Chesnut's Roasting....and Living it up!

Photo Contest

2011-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

I made it to the top 8 of a "posing outtake" photo contest. This photo was from my baby shoot this weekend. I would love it if you could go and vote for me at www.captivatephotogs.com.

Thank you!!!!!

San Fran (January 2010) - The first set of photos

2011-02-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos I played with tonight. Some have the HDR effect added to them so they look surreal (and I love it). More to come.

Alcatraz in HDR

Oakland Temple - such beauty!

Alcatraz Island - Quarters for the Families of the Guards

Sunset from Alcatraz Island - My FAVORITE photo (pat on my back)

Fog rolling over the Golden Gate Bridge at Sunset

Monterey Bay Aquarium

San Fran City Lights at Night in HDR

For All You Photog's out there:

2011-01-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

Moms With Cameras is giving away a copy of their brand-new workbook at www.moms-with-cameras.com!

Okay, it's been a while

2011-01-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

I have been absent from posting for a while. I have been so busy between work (overtime) and photography (the editing takes up so much time). So I will post a few pics from when Sam took me for a weekend to Winthrop (an amazing place!!!!!).

Oh, and in my exciting news...I received my OFFICIAL business license for "Jen Chesnut Photography". I decided it was time to make it official and trademark the name (in case another one exists out there). So excited. I look forward to all the portrait sessions I get to do in 2011....it will start off with some sweet baby photos!!! BRAND NEW BABIES!

Enjoy Winthrop through my eyes and the enhancements of presets created by Laura (who is amazing) at www.prettypresets.com.

It's time to be real & embrace life & all of it's twists and turns! (time to journal)

2010-08-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

Time....Rhythm...Patterns...Habits...making sense

(this photo is taken at 11:30 pm with the shutter left open for about 50 minutes...I allowed quite a bit of light to come in so that is why it looks like day time, but you can see the stars pattern as the earth rotates...cool!)

I have always had routines, places where things should be kept and daily habits. Since our last move to this new and beautiful house, I have to say that all of that has flown out the window and I feel like I am always fighting with a whirlwind that pulls me in multiple directions and I can never get a path set up to follow. Why? I don't know, I can't figure it out. Maybe it has something to do with my adrenals being out of whack and not working....maybe the stress and timing of the move was too much and that is what finally shut down my adrenals. But really....? It took over a year and a half to get a diagnosis that explained what was going on with my body; it is my adrenal glands.

Do I like patterns, habits and routines. Yes, you bet. But can I also embrace the idea of being spontaneous? Yes...I think. Right now with the adrenals, spontaneity is a stressful thought & process, but I can get it back, right?

So being in this whirlwind....can I get out and create a path to lay my routines down on? Are things where they should be in my house? Yes, for the most part... But I seem to change that around every once in a while.

Why am I even thinking of this? Well I was reading a blog by one of my all time favorite scrapbook queens/photo journalist, Ali Edwards (check it out: http://aliedwards.com/2010/08/the-perspective-of-longevity/#more-773) and she talks about finding a routine while moving in to their new house. She has 2 little & energetic kids and a husband that serves in the Oregon senate...so she is WAY busier than me. I love her simplicity for capturing life & memories...photos and true journaling. Her inspiration to write life as it is so you can remember it (and embrace & learn from it) is what inspired me to sit down and just put all of my thoughts here. Who reads my blog? Does anyone even care? Do I want people knowing that I feel like I am in a state of total chaos a lot of the time and most of it probably has to do with a body that doesn't want to function right? Um, not really...but maybe it will make me stronger. Life is great...I love my life, the man of my dreams who I get to spend the rest of my life with, a job that pays well in this economy (all though it can be a big part of my stress a lot of the times), a house that I love and helps calm me down, property to enjoy & relax in, and an amazing group of young women and men that I get to work with and spend time with each and every week. Life is good!!! "It's a great life"! (Thanks Grandpa Nielson). For the most part I am ...healthly? My shoulder is doing good - bonus! My foot isn't any worse the it normally is - fabulous! My knee hasn't dislocated in years - great! And I haven't sprained my non-ligamented ankle since last year - DOUBLE BONUS! I don't have the flu, skin rashes, or anything else like that. But my body is trying to tell me I need to slow down...but really, where in life can I do that.

