Huckleberry Festival - Saturday, August 2nd 10-5

Well the 2008 Pend Orielle Lavender Festival was beautiful. This year it was located at the Newport, WA city park. Absolutely lovely! Huge timbers providing shade, live folk music, and lavender accents hanging from greenery throughout the festival. Kids painting pots in the art tent and creating handpaintings... adults learning to braid lavender wands and head pieces. This year's Huckleberry Festival is newly moved as well. The Priest Lake Search and Rescue recently purchased the event and will be moving it just down Hwy 57 to the Priest Lake Golf Course. Bluegrass music, a.m. breakfast, art & food booths will be on the course as well as a golf tournament. I believe there is also a bluegrass concert later at 7pm. We will have our Priest Lake Images booth set up, displaying a few of my new large GALLERY WRAPS of our area, as well as rustic framed scenic shots of CHIMNEY ROCK, LUBY BAY, and PRIEST LAKE FROM ABOVE. We have show special pricing, so all art pieces will be offered at less than the regular retail pricing, and only available for the one day at the Huckleberry Festival. Custom orders will be taken as well. Hope to see you there Saturday, August 2nd, 10am to 5pm.

Lavender Festival

Visit me at my booth at the Lavender Festival, July 12 & 13th at the Newport Park 9am-6pm. Check out some of my new shots along with lavender images from last years festival taken along the Pend Oreille River. This year the Pend Oreille Valley Lavender Festival has changed it's location to First and Calispel at the Newport Park which is a much more convenient location and one I'm excited to be at. Once again the association has invited me to be their on-location photographer to capture the excitement of the day. I will be photographing vendors, artists, booths, and more which will be available for online viewing. Visit me at my booth where I will be selling photo cards, art on canvas, and a few rustic home furnishings that my family has made from recycling birch bark. Hope to see you there!

Mountain Girl Maps

Many of you are inquiring about certain hikes in the area, around the International Selkirk Loop, and Priest Lake. If you are interested in Priest Lake hikes I have created a 16x20 photo map of seven of my favorite hikes. You can view it at www.priestlakeimages.com go to galleries, favorites, and it is the first image that pops up, click on "add to favorites" in the upper left of the image to add it to your shopping cart. An included insert has hiking directions and is great to carry along with you on your drive. The photo poster is a hand drawn image of Priest Lake overlaid on a large water photo from Rocky Point. Smaller images surround the lake... moose, Bald Eagle, bear, waterfalls, placed in the location where I took them. Map is rolled in a tube and wrapped in plastic... ready to send to someone or frame on your wall. Retail $24.99

Congratulations Graduates!!!

This weekend will be a busy one for sure with all of the graduation celebrations and ceremonies. Just wanted to post a couple of my favorite Senior Picts. and send out a big congratulations to all who are graduating! May you have many great adventures this summer and in the coming years! God Bless You in everything you chose to pursue!

People Helping People Auction, Memorial Weekend

Saturday, May 24th, at 3:00pm I will be taking photos at Elkins' Resort for the Priest Lake People Helping People Auction. Free 5x7 photos of couples who attend the auction dinner will accompany the purchase of the centerpiece frames. Individual images are available with a $5 donation to the Priest Lake Chamber of Commerce. Come and support our community at the silent auction at 3:00pm or attend the 5pm dinner and live auction!

FREE RESTORED PRINT CONTEST !!! Enter Your Old Photo!!!

To kick off spring I am offering a free photo restoration to the person who submits a challenging old photograph that they want to see come to life!

How to Enter: Submit your digital negative by e-mail to Autumn@PriestLakeImages.com in jpg format.
Or send a copy of the original to Autumn Oscarson, 57 Shady Pines Loop, Priest Lake, ID 83856 (photos not chosen will not be returned, so don't send your original).

Include: Explanation of the photo (who, when, where), what it means to you and why you would like it restored. Please include your contact information... snail mail and e-mail.

Details: Anyone may apply. I will digitally restore the image I find most interesting... removing red-eye, repairing scratches or tears, erasing water spots or moisture, removing people (if you wish) and professionally jazzing up your image to acid free paper so it is enjoyed for years to come.

Prize!!!: Winner receives their restored image as one 5x7 or 8x10 photography print on professional kodak halide paper, in an acid free black display folder. Worth $89.

Deadline: All entries must be received by May 31st and winner will be posted the first week of June.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Guess I'm just a holiday blogger. I would really love to post some of my latest favorite shots, but between running after Miss Clara who is turning 1 year old this week, and keeping up with the business, the day just goes by way too fast!

This morning on The View they had some great environmental companies to look at if you are trying to "Go Green" with your purchases, house remodels, etc. My favorite was the organic soft cotten sheets at http://www.target.com/ , natural baby products at http://www.californiababy.com/ and the bamboo flooring that can replace linoleum (since bamboo is a renewable resource growing a few inches a day). You can find toxic free flooring at http://www.calibamboo.com/bambooflooring . (So those are my name drops for today.) As far as "Going Green" is concerned I'm really glad that my parents have taught my brother and I how to recycle/reuse/and go nature all before it was popular. Our Oscarson family tree farm has been turning the dead timber into products for over 30 years! You can check out some our latest wood designs all locally created by my parents at http://www.autumnsloft.com/ . Back to photography...

Another interesting product that is coming out next month that I'm really excited about is Canon's new 48x zoom FS11 Flash Memory Camcorder that uses internal hard drive storage AND flash cards (similar to what you might use for your digital camera). Retail is $599 + and more with having to purchase the accompanying storage cards plus accessories. But the optical zoom on this is amazing and has just one the 2008 Popular Mechanics Editor's Choice Award. Downer is it records in standard definition rather than HD (which we are being told that "everyone" must switch over before Feb. 2009 which seems to me like a force to get us consumers to add to the economy and spend money in technology upgrading our TVs etc.) If HD really matters then the next best product I'm looking at is the Canon HDD (Hard Disk Drive) HG10 High Definition Camcorder which has internal storage and no need for carrying around cards or tapes. If you don't mind recording to mini tapes then look at the HV20. Anyway back to the day of the Irish...

If you live at Priest Lake, then tonight you might enjoy my main man's favorite corn beef and cabbage 6:30pm dinner at the Nickleplate in Nordman. A good day to you all and wear green TODAY but try to GO GREEN EVERYDAY. :)

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIGI !