Then there were something like 500 piano lessons and about a trillion cover-you-ears mistakes on the piano…but she still was okay with driving me an hour to piano lessons every week. And in between all of the horse rides & songs on the piano there were hugs, kisses, home-cooked meals, tuck-me-in-to-beds, wipe-away-my-tears, and love-yous. And well, that’s just the beginning of a very long list of memories I have of my mom putting her children before herself.

So though this beginning of a list of selflessness is inadequate… Happy Day, Mom!

& I love you!

Last year on Mother’s Day I woke up and found my mom on the deck. I had to grab my camera to preserve one of the rare moments she takes for herself. And then I poured myself a cup of coffee and & joined her

I drove the rental car north, north, north past La Paz in baja Mexico. I hit topes (speed bumps which litter the highways here) too fast & my friend Benjamin groaned and exclaimed in exasperation at my driving all day. It was exhausting for both of us. haha. But we made it to the beach just in time for sunset, and a much needed break from each other.

The sun fell. The waves hit me, sprayed onto my red hem…warm the water was! Then the tide dragged back across the pebbles and my ankles and returned to el mar. Walking, enjoying, the road anxiety fell away and I was just there in my red-dress moment.

& it was there that the sea challenged me: We enjoy moments like this. Moments like this make our heart happy. They make us quite, peaceful; they make us soft. In moments like this we understand the beauty of God a little better. So, why do we enjoy moments like this, but then go away, leave for too long and forget. Why don’t we make moments like these happen more often in our lives?

A red-dress moment could be a weekend get-away, a stop at a waterfall, a half-hour buried in a book, 10 minutes with your morning coffee, a sunset, a bike ride. What ever it may be…make time for a red-dress moment!

These pictures were taken on my iphone of another ‘red-dress moment’ while I was here in Los Cabos. Spent the afternoon on the beach. A few 17 year old marines were body boarding, sail boats followed the whales around…and I just watched!

In May I was invited to share a personal project at the Kennewick Art Walk. Hosted by Essence Photography Co., I enjoyed an evening of conversation with appreciators of art. People are fascinated by age. Especially as we mature, we start to see the process of growing older, not as wrinkles or unsteady feet, but as beauty. A beauty that is wisdom, character, strength, and story. It was this beauty that drew me to capture a day in the life of Marie: to be exact, day 37,345. What I didn’t think about, was that Marie had become a figure of Historic Downtown Kennewick. She had lived in the little pink house on Fruitland for years. Her husband had a barbershop downtown. So one by one as the locals would step into the studio, I’d hear: It’s Grandma Keller! How is she? and then they would share Grandma Keller stories with me. One gentleman shared with me:

I was running the farmer’s market at the time. One afternoon I returned and one of my employees told me that we had a watermelon to deliver. “We don’t do deliveries,” I said. The employee didn’t think that we delivered either, but the woman insisted we would. When he showed me the address, I said, “Oh, of course…for Mrs. Keller…we deliver ”

Everyone who attended received a letter at the door:

I’ve thought about my own gigabytes upon gigabytes of work that I’ve done over the last year. Or really, the majority of which was in the last 6 months since I went full time in June, and there are two images that stand forefront in my mind. I have favorites from each of my sessions (which you will see in individual blog posts over the next two months…if I can hold myself to my New Year’s Resolution , but when I think about my works as a whole, these two images come to mind.

Perhaps it’s because I’m picky. Perhaps it’s because I’m perpetually critical of my own work. Perhaps it’s because one of these images is intimately personal to my family and the other was thanks only to a lot of hard work by a number of talented people.  Perhaps it’s because I’m seldom entirely happy with a single shot. Perhaps it’s because I never feel settled with one shot for very long.

Or perhaps I just have a bad memory

Whatever the reason, here are the two images that are most iconic in my mind from the past year.

Here’s to 2011!

We love the people in our lives! We appreciate them, but no, we don’t always show them how MUCH we appreciate them. Luckily there are landmarks throughout the year that give us an extra chance to show them: “I appreciate you. I’m so glad you’re in my life.”

And so in the weeks leading up to the gift-giving, we search and search for just the right gift. Because getting just the right gift means something. “It means I care. It means I care especially about you.”

