Emerald Bay Photography News and Updates

Traditionally, the Thanksgiving feast is an opportunity to give thanks for the bounty of food, bestowed by a successful summer and fall harvest.

Given however that most people don't hunt or grow their own food these days, it just becomes a beautiful ceremony - a chance to gather around the table with family, friends and loved ones, and share some good chow.

If you're lucky like me though, and accidentally surround yourself with foodies who cook up the perfect storm of dishes, it becomes an opportunity not just to feast the stomach, but also the eyes...:

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, food images, food photographer Bend OR, food photographer San Francisco CA

So I got myself a ring flash not too long ago, and finally got the chance to try it out on a client shoot.

Here are the yummy results!









I love how it glosses and tones the skin. I tried a couple of different backgrounds, and found a flat black painted, smooth wall in the gym to be ideal.

Try this at home!

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, fitness photography, sports fitness photographer Bend Oregon

That's really the one word that comes to mind when seeing this absolutely stunning example of elegance and craftsmanship:













Check out the rest of the images here.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, Central Oregon photographer, interior architectural photography

I think my editor at TIME Magazine has some sort of special radar. I may not talk to her for eons, but she seems to know exactly when I'm either gone on vacation, or when I'm about to leave on vacation.

Point in case: last week, I was scrambling to get my work organized in order to leave on a 10 day trip to California. Tuesday was a day of solid meetings, and I had a 2-hour shoot scheduled for Wednesday at 10am. So who calls me on Tuesday afternoon with an assignment, completely out of the blue? My TIME editor. Just like she did last time.

Now - alert readers will note here that my bread and butter consists of architectural, food, and product photography. To spice things up though and keep it lively, there's the occasional editorial/corporate portrait. But what really trips my trigger (literally) is shooting an editorial - telling or illustrating a story with my camera.

So doing the occasional shoot for TIME, Canoe & Kayak, or some other magazine is always fun. Yet this particular assignment was different. No heads-up to the subject. No fuzzy, happy "let's make this look good" approach. No. This was going to be complete clandestine. A "no comment" shoot. My instructions were *not to be seen*, and not to talk to anybody.

The target? Mount Bachelor Academy, about 20 miles east of Prineville.



The private school had been recently in the news about the State investigating possible abuses. TIME was picking up on that, but because the story was going to be negative, they couldn't ask for PR images from the school. So they called me.

The deadline was tighter than usual - less than 24 hours. As I had already scheduled that other shoot (which was impossible to postpone due to a unique subject unavailability), I decided to get up at 5am and drive the hour and a half to the location in order to be able to return to Bend in time for my 10am.

April in Oregon can be unpredictable however. As it turned out, it had snowed the night before. The road froze, coating the tarmac with a 1/4 inch of black ice. Which literally turned the surface into an *ice rink*. I got only a few miles past Prineville before I had to turn around - or risk breaking my neck.



A quick call to my editor later, she agreed to postpone the deadline to the early evening so I could go back in the afternoon (and after the ice had melted off the road).

So I drove back to Bend, did my other shoot, then returned to Prineville in the afternoon. The road was clear now. Thanks to Google Maps/Earth, I knew exactly what to expect from the location: a big, semi-fenced compound with several buildings, situated clear up against a deserted stretch of highway, high up in the Ochoco National Forest. No real way to sneak up and carefully compose a shot. Oh, well. Drive-by shooting it was then.





Hours later I delivered the finished shots to my editor. She wrote: "Success! This is better than expected." Thursday morning I delivered high-res. Friday, the story ran.

Wham. Bam.
High pressure deadline.
Instant gratification.

As much as I love being able to take my time styling, tweaking, and lighting my photo subjects, and through the resulting images help my clients gain new business - I have to admit, the editorial way of working has its appeals too. There's a certain soul satisfaction in contributing to a story that might alter someone's life, change someone's mind about a topic. Especially when you know that millions of people will read it.

What it boils down to for me however is balance - keeping my interest in the craft fresh, knowing that I can tackle any challenge that presents itself, and maintaining that equilibrium that gets me up out of bed every morning, ready to shot the next big challenge.

I love my job.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, Central Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

Over the years of working as a professional photographer, I've come to realize that at least 50 percent of my job consists of educating and guiding my clients through the confusing labyrinth that is the photography industry.

So I thought I'd share a recent story as example for clients and photographers alike. Note: names have been replaced by generics for reasons that will become obvious shortly.

In summer of 2007, I was hired by Client A to photograph a building. The following October, the occupant of the building (let's call him Client B) requested to license three of the images from the shoot for their own advertising uses. The person I was dealing with was billing himself both as the marketing contact and in-house photographer.

A 1-one year license was issued for the 3 images. As part of my standard contract, it was stated clearly that a byline (a small copyright notice usually next to the image or somewhere on the page) needed to appear in conjunction with any website usage. Given that my Client B contact was a photographer himself, I trusted that he would observe the rules of the contract, and didn't bother checking up on them.

A few weeks ago, Client A alerted me that Client B had contacted them, asking to obtain a (free) CD from their firm, featuring all the images from the original shoot, for use on a new website. Client A (whose marketing department is incredibly knowledgeable and respectful, and has always adhered to all licensing rules) instead referred Client B back to me.

Realizing that they were overdue on their license anyway, I searched their website to see if they were still using my images. As it turned out, they were indeed featuring one of my images in both their website header's 5-image rotation, and on their 'Contact Us' page. I politely emailed Client B, offering to renew their license at a reduced price.

They responded with "no, we don't want to pay for outside photography anymore. We will take your image down." I told Client B that was fine, but that they still owed licensing fees from last October until now. We went back and forth a couple of times, solidifying which image exactly the license was going to refer to. All seemed well.

Within the span of only half an hour after that, Client B emailed me with the following statement: "Actually, *I* took that picture. There used to be one similar, but I got rid of that one and took my own."

I was befuddled. How could he claim that? We had just gone through confirming the image. At which point I realized that I hadn't seen that required byline on their site anywhere, which of course made it easier for them to deny my copyright.

So I went back to their site to take another look. As I hit 'Refresh', I found that the image had been erased, both in the header rotation and on the contact page. So now there was no more trace of my image on their site - ergo, no way for me to prove that they should have to pay up. Right?

Wrong. Enter ... Google Cache. In order to be able to serve pages that may have gone offline or changed, Google keeps a copy of every website as a cached version, usually about a week or so old.

So I retrieved the cache, took a screen shot of the contact page, and attached it to my response email as a jpeg. I also added a url to the same image in my online portfolio. The proof was undeniable now - right down to the matching cloud formation in the background. I wrote that I disagreed with his statement, and cited the screen shot and portfolio link as proof that the image had been indeed mine. In addition, I pointed out, my copyright was nowhere to be found, neither live nor cached.

The silence in response was deafening. I decided to make it easy on him, and sent him an invoice. It contained the license fee, and a penalty for omitting my copyright.

The following morning, a meek one-liner: "I will put a check into the mail today." Not a word more. Two days later, an envelope with the payment showed up in my mail box.


So what is the moral of the story?

In my trade, I know that creating and maintaining trust and good relationships with my customers is absolutely paramount - and not just to assure repeat business. It's simply a matter of good practices. I'm up front with my fees, have a detailed and easy-to-understand standard contract, and am always available to answer any questions that might pop up.

In return, I expect that the client shows me the courtesy of being respectful and professional towards the service and images I deliver to them, and that they are considerate when it comes to my copyright and the specifics of the mutually-agreed upon contract.

So if you're a photography buyer - don't be afraid to ask your photographer questions about any area of licensing, or the industry in general. We are always happy to explain in an effort to avoid confusion and costly misunderstandings later.

And if you're a photographer - it's tempting to abandon your rights in this economy in order to maintain good relations with a client. But please remember that not only aren't you doing yourself any favors - you are also hurting your peers, the industry as a whole, and in the end your client, by not making sure that your services, products and rights are assigned their proper value and protection.

In the end - who is going to produce those high-quality, custom images for our clients if we photographers are unable to make a living and have to abandon our profession?

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, Central Oregon photographer, client education, licensing rights, photographer advocacy, photography industry

A week ago, I wrote about the perils and joys of selling your images for book projects.

In volume 2, it's pretty much all about the joys. Because this time, it didn't take very long - and the image wasn't for some far-away Midwest book publisher, but rather for a friend who lives in my own town.

I had had conversations with Stan about his book before. It sounded like an intriguing story, and I was thrilled when he called me last December to tell me he was ready to publish. All's he needed now was a fitting cover image.

So I went over to his and his wife Rika's house, tripod and camera in tow - and as it turned out, Stan had a painting of the city of Portland he himself had painted many years ago that looked perfect in layout and context.

So here's the evolution:



I shot the painting ...



... cropped it, cleaned it up a tad, then sent the file to the graphic designer, who turned it into this:



And so for the second time in only a few weeks, I was able to hold a book in my hands I had contributed imagery to. How cool.

Labels: Bend, Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, book publishing, books, Central Oregon photographer, product photography

I admit - when I signed up for Facebook, I did not sit down with a nice hot cup of tea and take a leisurely half hour to read their Terms of Use. Did you, my dear pro photographer/artist/filmmaker friend? Didn't think so.

Today however (and only a day after I uploaded the first part of my portfolio to Emerald Bay Photo's custom Facebook page), a nudge from a friend prompted me to go take a closer look at the Terms of Use. I was shocked - to say the least. The verbiage has all the elements of a pro photographer's worst nightmare.

User Content Posted on the Site:

When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content.

While this all may seem like legalese to most people, to me, it's not. I've read, edited, and written enough legal contracts for the photo industry over the past 12 years that verbiage like this sends shivers down my spine (and those who know me, also know that photographer advocacy is a cause close to my heart).

Because in plain English - the second you upload an image to Facebook, they'll forever have a copy of it, and they'll also forever be able to use it. Because, as they claim, you've granted them a full and irrevocable license to your image, and they are from now on able to use it, modify it, give it away and - yes - license it to a third party. (Take a deep breath now, and ask yourself: why would they want to, and what for exactly, if there was no exchange of money?)

Naturally, Facebook has already caught a lot of flack for these terms. Founder Mark Zuckerberg justifies them like this in his response: "When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they've asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn't help people share that information."

Part of me understands that - another part of me cringes at the mere thought of opening myself up to yet another way my images could potentially be abused. And yet another part of me knows that it's a spectacularly difficult situation people don't usually have the bandwidth or knowledge to truly grasp, and therefore their initial reaction is to simply cry wolf.

What it really does though is highlight the complexity of copyright in the digital age. For example - you probably use Google every day, right? You search for content, images, use your Gmail, calendar etc.. But have you ever thought about what kind of license you enter into with Google for these most basic services? Have you read Google's Terms of Use? Here's what I found:

11. Content license from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.

Hm. Sounds an awful lot like Facebook's license, no?

Taking a step back, it occurred to me that too often do we take the Internet and its vast resources for granted. When we use Facebook or Google, we don't think about the enormous amounts of time, effort, and money it takes to run these companies and sites. Or that we can access their services 24/7, from literally anywhere - FOR FREE.

For us pro photographers that means: having our websites show up in Google, or being able to upload our portfolios to Facebook (and share them with our friends, peers, clients) - which (let's be honest) gives us a whole new (and huge) channel of marketing. FOR FREE.

Should we have to trade the potential of having our images abused by a company such as Facebook or Google for the opportunity to display (and market) our services? Maybe not. We certainly have a choice. We can choose not to put our images out there, based on the rationale that if nobody can see them, nobody can abuse them. But if we don't put them out there, we also forever stay in the stone age with our businesses, doomed to having forever missed the train to the digital age. I, for one, readily acknowledge that over the past few years, the main bulk of my business has been generated by my website, its vast portfolio - and its excellent Google rating.

In his note, Zuckerberg talks about respect and trust. How do we know Facebook won't turn to the dark side one day, and start to utilize that trust (and that licensing agreement) for their own profit? We don't. We can only trust that they won't.

In the meantime however - we can be responsible digital citizens, protect our content as best as we can (by keeping your FB privacy settings restricted to only your friends, or watermarking all of the images on our website), and hope that FB does the right thing.

In the same meantime - let's not forget that we all reap the rewards of an open web of connections, such as the Internet or Facebook, to promote our businesses and help us earn a living.

Update: this post was originally published on Facebook, where it generated some interesting feedback links. I thought I should add them here to further the discussion and let other voices speak as well:

Photo Business Forum
APhotoEditor.com
Sportsshooter.com
UsePlus.com

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, Facebook, photographer advocacy, photography

Book publishing can sometimes be such a sluggish venture. In this impatient age of instant gratification - fueled by the net, Facebook, Myspace and, yes, blogging - the thought of selling an image for a project that's not going to come into existence until 6 or 8 months later, can be a trying thing.

Luckily, I have plenty of experience in the field, having worked for four years in PR and marketing for a technical book publisher. I know that from the time of idea conception (ie. sitting around with your buddies, brain storming over a glass of beer) to the proud and satisfying moment of actually pulling the finished book off the store shelf, it can be a long and rocky path - littered with endless rewrites, changes of direction, fights over cover design, marketing snafus, wheelin' and dealin' with retail outlets... and so on.

That's why when I sold a few images for a how-to book on concrete to a client last Spring, I literally forgot all about it. Right after I cashed the check, anyway...

A few weeks ago though, while organizing my tax stuff, I suddenly remembered... that's right ... the book was supposed to publish last Fall! And sure enough - a quick check on the website confirmed it - it was out! Whoohoo!



A quick reminder email to my awesome editor, and a comp copy was at my doorstep two days later too.

Truly - there's hardly anything more satisfying than leafing through a book, seeing your images printed in it, and knowing that someone will assign space for it on their bookshelf for years to come.

Labels: architectural photography, architecture, Bend, Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, book publishing, books, Central Oregon photographer, concrete, interior architectural photography

One of my biggest and most stout resolutions this fine new year will be to EAT LESS, eat more modestly, and consume food with greater attention paid to nutrition and calories.

For example, my breakfasts will likely look like this every day (eggs = protein. protein = good):



Something like this for lunch will probably address my nutritional needs (I see fiber in there! I swear I do...), in conjunction with also looking pretty:



And me thinks that a serving of protein such as this will be appropriate for my dinners. Oh, yes, it will.



In closing: Thanks for humoring me. I'll go back now to gnawing on that side of bacon. Mmmmm. Bacon.

Dishes created by the talented and fabulous Chef Adair and photographed by yours truly.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, Central Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, food, food images, food photographer Bend OR, food photography

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the fun I had shooting the Deschutes Brewery's annual Fresh Hop Tasting.

Last Saturday, I went back to the fabulous Mountain Room. This time to get some shots for the brewery as they were getting ready to host a fundraiser for the Bethlehem Inn. The venue had gone from casual to elegant in a snap...



...and the food accompanying the affair was equally sophisticated:


Entree One - Fresh Pacific Prawns Crusted with Quinoa, Served with Causa Morada & Sofrito. By Hola!


Entree Two - Rack of Lamb, Stuffed with Spinach, Feta & Fennel. Served with Lemon-Oregano Roasted Potatoes and Wilted Chard. By Deschutes Brewery. Paired with Jubel Ale.


Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding with Caramelized Bananas and Toffee, by Jody Denton @ Merenda/Deep

And then there was beer too.

Need I say more?

Oh - and in case you haven't seen it: check out the brewery's rockin' new website! The videos are particularly cool. Way to go, DB!

Labels: beer, Bend, Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, Deschutes Brewery, food, food images, food photographer Bend OR, food photography, product photography

I'm sure Homer Simpson would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven - if he'd only taken time out of his cartoon life to attend Deschutes Brewery's annual Fresh Hop Tasting in their beautiful Mountain Room.

Indeed, the beer flowed free and strong, and Homer would have been quite certainly delirious, trying to decide which to grab first: the Mt. Angel Fresh Hop Stock Ale or the Harvest Moon Fresh Hop Strong Pale Ale? Or maybe the Fairweather Fresh Hop Golden Ale?



Incidentally, Deschutes Brewery hired me to shoot the event and venue that evening, so while I can provide visuals, Jon over at The Brew Site has a far more educated and ind-depth review of the affair than I'd ever be able to conjure up.





Did I mention though that the desserts rocked too?

Labels: beer, Bend, Bend Oregon photographer, Central Oregon photographer, Deschutes Brewery, drink photography, Editorial Photography, Event Photography, food photography, product photography

Fall is always a great time for some indoor shooting. Not restrained by weather or needing that perfect simmering sunset, I can stretch myself creatively - and I love those clients who pretty much give me free range.

Such as Volcano Vineyards. Not only are these guys great people and make kick-ass wine - they are also heaps of fun to work for cause they just throw their product at me, and say "go!". So I did. And got a bit playful and creative:



Sophisticated satin and sparkling diamonds just somehow seemed to go well with these viticultural gems ...

Labels: Bend, Bend Oregon photographer, Central Oregon photographer, drink photographer Bend Oregon, drink photography, food photography, product photography

One of the finest, most highly-priced ingredients in cooking: the Black Truffle.



A member of the fungi family, the truffle reveals its subtle nutty flavor best when thinly sliced. On a recent photo shoot for Chef Adair, I had the pleasure of shooting the fabulous truffle and letting a piece melt on my tongue.

Yum.

More information about the truffle and its legendary qualities right here on Wikipedia.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, Bend photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, food, food images, food photographer Bend OR, food photographer San Francisco CA, food photography

Sometimes, in my line of work, it happens that I have to wrestle beasts, brutes and monsters. And I'm not just talking about a particularly finicky photo editor or client...

And so it was then last week, that I got to work with a special kind of monster. It had a purple tongue. And scaly skin. And claws. In short - it was the newest addition to the wildlife area of the Bend High Desert Museum: the Gila Monster.



Wikipedia generously provides us with the following account (and so much more) about the charming qualities of above creature:

The gila monster (pronounced "HEE-la") is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is a heavy, slow moving lizard, up to 60 cm (2 feet) long, and is the largest lizard native to the USA.

Unlike snakes which use hollow upper teeth (fangs), the Gila monster injects venom into its victim through grooves in the teeth of its lower jaw. The teeth are loosely anchored, which allows them to be broken off and replaced throughout their lives. The Gila monster produces only small quantities of its neurotoxic venom, which is secreted into the lizard's saliva. By chewing its prey, however, it tries to put as much of the venom into the bloodstream of its victim as possible. The Gila monster's bite is normally not fatal to humans (there are no confirmed reports of fatalities), but it can bite quickly and holds on tenaciously.



From the kind and most informative creature wrestler at the museum (a brave soul who stood in the terrarium only inches from the lizard and tried to coerce it into posing for my camera for a full hour), I learned that the Gila monster is shy and spends 98% of its life underground. Which I suppose explained why it apparently didn't like my lights too much and - fussy as it was - constantly tried to crawl into cracks and holes in the exhibit.



The lizard also showed off an incredible gift for climbing and moved at surprising speeds on the slick rock. Again, the handler related that should one come across one of these lizards in the wild (unlikely, but it's been known to have happen), one should just back away slowly - and quietly hope that the lizard may be too full from a recent feast of mice and other small animals to be in the mood to chase after you.



Knowing all that, I was pretty happy that I even got the shots I did - without having had to sacrifice any small animals, handlers, or even editors.

I think the museum was overjoyed too.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

Don't blame me if you suddenly have an irresistible craving for scallops and fava beans ...

I'm just the messenger.



This delicious dish (and many more to come), brought to you by Chef Garrett Adair.

And yes. I got to eat it too.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, food, food images, food photographer Bend OR, food photographer San Francisco CA, food photography, scallop

Freshly back from my trip to chocolate-infused Switzerland, I got the opportunity to shoot some really yummy sweet treats during an event at Balay in downtown Bend.



They were tiny delicate cups of chocolate, filled with silky mousse. And lush, juicy strawberries, dipped in dark chocolate and decorated to look like tuxedos. And did I mention the heart-shaped truffles?



And yes - after I shot them, I ate them (thank you to Sweet Tooth for letting me take some home too. They didn't last very long ...).

Being Swiss, I'm very picky about my chocolate. But this stuff rocked. And it reminded me of why I love to shoot food. Because I get to eat it afterwards.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, chocolate, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, food, food images, food photographer Bend OR, food photography, photography

This just in ...

Oregon's premier photo stock agency, Obsidian Stock, has partnered up with Absolut Vodka's Lomo campaign to bring you one of the coolest, hippest tools of the photo trade: the Holga camera.



We are raffling off 10 of these hot little gadgets in an effort to inspire, mobilize and spark creativity among Oregon photographers. The contest is FREE to enter and anyone can take part - aspiring amateurs and pro shooters alike.

To find out more about what the heck a Holga is anyway, and how you can get your hands on one, just go over to Obsidian Stock's Lomo site and fill out the form for a chance to win.

And for a little Lomo inspiration, check out AbsolutLomo's awesome wall of pictures.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer

For the past two years, I have been co-organizing the Bend Slideluck Potshow with Oregonian writer Matt Preusch. He brought the concept with him when he moved to Bend from Seattle, where his friend Casey Kelbaugh had casually started the gatherings in 2000.

Over those years, the Slideluck Potshow concept took off like wildfire - culminating with a piece in the New York Times today.

Slideluck Potshow in NYC - photography Michael Nagle for The New York Times

And Casey writes:

As we announced at the show, there are several Slidelucks coming up, both nationally and internationally. Alys Kenny and I will be going to Europe for a month to launch SLPS in five European cities. In each place, we will be looking for artists, volunteers, participants, and in the case of London and Berlin, spaces. If you know people in any of the cities listed below, please feel free to connect them with us as we would like to make each show as rich and diverse as possible.

March 30th: Seattle
April 14th: London (in conjunction with the VII seminar)
April 21st: Madrid
April 26th: Copenhagen
April 28th: Berlin (over April2006Berlin gallery weekend)
May 5th: Milan
May 19th: Minneapolis
June 29th: Los Angeles

Also in the works are San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, DC, Portland, Santa Fe, Milwaukee, Boston, Mexico City, Art Basel Miami and New York City public high schools. It is amazing to consider what this non-profit might be able to accomplish with proper funding. In each of these places, we are seeking to present the work of artists working in that community for that community.

Yay to our international brethren! The most recent Bend SLPS was last Friday, but for anybody interested in attending the next Slideluck Potshow in Bend in May, email me and I'll put you on the announce list.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, photography, Slideluck Potshow

Last Saturday night, the annual Drake Awards were held at the Tower Theatre in Bend, Oregon. The event is put on by the Advertising Federation of Central Oregon and honors the best of last year's creative efforts in the advertising arena.

While I had entered the Obsidian Stock website for my own company (props for the kickass design go to my biz partner and designer Lance Hardy), another one of my photographic projects ended up winning a Silver Addy for best "Consumer Website" in the Interactive Media section: the Tigerlily Home site.



Yay! Good job, Kristi - and congrats to Mindy.

What's really rewarding for myself is that after shooting product for the site in many, many sessions over the span of last year, Mindy ended up with a website that is not only visually interesting and functional, but also exudes a luscious, tropical feel that perfectly fits the wares she sells. Kinda like browsing through a Thai market - only that it's located online (and downtown Bend)...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, product photographer Bend Oregon, product photography

Anybody who remembers Mt. Bachelor's West Village Lodge two years ago, and for some unknown reason hasn't been back since (uhmmm - me? because I don't ski?) - get ready for a pleasant surprise:



That's right - the interior of the lodge (which previously had a bit of a strong nolstalgic 70s feel to it ...) has been completely updated. Large, modern steel beams now rule the spaces, rugged floor tiles add color and texture everywhere, and open, light areas invite to linger, rest, snack or warm up with a drink.



The formerly cramped and lackluster bar area has been completely transformed into a hip, inviting space with neon signs, Bachelor-branded chairs and lots of open room.



And in a nod to the environment and green building, modular panels out of recycled wood now protect the walls - and once they are banged up pretty good by the crowds, they can be easily replaced with new ones (as can the floor tiles).



Overall - a very cool remodel. And a fun shoot too.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, architecture, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, Mt. Bachelor, photography

As our world grows more visual every day, some of my clients are starting to look for new and innovative ways to incorporate my photography into their marketing.

One such client, Pilates Center of Bend, has just set foot into the brave new world of the web's latest darling - podcasting. By producing a series of podcasts, showcasing specific pilates exercises, and posting them for free on iTunes, they are hoping to attract not only virtual admirers, but also real-world clients.



Cleverly - and to keep their presentation dynamic - they have incorporated some of the photos I took for them into their own iTunes page and at the beginning of the podcast.



The first in their series of presentations - demonstrating the pelvic curl - is now available in iTunes or as a Quicktime movie via their website.

Want to even stay tuned to new pilates episodes as they hit the web? Easy. Just subscribe to them via iTunes!

Overall - very cool. And a refreshing way for me to see my clients utilizing photography.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

After the appetizer I served up last Monday, the main course is finally ready now for consumption.

Go ahead - gorge yourselves!

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

I did some cooking yesterday. The ingredients were:

6 beautiful fire dancers
Several cans of Kerosene
Colorful costumes and makeup
1 snow-covered clearing in the Cascade mountains
1 bottle of Maker's Mark whiskey

The result:

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

Kudos to the New York Times for writing an most excellent article on the importance of good architectural photography when trying to sell a high-end property or residence.

In real estate, a picture can be worth more than a thousand words. Much, much more. When selling properties online, agents and Web designers say that the pictures buyers see of houses and apartments for sale are often the first - and sometimes the only - chance for a seller to make a good impression. Less-than-flattering pictures can turn buyers off and lead to lonely open houses.

"Good photos will grab people's attention and help you sell a home," said Jacky Teplitzky, an executive vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in New York. "Bad pictures will absolutely give you trouble, because you won't have any calls on it, and nobody will come to see it."

Eighty percent of people across the country who bought a new home last year used the Internet while house hunting, and they rated photographs as the most useful tool in their search, according to a survey of buyers and sellers by the National Association of Realtors.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

Normally, winter is a time for me to kick back a bit, relax, collect myself again for the busy Spring/Summer shooting season. You know - catch up on reading those great books you've been saving all summer, go out snowshoeing, organize your office, prepare your taxes - fun stuff like that.

