We went for a hike recently and, well... she slept through most of it. But afterwards we got some sweet nine month portraits.

Stay tuned, they are coming soon! Here is a sneak peek for you!
Enjoy!
Maureen

January Photo of the Month

2010-02-07T14:28:00.000-08:00

I think I'll start calling this feature "Mid-Month Photo of the Previous Month" because that's about when I get around to posting my favorite photo. But alas, better late than never, right?

In that spirit, here is January's Photo of the Month. Caught just in time, on the last day of the month!

Consider this also a sneak peek on an upcoming session I"ll be posting here soon.
Remember this group, Loveness Wesa and the Bantus?
Here is a photo from their performance at Ainsworth Church of Christ. I am still sorting through all of the photos, but I just got to this one and thought it looked pretty cool.

I'll be posting the rest soon, and they're very colorful! So be sure to check back.
Thanks for reading!
Maureen

New Testimonial Video

2010-01-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas I received a very special gift. I'm not talking about the engagement ring, though trust me, that was a very special gift. No, my fiance (still sounds crazy to say that!) made me a video to put on my website. He went around to some of the clients whose images you've seen here on this blog and interviewed them. He logged on to my computer while I was away and stole a few photos. He went over to my cousin's house and they recorded some background music.
And this is what he created:

I am going to post this on my website soon. I plan on writing something along the lines of this:

If you have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, watch this video in which clients discuss the importance of having their children professionally photographed. The beauty of kids is that they're always growing! Take the time today to capture these moments before they slip away from you. Your children's portraits don't have to be a stressful mall experience, they can be fun for the whole family. Contact me today for more information about having portraits taken in your home or favorite location.
And of course, thank you for supporting your local artists.

You don't have to watch the whole video, but of course I hope that you do. If you're too busy and important, please, please watch the first eight seconds. Tell me that this little girl's face from :06-:08 is not the most hilarious thing you've ever seen!

My Dad

2010-01-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas, my dad swiped his entry card for the last time. He logged onto his computer for the last time. He read his last wire story, he made his final corrections, and walked out the doors of The Oregonian. My dad has worked for the Oregonian since January of 1984, and just a few weeks ago, he retired.

He's been a reporter, an editor, and an all-around resource for our state's largest newspaper. He knows more about Portland than almost anyone else in the newsroom. And I don't work there, so I can't really say for sure, but I have a feeling he'll be greatly missed.
On one of his last days, they let me in the newsroom to take a few photos of him in his work environment.

He's very serious at work.

Congratulations to my dad. He has worked hard and I am sure he'll continue to improve the City of Portland long after he is no longer with the paper.

*Edited to add: my dad is not actually retiring, just leaving the Oregonian. Employers take heed - this is one skilled candidate on the market!

December Photo of the Month = Photo of 2009

2010-01-06T18:26:00.001-08:00

I'm baaaaack!

I took a long absence there for the month of December, to do very important things like celebrate Christmas in Texas and New Years in Portland. Oh yeah, and get engaged!

I am happy to tell you all, my dear blog readers, that I got engaged on Christmas day! We are both so excited!

Now, usually I post my favorite photo at the end of the month (er, the start of the following month), and as usual, I'm late. But unlike usual, this month I am posting a photo that I did not take. And another professional didn't take it, no one borrowed my camera to take it. It was taken on an iphone, by Tony's brother, right when Tony got on his knee and proposed. And even though it's no professional photo, it is one that I will treasure and cherish for as long as I live. And you know what? As a photographer, that's the best you can hope to do with a photo.

So, my friends, enjoy. This is the December Photo of the Month:

Stay tuned! I have a new post that I'm working on just as soon as I sign off on this one!
Until then,
Maureen

Loveness Wesa and the Bantus

2009-12-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

The other day I shot some rehearsal photos for an group called Loveness Wesa and the Bantus.

Loveness comes from Zimbabwe and this is about the best description of her band:
"Rooted in the traditional music of Southern Africa, Loveness Wesa's original Afro-pop is played on contemporary instruments."
To see more information about this band, click here.

I think their rehearsal sounded great! If you're in Portland, you can hear them in person on December 22 at Hip Bone Studios http://hipbonestudio.com/.

