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.....

Portland Urban Wineries for the NYT's

Somewhere along the line I have become the de facto, "Portland food, lifestyle and travel" photographer for the New York Times.  And if you've read the NYT lately, you realize that is a job that keeps me rather busy.  People in Portland now joke about it, when I mention who I'm working for, "Oh, man, they are doing another story about us?" is the response I get.  And I understand that.  Sometimes I feel that living the good life Portland is a secret I'd rather not share.  Unfortunately, I think the cat may be out of the bag.  Damn you, Fred and Carrie. Below are some outtakes from a recent Urban Wineries shoot I did for the paper which included stalking the tannin soaked halls of the Southeast Wine Collective, Clay Pigeon Winery, ENSO Urban Winery and Tasting Lounge, and Sauvage at Fausse Piste.  Gotta love that urban terroir.

Earth, Wind and Fire - Traveling to Idaho for The New York Times

Did you know Idaho was a hot destination spot?  Me neither, but clearly the New York Times, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ernest Hemingway beg to differ.  Challenged with shooting a travel story on wildfires, we hopped a plane, rented a car with a sunroof (always a sunroof) and started cruising.  We hit the "Highway to Heaven" trail, also known as Highway 21, where areas are still scarred by lightning storms which ignited 335 fires in the Boise National Forest over the course of eight days in 1989, eventually burning 46,000 acres of land.  Now new growth mixes with burned remains, creating a visual mosaic. We hit places with backcountry names like Beaver Creek and Big Woods River which we off-roaded through at Sunset, trying to avoid gangs of Elk.  Then after days with no cell reception we touched down in Sun Valley, an oasis that housed Hemingway through the last of his years and now provides skiing, tennis, chocolate shops, and outdoor ice skating to the world weary. But the luxury seemed suspect after days of rolling in black forest fire ash, and once we showered off and imbibed a cocktail or two, we were back on the road.  Next stop was The Wrangler Drive-In to suck down blackberry milkshakes and gape at the Jackalope, a burger not for the timid which weighs in at 2 pounds.  Completing our Idaho loop we paused at The Silver Creek Preserve to quietly stalk the fly fisherman as they did a little stalking of their own, both of us trying not to disturb our prey.  From there it was a straight shot to Boise with the music cranked and the sunroof open as we both admired our tans and picked the tall grass out of our socks.

Pickathon 2014

Spent the first weekend of August how we always do, photographing the amazingness that is Pickathon, a four-day music festival located on the 80-acre Pendarvis farm in Happy Valley, just about 30 minutes outside of Portland. Now in its 16th year with six, count them...six, different music venues, the festival focuses on sustainability and the best part is they have eliminated single use cups, bottles, dishes and utensils and been plastic free since 2010! This year, the New York Times decided to stop by and get in on the West Coast love and being so gracious, we decided to join them.

Ate some great food, did a little dancing, saw more incredible acts then we could mention, though here is a feeble attempt....The Sadies, Nickel Creek, Mac DeMarco, Diarrhea Planet, Possessed By Paul James, Valerie June, The War On Drugs, Blind Pilot and even managed to take a photo or two.

Seaside Oregon is Cooler Than You Remember

If you had asked me two months ago what my thoughts were about Seaside, OR the three words that would have come to mind were....bumper cars, salt water taffy, and tacky.  Well, turns out only two of those were right.  Was there photographing for 1859 Magazine and I'm not quite sure what happened, but Seaside sure has changed its ways.  Now I'm not saying they have gotten rid of the dreamsicle taffy, the 80-year-old aquarium, or the mechanical great white shark, but the town has a new vibe.  Seaside Brewing Co.has popped up, in, of all places, the old 1914 city jail.  The Promenade is looking rather spiffy and goes for miles.  Maybe it's the new obsession with all things old, or my love of a gold Trans Am but suddenly tacky is looking rather fab.  Or maybe that's just the $1 jello shots from Big Kahuna Bar and Grill talking.

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.