Not *this* winter, however.

I suppose that's what happens when you're finally so sought after in your field that you can (have to) work all year round... Or when you decide to pull a second business up by the bootstraps, make yourself CEO and photo editor of it, and end up having the thing take on a life of its own.

Serves me right. I should have known better. That's what I get for being so damn ambitious. Hahaha.

To sum up the past 3 months though:

• My clients know that I love a challenge. This residence certainly was just that. Contemporary homes are hard to shoot because they tend to be very uncrowded, with simple, clean and stylish lines. That makes it hard to find things to fill your frame with. But I was actually very happy with the resulting images - look for a full portfolio and an article on the residence and its unusual family dynamic in the March/April issue of Bend Living.
  
• Speaking of Bend Living: Their beautiful coffee table book hit the stores and shelves last November, just in time for Christmas. Given that I was one of the 27 photographers chosen to participate in the project, I'm very happy with the finished book. Yay. And a big thumbs up to Tiffany at Bend Living for making her way through 9000 images to choose just the right ones. Nice going!
  
• Another project I recently shot that is worth mentioning: the St. Charles Heart Center in Bend. This is actually an amazingly elegant, non-sterile space for a hospital. I wish all my commercial architecture projects were this interesting!
  
• Couple of editorial assignements that were fun: shooting Patrick Kruse, CEO of Bend dog product company Ruff Wear, with his dog Otis. And Redmond mayor Alan Unger - both for the Oregon Business Magazine. Look for the shots in this February's issue.

So there. That's the reason why I haven't really blogged in a while. Just in case anybody was wondering ...

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

By popular request from last Friday's Slideluck Potshow crowd ...

Simone's Very Special Tiramisu

This recipe traces back to the cooking skill of one of my friends Italian grandmother.

I've witnessed small family feuds breaking out over batches that were too small - so don't let this happen to you. Make enough! I usually triple or quadruple this recipe. And prepare it one day ahead, for it only develops its true flavor after being allowed to rest in the fridge for 24 hours.

Since the recipe is of European origin, all measurements are in grams - so get your kitchen scale out. Equally important is that your eggs be as fresh as possible - check your neighborhood feed or grocery store for local eggs, fresh from the chicken coop.

Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks
- 50 grams of white sugar
- 200 grams of Mascarpone cheese (usual containers you can buy are 227grams - that's fine. Use it all.)
- 2 egg whites
- 150 grams of Lady fingers (yes, you can also make your own biscuits, but I've had the best results with simple Lady fingers you buy at your local grocery store)
- 1/2 cup of good, strong, freshly-brewed coffee
- 2 large TBLSP of Kahlua, Rum or whateever liquor you're fond of, to taste
- Chocolate powder

1. Make the coffee - allow to cool for a bit, then add the liquor.
2. Mix the egg yolks and sugar and beat them until they're of a very light color.
3. Add the Mascarpone, and mix in well.
4. Beat your egg whites till very stiff, then carefully combine them with the mixture (a rubber spatula works well).
5. Cover the bottom of a glass (no metal!) dish tightly with your lady fingers.
6. Drizzle half of the coffee mixture onto the lady fingers, making sure you don't make the biscuits too soggy. The entire success of this recipe really lies in the perfect balance of coffee and biscuit.
7. Spoon half of the Mascarpone mixture on top of it.
8. Repeat steps 4 - 7 for a second layer of biscuit, coffee and cream.
9. Put the finished dessert in the fridge - be patient for 24 hours.
10. Shortly before serving, dust the top of the dessert with the chocolate powder. 11. Serve, enjoy, and watch the feud break out!

While it's unlikely that you'll have anything left over to refridgerate, you can do so for about 2-3 days. I've also successfully frozen this dessert - just give it about 3-4 hours to thaw before serving.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer

After shooting the BendFilm festival for 3 days straight - frankly, I'm exhausted.

On Saturday, I barely had enough time to process a few shots for Day 2, but just not enough to actually post them in the blog - so here they are now.

More extensive commentary and more images from all three days (and in specific the awards on Saturday) will get posted a bit later this week.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

For all those of you who have been living under a rock - the BendFilm festival officially opened yesterday for its 3rd year of showing and celebrating independent film.

I was there (as I will be today and tomorrow) to bring you all fresh shots from the event, hot off the CF card.

Check it out ...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

:: Let it be noted that this post is preceeded by some seriously furious chest beating a la King Kong .. ::

So a couple of weeks ago, while I was still lingering in California on food photography assignment, a surprise phone call from the West Coast photo editor of TIME Magazine came in. She had found my website (yes, this one), liked my work, and needed me to do an assignment in Bend for them. This was Friday afternoon, 4.30pm.

After I had gotten over the initial minor heart attack and wave of self-doubt (ME? Why did they pick ME? Can I pull it off?), I convinced myself that this was going to be just like any other assignment - only on a bit tighter deadline. I made the arrangements for the shoot with the contact in Bend, cut my California stay short, did the shoot on Monday afternoon, and had the final 30 selections to the editor Monday night.

The coolness of it all hadn't really sunk it though until yesterday - when I found two sample copies of the magazine (current, October 9 issue) in my mailbox.



Here's the page with my half-page shot leading the story:



And if anybody is interested in reading the story, it's right here (although only the print version shows off the picture).

Yay.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

So we had our 7th Bend Slideluck Potshow last Friday. (For those who don't know what the heck that is, you can read up at the website of our NYC brethren.)

A big thanks goes out to Balay - the best little coffee house in Bend - our generous hosts for this first-ever outdoor event. Just in the nick of time before it got real chilly too, I must say ...

Thanks also to everybody who slaved over the stove to bring something home-cooked, and to the photographers of Italian heritage who contributed pizza and wine. Sorry to Pat - I only realized later that we drank ALL your beer ...

The photography was abundant, excellent and astonishing in its variety too - so a nod of gratitude to everyone who contributed their work again.

And since a gathering of photographers (and random writers) doesn't seem complete without photographic proof, here are a few feeble shots I managed to fire off in between munching on brownies and getting my lips stained with red wine:

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer

The past few weeks have been delicious.

Mostly because I got to spend a week in the California Wine Country, just north of San Francisco, shooting a couple of food assignments.

One of them was for my good friends at Canape Catering - and the combo of my new Canon 5D camera and the kick-ass 100mm, 2.8f macro lens produced some seriously stunning results.

So strap on your bibs, folks - because the following images might make you drool so hard, it could short-out your keyboards ... ;-)











Didn't get enough yet? Check out all the images from the shoot ...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, food, food images, food photographer Bend OR, food photographer San Francisco CA, food photography

I first saw them a bit over 3 weeks ago - during ArtWalk in downtown Bend.

There they were: Clad in leather and colorful outfits, adorned with tattoos, lean, glowlight paint on their bodies. They twirled and twisted to the rythmic beat of drums - and they breathed fire.

"They" are the newest (and by far coolest) night-time attraction in Bend: FyreFlyte, a troup of fire dancers.

Watching them, I trance-like time-travelled back to last year's Burning Man - and then I remembered to pick up my camera, and actually take some shots....

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

Many moons ago, when I was still living in the Bay Area (or more precisely Sonoma County), I used to go to a small Irish pub in Sebastopol to listen to some live music on Wednesdays and enjoy a hard cider.

The acts were always good, but one frequently featured musician with a raspy blues voice, cool funky tunes, and some interesting tattooes really stood out: Eric Lindell.

So when I saw his name in the line-up at last Saturday's Bite of Bend, I grabbed my camera and headed down there to take some shots and enjoy his music.













Overall, it's just real nice to see a musician do well, and judging from the concert line-up he has on his site, he seems to keep busy.

For anybody interested in hearing his sound, head on over here.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

As I had promised yesterday, the PDF of that story I wrote and shot for Log Home Design Ideas Magazine is now resized to something a bit more sane.

Click on the small versions below to see the full-size jpegs (at 72dpi):












Note: While LHDI did a bang-up job on the layout - thanks, Dave! - the original story was quite a bit longer and more detailed. Hence, if you actually go ahead and read it, and it ends up sounding a bit cut up, then that's why.

Addendum: It's always wildly interesting to me just how and why photo editors choose the images they do. I personally had some real favorites from shooting this stunning home that didn't make it into the final article. If anybody is interested to check out the rest of the shots, they can mosey on over here and here.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

I love surprises. Especially when they're ... uhmm ... pleasant.

Working with national magazines who have a 12-14 months leadtime on an assignment or article, you sometimes loose track of exactly who is going to publish what, where and when. Especially when they've already paid you for it long ago too.

So it was that only a few days ago I remembered that the feature I had written and shot for Log Home Design magazine last year was going to run in this June issue.

