Sun: What a treat! {Sitka Alaska Photographer}

My friend Katrina returned to Sitka! Yahoo.
She had a wonderful idea to go hiking on New Year's Day.
It was exactly, {I mean exactly!} "what the Doctor prescribed", too!
A day outside in the glorious winter sun that we don't get to see enough of.

This is Beaver Lake. The smooth ice was pristine . . . there was one lucky skater making the tracks. We wished we had our skates, too. I love skating. Back in the day, my dream was to be a figure skater. Taught myself a couple things. I would go outside in like 3 pairs of tights and some sort of skirt and skate around, wiping my blades off frequently so they would stay "shiny". I pretended I was in the Olympics. Oh, it was such fun! Fun the the Vancouver Olympics are coming up, too! Always have to have things to look forward to.

Blue Moon {& Happy New Year!}

I read in our newspaper "The Sitka Sentinel" that the New Year's Eve full moon was a "Blue Moon" being the 2nd full moon in December.
The last time a Blue Moon occurred on New's Years eve was 1990!

I'm ready to say goodbye to 2009. It was a year of emotion, growth, challenge, and self-reflection. It was, however, a great leap for me as I began my dream of being a wedding and portrait photographer. I am so grateful for the opportunities I had to photograph many lovely people and to build my portfolio. Thank you for your support and encouragement! As I was reading everyone's New Year's blog posts, I feel inspired to make a few resolutions of my own: 1. Make list of all the many positives in my life. Post this to the refrigerator. 2. Make a list of ongoing projects to do, which include: sign up for a yoga class (Nate calls it "Yoda" just to be silly), start knitting again (been a couple years), and finish my professional photography course. 3. Try to maintain inner peace and calm (with help from doing the above 2 resolutions) ;) May all your dreams come true in 2010. All the best. Truly.

Happy Anniversary {to us!}

We made it two years! Happy Anniversary to the {handsomest} husband! I do love you. And while each day I get another "gray hair", you still manage to make me laugh and smile even when I am fuming mad. {oh, wait, do I ever get fuming mad?!!!} ha. yes, i do. I do, I do! I hope that our 3rd year of marriage will bring more joys, possible miracle(s), challenges that only make us stronger, and adventures. {the latter being the only absolute certain!}

Since we had a whirlwind fast 6 week engagement, there was hardly time to rthink, much less get professional photos done. So, we asked Cindy (see the watermarks) to take photos of us this past fall. It's a different experience to "be photographed" and thanks so much to Cindy for the fun photos; we truly treasure them. {Thanks, Nate, for being a good sport!}

Thank you for remembering.

Sentiments

This is going to sound odd, but, I survived the Holidays! Thank you for the well wishes; I feel so grateful for friends and family who thought of us. We miss you all! Hope everyone had a joyful Christmas. I have to be honest; Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I was so insanely emotional for reasons beyond reason. It really sunk in. I felt like an elementary school age kid again, just mad that I couldn't get what I wanted: to be with family on Christmas. Then, after the smoke { . . . er, tears} cleared, I realize that I am so very thankful to have friends to spend the holidays with, and family to care about. And so thankful that we have dedicated soldiers fighting for our freedoms so we can choose to celebrate Christmas and to always have that freedom. Now my heart breaks for people forced by the circumstances, to be a half a world apart from their homes for months and years. Also, I am thankful that modern technology decided to be in our favor on Christmas Day! {Was able to "Skype" with my family and dear sibs} Also, I was/am in bad need of music therapy. This crazy song actually makes me feel like fighting off the "bears" again!! {*darn* those bears! They are supposed to be hibernating!!!!!!!} This is how the song makes me feel: Life is NO WAY, not EVER going to get me "down, down, down, down" again. LOL. Ha. Ok, that's enough of my sentiments. Love and hugs to all my dear blog readers!

Christmas Wish

Merry Christmas, everyone!
It's a windy, rainy 44 Degree Christmas in Sitka and it feels very strange.
While I am sad to not be with family and trying to hold back tears every two minutes, it still is the same season with a wonderful meaning. We are fortunate to have some friends to spend Christmas with.

Thanks to all of you blog readers who support me and offer encouragement and feedback on this photographical journey of life! It's such a warm feeling to know that out of feeling {isolated?} that we can still all connect. It's been quite the rollercoaster of a year. May we all continue to have strength to move forward and feel happy for the moment and for the reason for the season! Thanks again. Jen

No Limits!