Portland Timbers' v. Sounders for the NYTimes Travel Section

Last fall Christopher Onstott, Jan Sonnenmair and I all banded together to shoot a little NW soccer action for the New York Times Travel Section.  Those Timbers Fans are not messing around.  Many of them slept in line overnight to be the first ones in the stands. Not to mentions the costumes, the Timbers Army, the green smoke and those ubiquitous scarves.  In some ways the fans are way more interesting to watch than the soccer itself (and way more fun to photograph).  The game we shot they ended up beating the Sounders 1 to 0, which means the green smoke was flying.  In a city with not a ton of professional sports options (and the Blazers will break our hearts every time) and not a ton of what I would call your typical sports fan, it is so amazing to see Portland rally around soccer.

Vamping or "The One where I get under the Covers with a 15-year-old"

Man I love my job.  In what universe is it your job to hang out with a 15-year-old boy in his bedroom at night while he makes beats on his laptop?  Mine. Thank you Owen Lanahan, for letting me invade your haven of teenage mystery.  For whom else but teenagers could come up with the term #Vamping?  And who else but the New York Times would cover it?  Well them and TeenVogue. As Owen so eloquently put it, "“Sometimes I look up and it’s 3 a.m. and I'm watching a video of a giraffe eating a steak,” he said. “And I wonder, ‘How did I get here?’ This my friends, is Vamping. Teens up to all hours of the night on social media.  I remember in college calling it, "Riding the Vampire Express,"  where you would stay up working or partying all night and sleep all day, never seeing the sun.  But Vamping is just so much better.  And just in case you're thinking this blog contains zero informational material, here is a recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation.  Look, I just made you smarter.  You are welcome.

Little-Known Health Act Fact: Prison Inmates Are Signing Up

The New York Times and moi recently did a story about how for the first time ever jails and prisons around the country are beginning to sign up inmates for health insurance under the law, taking advantage of the expansion of Medicaid.  This sent me over to Inverness Jail to chat with inmate Devon Campbell-Williams. Photographing in prison is always a bit nerve wracking, trying to establish rapport, trying not to break any rules, trying to act cool when you are freaking out.  Being a woman at a men's prison can help, for just the reasons you think it would. Devon was charming and sweet and in our allotted five minutes we talked about his plans to open a food cart based on carnival fair food and the fact that, due to the Affordable Care Act we both had health insurance for the first time that either of us could remember.  All this while I danced around him, my finger remaining steadily on the shutter release. Devon is one of more than 1,200 inmates in the Portland area alone that have been enrolled through the infamous state exchange, Cover Oregon.  The biggest benefit of this is that enrolled inmates have coverage after they get out.  People coming out of jail or prison have disproportionately high rates of chronic diseases, especially mental illness and addictive disorders but few have insurance. Oh, irony.  As most things dealing with health insurance are, it is a tricky story. It comes down to who is going to pay the bill and whether more money could be saved over the long term if connecting newly released inmates to services helps to keep them out of jail and reduces visits to the ER, the most expensive form of care.  

Willamette Week's 2013 Restaurant Guide

Love the bounty of good eating that is Portland.  Roe, Catagna, Ava Gene's are all vying for most buzz in the city these days (case in point, I have photographed all of them at least twice).  But there are a plethora of others out there for those of us that hate waiting in line.  So many choices in fact that it is nice that Willamette Week's Restaurant Guide helps narrow things down (or maybe simply make you aware of all the possibilities).  Now go forth and chew.

Farm to Table, Pop-up Restaurant with Will Priesch for Portland Monthly Magazine

With just 10 stools and a rented kitchen, Will Preisch presents a pop-up vision of high-end eating: casual, personal, and thrilling.  Want to make it to one of these amazing feasts?  Called holdfast dinners, Will describes them as such, "holdfast is a “pop-up” restaurant operating out of kitchencru, a commissary kitchen and culinary incubator in nw portland.  holdfast is a refined dining concept - not refinement in the sense of luxury - just pared down to what we consider to be the essentials of a wonderful meal; great food and drink, with excellent and unobtrusive service in a casual atmosphere. this is our opportunity to cook and feed people outside of the trappings of a traditional restaurant. clean.  thoughtful.  primitive.  modern."  Looked pretty delightful to me, and Portland Monthly.

The Addictive Allure of the Steelhead's Tug - Photos for the New York Times

Spend a rainy day a few months back chasing down steelhead in the Deschutes River.  My partners were fly fishing devotees, Chris Santella, author of 50 Places to Fly Fish Before you Die (guess I can cross one of them off my list) and environmental lawyer Dave Moskowitz, the Executive Director for the Deschutes River Alliance.  These gentlemen spend 40 to 50 days on the river each season, knee deep in the rushing water, waiting for the fish to get irritated enough to make their move.  For steelhead rarely feed once they are in the river, rather they seem to take a fly as an act of aggression. Even if they are present where you are fishing, they have to be in the mood (presumably, a bad mood) to bite.  For these reasons days will sometimes pass with not a single acknowledgement of even their presence, making their elusivity all the more attractive to those that seek a challenge.  This was much of the case on our day in the water, broken up by beer and a variety of fish tales from both men.  As the sky grew dark, and I grew cold, Chris got the solitary respite of the day, a sharp tug on his line. He lifted his rod, exactly the wrong thing to do, and the fish was gone, never even seen.  As we headed home, both men planned their next trip out.  For myself, thwarted from even a single glimpse during an assignment where that was the only goal, I declined, and tried not to curse the fish.  You can read the full story of our adventures, here in the New York Times.

Pulling Back the Clouds for Grand Coulee

Spent four gray days in Grand Coulee waiting for the clouds to part.  If you are a lover of dams and amazing feats of concrete, then I highly recommend the trip.  However, I would say go in summer, when the place might actually be open and they put on (or so I was told, having not seen it myself) a laser light show!  I got the call around early November and so saw mostly rain and shops that said 'closed.'  The story was for the New York Times travel section, all about Wood Guthrie.  At the time I didn't realize that his Columbia River Collection, which contains many of his most well known tunes, including 'Grand Coulee Dam,' was actually commissioned by the Bonneville Power Administration as propaganda!  So he and I were both creative types working for the man when we made the trip to the 'Eighth Wonder of the World.'  Him to write songs and me to document the town and his memory, immortalized in a rather off putting statue.

Cruised the town, making friends and crashing pancake breakfasts and finally, on the fourth day, the clouds parted and the light got nice and somewhere, Woody Guthrie chuckled a bit at both of us.

The Visually Impaired get hands on with a Tiger

Did a fascinating and crazy story awhile back for the Wall Street Journal about the Oregon Zoo.  In seems the zoo anesthetizes its tigers every few years to do check ups.  Well someone had the idea to add a bunch of visually impaired children to this scenario.  I can just imagine the conversation where someone pitches this idea.  But somebody pitched and somebody agreed and the result was both amazing and surreal.  Swarms of people touching the paws, whiskers, even the tongue, of a 235-pound Siberian named Nikki.  Meanwhile the big cat is being shaved, having blood drawn, getting its temperature taken (and yes, you are correct about where the thermometer was placed).  Really a once in a lifetime experience not only for the children, but for myself.  Oh, and the tiger.

Snow and Science Double Dip - On Assignment for the NYT's

A funny sort of twist of fate that I ended up on two section fronts for the Sunday New York Times last week.  One was the Travel Cover, which ran a story I shot last year about backcountry skiing in Oregon.  This involved me learning to backcountry on the job, while attempting not to kill my cameras (this is a mission I failed). Huge thanks to Three Sisters Backcountry for ensuring I didn't die. The second was for Sunday Business, a profile of intel's director of user experience research, Dr. Genevieve Bell.  Not everyday you get to a bond with a robot and roam the halls of Intel.

Two very different projects, both ones that pushed me as a photographer.  Which is what I love about working for The Grey Lady. Plus, I'm not gonna lie, seeing your pictures printed huge is kinda cool too.

Moving Beyond the Mainstreem - Ed Week

Just love working for Education Week, maybe because I come from a family of educators?  I can only imagine keeping a room full of teenagers occupied for hours on end, plus you've got to make them learn something!  That is tough work people, with not a ton of acknowledgement.  So it is nice to make the teachers feel a bit like rockstars when we take their picture, let them know that someone is paying attention.  And to all my old profs at Richard Montgomery High School, (especially Julie Newcomer, my photography teacher, who taught me how to bulk load my first roll of Tri-X film ) just wanted to say, "Don't ever doubt that you make a difference."

