NEW BLOG!

Alright folks, I have a new blog and I'm jumping with excitement!
www.melindahollandblog.com
is the place to be!

So head on over to the new blog and check out the improvements! Larger photos, better search capabilities and Oh So Awesome!!!
I love it and I hope you do too!

So what are you waiting for?!! Go! www.melindahollandblog.com

Website Down!!

UPDATE: Thanks to the marvelous folks at Bludomain, the site is back up!! They resolved the issue wayyyy faster than my hosting company (which I'm now thinking of switching away from...)

Way to go Bludomain!!! If you're an artist or photographer, I recommend Bludomain's website templates. They're easy to set-up and Blu's service has been absolutely fabulous. Go to their website!!
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Hello Everybody! Yipes! The website is currently down due to several frustrating reasons. I hope to get this all resolved soon.

Little Lela

Five day old Lela with Daddy Jack and Mommy Nikki. Beautiful!

My first time photographing such a young baby and they were all wonderful during the shoot. Very accommodating and relaxed. Mom and Dad were so very calm, self-assured and laid-back. You'd never guess this was their first baby!

Nikki and Jack: Thanks for opening up your home and for sharing Lela's precious early moments with me. What a privilege and blessing!

Dogwood Blossoms

This has got to be one of the most gorgeous blooming trees in existence. I drove past these blossoms on a rainy day last week and had to come back for a few shots. It was a good thing I had my rain jacket with me because it was pouring, but the rain made for some nice "dew" on the petals though.

My Latest Craze

I don't know what it is with overexposure and zebras, but I totally dig these white-hot glowing stripes with the black bands. I shot these zebra photos a while back and they remind me of a printed t-shirt.
I always did like the look of screen prints...

Holland Boys

Okay, so the above photo isn't all that nice as far as resolution goes, but sometimes the only camera you've got is the one in your phone. And when there are moments that demand photos, a camera phone will have to do.

I took this in a hotel room to document three sons hanging out & kickin' back with the old man. I love it.

A Photo Salad...

I've been meaning to update...so here goes a medley of photos to show you what I've been up to; a "photo salad" so to speak.

A wolf named Yazhi peers up at me while on exhibit at the Oregon Zoo. It was (obviously) an extremely cold day. My hands usually do pretty well in the cold, but--whew!--they were suffering! These beautiful photos made the suffering well worth it though.

I don't know why, but the falling snow in the photo below reminds me of a Coca-Cola Christmas commercial...I know, I can't explain it...

A polar bear licks cream cheese off the exhibition window at the Oregon Zoo during St. Patrick's Day festivities.
An intriguing shot from the amazing Timberline Lodge in Oregon.

the mailboxes in one of Timberline's hallways

a detail...

From my recent trip to Sacramento. Such fantastic weather. I went jogging in the park and never have I felt happier during a jog. It was absolutely beautiful there.

And then some belly shots from the maternity shoot I did yesterday.

There are more photos...always more. But I've gotta run! I'll be back.

Oregon Zoo

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of photographing visually impaired students from the Columbia Regional Program at the Oregon Zoo as they touched a 400 pound anesthetized Amur tiger during the tiger's annual physical. It was a great opportunity for the students to experience a tiger up close and gain a greater understanding of animals whereas normally a trip to the zoo would encompass mainly animal sounds and verbal descriptions.

Pictured above are Isaiah Dinsmore, 9, of Boones Ferry Primary School in Wilsonville, OR and his vision specialist Deirdre Luke-Brown.

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...And just a few of the many great animals I've had the privilege of photographing in the last few weeks.

Bull Asian Elephant in the snow

Absolutely gorgeous Golden Eagle

A curiously cute meerkat

It sounds hokey, but it was really enchanting to watch this sea lion swim graceful patterns in the water.

There are more pictures and I hope to get them posted soon.

Minestrone Soup

Cold days call for hot soup.

Lemon Cake...w/Carrot Cake in the Bkgrd

Oh, this lemon cake was sooo good. Light, fluffy, lemony...Ummm. The carrot cake: not so good.

Multnomah Tunnel

The tunnel leading from the highway to Multnomah Falls in Oregon was especially intriguing as I left the falls last month....and here's some of the beautiful surrounding greenery dusted in snow...

Dreamscape vs. Realscape

The Dreamscape...-Versus-
The Realscape...
The top photo was taken from a moving vehicle off of I-5 coming into Portland, OR. The bottom photo was from an excursion to the WSU Vancouver campus during one of the snow days. Both were taken before Christmas in December 2008.

In this case, I'd have to say I like my "dreamscape" better than the more realistic "realscape." Sometimes I get tired of the same 'ole same 'ole. It revives me to create something different.

Multnomah Falls, Partially Frozen

Footage of Multnomah Falls in Oregon on December 17, 2008 in the midst of an unusual amount of snow. Thanks to Jon for this nice video.

And now for some photos...

So, uh...yeah...
When you're standing in front of a tourist destination such as Multnomah Falls and you ask a bystander to take a picture of you, you'd expect they'd obviously know to include the tourist attraction in the background, right?

Wrong.
Apparently, we expected too much of the three gentlemen--all friends--hovering around the Falls, each of them with a camera (they even had tripods so it wasn't just casual shooting...) We figured we were in good hands...but no. This is what we got:
Oh yeah. That's nice. A picture of us in front of some greenery. Thanks.
Frankly, we were flabbergasted. How very odd. We figured we could do better than that and hence ended up with this:
And then one of me flying solo: