Continue reading »]]> Here we are at the end of the 5×5 series, and what a fun project it has been. For our last posting we chose to look at the Friendly Area Neighborhood, centered around the aptly named Friendly Street Market. Yes, that is right- Friendly Street. You will be pleased to know that everybody was in fact quite friendly. Eugene’s neighborhoods are a little funny. Each area exists as its own community, with markets and food carts and coffeeshops just right down the road. You barely need to venture outside of your own five block radius. As a result, I’ve never really explored the Friendly area. I’m certainly glad I did though, as it is one of Eugene’s most charming neighborhoods and holds such gems as J-Tea, featured in the image below.

Thanks for following us through this little local journey. We’re hatching a plan for the next year and hope to let you all in on it soon. Cheers!

Continue reading »]]> When examining our community and the spaces that make it unique, I would be remiss in overlooking Saturday Market. It doesn’t quite fit in to the 5×5 series, as it isn’t strictly a neighborhood and we didn’t shoot in the blocks around the market. Oh well. I think it is important, that it is representative of our community, and that it makes for great shots. Also, I make the rules. So neiner, neiner, neiner. For those who don’t know, Saturday Market runs on, well, Saturdays through Spring, Summer and Fall. It takes up about three blocks in Downtown Eugene. Technically, it is comprised of two different entities, Lane Farmer’s Market and Eugene Saturday Market. There is also a large unsanctioned area across the road that consists of drum circles, poi spinners, glass pipe and hemp necklace sales. The Market itself was founded in 1974 and consists of booths by 100+ vendors selling handmade goods, and food products are sold by the partner Farmer’s Market. Several communities across the country have used Eugene’s Saturday Market as a model for creating their own, as well they should. Saturday Market is not only an institution and a great shopping experience, it is a source of pride for our community.

Continue reading »]]> 5×5:3? Awesome! We have two left after this one. Let’s make them good.

For this 5×5 we chose Sundance Natural Foods. Technically, Sundance is right at the border of the South University neighborhood and the Amazon neighborhood, but I’ve always heard the area referred to as the Sundance neighborhood. It is funny how some of our areas have official sounding names, but we refer to them as something that resonates more closely to our associations of the place, rather than the more formal. I haven’t spent much time in this area, so it was nice to do some exploring. I can tell you this, the Sundance neighborhood has a lot of really friendly cats!

Continue reading »]]> New 5×5! Yay!

For this 5×5 we decided to head downtown and shoot around the Kiva Grocery Store, located downtown right next to our beautiful library and downtown transit station. I should probably explain that I am a downtown nerd. The disappearance of our downtown cores breaks my heart, and we make a point to visit different downtown areas when we travel. These spaces can tell us so much about our towns, our area’s culture, and our histories. If you meander through my archives you will see a lot of shots of our downtown area, and you can see the transitions it has been making in years since we moved here. I’m very proud of the work that is going into our downtown. Our two large pits have both been filled in, storefronts are getting facelifts, and is it just me, or are more people meandering through the streets? So here is the downtown 5×5, enjoy!

New bike racks/public art outside the Kiva Grocery Store

What was once a large pit affectionately named Lake Charnelton is soon to be LCC's downtown hub.

Classical music is piped into a few of Eugene's downtown spaces. Seems like they need to mix up their song selection.

She wanted me to take her picture, and then she wanted to play with my camera.

Cats on leashes seem to be a trend amongst travelers these days.

Continue reading »]]> This week we headed out to Yachats on a mission. First, of course we wanted a nice relaxing trip. Yachats is always great for that. It is a beautiful little town, with a fantastic coffee shop. We even managed to get passes to the luxurious Overleaf Spa, where we soaked away our stresses with cucumbers on our eyes. So yes, that part of the trip was successful. But the other goal for our trip was to get some long exposure shots of the tide. It was just after the full moon when we went out and the tide was very high (especially since it is the dead of winter).  The following images were created shortly after midnight, right around high tide.