Nursing My Camera - A Night in the ER for Portland Monthly Magazine

Spent a full 12 hours at the Legacy Emanuel ED (because it's a whole department of emergency, not just a room) for Portland Monthly's Photo Essay: Trauma Night.  Having grown up on Eugene Richard's Knife and Gun Club, I had visions of what awaited me and so approached the assignment with a mix of anticipation and fear.  His days of roaming the hospitals are long gone because of HIPPA, but the access I did get was almost unprecedented and a deal-with-the-devil was made that no one but the staff could be recognizable in the images. From 3pm to 3am on an atmospheric Friday evening I follow around the very pregnant and badass trauma nurse, Jennifer Parker.  I scribble notes as she says things like, "Her leg might never be the same," during a three-hour surgery of a gunshot-wound victim.  I stand in the corner documenting as more than 10 hospital staff dash around a patient unfortunate enough to have shot herself.  "Do you want to see the bullet?" asks one of the many players, "How about a piece of her small intestine we had to remove?"  I agree to both, always unsqueamish when in photographer mode.

That is just a taste of what I see over the course of the evening, which also includes car crashes, stitches, vomit, cat scans, and full ensembles of blue.  Jennifer is hardly phased, for her this is a typical night, and a relatively uneventful one at that.  At one point she has to restrain a woman who is clearly intoxicated  “NOW STOP THAT. Stop acting like a child. You want this to look pretty don’t you?” Intermediately gruff and soothing, Parker contends with the female patient who requires stitches after suffering a facial laceration from being hit by a car. “It took three of us to do a repair a 3-year-old should have been able to handle,” Parker says. In one year the hospital’s emergency department treats about 40,000 patients—around 110 per day. Only two Oregon hospitals, Emanuel and OHSU, are designated Level 1 trauma centers, equipped and staffed to provide the highest level of care to acutely sick and badly injured people. These two hospitals take in patients from across the state via ambulance and helicopter.

After 3am, I remove my scrubs and ask Jenn if I can walk to her car to document the end of her evening.  She demurs, having a few more things to make right and a few more people to tend to, unable just yet to let go.

What I Learned - Portland Monthly Gets Inside Schools

There is nothing like spending a few days back in high school to make you take a little stock in your life.  As I creep up on my 20 (unbelievable) year reunion, I think back to that time, fondly I guess.  But I am also struck by how much cooler kids today seem.  Do I blame the internet?  Cable TV?  Back then couldn't see and didn't know too much past my own town and these kids can access the world in their pocket.  Does that make them happier?  More worldly?  Or more weighted down?  Things definitely seem a lot more complicated now then they did back in 1993.  If you are feeling the need for a little teenage angst revisited, check out a slideshow of Lincoln, Catlin Gabel and Century High Schools, which I shot last year for Portland Monthly Magazine.  And you can read the whole story here.

The Traveling Cantor, Jack Falk - For the NYTs

Photographed the charming Jack Falk for the New York Times for a story on traveling cantors.  Congregations that are too small to have their own will bring him in for the High Holidays.  Jack kept me entertained with jokes and even sang for me a bit.  I was basically loving life until I was dive bombed by wasps.  Clearly camera shy, they were not interested in having their picture taken.  My hand blew up to about hulk size.  Fortunately, Jack's wife was nice enough to give me a poultice to take the swelling down and I was able to carry on.  It's rough out their sometimes, even for God's chosen people.

Willamette Week's The Finder, in Print

Ah The Finder.  Willamette Week's annual guide to all that is irreverent in Portland.  Free in the warmer months, you can now get them for 5 bucks at Powell's.  In it you can find tourist-worthy things like, best drinkable dirt, best gypsy cemetery, best survival kit, and best Tarantino set.  I love assignments where my shot list includes things like tire swings, and urban goats.  If you look really closely you can see my better half, Christopher Onstott, making a cameo in two of the images.  It's like a post-modern Where's Waldo.