And now, the photos:

I strongly suggest you try and make their show on the 22nd. I am positive that you will like them!
Hope you enjoyed these photos!
Until next time,
Maureen

A Cousin's Christmas Card

2009-12-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

Well I've given you enough peeks into this session now, so I thought I'd share with you a few highlights. In case you missed the sneak peek the other day, these two cuties are cousins, and we wanted to get some photos for their Christmas cards. Their grandma made these adorable matching sweaters.

I love these first ones. These guys only have a few words in their vocabularies so far, things like "Meow" for cat and "woof" for dog. But here it looks like they're carrying on long conversations and telling each other funny jokes.

Then along came that cat which distracted them for a bit.

We headed to the park and grabbed a few photos on the swings. This next one is my favorite.

I am sure they will have adorable Christmas cards this year! If you're looking for your Christmas card photos, shoot me an email. And don't hesitate, you're aware that it's December, right?

Hope you enjoyed this session!
Maureen

November Photo(s) of the Month

2009-12-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

Since I'm late on the Photo of the Month, I am offering you a special deal - three photos! That's right, for November I found this set of photos when I was editing those kid portraits (coming soon) and I just thought they were funny enough to work together as the photo of the month.

Photo One: Um, hello, WHAT are you doing?

Photo Two: Oh man, are you seeing this? Yes, he's really doing it.

Photo Three: Do I seriously have to sit here with this kid? I mean, honestly, did you see that?

Enjoy!

Stay tuned, in the next few days I will post the real photos from this session as well as some really cool band practice photos I took last night. So check back!

November Photo of the Month

2009-12-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

It's coming soon, I promise! I know I promised to be on time this month. I know it's December first.
I promise.
November's photo of the month is ON. IT'S. WAY.
That's a promise from me to you.

Happy December!

Sneak Peek: Cousins!

2009-11-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Today I photographed two cousins for their Christmas card pictures.
Look at the adorable matching sweaters their grandma made for them!
I have lots of great photos, but I'm going to post this little sneak peek while I sort through the rest of the photos.
Enjoy!

Kitchen Photo Session

2009-11-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

This week I decided to enter a little weekly photo challenge offered by the Digital Photography School.

The theme was "kitchen".
So I tagged along at a baking session with my friend Katie and submitted this photo.

I think it's a fun twist on the kitchen theme. It looked like most people had photos of food and kitchen gadgets, but you know me, and I can't help myself with the portraits! I just love 'em!

So there you have it. I love the colors of the sweater and the mixer. I love that she and the mixer are both facing away from the frame. That's not how you're supposed to take pictures, but you know what? That's how I'm going to do this one. And you know what else I like? I like that there is pink frosting in the mixer. This was a real baking session, I told you! It's not a setup.

Of course I snapped several other photos of Katie. Why? Because she's pretty.
Here are a few.

Yowza. Rock it girl :)

Kitchen photo session-- so fun!

Photo of the Month

2009-11-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to add a new feature to this blog for awhile now, something called "Photo of the Month", where I post one of my favorite photos that I didn't post with the appropriate session, but that I think deserves to be shared.
I realize that it's November 8, but let's just go with it.
We'll call this the "October Photo of the Month".

Remember this girl?
Here's another photo from that fall park session. Fortunately asking children to climb up on statues is never difficult, so we were able to grab this sweet shot.
Enjoy!

Next month we'll be more timely!

Andrew Oliver Sextet

2009-11-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

It was time for some fresh new photos for the Andrew Oliver Sextet, so we popped into the green room of McMenamin's Mission Theater halfway during a show and captured some, well, you'll see. I think you'll like them.

I told the band that after I post them on my blog, I'll probably submit these to akwardfamilyphotos.com. The furniture in this room is just too good.
I don't often play too much with photoshop, just a sharpening here and a coloring there. But the other day I downloaded these Lightroom presets, and I thought this awkward family, er, band photo would be a good one to play with. These are all different photos with each their own preset applied to it. (The presets are from Sarah-Ji of Shutter Sisters and I tweaked them a bit.)
So now tell me, which is your favorite? I'm really bad at favorites, I always pick more than one. So with that in mind, this is definitely my favorite.

