Winter is a difficult time for me as a photographer. When the weather doesn’t tend to cooperate, and finding ways to use my camera become scarce, I tend to lose a lot of my motivation to get out there and shoot. Near the beginning of 2009 (last year) this sluggish feeling hit me really hard, and I did not enjoy it one bit. So for this year, I have remained determined to find ways to shoot the things I love. And in this case, I love shooting bright and colorful lights!

My good friends Haven, Káli, Matt, and Karri agreed to challenge the cold night with me and meet up to spin some fun LED toys while I took lots of pictures. The biggest challenge for us was figuring out a location. Then I remembered the fantastic wedding I shot this past summer, where the bride and groom introduced me to Tanner Springs Park, a very unique block-sized park in downtown Portland, with many incredible features. The main feature being a wavy wall of steel I-beams, rusted and of varying heights, shooting out of the ground to create the most amazing background element.

After we took a few shots in front of the wall, I was happy to see how well the lines of the I-beams, as well as the boardwalk beneath, complimented the curves and patterns created by the LED hoops and staffs these incredible performers were wielding.  We were lucky enough to have custom built LED toys for this shoot by Karri and Mark, the creative minds behind SpinStyle!  I am so pleased with how the shots turned out, I just can’t get enough of this kind of shooting.

We then moved on to the Eastbank Esplanade across the river, so we could get some photos with downtown Portland as the background. I just love the view of our city from just north of the Hawthorne Bridge and have always wanted to shoot performers there. I think I’ll set up a fire spinning shoot there next. It’s especially handy since the fire department is literally right next to where we were shooting.

We wrapped up the day on a somewhat sad note, as this was to be Káli’s last shoot for me for a while. She is off to South Korea to study and begin a new adventure in life. We’ll miss you girl! Thank you for all the amazing performances you allowed me to shoot!

Lots more pics in the full gallery, organized by performer!

For the past year, I’ve kicked myself for not taking the time to photograph all the beautiful foliage last Fall. With Autumn being my favorite time of the year, I guess I feel it is my duty to capture the incredible color and light that the month of October brings to us in the Pacific Northwest. Not just that, but if I could, I would freeze the world in an Autumnal state. The only way I know how to do that for real is with my camera. So after a year of feeling frustrated and disappointed, I wasn’t about to let this time of year pass by without a few images making their permanent homes within my photo archives.

Timing is everything when it comes to Fall colors.  Within a week, or two at the most, the leaves go from brilliantly colorful to quickly becoming damp and on the ground.  Leaves on the ground rarely lend themselves to great photographs.  I watched and I waited as the days and weeks went by, seeing more and more change come to the trees around Portland.  I debated on a few simple photo walks throughout town, as there are many neighborhoods in Portland that simply come alive with color this time of year. But I really wanted to get deep in the forests to satisfy this craving. As I felt I was witnessing the peak of the beautiful colors, I decided to spend the day in Silver Falls State Park.

Waterfalls are incredibly satisfying to shoot, and Silver Falls State Park has plenty of them.  Ten, in fact, along the Trail of Ten Falls.  My plan was to hit up all of them, as  I trek along the 8.5 mile trail throughout the day.  Hiking with the purpose to take photographs is very different for me than when I’m just hiking to hike.  I spend much more time per mile along the trail, usually stopping several times to unpack my tripod and other gear in order to get a specific shot, and shoot it right.  Most of the time this means spending a lot of time getting my feet wet, literally.  The best shots are usually from right within the creek or river, which means that waterproof hiking boots are a must-have.

Also a must-have for me is my Lowepro DryZone Rover pack.  This fantastic camera bag both carries and protects my gear, while providing a hydration pack along the way.  It does this with a hefty waterproof compartment that holds my lenses, memory cards, and other gear highly sensitive to water and simple moisture.  While hiking, I use heavy duty straps to clip my Canon 5D directly to the shoulder straps, distributing its weight along with the rest of my gear.  The straps keep my camera safe when I need to stabilize myself with my hands and arms while navigating difficult terrain, but it is still accessible to take hand-held photos anytime.  My carbon-fiber tripod is held snugly by the integrated tripod compartment, making it easy to take it along wherever my hike takes me. Unfortunately, having all my gear neatly tucked away and secure means that it does take a fair amount of time to stop and set up for a shot, so when I hike and shoot, the going is slow.  But that’s just fine with me, the end results are almost always worth it.

Silver Falls State Park was glowing with color this day, and I was so thankful to be there within 90 minutes of my home in Portland.  I tried to add some variety with my shots, exploring more attempts at impressionism photography using the colors of Autumn.   Other more realistic shots really benefitted from the use of my circular polarizer, cutting through the reflections on the water, the rocks, and most importantly, the leaves themselves, bringing out their rich color.

There is a gallery of 29 photos from my hike available, with more highlights below.

For those who do not live in the Portland, Oregon area, Sauvie Island lies within the Columbia River, in between Oregon and Washington states.  It is made up mostly of farmland and wildlife refuges, so it can be a peaceful place to visit, getting away from the rush rush of the city.  Along most of its shores are sandy beaches, much like along the ocean, but without the waves.  A group of us thought it would be a perfect place to do some fire spinning with hoops, poi, fans, and other toys.  Specifically interested was my friend Haven, who was hoping to spin some fire in the sand in preparations for a beach-side fire performance she was planning a couple weeks later for her sister and family.

Along for the shoot were more performers than we’ve ever gathered before.  In the past, I have done shoots with Haven, Kali, Zac, and Paul.  But some new people I shot for the first time were Harmony, Kristin, and Karri.  Every performer brought something unique and powerful to the session, it was a treat to get so much variety out of the finished photos.

For this shoot, I rented two very powerful strobes powered by a huge battery pack.  I have been wanting to experiment with lights more powerful than my 580ex II off-camera, so this was a perfect opportunity to do so.  One of my biggest complaints when it comes to my own fire spinning photos was that the light of the fire causes my exposures to become messy and blurry.  Fire hoops are just so incredibly bright, I figured I needed a much brighter light source to over-power it.  Unfortunately in this night’s case, that meant we wouldn’t be able to capture the incredibly textured sky we were blessed with.

My other goal for this shoot was to experiment with the contrast of fire and water in the same shoot.  Reflections of the fire on water I thought would make an incredible addition to the fire spinning imagery I’ve collected so far.  Fortunately, the weather cooperated (a challenge in an Oregon October), and the Columbia River was not nearly as cold as we all thought it would be.  It was the water itself that presented a challenge to the performers.  Well, not to the performers specifically, but to their toys.  If a fire hoop was dropped into the river while shooting, not only would the flame get doused out, but the wicks would absorb water and need to be dried out before soaking up fuel to be re-lit.  After the first time this happening, we were all fairly timid to risk causing too many toys to be out of commission.

I couldn’t be happier with the photos that came out of this shoot.  We faced a few challenges, and avoided any major accidents caused by a soaking wet dog feverishly looking for his friend Mr. Ball. Thanks to Haven, Harmony, Kali, Kristin, Paul, Zac, and Karri for putting on such incredible performances; thank you for sacrificing your body warmth for the sake of art; and thank you for being such great friends!

I have a full gallery ready for viewing, but here are a few more samples.  Until the next burn!

I’m proud to say that I was hired by one of my favorite local Portland string bands SugarCane to do a series of publicity and promotional photographs to go along with their new album “Soulgrass Review“.  Since their band consists of 6 members, some who live out of town, it was a challenge getting everyone together with enough time to do the shoot.  Having scheduling conflicts is never an easy challenge to overcome, but thankfully SugarCane plays plenty of shows in town, so it was just a matter of finding one that worked out the best.

Fortunately, we were able to get everyone together before a gig of theirs at East Burn.  We headed across the street where I had gotten all set up to shoot them within a fantastic community garden.  We took some group photos and each band member got a few individual shots as well.  I highly recommend checking these guys out live.  They put on a hell of a performance and their music is fantastic.  Take a look at SugarCane’s upcoming show dates so you don’t miss this band!

