On Assignment - Portland Monthly - What I Learned in School

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 (holy crap) 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 the world of Lincoln, Catlin Gabel and Century High School, which I shot for Portland Monthly Magazine's February issue. (read the story online here)

Tim Gallagher will punch you in the face with his designs.

Tim Gallagher is the mad scientist of designers. He's pimped out Snoop Dog's Playstation3, had brass knuckles made for a client, and has an office space that includes a soccer field, a pool and a skateboard ramp.  Plus he let me photograph him with a bedazzled skull for 1859 Magazine.  I want him to adopt me.  Just for a little while.  This is where I write nice things about my trusty producer, Christopher Onstott, who took this picture of our lighting setup.

Asian Students Help U.S. Religious Schools Prosper

Private U.S. high schools, particularly religious schools, are enjoying a tuition windfall from high-paying Asian families eager to give their U.S. college-bound kids a head-start through enrollment on U.S. campuses. A few months ago I photographed students at St. Mary's School in Medford, Oregon for the Wall Street Journal story about U.S. academies luring a growing number of Asian students.  It is such an interesting mix of cultures, religious school with Communist students, and irony that seems to work for everybody though.  I was also struck by the fact that so many Chinese are clearly now wealthy enough to send their children across the globe and pay $49,000 a year for tuition, room and board (it is worth noting that locals only pay $12,000).  All with the hopes of getting them into a US college where the acceptance rates are much higher (even Ivy Leagues like Harvard!) than any college in ultra-competitive China.  Want to  know more about this fascinating two about a clash of cultures and countries?  Read the full story here.

Marriage, it's not just for straight people anymore.

The WSJ called and asked me to shoot all the gay marriages that are sweeping across the fair state of Washington thanks to Referendum 74.  So heartfelt to see couples together for 30 years or more (and with grown kids in tow) finally being able to make it legal.  You've come a long way baby!  And I did almost cried, I admit it.  Thanks to Equality Southwest Washington for organizing many of the weddings.

Does this monkey make me look fat?

Spent the day at the Oregon National Primate Research Center for the New York Times.  The whole facility is immense with more than 4,000 monkeys on site.  One thing I learned was to never show your teeth to a monkey or look then straight in the eye...it makes them aggressive, perhaps good advice for the world of dating. I was there to photograph the fat monkeys, the ones spending their days on the couch, eating chips and drinking soda.  Ok, not really.  But for the last several years researchers there have been doing tests to mimic the average American diet and lifestyle and the results aren't pretty (though they did end up on the front page of the Sunday paper).  This colony of monkeys have been fattened up to help scientists study the human epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

I left the assignment feeling all sorts of things, like:

"Wow, that was amazing and fascinating and I love my job."

"I am never drinking soda again."

"Do we really need to be caging a bunch of cute monkeys to study how messed up humans are?"

But mostly I felt kind of sad.  Being obese is not an easy thing, it is bad for your health and your esteem and your career, but it is also not something easy to fix, no matter how many monkeys we fatten up.

And so I was sad.  For the fat monkeys, for the number of times a week I weigh myself, and for America.

Shot Show

What do you get when you combine the world's largest shooting trade show with Vegas and little ole' me? Very little sleep and a whole lotta guns. Oh, and scroll to the bottom where you can see my photo about ten feet tall at the Danner boot display. Though it did get a little post processing love from this guy.

God bless us, each and every one.

So for the last two years I have been volunteering my services at the Downtown Chapel. They do lots of great stuff for the most marginalized members of society, i.e. the homeless, including the Portrait Project which started in 2007. It goes like this, over the course of four days in December their guests and volunteers are invited to get a portrait taken by moi or another fabulous shooter like Jason Kaplan who also organizes the whole thing. Then, a week before Christmas, the folks come back and get to pick up two 5"x7" color prints that they can give as gifts or keep for themselves. The Downtown Chapel even provides Christmas cards, stationary and postage for mailing portraits to family and friends. Cool right? Wanna feel even more warm and fuzzy? Check out their slideshow from last year. I have to say, this has become one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. I always go in there thinking, ok, here I am, doing my volunteer work, giving back, aren't I so virtuous, blah, blah, blah. But man if I don't feel like I got the gift at the end of it. I get to connect, make people laugh and hopefully give them a few minutes to feel seen and heard.

Cuz' everybody likes a little attention.

Especially around the holidays.

