Robert Junior

Robert Vaughn Gamble Jr, was born at 2:07 am, Wednesday, 31 March 2010! He was 7 pounds 3 ounces and 19 ½ inches long. Within moments after his birth, he was already the subject of his Photographer Father… and there are no signs of me stopping.

Here’s the link to his first Gallery Album… click here!

Here is also a link to the album for the Baby Shower… click here!

I know… this post is two weeks past due… but here’s the story…

So Tuesday afternoon, the 30th of March, Lori called me at work and said she was feeling some very different and unusual contractions. She had been going in and out of active labor for almost the last two weeks prior. About 8 o’clock that evening, she ran to the store for some groceries… looking back at the time line, the walking is probably what ‘kick started’ things into action… but we didn’t know it at the time.

Around about 9:30 pm, things started to get interesting and more intense. Her labor continued to progress and around 11:15 pm, I started keeping track of the interval and duration of Lori’s contractions. By midnight, we were on our way to the Hospital… just to be safe. We got there about 12:20 am.

After getting inside our Birthing Room, all hooked up to the Monitors, Jan our Nurse checking things out, Lori was three centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. Some where about 12:45 am, Junior made some kind of twist and probably dropped the rest of the way into the Birth Canal… because in the moment, she let out a painful and excruciating sound… too which I looked at Jan and said, “Okay, that was unusual!” After looking at the trend of the monitor (did I mention that Junior is my 5th child born?) I looked at Jan and said, “This baby will be born within an hour… two hours TOP!” Jan looked at me, and said, “I think I’ll go call the Mid-Wife.”

Jan told the Mid-Wife what the status was, and under most situations, we would have been in for a long night as Lori continued to progressively go into delivery. The Mid-Wife said, “Well, it’ll be several hours at least if not in the morning… but I’ll go ahead and come in just to comfort them.”

That was just short of 1:00 am…

Junior was born at 2:07 am… and by the time the Mid-Wife walked into the room, Junior was born, umbilical cord cut, vitals normal, APGAR normal, and Lori had just delivered the Placenta. That means… Dad and Jan delivered Junior! What an experience!

Mom and Junior are now doing very well, two-weeks after his birth.

The remarkable thing is, as a few may know what we have gone through over the last 10 plus months, that Junior is such a blessing in disguise. Robert Junior has yet to know or realize, that his birth not ONLY brought a family together… but is HEALING that Family as well!

God is truly good… and thank you Lord for such a wonderful blessing!

CLICK HERE to view the Robert Junior Album
CLICK HERE to view the Baby Shower Album

American Soldier

It’s been far too long since I’ve Blogged, much less shot for a Challenge…

This one looked fun and interesting.  The theme for this challenge is “Shoes” and I must say there are some very great photographs already entered.  Lori helped me on this one with the idea and the setting, as well as post editing.  Glad I have her on my team!

Yes, those are the actual boots I wore in Iraq and my uniform in the background.  The cased flag was presented to me when I came home.  To shoot this, I placed everything on our coffee table in a dark corner, and then set two lamps above with sun-light bulbs for down lighting.

Take a look at the other great photographs in this challenge at the DGRIN Sharp Shooters Challenge Gallery. Oh, and please PhotoRank my photograph… and thanks for your support.

Enjoy… and look for more to come.

United As One

We Made It Official!

Robert Vaughn Gamble and Lori Jean Calkins, became one in Eternal Matrimony at 1pm, on Friday, October 23rd, 2009.  We held the service outside in the Canby Gazebo at Wait Park.  And the weather?  LOL  Yes, it was raining all day, except for about 15 minutes… right at 1pm.  :-)  Truly God smiled upon us, but was also quick to remind us that life moves on as we scrambled when it really started to rain hard again just moments after the service was over.  lol  Thank you Lord.

Click Here to see the rest of our pictures.

So now, for those who don’t know the rest of the story about Lori and I… well, here it is…

Lori and I went to school together and graduated from Grants Pass High School in 1985.  We were very good friends back in school, ran with many of the same friends, even went on several weekend group ski trips during the winter.  But, for some reason, we never dated.  After graduation, we didn’t stay in touch like so many people tend to do, sadly.  She wasn’t at our 10 year Reunion, and I was deployed to Hurricane Katrina during our 20 year reunion.

Well, thanks to that silly Facebook thing… we reconnected, as so many of us have done with old, dear friends.  So one day, I asked her if she would like to go out for dinner.  She asks, “You mean like a date?”, to which of course I say, “uh-huh!”

We’ve had an amazing journey since.  On that first date (which is a whole different story in it self) we both expressed how frustrating it is at our age, and having children from previous relationships, to find that “right person”.  At one point I said, “I’m honestly sick of dating, and way too old for the club scene.”  ”I know!”, Lori replied.  Then we both kind of became quite, solemn, and reflective for a few moments.  We turned and looked at each other, and then I broke the silence, sure of myself, and said, “Lets make this our very last, ‘first date’!”  ”I LOVE IT!” she exclaimed.  ”In fact,” I added, “Lets just not ever stop having our first date!”  ”Like going on a cruise ship, and all the other dates along the way would be like taking excursions,” she elaborates.  ”Exactly!”, I agreed.

You Hold My Heart

And that has been our attitude ever since!

We want to thank our Families and ALL of our wonderful, dear friends for all the congratulations and well-wishes.  We know this was a very small service and put together very quickly, and missing a LOT of family and friends that we wanted to be there with us.  We have our reasons for our quick yet confident decision.  However, we are planning a Celebration of our Vows next Summer.  Lori is taking care of invitations so please be sure to get us a good mailing address. It will be a wonderful gathering and celebration.