(Sam just walked in and told me that Crawl Magazine, an off-road rock crawling magazine, used the name I gave an obstacle in Moab 3 years ago...it is official, although most people will never believe that I named the obstacle...Suicide Hill on the Green Day Trail in area BFE in Moab was originally thought up and named by me!!!!!!! Wohooo. See, life is great).

I am not allowed to workout..walking only. BORING!!!! I have to eat more veggies..ughhhh, so not what I want. And I have really odd cravings, like eggs & home popped popcorn for dinner...? I have to add salt to my water because I drink so much water due to excess thirst from the adrenals, but I have to keep the water in the cells in balance with the excess water. Sleeping...medicated! Energy...only on a really good & lucky day (but the latest supplements my Naturopath put me on have upped my energy level & consistency of it). Cooking...most days I have no desire or energy to do it so it is either really simple, not at all or the occasional Yum Yum meal. Cleaning...my house can have a good 2 hours on Saturday and then I am done for the day - energy, used! Hobbies...they take a back seat most days because I just don't care to do anything thanks to depleted energy levels. Patience..that's a joke most of the time. Mental clarity & memory....HA, sometimes.

BUT, I have a great team of docs who say I can turn this around and get my adrenals working again. I just have to be patient (really??????) and allow my body time to relax and recover (come on...can't I just go for one little run....?). I think the Lord is teaching me patience seeing how I decided to work on it this year. Great planning Jen! So, even with life being great, I am going to have to learn to allow myself to de-stress and relax, while having the patience to allow my body to heal and letting people help me in the process. I HATE to ask for help...and will go out of my way to NOT ask for help. But I guess I have to allow people to help me more often. Yuck! And with all this chaos, I get to learn to carve out new pathways for routines, habits, pattern, and rhythms. It can happen...it will happen...I can re-write my daily processes. It's a great life! I wish you were here Grandpa Nielson to remind me of that on the rough days! But I guess I have 2 adorable nephews & 1 gorgeous niece, an always smiling sister, and incredible brother who always makes me feel like gold, a sister-in-law that is too amazing for words, understanding and ever giving parents, entertaining, accepting & never boring in-laws, and the most fabulous and hot husband to remind me each day that "it's a GREAT life"! I am blessed...just so darn stubborn that I sometimes over look it. :)

Thanks Ali for getting me to write my feelings down even if I don't like to admit I have issues and would rather just pretend that everything is okay & that I am in total control of my life. Nope....the Lord is in charge of my life...I get to put my hand in His, trust Him always and let Him lead me to be the person I am to become.

"IT'S A GREAT LIFE!" - LeRoy Nielson

(an attempt to catch some of the meteors two weekends ago....shutter left open for about 45 minutes...you can see some shooting stars and for some reason the stars all took on colors of their own. I think to two spots at the top of the photo is the light that was let in from my head lamp as I tried to navigate my way to the camera in the pitch black)

PAINTING WITH LIGHT - some pictures from the fun Sam & I had trying out leaving the shutter open & using light to create images (Kelsy & that Joe Nathan kid joined in the following night. Neighbors thought we were smoking mushrooms and having a rave. Proves you don't need alcohol or drugs to have a great & crazy time)

trying to write our names...figuring out the quirks

painting Sam with light (first he had his arms folded and then I had him put them out - look close)

Love this! Sam would light up his face with a flashlight while I outlined him with my headlamp. We would then turn off the lights and move over to repeat!

Tracing the '50 chevy in light

So then the next night I had to up the challenge...thank you Dollar Store for glow sticks and fiberoptic lights!!! (this is where Kelsy & that Joe Nathan kid joined in)

My favorite - this photo took all 4 of us

this is the Sam & Jen special

The Kelt-sy

The Kelsy & Joe Nathan psychedelic special

This is the neighbor kids running with the glow sticks (if you look to the left of the photo, you see a "light blob" low...that is where Zoe feel down laughing!

If you look closely you can see us! Cam, Titan and Zoe (neighbors) joined us for the party!

(Left to Right) Kelsy, Sam, Jen, Joe Nathan (really it's Jonathan!) - PEACE OUT PEEPS!

Pretty Presets...Testing the Newest Collection, "Love Collection"

2010-08-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos that have had the amazing presets created by Laura of Pretty Presets added to them to pop the color or to give it a more vintage look. I love these presets. If you want to see all Laura has, go to www.prettypresets.com. This latest collection is available to buy tomorrow!

Here is the fun I had:

(golden hour & vintage) - this is an old truck out at an cheese & wine farm at Tillamook Beach in Oregon.

(add sunlight) - at that same farm...I love old farm equipment and rusted out old cars

(aspen and blueberries) - Tillamook Oregon coast

(golden hour & stunning) Tillamook Oregon coast at sunset

(dazzling) - I love how this presets give the photo an older feel - Tillamook Oregon coast

(falling for you) - perfect name and again a great vintage feel - Kristi & Sean at the Tillamook Oregon coast

(aspen) - Sam jumping his trials bike over the weekend for my entertainment - it was a gorgeous day!

(antiqued & exquisite) Sam taking on the stump...I love how vertical the bike is and the 30 degree bend in his upper body.

(aspen) - Sam soaring over the stump

(stunning) - I just love the body positioning to make the trials bike do its magic

(blueberry & mint green) - this is what it should look like, he drove up the tree and then on the back wheel did a 180 degree wheelie...my line, he was learning new tricks (I always pick the "sweet" lines - right boys?!?!!) I will post more photos of this trick later so you can really see it in stages

(soft splendor) - this is my favorite picture!!! What a good lookin' man I have. That's the '50 chevy in the background...I love the texture the sanded out paint job gives.

(add sunlight, aspen and daisy) - the sweet little bumble bees love my lavender plant and I love this photo

That's all for tonight! I will post some recent portraits in the next few days.

Bri's visit to Deceptions Pass

2010-07-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

I couldn't be a more proud older sister...my little sister summited Mount Rainier two weeks ago. What an animal! I am so proud of her. She made my day by coming up to visit and spend a day with me. So, I took her to my favorite place in the NW....Deceptions Pass. The sun cleared as we climbed on the boat for the Deceptions Pass Boat tour (a favorite of mine).

We drove out to West beach to look for whales & porpoises (no sightings, but it was still GORGEOUS!!!).

Then we headed out to Whidbey Island to find some food. And we found the cutest little Thai house with pretty decent food.

Last stop....a old barracks (did I even spell that right?)...

It was an absolutely fabulous day...sunny, on the water, beautiful, stress free, and just a great time with my little sis (who was a wee bit sore!!). Brit, I am so proud of you for tackling Rainier...you are awesome! I absolutely love and adore you and your visit was totally what I needed! Thanks.

Project '50

2010-07-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is our new project (although I have not done a whole lot with it yet). Sam bought this car from his buddy Jeff...he has been in love with it from the first time he laid eyes on it years ago. There may be a bit of rust, a few dents and a couple of holes in the floor...but that can be fixed! Sam has sanded and sanded and sanded some more. In between the sanding he is pounding out the dents and has patched the floor holes on the drivers side. I stepped in to help paint!

Let's call this phase I.

Here are the shots of the '50 when we got it (pre-fab work):

Here is the painting phase (post Sam pounding and sanding)

Can't wait to take this baby out on the road with the sun shining!!!

May Showers & Raindrops....

2010-05-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

You know how the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers. Well right now in NW Washington we are getting plenty of MAY SHOWERS. So one Sunday morning I took my camera out in the rain with the goal of shooting raindrops. These are my favorite!

