Jared Birt Photography

This has been the view lately from inside our apartment looking out the windows into the snow. It was taken on my Canon 1D Mark III at night @ ISO 3200

A few days ago right before the snow came piling down Rebekah and I escaped out to the Gorge for some outdoor falling snow photos and to enjoy the beautiful winter elements. We love it how the contrast of the snow make the bare and beautiful trees pop off the ground. Finding the most out of all four seasons makes living here a real blessing.

This year for our christmas cards we wanted to do something creative and inspirational that was a little different than a normal christmas card. My wife wrote this amazing reflective piece of writing that is simply beautiful. I am very proud of her for putting herself and her personal writing out there for people to read. I hope you are as blessed by it as I am. Have a wonderful holiday everyone and Merry Christmas.

Writing by Rebekah Birt.

In the constant development of art one is always seeking to be inspired and motivated in their creative process. For myself a part of that inspiration comes from visiting different coffee shops. Walking into each shop I am instantly processing everything from the wall color and textures to lighting and music. Its almost as if the places were designed to get you to think of new and existing ideas. Everyone who visits Portland is amazed at just how many good and original coffee shops there are here. They wonder why so many people can just sit there all day with a book or laptop in hand and daze the day away. I believe it's because we find contentment in a simple cup of coffee. This forces us to slow down in a busy and chaotic world. Powerful ideas and life changing conversations happen in coffee shops and I love to find out what inspires people and where they like to go in finding that. There are too many things to list that inspire me but my top six would be music, coffee shops, movies, clouds, ocean & clean designs. Please share with me your things that inspire you.