Chillin' with Rich and Phil

Did a little assisting last week on this Track Town USA book project over at the Nike Studios. That place is sweet, and loaded with tons of gear and cute photo boys in skinny jeans. Not sure how I got involved in the whole thing since my assisting skills are dubious at best and I end up having to overdose on advil after a day of heavy lifting. Good thing I pretend real good. The project was through Rich Clarkson and his photo empire. Rich was the Directory of Photography over at National Geographic for awhile and in general a photo bigwig. Now he owns a company that shoots the NCAA national championships and puts out a bunch of books. I was helping with a picture of a bunch Oregon athletes AND Phil Knight (who I found out is not single...sorry ladies) for one of the afore mentioned books. Rich came into town for a tour of Nike and for a little book research. Our introduction went something like this.

Me (trying to be a kiss ass): "Hi Rich, nice to meet you, can I get you a seat?" Rich: "I'm not that old, yet." Me (now trying to be a smart ass): "Well, then you want to come and help me set up the lights?" Rich: "I'm not that young either." Me: "Uhhhh."

Turns out what he was perfect for was acting as a stand in as we got the lights set up. Here is a picture of him and I filling in for Phil Knight.

Hilarious.

But why does he look so cool and I look like I'm posing for my senior portrait? Thanks much to the photog Jamie Schwaberow who made this kodak moment happen.

Lessons on Being Grateful

Recently did a pretty intense shoot for the New York Times. I work for the paper probably once a week, as they seem to have a love affair with Portland, OR. And while I enjoy shocking people with how low their day rate is (don't ask) they do give me amazing assignments that take me all over the Northwest. Last week I spent a couple of days with some folks in danger of losing their home aid service. As states are trying to balance their budgets anyway they can, it has come down to slashing care givers for the disabled and elderly. Unfortunately, the result is that many of the folks who could get by with 20 to 40 hours of help a month are going to end up in nursing homes once that help is gone. It's a pretty sad and ironic tale of dealing with budget cuts in a no-win situation.

Enter Ken Poe, a former pilot who suffered from Polio as a child and as a result has trouble walking and standing. His house reminded me of a episode of the TV show Hoarders. Boxes, papers, and books formed a maze while a 25 foot oxygen tube snaked throughout the room. Ken agreed that while it looked like a tornado had touched down, in reality everything had its place and it was his way of "wall surfing," using the stacks to help him navigate around his house.

Throughout the day Ken told me bits and pieces of his life, how he got sick, what he studied in school, his escapades flying around Mount St. Helens right before it blew. Everything was told in a matter of fact manner, and Ken remained upbeat while I clicked away as meals on wheels delivered his lunch and old Perry Mason episodes played in the background.

At one point Ken wanted to move to his bedroom to lie down and needed my help. He could rise to a standing position but because he can't raise his arms more than waist high he needed me to take his hand so he could stand up right. It was almost like a dance, with both of us bowing and then rising at the same time.

I think Ken had fun that day. He had someone to listen to him, someone to pay attention to him. It makes me feel like I've given something then, something to Ken who allowed me into his fragile life where being able stand is reliant upon a pile of papers being placed just so. I love the work I do, I just hope that it makes some small difference and that I leave things a bit better than I found them.

After our time together I thanked Ken and went to my car to smoke cigarettes, cry and remind myself to always be grateful.

Goonies: Just one nonstop Truffle Shuffle

I really do have the best job in the world.  It's true.  At least that's what I thought when I got a call from the Washington Post to photograph the 25th anniversary of the filming of the movie Goonies.  You remember this movie... pirate's treasure, bank robbers, Sean Astin and the scary yet ultimately lovable guy named Sloth who kept eating all the Baby Ruth candy bars.  Well, even if you don't remember it, at least 16,000 other people do and a few weeks ago they all descended upon the town of Astoria, Oregon where the movie was filmed.  The 3-day event was packed with bus tours, trivia games, movie museums, costume contests..enough stuff to keep me perpetually glued to my "Goonie Weekend" schedule guide. I spent a fair bit of time snapping away at the autograph signings...watching Corey Feldman endlessly plug his band "Truth Movement" and the-now-slim-and-somewhat-foxy Jeff Cohen (the dude who played Chunk) shamelessly flirt with me and coyly repeat over and over, "Don't judge me!  Stop judging me."

Fans waited in line for five hours to have cast members sign autographs, their hands clutching old VHS tapes, action figures, and even a Goonies board game, for the actors to scribble on.  One guy had driven all the way from Buffalo, New York (granted this guy was wearing a handmade latex "Sloth" mask) and another group who had flown in from France...France, people!

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

This was some serious Goonies business and though I loved the movie I couldn't quite figure out what it was that had elevated it to cult status.  Endless childhood?  Endless possibility?  Whatever the case, it was pretty awesome to see so many folks unashamedly geeking out and throwing themselves headfirst into ridiculousness.

And that is something I can always respect.