count 'em: seven

chad and i had a GREAT day in sonoma county!  we visited seven wineries today: seghesio, rochioli, copain (I ♥), j vineyards, ridge, bella, and sbragia.

it was a little bit hit-and-miss, but our favorites by far were copain and sbragia.  ridge was a very close third.  the guy pouring at j vineyards wins the style award, though.  

tonight we're going out for a vietnamese dinner!  having so much fun and loving my husband!  i'm a lucky girl.  :)

eugene

chad and i just returned last night from eugene, oregon where we attended the oregon wine symposium.  here are a couple of shots i took while there.  the one of the guy on the computer was for my photography class assignment this week (to take a photo of someone i don't know).  i really like what's going on with the three guys in the background.

snow day!

i'm sure all my friends in the midwest are going to laugh at this, but i had a pretty slow commute this morning after snow fell overnight last night.  unlike the midwest, we do not have many snow plows, nor do they use salt here, so the roads (especially the country roads going to the winery) were very much covered in snow this morning and fairly slick.  add to that a 700 foot decline down a mountain and i was very glad to have had anti-lock brakes this morning that worked!

the benefit of all of this was getting to the winery before anyone else and taking pristine photos without car tracks in the driveway or footprints in the snow.  here is a selection for your viewing pleasure (these are unedited and i am still learning to meter for snow, so forgive me!):

dari and her entourage

my assignment for my photography class this week was to take a portrait of someone i know using only natural light and shooting in manual mode. my beautiful friend and former roomate, dari, was gracious enough to let me use up a couple of hours of her time this morning to take some shots of her and her entourage, including her horse, smoke, and her puppies, strom (great dane) and sloan (doberman).

like i've heard from reading about taking portraits online, it takes a few minutes for both the photographer and the subject to get warmed up.  that was true this morning, but once we got going, i think we got a few good images!  this spot in front of the barn was the 'money spot' of the day!  it was awesome!

since my 30-day lightroom trial has run out and i haven't purchased the full program yet, i tried editing these in photoshop.  then i decided that i was doing more harm than good, so i scrapped that idea and just posted these straight out of camera.  enjoy!

dari rode smoke in the arena for a little bit. i really loved this photo and i thought i'd also give it a whirl in the vintage finish.  like usual, i think i like the vintage better.

and speaking of vintage, here are three glamour shots that i did in a vintage finish...  her outfit was to. die. for.  

that said... yes, i know the light is far too bright!!  as soon as i put all the photos from the shoot up on my computer, i started thinking about all of the things i would have done differently throughout the morning.  i guess that's why they call it 'practice,' right? 

showing smoke a little love... 

when i was looking at this on the camera screen, i commented that smoke looked a bit like a camel here - LOL.  but i actually really like this shot.  

her is dari with her fur baby, strom.  despite what you might think from his massive size, he really is a sweetie!!

here is the whole johnson clan... andrew, dari, sebastian, strom and sloan.  

hazelnuts and sky

if i tip my head in just the right direction, this is the view out of my office window.  nice, huh?

i am really digging the desaturated vintage action i downloaded for photoshop.  if i actually knew how to use photoshop, i probably wouldn't use it as much. however, i like how it came out here, and also in the rogue brewery photos in my last post.  

what do you think? 

how to earn points with your wife

i'm pretty sure i have the best husband in the world.  he organized a valentine's weekend getaway to salishan lodge in lincoln city for all three of us.  i had no idea until yesterday morning when he told me that we were going to the coast... and to pack a bag because we'd be there overnight... oh, and that we were going out to dinner, so make sure to bring some nice clothes.  in fact, i had absolutely no idea exactly where we were going until we pulled into that beautiful place.

well, i can tell you that chad earned lots of points from both me and fife.  she was excited that she got to go along, although she's never stayed in a hotel room before, so she was a little unsure of what was going on.  all was redeemed, though, when she got to run on the beach this morning.  

and me?  well, i got the most amazing five course dinner at the restaurant at salishan last night.  duck confit, lobster bisque, salad, filet mignon, and chocolate mousse... complemented by a matanzas creek 04 chardonnay and mayol 02 sebastian vineyard cabernet sauvignon from mendoza, argentina.  not sure what i did to deserve all of that, but it was amazing!  

today, we took fife for a walk on the beach (i gimped along as my knee still hurts from an ongoing running injury) and then chad and i had lunch (and beer!) at rogue brewery in newport.