This is my absolute favorite photo

This is my second favorite photo

Looking out the window to the rain

Now for some photoshop fun!!!

This is the lilac bush in the front of the yard....I loved how the hose pole & hose added a different contrast & coloring to photo

So I guess May showers can bring about an awfully fun photoshoot.

Speaking of photo shoots, I am one of the 5 featured photographers on Becky Higgins blog yesterday, giving away a photo shoot to a deserving family. Sam and I sat down and read some of the replies last night....this is going to be a hard decision. There are so many deserving families....

Yummmmmmmyyyyy!

2010-04-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Alright fellow readers, if you want a website that features delish recipes (with the recipe & photo of it) then you need to check out & add as a favorite: http://www.completelydelicious.com/. This is my cousin Annalise's website...she does the food photography (which is not an easy task...and one that I doubt I will ever attempt to master) and cooks the food. Then she is kind enough to give the recipe to you. I am not kidding, your mouth will water. So check out her website & get some great recipes.

My new purse/digital SLR bag

2010-04-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

It came, it finally came!!! I ordered this on Monday and received it on Friday...my Jo Totes purse! It is a gorgeous purse that is secretly a designer SLR purse. There is room for your wallet, cell phone, book, bottle of water, makeup, camera, 2 lenses, SB 600 flash, and probably even a pair of jeans to change in to. The bag is completely padded so nothing will happen to your camera! I am absolutely in love and totally stoked!

If you want to check them out, go to www.jototes.com. They are the best priced purse/SLR bags in town!

Moab 2010

2010-04-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

There is nothing that I look forward to more each year (besides my birthday) then our annual trip to Moab, Utah for Easter Jeep Safari with our great friends. What a trip it was too...we got everyone up the waterfall on Upper Helldorado, Sam made it up the Big Hot Tub on Hells Revenge and everyone drove Suicide Hill. We had a total of 3 rolls, Sam x2 and Will x1, along with a few flops. Kristi and I finally got our wish to hike to Delicate Arch, unfortunately it snowing on us the whole way! Not exactly the shot I wanted, but well I finally got to see Delicate Arch. The boys got to ride their dirt bikes on some trails, with no injuries & I finally got my shot of the Big Horn Sheep!

Here's some shots: (okay, TONS of shots - you can see more on my facebook page)

Sam climbing up the LEFT side of Suicide Hill in the dark - are you crazy??? See what happens next (notice how close he is to the edge?)

At least he was smiling as he crawled out. He said it didn't hurt but it was quite the drop & crash!

Pritchitt Canyon - Sean flopped!

A view of the moon over Pritchitt Canyon

The crew line up on Pritchitt (right after the "rock pile" obstacle)

The guys heading out to Metal Masher on their bikes! (LtoR - Jonathan, Sean, Will, Sam)

Sam lifting a tire on Suicide Hill

Sam is a "tight" spot dropping into Upper Helldorado (no rolls though, just great photo opportunities)

Sean & Kristi with the beautiful blue sky!

The view on top of the Waterfall

Sam launching up the waterfall (and he made it)

Sam starting out of the Big Hot Tub on Hells Revenge (there's a lot of water in the bottom!!!)

He did it!!!! This obstacle was the last one he needed to conquer in Moab! (plus check out the La Sal Mountains in the background)

Jen driving the Little Hot Tub (even picked up the drivers side rear tire on the way in)

The view from on top of the Escalator obstacle on Hell's Revenge...red, blue & white!

The next few are shots from Arches National Park when we went to Double Arch, Turet Arch and North & South Windows at Sunset

the girls with North Window in the background (LtoR - Kim, Kristi & Jen)

Some shots from Rusty Nail:

Jen driving up Double Whammy on Rusty Nail (with Kristi as co-passenger)

Then Sam tells Jen to drive DOWN the obstacle...the pictures don't show how vertical it is!

