Pioneers

For the last four years I've had the pleasure of being the photographer for the Salem area LDS youth during their big 3 day conference each July. This year they did a pioneer trek reenactment so of course I had to have them sit for some authentic pioneer family photos!
After the annual slideshow in October when they finally get to see all the pictures, each of them received
a copy of their "family" picture, plus they've had fun tagging themselves on my Facebook.

Chefs For Liberty House | Salem OR Event Photography

Earlier this month was time for the annual Chefs for Liberty House event. Supporters can learn more about the organization's mission, donate, play games, enjoy an amazing meal and participate in silent and live auctions. This year the event was at the Putnam Center at Willamette University.





There were lots of great silent auction items...


...and fabulous live auction items




Chef Alberto "Massimo" Brofferio of the Drunken Cook, Chef Daryl Gossack of Loustic Catering, and Chef Joan Taylor
and Chef Joshua Green of Bon Appetit came together to create an amazing meal for the event.


Heads or Tails! Buy some beads to play the game and see if your choice of heads or tails
matches the flip of a coin long enough to earn half the pot from all the beads bought.


The live auction ends the night and with all the excitement. I love covering this event.


Some of the happy tables at the end of the night.

Chefs For Liberty House | Salem OR Event Photography

The second recent project I had with Liberty House was to cover their annual Chefs for Liberty House event in which supporters can come and learn more about the organization's mission, donate, play games, enjoy an amazing meal and participate in silent and live auctions. This year the event was at Creekside Golf Club.

You can read more about the event in the May 26 edition of the Statesman Journal which features some of my photography, or in the June 1st Liberty House Newsletter. The night was a huge success for Liberty House who broke their goal in raising over $95,000!









The silent auction room was a busy place and some items brought on intense bidding wars. The bidding in this detail
shot, for instance, went back and forth between 136 and 160 much further across the page than shown here.

While perusing the silent auction and trying the myriad appetizers, guests enjoyed the music of Bill Hughes and Wagner Trindade.

Thank you gifts for those who win the live auction prizes and the Wall of Wine
where for a small donation guests can purchase a mystery bottle worth up to $60.



The entertaining game of Heads or Tails required a $10 purchase of a beaded necklace to enter. When the time came, participants stood and chose "heads" or "tails" by holding that respective area on themselves! A coin was flipped and the winners stayed in for another round. Art James won the prize of half the pot for entering the game, but promptly donated it back to Liberty House.

During the meal the audience gave a hearty round of applause to these amazing chefs that helped make the night possible:
Michael Sullivan, Chef de Cuisine catering; Karo Thom, Alcyone Café & Catering; Pedro Rosales, La Margarita Co.; Paul Lieggi, Bon Appetit;
David Rosales, La Capitale Brasserie; Richard Cunningham, Lakeview Restaurant at Creekside Golf Club.



Some of the incredible live auction prizes.

The live auction was a highly entertaining and lively event. Some bidding wars were great enough that everyone won with the top two bidders both walking away with the prize and Liberty House getting double the donation.

Everyone came away having had an amazing evening.

Liberty House Champions for Children Luncheon

Recently the non-profit organization Liberty House, a child abuse assessment center, held their annual Champions for Children Luncheon. It was a great opportunity to learn more about their mission and how much they help the community. Here are a few of the photographs I took of the event. You can find out more about Liberty House on their website, http://www.libertyhousecenter.org/.

Superbowl

Go Pack Go!

Megan in Stadium Jumping

A little while ago I took these pictures of Megan in the stadium jumping phase of the Inavale horse trials. Megan is a pre-vet student, eats and breathes all things horse and has attended national and international Pony Club competitions, so it was fun to watch and photograph her in action.

Catching a landing like this just makes me think 'how in the world does a massive animal like a horse come down on such a tiny single leg?!'

And look how powerful a horse looks in take off!



Clearly she had no fun, right?

Thanks for a great show Megan!