And upon checking the mag out online - looky here! - I was surprised to find that one of my shots had actually made the cover! Weeee ...



Alas, the swift publishing pace of the mag has already pushed the magazine off the shelves at B&N in Bend and replaced it with the July/August issue. Luckily, the kind photo editor at LHD sent me a huge PDF of the article, so once I have that resized, I'll post it here for people to check out.

Cool though. A milestone for sure.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

This coming Friday & Saturday is going to be FUN.

I'm one of 30 photographers who will be descending on Bend and surrounding areas that day for a special Bend Living project.

The goal is to capture the soul of the community, and the best photography will be published in a lenghty portfolio in the Novembere/December edition of the magazine. My assignment will be to cover downtown Bend.

The best part though: the proceeds of the possible spin-offs - a coffee-table style book, calendar and photo exhibit - are all going to a local charity, the Bethlehem Inn homeless shelter in Bend.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, book publishing, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

This is the season in Central Oregon where one can get outdoors and take on pretty much any sport that trips one fancy. Thanks to the fantastic snowlevels this past winter, the rivers are raging right now, and rafting the Deschutes River can turn into some serious fun.

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a little photo excursion with fellow photographer Stuart Gibson and we amused ourselves by doing some "raft-by" shooting when two rafting groups from the COCC floated by.

Here are some of the shots (the entire gallery can be found here):

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

Ahhhh ... SUMMER.

Yes, it's finally here. With 95+ temps and glorious thunder-and-lightning storms every evening. Heaven. (The fact that we still shovelled snow in Central Oregon no less than 4 weeks ago is *almost* forgotten already ...).

So during our 6th Bend Slideluck Potshow last night, this photo was taken from the porch of our host house:



And somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear Judy Garland singing ...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography

If you've seen today's Health & Fitness section in the Bend Bulletin, you couldn't have missed the front page feature on Pilates (sorry, folks - no link to the actual story... uhmmm... it's subscription-only).

Incidentially, the pictures that accompanied the article for once weren't shot by the paper's own PJs - rather, they used the shots I had taken a few weeks back at my friend Diane's Pilates Center of Bend (she was interviewed for the article and tipped the paper off to the images).



So I thought I'd tutor anybody interested in creating similar images on how to achieve these kinds of motion effects. It takes a bit of planning ahead, but it's easy, really.

Step 1: Shoot numerous images while your model is in motion. The important part here is that you either mount your camera on a tripod, or if that isn't possible, you employ a steady handhold while shooting. You want the lines of the body to match up later.

Step 2: Open the desired images in Photoshop. I don't recommend working with more than three images at a time - unless the motion stretches across the entire image, overlaying more images can get visually confusing.



Step 3: Choose your background image (above). Go to your second image, and with the Marquee tool, select the part of the image you want to overlay. Cut and paste that as a new layer onto your background image.

Step 4: Go to Layer > Add Layer Mask and create a mask on your second image. Reduce Opacity on that layer to about 30%. Click on the mask, and with a soft black brush (at 100%) erase everything but the parts you want to showcase the motion with. Your images should now look something like this:



Step 5: Repeat with your third image. Play with the layer opacities to get the desired effect. Done!

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, photography, sports fitness photographer Bend Oregon

Last Friday, I witnessed an attempted murder.

The crime scene? Mirror Pond, Drake Park, downtown Bend, Oregon. April 14, 2006 - roughly 2pm.

The crime? The attempted drowning of a male Mallard duck by none other than a gang of fellow male Mallard ducks.







While obviously violence is no stranger to the animal world, we generally don't think of DUCKS as savage or ferocious creatures.

The attempted drowning seemed shockingly pre-meditated and coordinated, and left me frozen in astonishment, barely able to point the camera at the spectacle. I briefly looked around for a rock to throw at the party, hoping to break it up and free the poor under-duck, but no such luck.

And as I stood there, witnessing an agitated cluster of no less than 3 to 4 ducks at any time, grabbing the victims head with their bills and holding it under water, again and again - it occured to me that it's not only a dog-eat-dog world. It's also a duck-eat-duck world.

But before someone at PETA gets their panties in a knot, please note that I said "attempted" drowning.

Yes. The duck got away. Barely, I must say (in a couple of instances I thought he wasn't going to make it for sure), but he did.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

I had never even considered Google Earth as a tool to help prepare for a photo shoot - but I gotta admit, that's a DAMN GOOD IDEA.

I got tipped off to it in a recent newsletter from the AIAP, an organization I'm member of. Alan Blakely, Director of the AIAP, writes:

"There are literally hundreds of cool things you can do with Google Earth, but let me tell you how I personally use it:

1. Determine compass orientation and sun angle of exteriors.
This is HUGE! I travel extensively, and one of the hardest things to determine when planning a shoot is "best time of day". My experience has been that the people on site are rarely able to tell me accurately which direction the building faces. With Google Earth I simply enter the address of the building and "fly-in" to the location and view its orientation -- amazing! [Note: WOW. That is indeed huge. Knowing the physical orientation of any location is an amazing advantage!)

2. Determine the effect of adjacent buildings, parking lots and potential conflicting businesses on a site.
Have you ever arrived at an out-of-town location with a limited amount of shooting time and discovered that your subject was in the shadow of an adjacent structure? With Google Earth you can predict these potential problems.

3. Find nearby accommodations and services.
Another huge deal for me. I hate booking a hotel in a distant city and discovering that my subject site is on the other side of town. Google Earth allows you to find nearby lodging, restaurants, etc.

4. Find directions to and from a subject site.
I realize that this is old stuff if you use Mapquest, Yahoo Maps or Google Maps. However, seeing directions plotted out on the actual view of the area is vastly superior to any written directions. Google Earth zooms out and draws the way for you.

Now, however cool that tool may be though for larger cities - Google Earth images of Central Oregon are nothing short of SUCKIE. Point in case:



In comparison - the Google Campus rocks regarding detail:



Duely noted too that the City of Bend has a similar web-based application - but after running a few searches and not turning up even obvious stuff like Mirror Pond, Wall Street or Cooley Road, I've come to the conclusion that the thing is utterly useless (never mind that it ONLY runs in MS IE, and not in Mozilla ...).

And admittedly, Google Earth may be more useful for people who travel a lot or specialize in archictural photography, but I thought I'd throw it out there nonetheless. I'm sure creative ways to utilize Google Earth for other kinds of photography can very easily be found.

Post in the comments if you come up with anything brilliant.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, photography, photography gear

For almost 5 years I was utterly faithful.

To my trusty Compaq Presario 7000, that is. It rewarded me with rock-solid performance, few hiccups, and a comforting hum every time I would boot it up.

But it finally came time to add another horse to the stable. Not being able to shake the suspicion that the Compaq would just lay down and die if it ever found out that I was even *thinking* of replacing it, I reached deep into my pocket and bought it a "companion" instead. Sort of the Ferrari to park next to the VW Bus to keep it company in the garage.

The culprit? Photoshop CS2. It flat out refused to run on my lame 512mb of RAM (oops - was that out loud? Those 512mb of RAM are not *lame*. Did I say lame? I meant ... moderately insufficient...).

And at the same time - whenever I was desperate enough to start it up - CS2 would give me hints and peeks at its awesome power that CS1 just couldn't deliver. The fact that I am flirting with the thought of making the leap to the 12+ megapixel Canon 5D made a computer upgrade an even more pressing issue.

So I consulted Digital Photo Pro magazine, and after some brain-storming sessions with my friend Jake, settled on a system he would build for me with the following gear:

- Chip: AMD Athlon 64 1GHz HT Dual Core Processor
- 4 gigs of RAM
- 3 Harddrives - one 74 gig, 10,000rpm drive to host the operating system and daily operations, plus two 400 gig, 7200prm drives in a RAID 1 array (meaning that they'll mirror eachother and I'll always have a backup of all the RAW and processed images that live there).
- 2 DVD burners
- ASUS A8N-VM Motherboard
- POWERCOLOR Radeon X800GT Video Card
- Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2

Since this new machine (Codename: The Beast) is now dedicated pretty much exclusively to image processing, I've networked it to my Compaq (Codename: Beauty) via a Linksys Broadband router, giving The Beast access to all the files on Beauty (and vice versa), plus the internet and all other shared devices like printers, scanners, fax etc. A KVM switch from Zonet let's me share the same monitor, keyboard and mouse between both boxes.

And how has it all worked out so far?

I would have never thought working in Photoshop could be such a boundless pleasure. For the first time, it executes commands, actions and file modifications without the hint of a delay - if I blink, I'll miss it for sure. (And that despite the fact that for some reason, only 2 gig of the 4 gig of RAM are actually operational - the next BIOS update by the motherboard manufacturer or Windows Vista will hopefully fix that though).

