Emerald Bay Photo News and Updates

I'm so damn lucky.

I have these incredible friends. They are a talented and generous bunch - who also happen to be awesome human beings to boot.

One of them is Adam Z.

Now - I've never actually *met* Adam. And yet, I count him as a dear friend.

Our lives first touched about 9 years ago, when he was running a powerful site about geek stuff out of his native Toronto, Canada, and I was an Online Evangelist for O'Reilly Media who was looking to partner with exactly such sites to promote our geek books. After the tech bubble imploded, and I had forged on as a freelance photographer, we worked on a couple of client projects together - him doing the design, me providing the photography.

Remote and online-only collaboration has its own challenges, but Adam turned out some incredibly creative designs for my clients, on insanely tight deadlines, and with a level of professionalism and attention to detail I had seldom experienced before. Even the pre-flight guy at the printer's wrote to me in awe that he had never seen such clean and precise files in his life before.

So I am grateful to Adam for many things. Not in the least for designing my beautiful logo years ago... as a pure courtesy.

But now he's done it again.

The other day, I was completely lost, staring at that empty expanse of pixels on my screen, that yawning horror of white I was supposed to fill with colors, shapes and prettiness, spouting out of the creative fountain of my mind. It was all supposed to form itself into a new card for my business, and a slide for the upcoming BendFilm festival (where Emerald Bay Photo is a sponsor). Except - nothing happened. The fountain was dry. No colors came to me. No shapes. No fonts. Nada.

I gnawed on my lip for a while. Then I ran in screaming desperation to Adam.

And he was there for me. With blazing speed, incredible creativity and that awe-inspiring precision, he spawned something of utter beauty, sleekness and simplicity. It was exactly what I had wanted, yearned for, but what my brain was unable to conjure up.







So this is a nod and a deep bow to my friend Adam.

THANK YOU.

Labels: design, photography

Earlier this week, I shot this beautiful home in The Highlands development of Bend:










The house is up for sale now (did you see the one-page ad in the Bulletin today?), and you can get more info and see more images right here at www.bendhighlands.com.

Labels: architectural photography, architecture, Bend photographer, interior architectural photography, photography, The Highlands

Gleaming metal. Clean lines. Sharp glass. Shadow and light, working together to create unexpected and dynamic patterns. Harmonic colors that enhance eachother, play off eachother, contrast and produce an environment of simplicity and grace.

These are the things I live for when doing architectural photography. Yes, I admit, I'm a junkie - my favorite fix being contemporary buildings.

So here's a good example I recently shot for an architect client:









Mmmmm. Mmm. Mm.

Labels: architectural photography, architecture, photography

I don't even think I need to elaborate past the headline ...





More options on how to delight your palate in the Home Cookbook section of Bend Living, out on newsstands now.

Labels: chocolate, food, food photography, photography

In the world of magazine publishing, working a few months ahead of the print deadline is nothing unusual. So the results of the assignment that took me to San Francisco last July only just hit the newsstand last month.

You can check out the article "Sushi Quest in the City by the Bay" in the March/April issue of Bend Living Magazine - or, given their rather meager selection of images from that assignment, take a minute and indulge in a sort of "extended version" of the adventure...

Truth be told - at first, the idea of a quest to find the best sushi in a city, awash with some of the freshest seafood on the coast and a selection of great restaurants featuring it, seemed rather intimidating. For me personally however - as a sushi aficionado - the promise of spending 3 days reveling in raw fish approached a small slice of heaven.

Oh how very, very, wrong I would be.

Between some rigorous net research, recommendations from friends and my editor, writer Vi Ho and I settled on three restaurants to check out: Blowfish, Sudachi, and Kyoya. With swing in the step, elated tastebuds, camera gear and notepad ready in hand, we arrived at the first place, Blowfish.

Now - to make raw fish look attractive and appetizing, you sometimes really have to work hard. That goes for both the chef and the photographer. Blowfish however really had the presentation down, which made things decidedly easier for me:





Maybe it was the combination of dishes, maybe it was the sashimi - my small intestines didn't really care to make that distinction. They only knew that a short while later, they were very, very unhappy. And not being able to ignore them, so was I. Because in effect it prevented me from being able to enjoy the sushi - and any other solid food, for that matter - served up to me in the following two days.

Talk about being in a depression situation. Here I am - in one of the world's greatest seafood cities, a veritable plethora of choices tantalizing me at every turn, and kind chefs and restaurant managers serving up a seemingly endless procession of (free) dishes. And just the mere thought of tasting a piece of fish making my stomach squeamish.

Mostly I felt bad for the restaurants - they worked so hard to accommodate us and make a good impression. So I tried to be a trooper, indulged in the offered miso soup and edamame, smiled and nodded, and instead of salivating over the offerings, focused on making their food look good.

Sudachi's miso was indeed memorable - but (I was told) even more so were their unusual combinations of sashimi and exotic oils and condiments:





Kyoya shone with their exquisite presentation skills, but Vi proclaimed that their Shrimp Tempura roll was quite other-wordly too. How I wished I could have tasted it ...





After all was said and done, we returned to Bend - satisfied with our quest, and loaded with great story material. Even my intestines had arrived at a place of peace again. Alas, I'm still waiting for that subtle sushi craving to return.

Labels: food, food photography, photography, sushi

Life is challenging without sugar.

Trust me. I know.
I'm going through withdrawals as we speak.

Such is the sacrifice you make when doing a little Spring cleaning on the ole carcass. But hey. I know, it's temporary only. Luscious chocolate cakes, covered with thick shiny coats of couverture and adorned with ripe sweet raspberries loom in the not-too-distant future...

In the meantime, I have to satisfy my cravings by chewing on a low-fat cheese stick - while convincing my discriminating taste buds that it's really a Snickers.

For the rest of you, there is this:



Yepp, it's a berry cobbler with home-made whipping creme - photographed on a recent shoot for Bend Living magazine's "Home Cookbook" section. For the recipe, check the May/June issue.

Labels: food, food photography, photography

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: chocolate, food, food photography, photography

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: photography, Slideluck Potshow

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: architecture, Mt. Bachelor, photography