I recently met Dave at a community event for diabetes. Recently, he was featured in the national magazine, Diabetes Forecast! He gave me his permission to share this article.

He is the "Lead Adventurer" for "No Limits", an organization that promotes people with diabetes to live with "no limits"! {Despite not having diabetes myself, I could certainly use this inspiration!}
Check out his fabulous blog here for more info on what fabulous events Dave is organizing (and some fabulous Sitka photos!)

To Mainland Alaska!

Last weekend and the prior week we were lucky enough to go to Anchorage.
From where we live on Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska, it takes about 2 plus hours of travel time to get there. (Sometimes I wish this state wasn't so big . . . but then it wouldn't be the grandeur that it is . . . )
Trisha called me on Sunday after my plane got in and invited up to Hatcher Pass for sledding & snowshoeing. (And photo-ing, of course)

Karen & Roy are also living in Alaska and brought their 4 kids- they were all having so much fun.

Sisters: above and below (left)

Brrr- it was cold. Nothing we ain't used to, though, being from Minnesota!
In Sitka we are spoiled by typically above zero temps, usually in the 20s-30s in the winter. It was a cold spell in Anchorage- Mat-Su area.

Bradley, Trisha and their adorable girls.

Hatcher Pass and the "valley". I remember being here in the summer over 7 years ago and just absolutely being in awe.

Katie, I was thinking of you! :)
(We spent a summer here back then traveling around in our rusty, bad-tranny, $125, '84 Olds Firenza that we nicknamed the "B.E.A.S.T." {Best Ever Automobile for Sightseeing Tours}).
(Had to try the "Vintage News" action again)

On Tuesday night, after my exam, Trisha and Andrea drove down to Anc for "coffee". Surprisingly no one drank coffee, but we enjoyed soup and (I) enjoyed a 135 gram carb fruit sundae. Couldn't eat more than 1/4 of it . . . but you need a dessert to celebrate anyways!

After the rest of the week and my diabetes conference (which was awesome, by the way) Nate and I went back up to the "valley" to hang out.
We visited til after midnight; it is so wonderful to spend time with people from back home!

Saturday morning, Andrea gave me a massage (I was her first Alaskan client ;) ) It was great. Highly recommended!

The girls were entertaining to watch in themselves! They got some new dress-up clothes and gloves and don't think I saw (Brenna anyways) wear much else the whole weekend! how fun, though.

Later on Saturday (while we still had a couple of daylight hours left) Bradley and Trisha and girls took Nate and I on a drive to try to see a moose. We ended up seeing two. Chatted with a State Trooper who was from close to the area where Nate and Trisha grew up.

On the drive, this hearty Alaskan called out for help-- the dogs were tangled (or something?) and they were dragging the parked 4-wheeler. Nate held the brakes for them and wow- those dogs are born to run that's for sure!

We went down McKenzie Pt Road and saw a great view of Anchorage. It's actually not that big of a city, probably comparable in size to Duluth.

Sunday morning, at the "crack of dawn" ha ha (9:00am) We got up and drove to see the sunrise over the river. (proof!)

It was stunning. Couldn't decide between more sky or more water.

I metered the reflecting water for this shot. It's a small exposure trick I learned from "Understanding Exposure" book by Bryan Peterson. I've read it three times and it's a great tool if you are trying to venture into more manual settings.

We were on such a high from catching the great sunrise so we drove some more . . . got to see this moose up close! Yeehaw!

Later, after homeade caramel rolls and lasagna, we all went to hike "the butte". It's 875 feet high and provides great views and a nice workout. Not to mention it's practically in T & B's backyard.

Nate and Bradley share a laugh on the Butte.

Newlyweds, Tim and Andrea on our little hike :)

Nate, up to some mischief, tries to start a snowball fight with me and HA! . . . gets caught on camera! :)

Beautiful views from the Butte.

The daylight was quickly winding down and we had to visit my uncle still and catch our flight to Sitka. Why do fun times have to fly by so quickly? :) Thanks, all, for the great time and fabulous hospitality! (p.s. I really like p.s. notes. Ev is working with me on my website and thanks to her for the updated logo! I love it!)