Sam's roll on the side obstacle next to Double Whammy - he was okay

I finally got my shot of the Big Horn Sheep on our way back to the parking lot on Rusty Nail - I was beside myself with excitement.

Kristi & I finally got our wish to hike up to Delicate Arch...only problem, it was snowing!!! These weren't the shots I wanted, but I saw Delicate Arch in the snow.

Other shots from Arches National Park:

We really were freezing....we were soaked to the bone (jen & kristi)

Jen & Kristi in front of the fiery arch

Sand Dune Arch

Last night on the trail & we hit Area BFE's Upper Helldorado for one last run up the waterfall (at night????)

Sam launching up the waterfall (everyone in our group made it up the waterfall this trip, including 2 first timer's)
Video's of the boys on Suicide Hill, the Waterfall and the Big Hot Tub are on facebook & YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/lincolnlock).

How excited can I be???

2010-03-18T17:41:00.001-07:00

When I walked into my folks house last Friday night I was astonished to see photos I had taken hanging from my mom's walls. We are not talking 8x10 pictures, not even 16x20...we are talking professional (thank you Mpix for always making pictures look good...if you want great pics - order through Mpix) huge prints. I loved it. She had some shots that I had taken at the tulip festival last year and the ones you see below from Orcas Island. I gotta say, I didn't do a bad job after all! Thanks mom for making my day!!!!

www.mpix.com

Russ' Wedding

2010-03-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

So last weekend we went down to Vancouver for Russ' wedding. We were given 3 weeks notice & I was asked to be the photographer. I thought, no big deal. But when the night before the big day arrived I suddenly got really nervous. Why? Because my brother-in-law takes so many pictures and will probably really critique mine...plus he is a Photoshop whiz with more experience on it then me. And did I mention he is a graphic artist? Okay yeah, now do you see my reason for being nervous?

It was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and big white fluffy clouds. The wedding went off without a hitch and Bre looked absolutely beautiful. There may have been some drama, but come on, what is a wedding without drama, right? (I totally disagree!)

Here are a few of the pictures...I shot in RAW format so you actually have to convert them to a jpeg format before you can upload them.

Congrats to the newest Mr. & Mrs. Chesnut.

Russ awaiting the arrival of the late bride and family (but hey, you never start without the bride so she can be as late as she wants)

The beautiful bride & her AWESOME dad Bob (seriously, we all loved Bob! And he was looking very sharp in his tie, but I think he didn't care for that tie much!) :)

You gotta have a picture of the flowers...right?

Good husband...make sure her dress is ALWAYS perfect!

Picking the bride up to the next rock (they picked the place)

Love this picture

Token kissing picture...they cooperated very well for these pics.

I will post more later.

Valentine's Day (posted way late)

2010-03-04T20:29:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics of the flowers Sam bought me and of course my valentine!

This was the sunrise on Valentine's Morning...perfect

Baby Steps...one foot in front of the other

2010-03-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am slowly trying to get used to keeping a blog. I love going to everyones to read and get caught up on their life. I really wanted to post pictures but I haven't downloaded them to my computer yet. Two weeks ago Sam took me out to Orcas Island. For one, he knows I love riding the ferry and he wanted to take me out there to get sunset shots...and I did!!!! I took them as RAW photos so I have to upload them through Photoshop RAW to see which photo is which. I will try to post at least one.

Okay, I decided to stop writing and go upload some pictures so here you go! I am loving my photography "hobby" and I am taking it more to the next level of family portraits, etc. Tulip festival is coming up soon so I will be out there taking flower & family portraits!! Love this time of year in the NW!

The very first post

2010-02-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am not sure how long this "blogging" thing will last but I figured I would give it a try. Why not preserve memories here when I can't seem to keep a journal to save my life. Even my scrapbooks are almost 2 years behind for wheeling and about 3 years behind for everyday life. I don't have a problem taking the pictures, I have a problem uploading them & doing something with them.

So this blog will be the story of Sam & Jen and our adventures, life and happenings. Here's to blogging....now I am going to give up on this post & go workout.