The main focus of my blog is to have a safe place, a fun place, a creative place and hopefully build a community.

I am like a different person when I have a camera in my hand.  My world slows down and I can actually stay in the moment and discover all the marvelous things around me. I know there are professional to amateur photographers who enjoy taking photos as much as I do. I’m really hoping you enjoy my blog and participate in some of my challenges.  I also know that there are a lot of non-photographers who just enjoy looking a photos so I hope you have a fun time looking at my blog.

Over the course of the five or so years of blogging, I’ve changed the focus of this blog to holding a lot of challenges for photographers.  And sharing some tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way.  I hope you make a little time to see what my blog is all about.  I adore sharing my life through my photography and welcome you to join along in the fun.

I am an introvert and am basically a very quiet contemplative person. Except when it comes to my passions.

I just took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test and my personality is a INFP which in real terms is an introvert with a lot of intuition, feeling and perception.  It is also known as the “healer” type.  Healers present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even distant around others. But inside they’re anything but serene, having a capacity for personal caring rarely found in the other types.

Chris, my wife, and I have been together now for over 28 years.  We  moved to Canby, Oregon USA a little over 14 years ago.  Prior to that we lived in the Denver, Colorado area.   Having lived in Denver which is a high desert for over two decades, I absolutely  adore the rain and all the green that Oregon offers.  We happen to live in the Willamette Valley where there are plenty of tree and flower farms and plant nurseries to enjoy.  There are also plenty of grape vines, hops vines (beer), and hazelnuts all around us.  So there are endless opportunities for me to take plenty of photographs.  On top of that we are only an hour and half away from the Pacific Ocean.

We have two orange tabby cats (Charlie and Freddie) and we’ve had them for the past 18 years or longer.  We just got our 4th pug and are planning on getting another pug in the next few months.

I have adored photography my entire life and still think the first picture I ever took on an old brownie camera was my best. It was a one of my family. Wish I still had that photo, but don’t. I just remember it was so clear and seemed magical to me. Over the years, my cameras have improved and so has my talent.

My recent baby (camera) is my Sony A7III mirrorless full frame mirrorless camera. I use the following lens:

• Sony E-mount 18-200mm VR lens
• Sony FE-mount Macro 30mm fixed lens
• Sony FE-mount Macro 90mm fixed lens
• Sony FE-mount 70-300mm VR lens

I basically use Adobe Bridge or Photoshop for Mac for my post processing, which I really try to keep at a minimum.  I like to say, if it takes me more than two minutes to “pretty” up a photo, it wasn’t a good enough photo to start with.

One of my other passions is in life is Qigong for healing.  I had Chronic Lyme Disease and it was undiagnosed for 25 years and have been through a 40-day coma with multi-organ failure and am dependent on insulin (Type I Diabetes) because of my Lyme Disease.  To read more about Lyme Disease, please see My Lyme Disease Story.  In November 2012, I was on my death bed and a Master Qigong Healer started to treat me and began healing my body.  Currently all symptoms and infections of lyme disease have been healed.  My body has sustained a lot of damage over the past 30 years and is still healing and will be for a few years yet.  But the constant threat of dying from lymes is no longer a part of my life.

I hope you enjoy my blog, and join in this adventure I call my life.

Qi (energy) hugs,

Cee