This one is pretty cool too though, I like the way the colors play into the vintage grandma feel of the living room setting.

Oh, hm, maybe this is my favorite actually.

And for at least one other group shot...

And of course, I did snap a few shots during the show, so here are a couple of them.

Did you know that Andrew Oliver is my cousin? You can learn more about him, this band, and other jazz bands that he runs or contributes to in the Portland area by going to his website, www.andrewoliver.net.
But wait, we're not done! Which one was your favorite? Please tell me!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween! Here's a photo I took one year in Boston.

I'm a day late on my halloween post here, but I wanted to share with you all the pumpkin I carved this year.
First of all, we went to Sauvie Island outside of Portland and picked up some nice pumpkins. Here's Tony carefully examining the crop.

Tony wanted to carve his University of Texas logo, the longhorn. So to retaliate, I decided to make my college's logo, the Gonzaga University Bulldog. Um, it's a bit harder, if you didn't notice. We printed them off of the computer to trace.

Tony was done after about 20 minutes and went off to watch a movie, while I slaved away at my bulldog.

I'll never admit how long this took, but here is the finished product.
Amazing, right? I'm pretty proud of it.

And here they are next to each other.

Happy Halloween!!

An Active Seven Year Old and Yellow Fall Leaves

2009-10-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

This shoot was supposed to happen the weekend before, but at the time we were scheduled, it was raining. And I don't mean sprinkling and overcast. I mean... it. was. raining. Pouring, actually.
So we pushed it back a week and lucky we did! We could not have had a more beautiful day for these photos. Have I ever mentioned that I love fall? Well, I do. And here is why!

These photos were taken at Laurelhurst Park in SE Portland. Fun trivia fact-- the park is designed by the same architect as New York's Central Park. So here you'll find many of the same features, including this duck pond.

She found a ladybug!

This girl is super active. She had so much fun jumping between the tables, and she was so proud of herself with every successful leap.

And though she's active, I did coax her into sitting still for just a few photos.

But most of the session was more like this:

I almost didn't post this one, but every time I clicked past it, it made me happy. I love the genuine smile on her face in this one.

L.O.V.E.

I am going to close with this photo, because it makes me smile. In a big way. This is one of my favorite photos I've ever taken.

Hope you enjoyed these lovely fall photos!
Until next time,
Maureen

New Logo

2009-10-20T20:54:00.001-07:00

I've been working away over here (and of course I mean, I've been working away at getting others to work away for me!) and I'm very excited to announce that some big, big changes are coming soon. First and foremost, my new website is almost finished, and as soon as the final touches have been made, I will send it out!

In the meantime, I just got this wonderful, amazing new logo designed for me by Annie of Soul Compass Gallery.

Annie did an amazing job on this and you'll be seeing much more of my logo here on my blog and then on various mailings and print documents. And of course, if you hire me to take your photos, you'll see it a lot!

So without further ado, here are the two versions of the logo. The white background will be my predominant logo and the other was made to put on my site, which has a black background.

What do you think?

Thank you again Annie, I couldn't be happier with it!

And stay tuned everyone, the site will be launching soon.

Maureen

Three Boys on a Fall Day

2009-10-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful fall day I spent photographing this lovely family of three boys.
And boy, were they great sports! (I wonder how many times I can use the word boy in my description of this shoot.)
As you know, boys will be boys, (there's two!) and we got plenty of wresting photos, which you'll see at the end of this post.
But they were also sweet and patient enough to let me pull them aside one at a time and snap these portraits. Here are my favorites of each of them.

What a sweet family! And oh, look at that beautiful fall sun!

This is the oldest boy. He's smart and athletic, and also very funny!

The middle boy is the family clown. Every family's got one!

And here is the baby of the family. He certainly knows how to keep up with his big brothers!

I love this one. I just had them laying there on the grass but the little guy keep sneaking peeks at me, and look at how adorable the end result was!

I know you think this one looks staged, but it honestly wasn't. In fact, I was pretty much done taking photos, and I was holding my camera down at my hip when this scene happened. I love it.

I told you there would be wresting photos, right? Well I couldn't pick my favorite, so here are two. And again, the little guy couldn't keep from looking right at me!

And we'll close with these final two of the three boys and their lovely mother.

Thank you for being boys and wrestling and throwing the football, and thank you for being sweet boys who patiently let me stick my camera in your faces. What a lovely family.

I hope you've enjoyed them!
Until next time,
Maureen

A little secret

2009-10-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Do you want to know how I got the three boys who I photographed yesterday to smile and laugh naturally? Well, one at a time, I said, "Yell as loud as you can!" (Boys love to yell, you know.) And they thought it was funny, and the few photos after the yell were some of the best of the day!
You can use that trick if you want. It's free.

Here's a little sneak peek of the three boys. Enjoy!
Maureen

Leyah turns one.

2009-10-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

Leyah's having her first birthday this weekend, so we wanted to be sure and capture some photos of her before she grows up on us!
In the mornings, Leyah likes to cuddle with her horse, so we caught a few in her pajamas doing her morning routine.

During the wardrobe change, I got this photo, which is probably my favorite of the day.

Actually it's a toss up. I love this one too.

She'll grow up to be a reader some day, I'm sure of it. Oh wait. Well, first she'll learn which way books go and then she'll grow up to be a reader.

She has wonderful natural light in her bedroom. Lucky girl!

Thanks you guys for letting me come over and take photos of your beautiful girl! And happy birthday Miss Leyah!

Sneak Peek!

2009-10-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

Today I photographed this adorable little girl on her almost-first-birthday.
Stay tuned... some great photos are coming soon!
Enjoy this peek until then,
Maureen

Sophie and Owen's Wedding

2009-09-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

Sophie and Owen were married in Portland's Washington Park Rose Garden. More specifically, they said their vows under the bust of one William Shakespeare, in the rose garden named for him, surrounded by roses named from his many characters. There is no place more fitting to tie these two together than in a beautiful setting named after a literary icon. Sophie and Owen are two of the most intellectual people I know, two young people who deeply care about their communities and the planet. This was the first of their wedding-tour-of-the-country, where they are stopping in all of the cities that are important to them and celebrating their union. At least Sophie gets more than one chance to wear her wedding dress!
It was fun to spend the day running around the rose garden, and I hope you enjoy the photos we got!
Maureen

First the ladies got ready at Sophie's dad's house.

Then we headed to the Rose Garden for some bride and groom photos.

I think this next one just looks like it's a page from an old photo album. It's so classic.

I'm not usually a fan of the posed photos, but this... it's funny.

There is something very presidential about this photo.

I just love the way her dress flows in this first kiss photo.

The reception was held at Sophie's dad's house.

Sophie's sister made this cake. She asked each of them to pick their most inspirational book, and Sophie said "The Phantom Tollbooth" and Owen said "Lolita". The top says, "The Partnership Promise."

And the night ended with a dance party on the back patio, where Sophie and Owen were able to find each other for at least one quiet moment.

Sophie and Owen's Rehearsal at CHAP

2009-09-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

The night before Sophie and Owen's wedding, of which the photos are coming soon, their close friends and family gathered for a fun and unconventional post-rehearsal celebration. The location was CHAP - which stands for Children's Healing Art Project - a place that uses art as a healing method for children in crisis and area hospitals. It's a wonderful place, where this particular handful of adults summoned their inner child and found themselves covered in paint.

This cardboard castle... sorry... I just couldn't resist!

There were plenty of fun places to make Sophie and Owen pose, but after awhile I let them get to eating a painting, which really was the point of the party.

Sophie painted these fish.

And Owen painted this nice scene.

Sophie's mom painted them a pillowcase.

Everyone pitched in on this project to make a big sign to be displayed at the wedding the next day. Each person picked a letter to decorate.

Then they brought out a mattress, and people could step in paint and then jump on the mattress twenty times. Here are the dads giving it a go.

And here are the moms. Don't be distracted by the sweet tire-track painted jeans, they were a rental from the place!

And the very colorful end result!

Grandpa had so much fun jumping! It went something like this: 15-16-17-18-19-20!! That's 20 Grandpa! Okay, 18-19-20!! Good job! 20!! Okay Nineteeeeeeen- TWENTY! Okay Grandpa, time to stop.

