September 14, 2020
"Oso" is Spanish for bear. One year ago I was just Holly, a wife and mom with a camera, documenting our lives and the wonderful world we lived in. We were skiing at Stevens Pass watching our small children conquer their fears, overcome their frustrations, and experience the freedom of zooming down a snowy, sunlit slope with the vast Cascade mountains in front of them. Then we started to hear rumblings of a mudslide. By the time we got home that weekend and turn on the tv the news was devastating. Like many of you, I cried, I prayed, I wanted to help. Information started to spread about a group of photographers who were donating prints to raise money for the victims. The first auction I bid and I bid. When there was a call for artists for the second auction I submitted this image. And, it was accepted into the auction. Thoughts started running through my head...Did I really have what it takes to be a professional photographer, something I had always dreamed of doing. That day changed lives forever. For me it sent me down a path of determination to capture and share the exquisite beauty of the world we live with you. I fully believe in the healing power of the wilderness; of how nature can sooth a soul and restore the defeated. I try to share glimpses of that world with you. My thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends, and first responders today as they honor the fallen and comfort the broken. "...and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes " -Isaiah 61:3
