I was driving through a massive rain storm the other day in Portland and realized that rain is not a good reason to leave my camera at home. I framed a few amazing photos in my minds eye, as interesting scenes unfolded in front of me due to the crazy weather. A car stuck in two feet of water under an overpass on Powell, a shivering, cold, old woman holding a broken umbrella with her arms full of groceries as she waited for the bus, an amazing rainbow as the clouds lifted. I must have my camera with me at all times. So to keep myself honest with my new re-commitment to keeping a camera at arms length 24/7 I have reinstated an old blog: A Photo A Day.
Photography is a medium of permanence and immediacy. This new blog tab is a reflection of the latter. I will post a new photo here (under the aphotoaday tab) every day, copying over the previous post, leaving no trace of its predecessor. I love photography because it provides me with an outlet to explore my curiosity with the world and the people in it. I am so surprised every day I venture out into the world with my camera, so I invite you to please check back from time to time and be surprised with me.
I shot the Blazers at home tonight in the Rose Garden, which I will blog about at length soon. But for all you fans out there I’ll share a couple of my fav’s from the game.
So it’s official, I’ve joined the ranks of pro-photo freelancers all across the globe and got on to photoshelter. Soon my galleries and photos will be available for purchase, digital downloads and prints, from my integrated photoshelter site. As of now I have posted a few splash page photos and a gallery from a pee wee football game Saturday.
If you’re a mom, dad, coach or otherwise follow the link and check out the pics from the two games I photographed. Please let me know how well the site functions so I can make it as easy and user-friendly as possible.
I’m still working on editing the photos from Friday nights wedding with Chris and Shawna, but here are a couple selects I picked out to share on the blog. Chris and Shawna had an elegant private ceremony at home with family that was as moving as the most grandiose of weddings. And it wasn’t without it’s unique, funny, and heartfelt moments. Like when Chris fumbled a little putting the ring on Shawna’s finger. I think he was a little nervous.
I’ll start off today with an interesting photo of a man, eating a bowl of noodles alone in a chinese restaurant. I was walking from my car over to Harrison Street and found myself drawn toward this scene. I’m often captivated by events that invoke a sense of quiet isolation among a busy city environment.
Before lunch today I shot some more Halprin abstracts, this time of the planter bowls near the Lovejoy fountain.
Then after lunch I met up with Will and Jane for a stroll around the landscape to shoot some panoramics. A bit of a departure from my last set of images. I have a few more ideas along this same line that I’ll explore around sunrise Sunday morning.
Today I met up with the Portland band Hotter than a Crotch at a recording studio to roll video with Phil as we continue to tell the story of this volatile band on the verge of make it or break it status in the form of a documentary film. Phil and I have been shooting video the band for a while now and today I decided to put down the EX3 and take a few still photos. I really like this photo of Buck in the band’s van with Gloria in the foreground looking off into the distance. In my opinion it is very telling of their current relationship, but you’ll have to wait for the documentary to find out more about that.
I also took time out of our not so busy schedule to shoot an impromptu cliche band photo. Cliched because of the brick background, but it’s about all we had in the parking lot.
Everyone looks cool in Ray Bans, especially guitar players in funky hats.
Speaking of cool hats….
Buck had a ball stringing up his guitar, apparently he does this often. And yes, those are leopard print drums.
Producer/shooter Phil.
Once we got inside I found the band recording to 2 inch tape, very cool.
Making a record takes time, and some of that time is spent lounging around.
The Halprin landscape photos continued today with a few drops of rain and lots of scattered leaves. I learned the other day, the most abundant plant on Earth is grass. There are millions of varieties and they cover the globe from pole to pole. So, I took a crack at photographing the grasses that speckle the Halprin cityscape. I also started to look at the rainy day as an opportunity to start an umbrella triptych, one down two more to go. As the light started to slip away this evening I noticed people commuting home from work and lining up to get on and off the Portland street car, a big part of life for those living in the Harrison buildings. I photographed the street car with a slow shutter pan to bring the image to life and show the lively activity of the city.
Friday night Anna and I joined David and Wendy at the neighborhood Avignon Bar for a pre-wedding cocktail party with friends and family. It was a great little celebration to photograph in a small space with what seemed like a hundred or so people coming and going during the three-hour romp. (Saturday) And then we joined the happy couple at their two side-by-side homes in Ladd’s Addition before we all walked over to the Vibrant Table Catering Hall for the wedding. Anna photographed Wendy, and I shot the boys next door. Luckily for me I got my new Canon 7D to compliment my Canon 5DMii that morning and was able to give my third camera body, a Canon 5D, to Anna so we could get lots of coverage. Wendy’s two girls, David’s son, and the rest of us walked about 15 blocks immersed in autumn colors. It was a real pleasure to be apart of and photograph. The wedding was amazing, and so where David, Wendy, and all their guests. The venue was a little dark accented with a beautiful yellow glow so I stuck with my fast prime lenses, which mirrored the look and feel of the weddings atmosphere.
I compiled some video I had of the swifts roosting in the Chapman School chimney that I had with some footage of empty spaces into a short MOS video set to music. I found a great public domain song titled Nightbird by Rusticalia that I think really sets the mood. This is a combination of slow motion footage shot on the Sony EX3 and HD video on the Canon 5DMii.