A recent project that took up 1.5 gigs on my CF cards was processed in roughly a quarter of the usual time - RAW conversion is now not a time issue anymore, so there really is no excuse not to always shoot RAW.

All in all - it feels like working at the computer the way it should have been (was?) intended: at the speed of thought.

And yes - it was worth every penny.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, photography, photography gear

Last Sunday, a most glamorous event was held at Bend's Tower Theater - the 2nd annual BendFilm Oscar party.



Just like 800 miles to the South - in a mystical place called Hollywood - the people of Bend succumbed to the lure of glitz, glam, fur and shiny jewels (some fake, some not so fake) and turned out in force to show off fabulous gowns and stylish tuxedos.



After running the gaunlet of screaming fans and paparazzi on the red carpet...



... they got busy sipping champagne and saketinis and nibbling on fresh mussels and creamy gorgonzola...



... while Jon Stewart cracked jokes on the big screen.



Costumes were encouraged - and quite obviously embraced with gusto, as one can see from these examples:





A certain editor of a certain Bend glossy publication even went the extra mile and impersonated one of the night's Oscar contenders for Best Film ...



When the night was over, Oscars had been distributed, champagne was spilled, fun was had, and funds were raised for one of the worthiest causes: independent film.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, photography

A few months ago, Grant Ellis, a freelancer writer for the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper, interviewed me for an article about food photography, and the new tech infatuation of people whipping out their digicams before their fork at the restaurant.

Cruising around on Google today, I found the article got finally published, and it's indeed quite interesting - and at times hilarious.

I quote: I'm reminded of my own trip to China two years ago and the moment when I started taking pictures of my food. Afterward, I had trouble reasoning with myself. Why had I just taken a half-dozen photos of a bearded Shanghai crab, soon to be dismembered and devoured?

Eating I understand, but why did I feel the need to immortalize this transient, perishable subject? After all, by the power and pleasure of my consumption, I was essentially just conspiring to turn the thing into poop.

Thank you, Grant. I really needed this most inspiring mental image for my next assignment ...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, food, food photographer Bend OR, food photography, photography

One of the reasons for my recent lack of blog posts was an almost one-week long trip to Seattle to see some friends.

As it sometimes happens in life, things go upside down, and our friends had their baby a bit earlier than anticipated. So I got to see (and photograph) their brandnew baby - a girl with the lovely name of Sophia Lilly - up close and personal.


Sophia, less than 24 hours old, holds her mama's finger.


Sophia on her first photo shoot.


Being born a bit early brings on the conveninence of being able to hang out in a tiny and really cozy warm see-through box for a while - although her parents were anxious to take her home.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, photography

Found today on JWZ's blog: Digital Camera made from Scanner.

What a neat idea. Reading up on it some more (note: this is only a mirror, as the original site seems overwhelmed right now) it made me wish I had kept my old, but still working, flatbed scanner instead of donating it to the Goodwill...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, photography, photography gear

What do you get if you combine some olympic-grade snowboarders, a world-class event and a really, really nasty blizzard?

A very cool, but cancelled event. With some unhappy snowboarders. And some serious fresh powder.

Such it was last Saturday at the Chevrolet US Snowboard Grand Prix. No less than 15 minutes after I arrived at the Superpipe (and *after* checking in at the media desk and then huffing and puffing my way up the steep and snowy hill for 10 minutes, mind you), the cool dude who had narrated the event with much gusto, informed all the other resident dudes and dudettes that - uhmm, so *totally* sorry, man - the event would be postponed until later, or at least the next day.

I fired off exactly 15 frames prior to that, obsessively trying to protect my rather water-sensitive camera from the driving snow and hoping Mother Nature would chill. No use.

I did see some rad moves by the snowboard kids, but documentation in the manner intended (with blue skies, sunshine, and actually being able to see out of my eyes) fell sadly short, to say the least. Hence, below pictures:





Yepp, they suck. I know.

Making my way back to the base then, I came to know what the term "snow blind" means. With snow crystals, sharp like tiny razors, coming at me with insane speeds, not even the combined efforts of my sunglasses, hood, and shawl were able to protect my eyes enough to actually be able to keep them open - I staggered down the hill blind, having faith in the fact that *other people* could (maybe) see me and get out of the way in time.

On Sunday, I contemplated a return to shoot the Superpipe and the Slope-style finals, but after checking the Mountain's Weather Page and Webcam and seeing nothing but snow, I ditched it in favor of another adrenaline sport - playing four solid hours of Baldur's Gate.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, oregon stock photography, photography, sports fitness photographer Bend Oregon

This morning was 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside (that's 12 below freezing to you Celsius-people out there). Yepp, that's cold.

What was neat though, is that we got a healty dose of hoarfrost with it. So of course I tortured my camera for a bit by venturing out around the house where the subjects seemed to abound ...


Hoarfrost lets you see every tiny little snowflakelet in all its individual glory.


The garage door windows yielded some astounding patterns.


And even the icycles got a little frosty!

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

It snowed yesterday. And it got *real* cold.

So what's a photographer to do? Run out at the first blink of morning with the camera, of course! So these are literally fresh off the CF card ...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

Random Image for the Day:


Mountain Bluebird - Mt. Jefferson in the background

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

I'm not a birder. Really. I'm not. I just happen to live in a house that looks at the world at mid-tree level - with very large windows. And since that's where birds tend to live, I see a lot of them. So I have a mild interest in them. Especially the colorful ones.

When I first moved to Central Oregon, I actually took an informal survey of bird species that would visit my feeders year-round. I counted something like 42. Over the past 3 years now, I've come to know them all pretty well. So I notice when there's suddendly a new species around. Mostly one that doesn't belong here.

This has been the case with two new species I've come across over the past couple of weeks. One was this Blackbacked Woodpecker:



The Audubon Guide tells me that this uncommon woodpecker resides largely up North, in an area stretching from Western Alaska all the way over to the East Coast of Canada.

Then, two days ago, I saw a Redbreasted Sapsucker hanging around my feeder. It is supposed to live mainly in coastal areas, from BC down to California. Not in the High Desert of Oregon.

Now maybe those are just a couple of freak sightings - or maybe then again, they are not. Could it be that global warming has started to show its face by encouraging the redistribution of bird territories? I know it's completely hypothetical - but it's possible, isn't it?

Anyone with more info or a similarly unusual sighting, please leave a comment. I want to get to the bottom of this.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

Ok, I admit it - I have an unreasonable obsession with angles and lines. But in my chosen profession as architectural photographer, after all, angles and lines are everything. To me, it doesn't even matter if they're straight, curved, upsight down, crooked, wiggly - as long as they're exciting to look at.

Take this house, for example.



A few weeks ago, I shot this residence for a local Bend architect.



As even the untrained eye can see, the angles on this home are exquisite. The combinations of straight lines with leaned beams, cool glass with warm wood, tinted concrete with natural rock, are beautiful. And unlike 99% of homes here in the area, this one isn't elevated some 30 feet above ground to take advantage of the mountain views (which is does have in abundance) - rather, it is nestled into the ground to blend into the environment and shelter its occupants from the at times strong winds.



And despite its sizable square footage, you never feel like you're in a very large home. It's always intimate, cozy, inviting.

Very cool.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, architecture, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, photography

Yesterday, I went down to the Deschutes River in La Pine, near Pringle Falls, taking some shots for the Upper Deschutes River Natural Resources Coalition.

The waterlevel looked to be about 6 to 8 feet below normal, exposing the black obsidian on the river's shore, in places whitened by dried algae. An older fisherman I came cross only mutely shook his head when I asked him how the fish were biting, and shuffled off with his head hanging low.

Given what I had to work with, I decided on some close-ups - of which this one here became my favorite:



(By the way, it's all private property down there. I got permission in advance from the homeowners association to access this part of the river, so please, folks, don't go trampling around down there without asking first.)

I later talked to the president of the homeowners association, who told me that every year around this time, the powers in charge of the water supply turn off the faucet at the dam upstream, leaving only just enough water so the fish can survive. It stays that way until spring. The reason is conservation - so the farmers down-stream will have enough supply next summer to water their crops.

Now, I could launch into this long rant about how I detest the practices of the local water-management officials who seem to base their decisions purely on a commercial rationale, and with little regards towards the natural health of the river, its inhabitants and the wildlife who relies on it. But - that would do little good, now would it?

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, oregon stock photography, photography

The other day, I realized how terribly harsh life must be as photo gear in my equipment bag.

Over the past two years or so, I've done some pretty good damage to my Canon 10D, my 20-35mm wide-angle lens - and most recently - to my newly-acquired Canon Speedlite 550EX flash.

Once, my tripod-mounted camera fell onto the grantite floor of a bathroom I was shooting. It was a damn tight space, and I must have nudged the tripod with my foot. The floor was ok, of course - but my 10D had a little dent in the top, and also the small diffuser of my on-camera flash had broken (although the flash was closed at the time). Everything else worked great, the lens was fine - and overall, it was nothing short of astonishing how well the camera had held up to the crash.

