Mother Jones Magazine Talks Rape

Photographed spitfire Jenny Wendt for a Mother Jones Magazine story on statute of limitations for sexual assaults.  Jenny, who was raped in 2005, has begun a campaign to change Indiana's laws, addressing rallies and meeting with legislators and is now working with lawmakers in Oregon.  A serious topic calls for some serious images, but Jenny's personality is one of joy, warmth and humor.  Well that and a will of steel.

Artslandia Xmas

Those wacky folks over at Artslandia came up with the brilliant idea of inviting the who's who of the holiday stage for one big photo Xmas mashup.  And we got to join in.  We mixed cocktails for Crumpet from the Santaland Diaries at Portland Center Stage, tempted The Oregon Ballet's Sugar Plum Fairy with cookies (heck no she didn't eat any), helped Lucy string up poor old Charlie Brown from Stumptown Stages and put George Bailey, Scrooge and Kris Kringle through the holiday wringer.  Then we just added a little fake snow and blasted the Pandora Holiday station to get everyone in the mood.  Talk about a holiday Cornucopia.  Someone brought their toddler to the set and I sure that child will never look at Christmas the same way.  That's right, changing people's lives with the power of photography.  Here's wishing all of you a happy non-secular December and a fabulous 2015.

Carmen Peirano for Via Magazine

Via Magazine recently did a story on Carmen Peirano, the badass heir apparent to Nick's Italian Cafe in McMinnville. Pretty easy to take a good picture when your subject is a gorgeous chef, a cool apron always helps too. Question: How many photos can one take of the same space, using different angles?  My answer appears to be at least 4.

As a side note, I am a big fan of downtown McMinnville, it really has that small town, quaint feel, not to mention some great places to eat and shop.  Though maybe I'm biased. Carmen also runs a salumeria next door called Fino in Fondo, making Oregon a burgeoning meat empire.  I personally just like to say the word salumeria.

Portland Corporate Portrait - Lawyer Robert S. Banks Jr. for the NYT's

Popped over to the Banks Law Office to photograph Robert S. Banks for a New York Times article.  Robert was a great guy, and even thought to bring a prop to the shoot (his tres chic Coach brief case).  The tone of the article was pretty serious (his client unsuccessfully opposed the removal of her complaint against her former broker whose regulatory file included 41 customer complaints and a job termination!) and so we needed his vibe to match.  Luckily, he seemed to have the tough lawyer look down.

Writing His Own Script - Literally

We recently photographed Portland investor Stan Rosenfeld for Charles Schwab's high end investor magazine Onward. Stan is amazing, he still does everything the old fashioned way, with pen and paper. For the shoot we purchased a large piece of 1/8 inch clear plastic and hung it with C-stands inside the studio to get the handwritten "script" for the story headline. We opted to do this in camera, rather than in post to make it look more authentic.  We redid it so many times I felt like I was back in cursive writing class.  We also had Stan write some equations and stock lingo on the board to fill in the negative space and give it a bit more personality.  No stock tips though.....

Teacher of the Year, Jeff Charbonneau for Ed Tech Magazine

Spent the day playing with vials, beakers and all things science for our Cover Shoot for EdTech Magazine with 2013 National Teacher of the year, Jeffrey Charbonneau.  The Science and Engineering teacher graces the halls of Zillah High School, the very same school he graduated from.  Talk about your high school flashbacks.  At least he knows all the good make out spots.  Seriously though, as we roamed the halls with Jeff, he got a greeting or a hug from almost every student we passed.  Coming from a family of teachers, I know they don't always get their due.  Glad in the case of Jeffrey, someone noticed.