Finding Small Treasures In The Archives

I was cleaning up my external drive archives last week and found a few treasures. Sometimes whether or not a photograph has great technical merit, to you it's a great photo because of the memories it brings back. And it's funny how an image may not strike me today, but months or years down the line, I look at an old photo in an entirely new way.

Deep in the Muir Woods, California

Hunting Pelican, Tankah Bay, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Mexico

Sutra Baths at Sunset, San Francisco, California

Sydney Timmons High School Senior Photo Shoot

Patrick and I had the opportunity in May to do a senior shoot with this sassy, lovely, very healthy young lady who has her father's dry sense of humor. Sydney has many interests, and one of the main ones is fitness - she works out every day and hopes to be a fitness model. We had a great time with her and she was such a good sport about the whole shoot. Both of her parents were with us as well - love it when Mom and Dad want to be there for their daughter, even on a photo shoot - parents are so good at making their teenagers react for the camera.

These are some of my favorite outtakes from the shoot - often I like them so much more than the posed shots:

Patrick Saunders Takes First Place At the 2015 Penn Valley Plein Air Competition

Patrick Saunders participated again this year in the Penn Valley Plein Air competition, and his painting of Union Station took First Place.

He also painted this lovely scene of the lake "Penn Valley Lake" (12"x16", oil on canvas):

Patrick Saunders Wins Best In Show, First Place In The Oils Division, And Artist's Choice At The 2015 Augusta Plein Air Festival

Patrick Saunders went to the Augusta Plein Air Festival for the first time this year and had a great show of it. His "Stones, Femme Osage" painting, a few of a civil war cemetery near Augusta, won three awards - Best In Show, First Place In Oils, and the Artists' Choice award.

Bob Bahr of Plein Air Magazine wrote a great online article about Augusta for PleinAirCollector: Many Winners at Agusta Event

Here are some other lovely paintings Patrick did during the two-week event.

"Uptown, Augusta, MO" (oil on canvas, 12'x16') - this one is my favorite:

"Peonies" (oil on canvas, 9"x12")