Burning Man then claimed my 20-35mm wide-angle lens. I had read a lot about camera handling and maintenance in the Burning Man forums prior to my departure (including warning such as "If you have a nice camera, don't bring it"), and I had taken certain precautions, such as wrapping each item in my bag in a thick ziplock bag and only taking them out if I absolutely had to. I also ended up not changing any lenses during the entire week, because I knew that dust would inevitably get onto my sensor and screw up my shots.

But - there was no getting away from that superfine alcali-dust after all. Even if you keep your camera and lens inside of a ziplock at all times (which I pretty much did), the dust will get you. Luckily, it got to me only on the very last day. After the Burn too. I got home and upon cleaning my equipment, noticed a tiny speck of dust on the inside of my lens' front glass. It showed up in test shots as a dime-sized dark blur - and made the lens of course unusable that way. I wonder how many orders for new gear B&H gets after Burning Man ...

The third accident happened only a couple of weeks ago - I was on a shoot, and my tripod-mounted camera with the Speedlite on top fell over. And I wasn't even in the room. How it could have happened is seriously beyond me. The result of it however was that one side of the little foot that connects the flash to the camera broke off. I tried to super-glue it back on - no dice. At an event a few days ago, I ended up using lengths of gaffers tape to keep the flash on top of the camera, but the contacts were not working reliably.

So - now you might ask: Why hasn't she gotten in touch with Canon yet, and gotten these items into the shop to be repaired?. Well, I did call them. But of course all my gear is *just* beyond the warranty. So needless to say, Canon support was of very little help (they suggested sending it in or just buying new gear). And here's the sole biggest reason why I won't send anything in to them: They take WEEKS to evaluate and repair your stuff. Which working pro, I ask, can be without his/her camera or main lens for that long of a time?

Sure, you could go rent different gear to cover you for the length of the repair (Canon - disappointingly - doesn't offer a service like that). But not only are good rental places hard to find, they are also beastly expensive. None of them are in Central Oregon. Or Oregon for that matter. So take for example Gassers in San Francisco. Renting a 10D will cost you a cool $100 - per day. If you need it for say 2 weeks (the lenght of the repair) - that's $1,400. That will buy you a new camera. TCR is a bit cheaper, but not much. (Note to self - get into the camera rental market.)

So I'm stuck. I either risk losing out on jobs because my gear is in the shop, or I'll pay through the nose to be able to take on those jobs, and in the end might not make any money off that work.

For the future I think I'll look at taking out insurance on my gear. Before Burning Man I had my insurance agent work me up a quote for kicks. She wanted $500 for a year's coverage. I thought of all the nifty gear I could buy with that, and declined. Of course, my new wide-angle cost me over $400 alone. Add to that the flash, and I would have made out already.

If anybody has any bright ideas however, post them here or email them to me.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, photography, photography gear

Recently photographed at Scanlon's Restaurant:



And yes, I got to eat it too. It was fabulous. Look for the recipe in the December edition of Bend's own Gusto Magazine and for more images here.

In other food-related news: Grant Ellis, a freelance journalist writing an trend article on the rise of amateur food photography for Canada's national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, noticed the article on food photography I wrote a while back for O'Reilly (no doubt due to its kick-ass Google rating) and interviewed me for it. I'll be posting a link to the finished piece when I get it from Grant.

And last, but not least - my favorite sushi restaurant (and one of the all-time best on the entire West Coast, in my humble opinion) Sushimotos in Sunriver has changed owners. The original chef, Ed Metcalfe, is heading back to the Bay Area to start a new sushi bar. His talents will no doubt be sorely missed by regional sushi-afficionado, but I hope to get down to his new place soon - and maybe even do some food photography for him while I'm at it.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, food, food photographer Bend OR, food photography, photography

Last week, the good people at the Oregon Business Magazine sent me on an assignment into the foothills of the Ochoco Mountains, near Prineville. I was to do a portrait of Rick Steber, celebrated writer of Western novels and recent recipient of the "Best Western Novel" award for his new book Buy The Chief a Cadillac.

I ended up hanging out in his cabin for three hours. He read to me out of a couple of his books, told me about the time when his dog Strider got attacked by coyotes, and talked about all the interesting people and stories he comes across while travelling the West. It was utterly fascinating, and I was having a real cowgirl moment.

Of course, I did take his picture too:

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, photography, portrait photographer Bend Oregon

After the awards party on Saturday eve I was seriously exhausted, so I took yesterday off to recover - and hence, the pics from that event are up a day late. I hope you all still enjoy them though:


The amazingly talented Marcia Whitehead sings an aria after the screening of "Laundry and Tosca", the documentary based on her quest to become an opera singer


The BendFilm awards festivities at the Elks Lodge get started with a drink at the beautifully decorated bar


Central Oregon's own "American Idol" Katie Rush greets the guests at the door with her glowing smile


Jody Denton, head chef and owner of "Merenda" restaurant, puts the finishing touches on the dessert buffet


The evening kick-starts with the announcement of the "Indie Kids" award.


Mark Duplass accepts the award for Best Screenplay for "Puffy Chair"


The audience loved Taggart Siegel's "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" so much, they awarded him the Big Check with an almost 99% approval rating


Taggart Siegel lets Farmer John give direct thanks to BendFilm over the cell phone after the movie wins its second award of the evening for "Best Documentary"


The "Best in Show" award went to "Shakespear Behind Bars", a documentary about a band of prison convincts who put on a production of Shakespear's "The Tempest"



From singer to singer: Marcia Whitehead chats with Central Oregon "Idol" Katie Rush


A happy Taggart Siegel celebrated his win with Hanna Elias, director of "The Olive Harvest"


Winners Circle (from left): Scott Coleman Miller ("Uso Justo"), Evan Stuart ("Reality Check"), Taggart Siegel ("The Real Dirt on Farmer John"), Mark Duplass ("The Puffy Chair"), Taggart's producer, and Devor Robinson ("Police Beat")


The most sought-after piece of brass of the evening - the BendFilm trophy

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, photography

For those interested (and seriously - who isn't?), here are shots from the second day at the BendFilm festival:


At the screening of the much-anticipated documentary "The Eskimo and the Whale" by Bend filmmaker Jenn Hofman


A sold-out McMenamin's theater


Author and "Oregonian" film critic Shawn Levy discusses his new book ...


... "The Last Playboy", at DiLusso's Coffee shop


Filmmaker Taggart Siegel ("The Real Dirt on Farmer John") at home with his Bend host family


Free public transportation, provided by the "GreenEnergy" bus


Party at the "Tigerlily" boutique on Minnesota


The sponsors from Oregonlive.com at the Tigerlily party


Filmmaker Evan Stuart ("Reality Check") at the Sportsvision/Bend Living party


The jam-packed party at the Sportsvision store on Wall Street is in full swing


BendFilm founder Katie Merritt & friend at the Sportsvision/Bend Living party

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, photography

In my function as volunteer photographer for this year's BendFilm Festival, I was out there yesterday to cover the first day of the Festival.

Here are a selection of shots:

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, photography

I love it when all those silent wishes come true. Especially on my birthday.

Canon has announced the 5D, after much speculation and churning of the rumor mill.



At 12.8mp, equipped with a full frame sensor and at the fairly reasonable price of $3,300, it's not only the dream of many photographers who have been lusting after the 1Ds Mark II, but also my personal dream come true. Not having to shell out $8,000 for a full frame camera (which will render my wide-angle lenses for architectural work at their intended width), and still getting the higher resolution is quite simply perfect.

So thank you, Canon. I appreciate the fact that you've listened to your clients and come up with a nice middle-of-the-road camera that gives us pros one more reason to stick to Canon as the preferred method of capturing high-end imagery.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, photography, photography gear

18 Days to Burning Man.
Then - 7 days completely off the grid.
Dream or Nightmare?

At first, the thought of dragging my delicate camera equipment into an area notorious for 110 degree heat, fierce lightning and sand storms, and fine alkaline "playa dust" made me shiver. Then I also realized that without a convenient wall outlet to plug my camera battery chargers into, I'd be out of business after a couple of days of shooting. Which was a bigger bummer than the heat, storms, and dust put together.

So a few weeks ago, I started researching my options. Sure, Burning Man is a place where people share - and RVs with generators and such will be plentiful, no doubt. I could probably sweet-talk someone into letting me plug into their power supply every so often. But - I really didn't like the idea of mooching of my brethren. Radical Self Reliance is the Burning Man theme after all.

