Nutcracker Production

So, for the past few weeks I have been driving my daughter to Nutcracker Dress rehearsals and to performances and it has been exhausting, yet so inspirational. I am consistently impressed by the incredible work that Ballet Northwest does to put on this annual production. It is BEAUTIFUL and so worth seeing. I also love that BNW includes so many of the community in the cast. It is a great opportunity for people to learn self confidence and how a show like this is put together. Check out their website for more information www.balletnorthwest.org
We are so fortunate to have a Ballet of this caliber in Olympia, if you haven't seen it go. This year's is SOLD OUT, but next year, save a trip North and go to Ballet Northwest's Nutcracker, you will be soooooooooooo glad you did.

Here are a few pictures of my daughter as a soldier. She was so cute and just really enjoyed being part of the battle between the Mouse King and the Nutcracker.

Photo Animation for Fun!

So, this isn't really photography related, and I have a bunch of new photos to post in the next couple of days, but I just had to share. I just found this really fun animation website where I could create a photography avatar. I had way too much fun doing it and was really excited they had a photographer animation. You can go there and create your own as well at www.meez.com

Check me out!

Vintage Style

I just had the most amazing time photographing a young woman, Juliane in Olympia who has major "Vintage Style". We had a blast and went to the State Capital to grab pics of the marble grandeur and timelessness. Of course Juliane has such a timelessness to her and she just seemed to be at home there amongst the marble and stone columns.

I am posting some of my favorites and made a slideshow which you can see here

Gratitude WOW!

WOW!
This morning I received an email from Davina Fear (www.davinafear.com), a Photographer who is absolutely amazing. She told me to check her blog and I did and found out I have been awarded a Davina Scholarship toward the tution of Love Affair (www.loveaffairworkshop.com), the Women's Photography Workshop in NC.

I am so thrilled, stunned, and honored to have received this. I am now working on raising the rest of the funds to go there. It is such an amazing gift to have people I admire believe in me and my work. I am so honored and deeply touched by this!

So Halloween was a BLAST! We went to the Governor's house and my daughter received a book and a chocolate bar, we saw the house of 100 pumpkins, and then trick or treated for a little while as well. The Halloween Fairy decided to come this year too. A child at school told my daughter that if you put all the candy out for the Halloween Fairy she will leave a present, well she did. Almost ALL of the candy got put into a bag and in the morning ***POOF*** there in its place were 2 one dollar bills. My daughter was so excited that she plans on doing this again next year. Apparantly the tooth fairy and the Halloween fairy are friends.

Here are a few cute pics of my daughter as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

My Website is LIVE!!!!!

My website is finally live! The address is www.dineaphoto.com and I can hardly believe it is now up and running. I will be adding to it in the next few weeks as well. I had a friend tell me to just do it and put it up even if I don't think it is perfect. I took his advice and am really happy I did. I see it as an evolving work in progress and am really happy to have my work up there for people to enjoy.

I would love to hear what you think about it in the comments section of this post. It is really fun to hear from all of you.

Photography Workshops

This weekend I went to an Advanced Photography Workshop with Me Ra Koh. Her and Brian are such amazing people and so genuine in helping photographers advance in their businesses but especially be ourselves as photographers and people. Here are a few images I took this weekend. I love the one where the light is framing her face in the window light.

Autumn Family Portraits

I am so happy for the beautiful fall weather. After all the rain last week I thought winter had set in for good! Thank goodness it still is fall and so unpredictable. Like they say, wait 10 minutes and the weather will change.

We had a great sunbreak over the week and I got a chance to go out and take photos of this great family!!!!!! We had so much fun and I really enjoyed getting to discover a new park called Seven Oars near the Friendship bridge in Olympia. Their daughter had such a blast and you could really tell that she was a natural with the camera. By the end of our day together, she even started to find cool compositions and places to have her photo taken. It was so sweet! I also took this amazing shot of her dad holding her with such love and compassion, it brought tears to my eyes when I saw it. It is definitely a moment that she will look back on and remember how much is is loved!

Enjoy the pics and let me know what you think in the comments section! I love to know who is reading this blog so say hello.