I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything this whole month! It’s been a super busy January, with my non-photography work ramping up, and a lot of photography too.

On the weekends, I shoot newborns at hospitals. It’s always fun to meet the babies and their excited parents and families. It’s a very limited time that I have with them, and it’s in the hospital room. Sometimes the babies are asleep and pliable, sometimes they’re awake and calm, sometimes they are fussy. Often, they’re a combination of all three. So the shots I take are not like the traditional “artistic” newborn shots that you see on photography blogs, with sleepy babies draped in baskets, folded up just so. Those shoots take several hours, lots of props, lighting and backdrops, not to magic to keep the baby sleepy and clean. For these shoots, I have a boppy, a hospital blanket, and a hospital bed, for about fifteen minutes. Still, it’s fun to capture each baby and hopefully one or both parents–so much personality and excitement! I love the thought of these photos being treasured for years.

Here are a few of the shots I took today, including a set of twins! Only the third pair I’ve shot–these two were so calm!

I have so many cute ones, so I’ll have to start posting more.

Check out part one here!

Our first stop was the Bash Bish Falls area in Taconic State Park. We clambered over some rocks to a gorgeous vista of rolling forested hills. Fall colors were just starting to come out.

The falls were cute.

We stayed in Great Barrington the first evening, dinner, some local ice cream (I had Elvis ice cream–banana/honey/peanut butter!) and bowling.

The second day we went apple picking! Neither of us had done that before, so it was a fun new thing to do.  And pretty too–here are so many apples on the apple trees! And look at that sky–it was a perfect morning. 

We picked a peck, a combination of four different types: a few Fuji, a handful of Mutsu for pie or crisp, and some Blushing Golden.

My tall husband had to jump for some of the good ones.

And here are four of me picking apples!

We also drove up to the next town, Stockbridge, which was tiny and charming. Lots of businesses had these fall displays out and about.

Look at those leaves! And again, that sky!

These last two I grabbed from the passenger seat as we drove back south toward home. Not bad considering the moving-vehicle part!

Last week my husband and I traveled to the West Coast and spent a few days in Oregon. We started in Portland, and we took it easy. Met up with some friends, ate some donuts, wandered Powell’s, rented some bikes and pedaled around in the glorious sunshine. We visited the divine Rose Garden, where I couldn’t help but sniff like every single rose I saw. How delightful–rows and rows of roses!

We drove up to Mt Tabor for some views of the city (though maybe we were in the wrong spot, because everything was at least partially blocked by trees [though I'm not complaining; I love trees!]). I liked this tableau of a woman just kind of hanging out, with a cute bike.

And this stunning view of Mt Hood wasn’t too shabby. (See what I mean about the trees?)

After a couple days, we drove our rental car south and east, into the Cascades, to visit Crater Lake. Which looks like this and literally made my jaw drop.

Crater Lake is famous for its blue, which I didn’t believe until I saw it. It is some serious, serious blue. That blue next to evergreen green has to be one of the happiest nature color combinations out there! This is not enhanced in any way–look at those colors!

Here’s the Phantom Ship. It’s the oldest visible remnant of the mountain; it’s pre-volcanic stuff. It appears tiny in the huge lake, but apparently it’s sixteen stories tall!

Our rental car was shiny.

We were lucky enough to walk a new trail, opened this summer! It’s called Plaikni Falls, and it’s so adorable! It was a hot day (as they all were while we were in Oregon, 90+ degrees), and turning the final corner to the trail you actually felt the air cool down at least ten degrees. The surrounding forest isn’t terribly lush with undergrowth, but the cascading Sand Creek (fed by a spring, not the lake; no one knows where the lakewater seeps) supports abundant wildflowers, and it’s ridiculously picturesque. Unfortunately we were there too late in the afternoon to get direct sun, but that worked for my favor.  Any brighter and it would have been tougher to get settings that worked for slowing down the water. (This is f/29, 1 second, ISO 125)

The light falling through the trees is always so beautiful, isn’t it?

I’d been looking forward to seeing and enjoying (…and photographing) some crystal clear night skies, devoid of light pollution. Maybe a bit of moon reflecting off the lake. Alas, it clouded over. Happily, it was a storm, with lightning! You know what that means! I set up my gorillapod at one of the turnouts, where we could see the flashes and the lake.

Soon the storms moved away and we were just seeing bright flashes, no bolts. So we drove along the Rim Drive until we had a better view. This was a glorious strike, though you’ll have to forgive the blown section.

This spot overlooks a handful of naturally-occurring forest fires. There were signs everywhere telling people not to report them. We saw several rangers and they told us that they’d been started by lightning, and were being watched carefully. If the fires got too big, they would step in and manage them. But it’s still eerie to see smoke plumes and reddish glows moving slowly.

Here’s a similar view the next day. This blanket of trees as far as the eye can see…it makes me so happy I can’t even tell you. Sometimes I wish I could see the west in the time of the natives, when everything was covered in evergreen forests. Wow.

Later, I started raining in one section of sky while the sun still shone brightly in another. Can you see the falling drops here?

Our last stop was to the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail. Just look at the happy flowers, and all the green!

It was relaxing, and beautiful. I love nature, I love mountains, I love forests, I love water!

(2010 Tribute Lights.)

It’s been ten years, and the events of September 11 still seem surreal. I heard about it on the radio while driving to work (at a coffee shop). We kept the radio on in the back room and listened in snippets. The stream of customers continued almost as normal, and for awhile it was busy enough that I forgot what was going on.

Soon enough, it was decided to close the store, so I went home and watched horrific things happen on the television screen, over and over. I just couldn’t believe what was happening. What got me most was the tiny specks in the air that were people. After the reels started repeating, I had to turn it off.

I visited New York City for the first time in June 2002.  The banners were still covering the Trinity Church and the missing posters were still plastering the walls of the subway stations. We saw some firefighters near Trinity and they posed for a photo for me, and even let us climb into their truck with a firehelmet.

I truly can’t imagine what it was like to be in the city when all this happened. Just can’t wrap my mind around it; it hardly seems real. But it was. What an awful day.

Read through the stories and photos on Life.com for the experiences of photographers around the city.

When the hurricane was approaching, I had the idea to go up on my roof the  day before, the day of, and the day of, with my green umbrella as a common thread. Framing and processing are all a little different. Then I decided that I could easily do a night photo and a morning photo. Et voila, my green color story!

This week I went to Florida for work, and took two bonus photos:

Most stores and restaurants were closed. I guess the owners ran out of this cafe without getting all their trash.

This grocery store was closed and all the produce shelves were empty, except for these forsaken squash.

Not sure if this place wants to be open despite the weather, or if the sign got knocked down from somewhere else.

Bar Tabac is a famous French bistro. Sad to see it closed for the day.

Inside One Girl Cookies (with street debris to the left and my green sweater reflection to the right).

We found this coffee shop open on Smith Street.

Same place from the inside.

I noticed a lot more of the signage on all the closed shops.

No idea what these are; they kind of look like strawberries but clearly fell from a tree.

We saw a lot of leaves and smaller branches, but this was biggest tree piece that was down.

Hope that everyone in the major hit zones in staying safe and dry! For those who lost power, hope it gets back on soon.