I just love the soft and misty effect that happens when shooting water with long exposures. It puts me in mind of fairy tales and magical kingdoms. Of course, we also got a few images during the day. These were taken at Neptune Beach (my favorite!) and Bob Creek.

And of course there are these two, pictures that make me feel mushy inside because I love my little family and am so grateful that we get to do this and have this life.

Continue reading »]]> Sometimes we become so entrenched in our lives that we forget to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. As a photographer, this can become a difficult trap. I encounter so much inspiration in our travels, when everything is new to me or significant in Very Important Ways. It is, I think, important that we remember to keep our eyes open at home as well.

One of the things I love about Eugene is our market culture. Many of the neighborhoods in our little town have neighborhood markets. Each of these markets reflect the nature of their neighborhood. I’ve always wanted to spend time photographing these places and exploring their relationship to their area.

I also began to think about challenging myself to create five images within a five block area. Each of these images had to be unique to me. I couldn’t go back to Red Apple and shoot again (as much as I wanted to), or get the same old shot of Tiny’s. So, I put the two thoughts together and created the 5×5 Challenge.

Every week I will be selecting one of the neighborhood markets in my town and photographing within five blocks of it. I will then select five images and post them here on the blog. My goal is to continue this for five weeks. Seemed appropriate, no?

So, without further ado:

5×5: 1. Red Barn Natural Grocery

What do you think? Do you have any location suggestions for me?

Continue reading »]]> I’m sorry there haven’t been many new photo updates. Running a business is full of little bits and pieces that are all Very Important. Mage and I have been pretty engrossed in getting everything put together.

If you have been following for a while, you have probably noticed that we got a new look in December. While the previous website was good for 2008, it looked pretty dated four years later. We made a new one, launched it in December, and realized that we needed something a bit different with more functionality. Hint: Don’t design a website in Dreamweaver using tables/slices. This is what the internet calls, “Doing it wrong”. So, Mage very patiently smiled and nodded at me, made me design some files for him, and redid the whole site. I’m pretty sure he was suffering from a bit of geek rage, but we all learned a lesson. Leave the coding to Mage. Leave the pretty making to Gretchen. Go check out the site again. It has a couple new features and new photos too gaze upon.

New Sparkle Website!

We had a lot of people asking about purchasing prints, so we opened an Etsy site for print sales.  It is linked from the site, or you can get there from here:

New Fantastico Etsy Page!

Of course, we also started a Facebook page. How could we not? After the first month, we hit our first goal of 100 likes. Woohoo! If you haven’t yet, go over here and like us.

New Awesome Facebook Page!

And finally, our business cards came in. I love them so very much! The colors are great, the images look perfect, and I’m pretty sure they could be used in place of a throwing star in battle. These suckers are strong and pointy!

(finally, a freaking picture)

As you can see, we’ve been pretty busy. We have some neat plans coming up, that I promise to post about soon. In the meantime, I’m going to try not to code, or build any new sorts of websites, or anything of that nature….for at least a week!

Continue reading »]]> We have been visiting family for the past week and it has been a lot of fun. Today we’re meeting up with an old friend and heading to Ithaca, NY for a fantastic photo day. In the meantime, here are a couple shots from Choconut Creek in Vestal. My Grandparent’s house used to be very close to this spot, and I have a lot of good memories of playing back here in the summer.

These images were designed to be a triptych, but I think they work well on their own as well. As with everything I’ve been shooting lately, they want to be Really Big!

Continue reading »]]> I lived in Washington for years, never quite understanding how gray it was. Don’t get me wrong, I am fine with the fog, mist and general grayness. It is just interesting to me that our perspectives can change so much. After spending the last four years in Oregon, the Puget Sound area seems so northern and Nordic. The landscape so closely resembles SE Alaska. Here are a few shots from our travels. Enjoy, and remember that we sell prints!