We listen for any hints of what the receiver of the gift might want. But even when they drop mention of something, we wonder if they really really want it, or if it was just a passing thought. Maybe we even drop suggestions on the sly just to gage their response  Santa’s got it figured out with wishlists, doesn’t he!?

& so…when we actually hand over the carefully wrapped gift it’s with butterflies. Butterflies that say: your joy is important to me! We watch with as much anticipation as the hands ripping off the ribbon & it’s when the paper is pulled aside that we know whether or not the gift is perfect. If your gift  brings a giddy-happy-as-a-child-on-christmas-morning smile, then no matter how old the reciever is…you’ve chosen well.

Yesterday, I made someone smile like a child on christmas morning & when I opened this gift, I was giddy-happy!

May you enjoy your weekend of giving!

This piece is called ‘seasonal workers’ and is the work of the local artist Cameron Mills. You can check-out more of his work at the Kennewick Coffee Co. which he and his wife Katie own in Historic Downtown Kennewick. Tell Katie & Cameron you saw his piece here!

So here I was, wandering over hill & dale in wonderland, in a funk. & for no great reason. I was having a great weekend. I was in love with Edgefield. I was shooting. & shooting makes me happy. But not this shoot. I just wasn’t feeling it. I was shooting flowers & garden sculptures & plants. I was shooting worn brick walls & rocking chairs on porches & trellises covered in vines. I was shooting robin’s in the trees & rabbits in the carrots. In a funk.

“What’s wrong,” Eric asked?

“Why?” I replied.

“You’re quiet.” He said. “Are you getting good stuff?”

Yeah, me being quiet is a pretty good give away. Just ask anyone I’ve shot: I turn into my best self. I squeal & oooh & dance in a circle. Cause I’m getting pretty pictures! Pictures that makes me happy! Pictures that makes me squeal!

“I’m hating it. I’m hating everything I’m shooting.” I said. “I just hate myself when I shoot ‘stuff.’ I don’t want to shoot ‘stuff’. It doesn’t do anything for me. I don’t want to shoot ‘stuff’; I want to shoot people.”

After a 14 hour day of shooting people at Saturday’s wedding, you would think I’d be satisfied, happy, thankful for a day off. But no, what I thought I wanted was for a bride in her white dress to magically appear walking through the poppy-lined path. (That’s me saying: have your wedding at Edgefield & invite me to capture your day!) I would even settle for Alice with her gold ringlets & slippered-feet. Or I could just high-jack the engagement session that a photographer was shooting across the way. ”Excuse me,” I would say & tap the photographer on the shoulder. “My name’s Shannon & I shoot people. Do you mind if I just borrow your adorable people for a few shots?” KIDDING! I wouldn’t; but I wanted to.

So when I got home I just dumped my images in a folder and ignored them. I ignored them for a month. Then I opened them up & this is what I found. I found a wonderland. I found magical details & a beautiful morning that I’d give anything to just jump into the nearest rabbit hole & magically return to. & I realized that the ‘stuff’ I was shooting wasn’t so bad after all. & I realized that I’m not half bad at shooting ‘stuff” as I wanted to think. & that you can find good ‘stuff” even in funks.

So come on! I’m shaking-off my Monday funk. You should too. & jump into the rabbit hole with me…

And it caught me.

It caught me off guard because it’s been almost two years since I’ve felt that resentment. The resentment that said: “No. I’m not planning on having a wonderful day. It’s not.” Because it was true, Monday was a pull-my-covers-over-my-head-day & roll over & then roll over again day. There was a reason why I was wearing my sunglasses inside & visiting Starbucks at 4 in the afternoon.

It was when I was grabbing my cup off the bar that another barista said, “Have a good day.”

& I could agree with her. It wasn’t a Wonderful Day!, but it was a good day. I started out with a commercial shoot that had me capturing the comraderie of 4 agri-business partners. I was on my way to shoot a commercial shoot which included bright colors, a blue stage & a pug. I had an oh-so-thoughtful phone call from my sis and conversation. I found dry lemongrass soda at greenies & got to talk ‘Nikon’ with Darren when he generously offered to play with the flash set-up on my camera. I drove with the roof-window in my car opened to blue sky. One of my photography subjects wore polka-dot stockings. & the list of good things in my day go on…

…to good days.

& to farmer’s in polka-dot stockings.

 kidding! No, it wasn’t the pug either. But I’ll share soon…promise!