More to come…  

If you want to stay in touch just click on the Subscription Buttons, or sign-up by email, in the right column of the page.  Then you will automatically get notified when there is an update or new photos are posted.  Think of it as a free ride along our “Cruise Ship” Journey.

Cheers!

Our Flag Still Stands!

Yep… my blog entries are out of sync… but, hey, that’s what happens when life happens and then finally get caught up.  Grandkids rate far higher than flowers in a garden.

Not only did we have yet another WONDERFUL family day, and of course Dad didn’t let us down with yet another wonder BBQ on his Treager, but unlike so many 4th of July’s in Oregon… this year was actually blue skies, sunny, and warm.

Taking these pics was awesome!  Because we had clear skies and the sun was out, I waited for several hours to shoot these so the angle of the sun was just right.  The lighting was PERFECT for the way I wanted these pics to turn out.

Enjoy… and Cheers!

Our 'lil Ham!!!

This is probably one of my more favorite albums in my Portfolio…

I know… I know… It’s been far too long since I’ve blogged or even posted new photos, yet that does not mean I haven’t been shooting. In fact, I think I have several pics that you will enjoy. So than… more pics too come.

The big announcement, if you have not been following my FaceBook page, is that I am engaged to be married to the most wonderful, honest, sincere, true christian women I’ve ever known. Want more of the scoop? lol keep up with us on FaceBook.

In fact! I am working on a larger print collage of these nine Grand Children to give to the Grand Parents… and don’t be surprised if one ends up in our house.

Circles of Mystique

Yesterday I submitted this picture in the Digital Grin (DGRIN) Sharp Shooters’ weekly photo challenge. Loads of FUN!  In fact, I’m sitting on pins & nails waiting to hear what this week’s challenge will be.
Be sure to stop by the Challenge Gallery because there are some amazing and brilliant pictures.

To visit the challenges gallery, click here or go to http://challenges.smugmug.com.  Also, please check out my gallery of pictures I submit each week… click here, or go into the Communities Gallery at http://RobGamblePhotography.com.

In other news this week… I’m beginning to build my own studio, which will open up a lot more possibilities to photography people.  Historically I have always done outdoor photography including outdoor portraits.  Having a real backdrop and the right lighting… wahoo! I can’t wait!  It’s actually not that difficult nor does it need to be so expensive.  A short while back, I stumbled upon an awesome web site called DIYPhotography.net.  The information, experience, and step-by-step tutorials are incredible.  Click Here to check them out.

If only they had a DIY Photo cable channel… life would be good.  LOL  Of course, I’d have a real hard time getting anything else done while I’d be glued to the DIY Photo Channel.

Nana's Flower Garden - One

About four weeks ago, my 85-year-old Grandmother, who we call Nana and is the only Grandparent I have left, fell outside her home.  Fortunately, she did not break a single bone, but did fall flat on her face and had on heck of a bruised face with some minor muscle strain.  Poor thing couldn’t get up and laid in the front walkway for at least 30 minutes or more, as best we can tell, before someone in her retirement park noticed her.  Thank you Lord… and that you all for your prayers, concerns, and well wishes.

Since Nana lives in Grant Pass by herself, I was on the road within hours to go down from Portland to be with her, help her out, and make sure she made it to her follow-up Doctor appointment four days later.  I brought her back up to Portland to be with my Parents and I and the family up here so we could help her and allow her to rest, recuperate, and heal.

It was wonderful to have a chance to return home to the place I grew up and left some 24+ years ago when I graduated High School, although I would of preferred other circumstances.  The last time I was back in Grants Pass was in 2005… and before I went to Iraq… so there was a certain peace of heart being where I would call “home”. It’s interesting how the place where we grow-up has such a profound influence on where we call home, versus where we feel “at home”.

Nana's Flower Garden - Two

Now having shared all that… what could that possibly have to do with Photography?  Simple.  While I was staying with Nana, I had the opportunity to snap some frames of “Nana’s Flower Garden”.  The weather was beautiful, clear skies and warm, and the lighting was spot-on.  It was a lot of fun shooting these flowers, some of which are just simply from different angles of the same composition, which gives a very different perspective.  I especially like these two frames of basically the same picture, but from different focal points.  Not too sure if the focal point of the rocks and the blurred flowers could be much appreciated without seeing the normal perspective.

I just REALLY love pushing the boundaries and challenging traditional conventions.

Oh, and not to forget the progress report… Nana is doing so much better.  The bruising is pretty much all gone, and she’s walking so much better with a lot more strength.  She’s still up her with us, but will probably be going back down to Grants Pass or Klamath Falls with my Uncle, soon.  Don’t worry… she will not be living by herself anymore. 

I hope you enjoy!  And thank you Nana for the lovely flowers.  We love you!

Mexico Cruise 2009

Thanks for stopping by, and welcome to my Blog.  Please, make yourself at home here.  I invite you to participate in the blog threads by posting your comments or replies… or please send me an email anytime to rob@robgamblephotography.com.

I’m very excited about using this blog to not only share with you some of my favorite or popular pictures, but more importantly the story, circumstances, or significance of that picture.

To be fair, I have to give credit to all the websites that have made it possible for me (or you as a Photography Hobbiest or Professional) to have my very own Photography Web Site.  First and foremost, SmugMug, who provides hosting and a turn-key print service; Digital Grin where I learned how to setup and modify my Photo Web Site; the ever famous WordPress, who is quite frankly the best Blog Software out there; and last but certainly not least, GoDaddy for their awesome domain name service but also their terrific web hosting accounts and customer service.

Looking forward to our online chats…

Enjoy!