These guys got some serious air!

The night finished up with a mini-speech and a promise for a wonderful day tomorrow!

I will conclude with this montage of Sophie and Owen flying across the paint-covered mattress.

What a great wedding rehearsal!
Stay tuned here for wedding photos... coming soon!

Maureen

Baby Photos

2009-09-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

Be prepared to drool. I'm about to show you the most beautiful little two month old baby in the world.
Don't say I didn't warn you.

She's just loungin in the grass. Looks like she liked it too.

Ha. This series is awesome. I think I shall call it "Touchdown, stare down, beat down."

Okay, just one photo of baby and mom. Couldn't resist this one, it's so sweet. I absolutely loooove photos with the baby drool. And hey, I warned you that you'd be drooling by the end of this post.

She's getting sleepy now. She's been wide awake this whole time!

But not for long.

And finally, if you haven't drooled yet. Just look at this photo. Now stare into these big beautiful eyes and tell me this is not the most precious beautiful child ever.

One Year Old Portraits

2009-08-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

Well hello there sweetheart!

This little one just celebrated her first birthday, and she's enjoying all those one-year milestones, like learning how to walk and talk.

But she's also a master at crawling and imitating animals.

She's good at giving kisses too!

Oh dear. This is just about the cutest face ever. Good luck with her when she's a teenager, guys!

Nevermind, she's still quite young and innocent!

What a lovely family!

Daddy gave her some cheerios. Boy did that make her happy!

One final photo here. Isn't she just too precious?

Stephanie's Portrait Session

2009-08-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

This is Stephanie. She is pretty. And she is my friend.

I wanted to take photos so I recruited Stephanie to by my model. We headed down to an industrial train-track filled area on Portland's east-side. I have always wanted to take some portraits in this particular part of town. I think they turned out great, but mostly because I had such a beautiful and willing model. Thanks for awkwardly leaning against things for me, Steph. I had a fun time, and I hope you like your east-side-train-track-glam-shots.

There was just a never-ending list of places where I could make Stephanie sit or stand to model for me.

Stephanie wasn't sure she could pull off the serious modeling face. But I disagree! Check out these two where she's rockin' it!

I LOVE this one. And it's funny, on the camera I didn't like it very much, and we just took a few photos here before I decided to go find a new place to shoot. But it turns out that this is one of my favorite from the day. Shows what I know!

We caught that last hour of light.

We thought we'd try the juxtaposition of the colorful floral dress with the grungy environment. I like this one against the equally-colorful graffiti.

Steph, the ever willing model. She's smiling because she doesn't know what's about to hit her.

Just stand there and pose Steph, you look great.

And there she is, holding her pose through her final moments.

JUST KIDDING. I did NOT let my friend get hit by a train just to add more photos to my portfolio. I'm not THAT bad.

Steph, thanks again. I owe you at least one more pasta dinner for letting me post all of these!

Maggie and Tyler's Wedding

2009-08-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the wedding of Maggie and Tyler. Maggie was my freshman roommate in college, the first person I met when I arrived at the dorms, and an amazing a wonderful woman who taught me a lot about friendship. She deserves the very best, and for that reason, I am so happy that she married Tyler, who is not only the very best, but also funny, smart and completely in love with Maggie.
I didn't take too many photos, maybe I was just enjoying the wedding too much, but here are a handful so you can get a taste of the day.

First things first. This was on the program and I laughed out loud, and then took a photo of it. The "A. Sandler" (as Tyler said, "like anyone didn't know that meant Adam Sandler!") lyrics weren't sung but spoken by the brother of the bride and sister of the groom.

I liked these little displays of photos, probably because I was included on the "Maggie" poster, which made me feel special!

Isn't she pretty!?

The ceremony was performed by a friend of Tyler's.

Right after the, "I now pronounce you husband and wife" line, these doves flew overhead! What a nice touch.

Maggie and Tyler love to laugh. It's awesome. If laughter is the key to a successful marriage, then these two are all set!

See, I told you!!

A toast, a bouquet toss. Hey ladies, you gotta put your hands up in the air if you want to catch it! This explains why a nine year old caught the bouquet!

For the garter tradition, they set up all the groomsmen and Tyler had to dance for each of them. If he got two thumbs up, he got to proceed. If he got a thumbs down he had to go back. It was quite entertaining.

...And he made it!
I believe this was a conspiracy on the guy's part but this little man caught the garter. Looks like it's gonna be a looooong time until the next wedding!

Believe it or not, signing the marriage license came at the end of the night. Maggie said she was waiting until after Tyler did not shove cake in her face.

And now, I have one final thing to share with you. Here's the thing though, I'm no videographer. That's what the dude is for. But I just couldn't let this moment pass without capturing it on video, even if it was just my little digital camera from near the back. Excuse the poor quality, but I hope you enjoy the song, sung by Maggie's young cousin.

Congratulations Maggie and Tyler! I could not be happier for you guys. I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon and a lifetime of happiness!

High Mountain Quartet

2009-08-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

These are "band photos" for the High Mountain Quartet, taken in the South Park Blocks in downtown Portland. It was funny watching them carry around the giant bass for all the photos. Anyway here are the best of each of the poses we took.
Enjoy!
Maureen

And then finally here are a few funny ones. I have no idea what the leaning was about, I was left out of that joke, but for some reason I have a ton of photos of them doing this:

And this is the one they were most excited about. It actually is pretty funny, I think

Cailin and Joel's Wedding

2009-07-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Cailin and Joel, who just got married this weekend in Spokane, Washington... the town that they call home and the place where I first met Cailin, seven years ago in the freshman dorms at Gonzaga University.

These four lovely ladies from college were bridesmaids.

Cailin and her dad beginning the walk down the aisle.

I love this one of Cailin giving her mom a hug.

The beautiful bride and groom.

Once the service ended, the flower girl and ring bearer were quite happy to play with the bubbles.

Oh who am I kidding? So were the bridesmaids!

Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Reception time! My favorite thing about this photo is the stray flower girl running around in the grass below.

She is so adorable! You should have seen her on the dance floor!

Cailin you looked beautiful! Congratulations you guys! Love you!

Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble

2009-07-15T01:49:00.000-07:00

This week I shot photos of the Portland Jazz Composer's Ensemble, a 14-person group playing original compositions by local musicians. It was at the historic Old Church in downtown Portland.

The setting is beautiful for a large jazz concert.

The co-director, and pianist, happens to be my cousin Andrew, Portland jazz extraordinaire.

I'll just close with a few shots here that I like.

Boston

2009-06-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

My photos from Boston are predominately of boats. I like boats, but not as much as this post will make it appear. The reason there are so many boats in these photos is because when I stayed in Boston for a month one fall, I stayed on a boat! That's right, I lived in a little bedroom inside a yacht. (I found in on Craigslist!) It was fun, but so was getting off the boat to snap some photos. I hope you enjoy these photos of Boston and the surrounding New England countryside!

One day a huge fog rolled through and turned the dock into total darkness. It was eerie and weird, and then this sailboat passed through the harbor. I just had to take this photo, I couldn't believe the way it just glowed, and the light was hitting it so perfectly!

Boat photo number two of many.

Boat photo number three of many.

I wouldn't necessarily call this a boat photo, but technically it does have boats in it. This was taken from the Cambridge side looking in to Boston.

Fall is absolutely the best time to go to New England. I seriously love the old-timey feel of this photo, what luck that this perfect red truck drove by as I was setting up this shot!

Boat photo number...? I lost count. They are just so easy to take photos of!

Speaking of boats, while I was in Boston I was able to witness the Head of the Charles, the world's largest two-day rowing event. I probably took hundreds of photos, but I've narrowed it down here to two that I think sum the event up quite nicely. This first one shows the boats heading out to the start line.

This photo pretty much explains the crowds that went to witness the event, I didn't realize it was such a spectator sport!

This is one of my favorite fall photos of all time. Boston had a huge pumpkin carving event with hundreds, maybe thousands, of carved pumpkins lining these steps and also stacked up huge towers of shelves with row after row of carved pumpkins.

Washington D.C.

