Gary Gionet

Last Saturday evening Kelly and I and some friends kicked off our holiday season with an annual tradition of attending the Tis' The Season Handbell Carolers variety show. This is our 15th year of enjoying this fantastic show. This is the only time when all of the carolers are together performing for family and friends. After the show, they team in quartets to entertain at venues like Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, The Five-Crowns Restaurant, and many other locations. Thank you to all of those who worked so hard to bring us a fantastic show! Side note: There is nothing really special about this image, other than it was taken with the new Canon G10 point and shoot camera from the back of the auditorium with no flash! This is a great camera and a welcome addition to Kelly's purse.

Yep! Even Elvis was there to help ring in the holidays. "Ba-ba-ba-blue Christmas..."

On Saturday, my good friend Paul and I attended the Photo Expo West in Del Mar. We met a good number of members from our camera club, purchased some camera gear at great prices, and filled the day with excellent seminars. On Sunday, we spent the day at the San Diego Zoo trying out some of our new gear. Here is one of the many interesting birds we had the chance to photograph. Very beautiful indeed!

Another of the fascinating and beautiful birds at the San Diego Zoo. Check out those eyes!

It's not a trip to the zoo without a photo of those dizzy stripes!

The giraffe must be where the Roman soilders found inspiration for their helmets :)

The various types of monkeys are always a delight to watch. I think this is where we spent most of our time photographing as these little guys enjoy posing for the cameras.

It's definitely Fall in the studio with Lacy from our "Birth To Birthday" clients.

Yes, Isabelle was Spider(wo)man last evening. She was ready to save the world!

Stephanie as Medusa!

On our return day from Oregon, we traveled from Highway 101 to Grants Pass, Oregon via Highway 199 (Redwood Highway). We explored around Lake Sumack and found the hills alive with fall colors. The closer we got to Grants Pass the more color filled the moutains.

With only one lone boat on the lake it was obvious that we were witnessing the peace of this place in it's off-season.

Magestic colors filled the landscape! The neatest thing happened today. We originally planned to take the same route back home, following Highway 101 to Highway 12 and then cut over to Interstate-5 in Stockton. At the last minute we made the decision to take a different route. Reaching Interstate-5 via Grants Pass meant about an additional hour travel time, but we really wanted to take in this scenic drive. We were about 30 miles west of Grants Pass in the town of Cave Junction, when I suddenly decided to stop for gas in this small town. Being in Oregon the gas is pumped for you by the station employees. This very nice man came over and pumped our gas and washed our windshield. I have to tell you, I got spoiled in Oregon. Full service is not dead! Anyway, back to my awesome day. As I stood there waiting for a full tank of gasoline, the attendant, Pat and I had a very good visit. Talk about God bringing two people together at the right time. Here I am in this small town, on a route I ha...

The reason we traveled to Oregon - Congratulations Ray & Sylvia!

This week, Kelly and I spent a few days on the Southern Oregon Coast where we photographed a friends wedding, but also spent a little bit of time taking in the beauty of the coastal region around Brookings, Oregon. We stayed at this small Bed & Breakfast. The service was outstanding and the owners very personable. This was so much better than a local motel.

Here we have part of the view from the balcony chair of the Bed & Breakfast.

Spectacular views from the rocky beaches north of Brookings, Oregon.

The rough surf and foggy marine layer made this scene a little bit chilling!

*For Sale* slightly weathered used fishing boat, real cheap! Needs some TLC (and lots of duct tape).

I was trying to sneak up on an Egret when I scared the heck out of this duck! He never did take to the air, instead he just ran on top of the water.