Then, what else is there? With the help of a couple of gearhead colleagues (thanks Robert & Tom!), I was able to distill these options for remote power supplies for the wilderness:

1. The External Battery Pack: The Digital Camera Battery store will sell you this nifty long-lasting battery pack that can power both your camera and flash for a long, long time. It's small and has a belt clip and a cord, and is rechargable.
Price for the smallest, 40Watt unit = $320. Add to that $70 for the cable, and at least $99 for the car charger. Total = $510

Ouch. Not. Next!

2. The Solar Option: Yes - seize the power of the SUN! This is waaayy nifty - a 5 Watt solar panel charger for my Canon BP-511 camera batteries = $100. But wait - for only $25 more, I can get the 10 Watt Solar Panel. And man, for yet another $45 more, I can get the rollable 5 Watt Panel! For $260, I can even get the 10Watt rollable panel.
And then there is the cool iSun charger - so cute and small, and even lets me charge my AA batteries for the flash too. Damage = $160.

Sigh. That would be nice. But there's gotta be another option too. And, yes, of course there is. In true cheap-hipster form, this is the solution I came up with:

Canon BP-511 Camera Battery charger with AC plug: $12 (including shipping)
High-powered AA battery charger, with 8 2300mAh rechargable batteries, and an AC plug: $60
Add to that one of them portable power units that will jump your car and has an AC plug (which I can use to plug my chargers into): Freebie! (with the last set of tires I bought at Costco)
Total damage: $72



Not bad. But I suppose I've yet to see if this truly works. If not, there's always the Media Camp at Burning Man where I could charge my batteries (so I wouldn't have to sell my body to some random RV people - as was pointed out to me by a helpful fellow photographer ... ;-).

But in any case - this has been educational already, and I suppose can be considered as part of my gift back to the BM photo community. If anybody has any other ideas (or knows for sure that mine won't work, leave a comment.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, photography, photography gear

I'm no wildlife photographer.

I'm not saying that because I don't *like* to photograph animals. Rather - quite frankly - I'm not terribly good at it. I lack the patience to sit in one spot for hours, observing, stalking and waiting for the wildlife to come along. I lack the ultra-big and fast lenses that are simply a requirement for anyone wanting to shoot wildlife seriously. And I lack the experience to be able to frame an animal in an exciting-never-before-seen-way when it does come along - I'm usually just giddily happy when I even get one in front of the lens.

Yet when wildlife insists on doing cool stuff right in front of me (aka my own backyard) and if I can go observe and photograph it at my leisure (aka from my own deck), even I can be persuaded to take the occasional animal shot.

Point in case:


About 3 months ago, I noticed that the tree with the nesting hole (roughly 70 feet from my living room window) had a new tenant - a pair of Kestrel Falcons (also often referred to as Sparrow Hawks). While they're abundant and widespread in the U.S., I felt nonetheless honored that they would choose *my* tree over others to nest in. Soon, they were busy at work too - freeing my yard of gophers and other vermin, and delighting me with their flying acrobatics.

Not long after, the nest was getting noisy. We started hearing loud and high-pitched demands of food from baby kestrels, and saw the parents working tirelessly to provide for them. The weekend before last then, I saw them for the first time - almost already at full size and plumage, three young falcons sat on the branches surrounding the nesting hole. I watched them flail around, beat their wings, but mostly just cry for more food. I figured, they'd be there for a while, so I didn't bother to take any pictures.

The very next day however, one of the youngsters took his first flight. In the beginning, I saw him make only short trips to surrounding trees. Then longer ones. Until finally, the entire brood took the plunge. That's when I decided that I should probably take my camera, put the dreaded tele-converter (I really hate those things - they make your camera slow and add grain) on my 300mm (in effect 450mm) lens, and head down to the tree. Hand-held, I was able to snap a few images of the young Kestrels as they hung out in their nesting tree, resting before the next flighing attempt.

Good thing I got that done too. The very next day, both parents and their three young were gone. I haven't seen or heard them since. But it's taught me a couple of valuable lessons - for one, my equipment sucks for taking wildlife shots. And two - I'm no wildlife photographer. I'll happily return to contemplating angles and lighting on structures again...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

There comes a time in (almost) every freelancer's life, when things start to click, start to fall into place. The past few weeks have been like that for me.

Work has been good and steady (so much as a matter of fact, that the last thing I've wanted to do after-hours is spend more time on the computer to blog), my calendar is satisfyingly covered with crazy scribbles of appointments and gigs, and there are a few very exciting new things on the horizon - which I cannot just yet brag about, but will be able to hopefully soon.

Yet today is special. A day when the Gods of the Publishing Industry are nodding and smiling down upon me. After working as a pro for 2 years now, this is the day I've gone national for the first time - with a 2-page (56 & 57) spread in the August issue of Money Magazine (Circulation: 1.9 million).



That so many eyeballs will see my images is exciting stuff. Hats off to the magazine and its fabulous editor for choosing the images they did and for reproducing them so beautifully.

So go out, buy the magazine - and be happy that Bend, Oregon didn't make the magazine's Top 100 list of "Best Places to Live". Otherwise there would be a resounding sigh so loud going through the Central Oregon home buyer community, you could hear it all the way to New York ...

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, photography

For some inexplicable reason, I'm terribly fond of this image:



Or is it just me? Does anybody else like the almost painterly quality of this image? The way the chair, hat, painting, old indidan leather jacket, logs, and set of fireplace pokers come together? How the single spotlight casts this interesting light on the scene?

It was taken on a recent furniture shoot, almost as a sidenote, for no particular reason really, and just because to me, the scene seemed so saturated with Cowboy romance.

I just found out today that two images from this shoot are in consideration for the cover of the updated version of the book "Cowboy High Style".

I somehow hope it's gonna end up being this one.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, photography, product photographer Bend Oregon, product photography

I love my job.

Especially when I get to shoot assignments that take me to beautiful homes, let me meet wonderful new people - and give me a slice of education I would have never gotten otherwise.

Take for instance a recent shoot I did for a high-end reproduction maker of Molesworth furniture in Cody, Wyoming.



Molesworth who, you ask?

Yepp, I posed the same question. But in preparation for the shoot and to get a feel for the image style of the book (as my images will get featured in the updated version of the book), I read up on this interesting icon of Western style in Cowboy High Style by Elizabeth Claire Flood.

To quote the author: "Bow-legged cowboys, buffalo silhouettes, bucking horses, Indian teepees, an antlered elk - all icons that symbolize the rugged West. These, plus sensuous natural woods, vibrant leathers, and colorful woven fabrics are the raw materials of western casual elegance.

The western decorative style first became fashionable in the 1930s and 1940s, when dude ranches and lodges were among the most popular tourist destinations. Many of these retreats were outfitted by Cody, Wyoming furniture maker Thomas C. Molesworth, who worked mainly with swollen burls, rich leathers, and vibrant Chimayo weavings, to create the sturdy, streamlined furniture for which he has become famous. By adding romantic western and wildlife motifs through detailed wood carvings or paintings, Molesworth promoted a high style of furnishings that captured the spirit of the West."

Indeed. Shooting these beautiful furniture pieces, I started to really appreciate the smooth woods with their characteristic burls; the soft, supple leathers in their rich tones of red, and the intricate hand-carvings of arrows and teepees.

I'll be forever grateful for the education this job provided me - never mind that it also spoilt me for all eternity. I will never look at my furniture the same way again ...

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, photography, product photographer Bend Oregon, product photography

To me, it's become a yearly ritual. A sort of pilgramage, almost.

The shrine is the snowy Start/Finish line of the Attaboy 300 World Sled Dog Championships and the deities are the slim, yet incredibly tough sled dogs.

Not that I'm a dog fanatic a la "Best in Show". Not at all.

But if you've ever seen those sled dogs run their little hearts out in the rough and cold landscape, pulling that sled and its rider (or "musher") relentlessly, over steep hills, plunging descents, and ice that cuts into their tender paws, you can't help but admire them. By the end of the day's 50-mile course they appear exhausted, with tongues hanging to the ground, their skinny chests heaving, licking their bloody paws, and patiently waiting for their bowl of fresh meat. They seem to love it. The pure joy, that wild sparkle in their eyes, tell the story better than any words ever could.

They were born to run. Watching them brings to life legends of old, of a yet unconquered West, tales of a still-remote wilderness that was only accessible by dog sled in winter. You can't help but think of Jack London, the Alaskan Yukon territory, and the Gold Rush.

These days however, the true gold are the dogs themselves. The 2004 Iditarod prize pool was $720,000, with the winner pocketing $70,000...

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography, sports fitness photographer Bend Oregon

Log homes are the stuff dreams are made of. Who wouldn't want to live in one? They symbolize ruggedness and the outdoor spirit - the very essence of the place we live in - and yet a lot of today's log homes have a definite air of sophistication about them.

One of Central Oregon's most glorious log homes has just recently been finished, and I had the chance to go out to the Crosswater Golf Community and photograph the mansion.

Take a look at the resulting images. Would *you* want to live here?

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, architecture, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, interior architectural photography, photography