If your band needs promotional material, feel free to contact me for a quote.   Enjoy the full gallery!

I got to know my friends Michelle and Mark last summer through music festivals.  When I was developing my technique shooting fire spinning and LED spinning photos, Michelle always seemed willing to lend her talents with poi and hooping.  When they trusted me to shoot wedding photos, I knew I had to step up my game.  For such a loving and bright couple, I had to make sure I provided them with the best images of their wedding I could create. Anyone who knows this couple knows that they deserve nothing short of a life of love, warmth, and happiness.

They planned their wedding around an outdoor ceremony at McMenamins Edgefield, a drop-dead gorgeous location to hold a wedding.  But even before the wedding day arrived, the weather became a problem.  The day before, it was like the rain would not stop.  Not a good sign when the wedding is planned to be outdoors.  They made the decision to move the wedding inside, to a quaint little attic ballroom that just dripped with character.  All of us behind-the-scenes at the wedding had to improvise to adapt to the new location and lighting challenges.  But wouldn’t you know it, the wedding day arrived, and there wasn’t a drop of rain.  Oh well, sometimes you have to roll with it.

Their location being Edgefield, we had an infinite number of possible locations to hold our photo shoots.  I am always thankful when working with such a rich palette on which to create images of someone’s special day.  Between the ceremony and reception. Michelle and Mark allowed me to steal them away to try and lock in the magic of their day in photographs. We found balconies, gardens, vineyards, and other beautiful locations we did our best to really use in the photos. The evening came with incredibly warm light, and we did our best to capture it for them.

Michelle and Mark are a musical couple.  Both figuratively and literally.  Their lives, much like my own, revolve around music.  So, of course, once the music started up, the party really started going.  There wasn’t a person in that room without a smile on their face as people danced, danced, danced!  I was thrilled to be there to both witness it and capture the memories of their special day forever.

Please browse through the full gallery, or view below for a short selection of photos.  Thank you Michelle and Mark!

I got a nice surprise earlier this year when a friend of mine asked if she could hire me to shoot her friends’ wedding.  It would be her wedding gift to them.  Now, normally I don’t shoot weddings outside my circle of friends, but with someone like my friend Jen vouching for them, I thought I’d give it a shot.  After meeting the couple I knew I made the right decision.  Jhanna and Steve seemed to be  very fun, artistic, positive, and relaxed people.  I got a great sense that we were going to work well together.

They were not concerned at all with the superstition around waiting until the ceremony to see each other, so that immediately took some pressure off of the timing to get some photos.  I understand how difficult it can be for couples to take as much time as they feel they need to get good photos once the day’s celebrations have begun.  We were able to all meet up well before the ceremony even started began to get lots of fun photos of the wedding party, the bride and groom, and even some with the family.

They picked great locations too (see how easy they made my job?).  First, we met at Washington Park in Portland, further focusing our location to be the “stairway to heaven”, a huge moss-covered stone stairway that leads from West Burnside all the way up the ridge to the park.  I loved the seemingly infinite pattern the stairs provided, as well as the forest surroundings.   Next we headed to The Pearl District to Tanner Springs Park.  It’s a remarkable urban block park, including a small pond complete with water lilies, and a crazy wall made of rusty I-beams fanning out in different lengths.  I had never been there before, but I was blown away at the many, many photographic opportunities it provided.

The ceremony was on a rooftop venue in downtown Portland.  The evening was beautiful, the bride and groom looked spectacular, and the entire celebration was relaxed, fun, and playful.. just like them!  There were a few hiccups throughout the day, as there always are with wedding days.  I was amazed seeing Jhanna be so cool, calm, and relaxed as she rolled with the changes and adjustments that needed to be made.  Not once did she waiver or cease to have that beautiful smile on her face.  What a dream wedding!

Congratulations to Steve and Jhanna Knauff!  Below is a simple slideshow of some of the photo highlights.  For more, please visit the entire gallery.