2009-06-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

If you don't know me personally, you may not know that I spent some time traveling around the country and filming streets for the project that ultimately became "Google Street View". I spent one to two months in a handful of cities around the country. I am posting here some of my favorite photos from my time in Washington D.C. and I'm sure I'll post photos from other cities I explored on that journey in other posts.
I hope you enjoy!

Maureen

The Washington Monument is so simple and beautiful.

...And I love the way it glows at night.

Walking along

The Vietnam Memorial is famous because it is also so refreshingly simple. But every time I walked through it, I couldn't stop thinking about how many names would fill a similar monument for our current war. When you think about it like that, the whole thing is so somber and makes me wonder when we'll ever learn the lessons history is trying to teach us.

One thing I love about Washington D.C. is that it's no ordinary metropolis. I love the way it seems like another big city, but for the glowing capitol building budding up in the distance.

This is a snapshot of a random choir group who traveled to D.C. to sing on steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

An early morning jogger through the National Mall.

Another great thing about D.C. is the amount of passion and activism that lives there. Take this guy for example, who I photographed at a rally about Palestine.

And of course, you could never go to D.C. without stopping in some of the museums. And did I mention that almost everything there is free?

A beautiful evening at the Lincoln Memorial

I like this shot of the wares at the Eastern Market, a fabulous farmer's market and craft market.

Night visitors on the Lincoln Memorial. It's one of those places you have to visit twice, once during the day and once at night.

This is the Korean War Memorial, which has a series of soldier statues.

There is no end to the number of memorials in Washington D.C. But I like the simplicity of this shot.

One night down at the Washington Monument we found a group of students on a class trip. They had spontaneously decided to lay down along the base lights of the monument and prop up their feet, which is when I caught this shot.

And here's how it looked from a distance.

The construction simply can't keep up with the growth in this city.

Chinatown in D.C. is a hip neighborhood, full of trendy little bars and shops. I don't know why, but that is funny to me. The entrance signs are beautiful, that's for sure.

I mentioned this before, but I just can't get enough of it. I love the way the Capitol building literally glows at night.

This is the inside of a fun coffee shop where I used to hang out a lot. It's right by the train station.

The buildings in D.C. are simply amazing.

This last photo is of an ordinary street in the city that someone decided to paint with stripes. I don't know the story behind it, but it makes for some lovely photos.

Portraits

2009-05-29T22:56:00.001-07:00

I love portrait photography. I have posted a few of my favorites that I've snapped over the years. Enjoy!

This is my best friend Meghan. She is so beautiful, so she's my favorite subject!

This is Ivan enjoying a nice cigar.

This is Meghan again. She gets two photos up here because she's my best friend! This photo was snapped when we stumbled upon a private beach on the island of Borneo.

This is an old photo from college of Katie. I have lost contact with the subject, but I still love the photo and the weird, dive bar feel it gives off.

This is another one pulled from the college archives. I have always loved this one of Will, snapped while riding down a windy road in an open air vehicle in Thailand. He had tucked the flower behind his ear and was absorbed in his ipod, and he wasn't aware that I was taking this photo.

My friend Katie is the most colorful person I know, so I always make sure that the photos of her are colorful too!

Jim is Meghan's dad, but he's been a part of my life since day one. He's eternally youthful but immensely wise. I think this photo shows that.

These next two photos are of my brothers. This is my older brother out with nature, where he feels right at home.

This one is my younger brother. We get a lot of rain here in Oregon, so this seems like a natural photo to me.

My cousin Andrew is an extremely talented musician (www.andrewoliver.net) and also fun and eccentric. This photo shows both music and playfulness.

This is my friend Jill, who is one of the smartest people I know. But she still knows how to be silly, and I took this picture when we stumbled upon a random rope swing at the end of a hike.

I will post more portraits of my friends and family with time. I hope you enjoyed this introductory set!

Melissa and Dan's Wedding

2009-05-26T22:46:00.001-07:00

This weekend I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with Melissa and Dan at their beautiful and intimate wedding at Bozarth Mansion. I was just a guest, but I managed to catch a few shots. I hope you enjoy!
Congratulations again Melissa and Dan! I hope you're enjoying your honeymoon!
Love,
Maureen