Photography Blog — Tag: portland

May 7, 2023

I recently created some new portraits with a Portland, OR model named Serenity. For these images, I wanted to create melancholic, pensive, independent, and romantic images that might look suitable for an imaginary perfume ad. We incorporated the…

August 30, 2022

This August, I was invited back to Summit Learning Charter to create another round of headshots for their entire staff. They’ve expanded , so this photo shoot was even bigger than the last time. I also had to match the existing…

August 15, 2022

Dave Cesana is a life coach from Portland, OR, and he recently contacted me because he needed both a custom website and personal-branding photography for his business. In the past, I would have been able to just take care of the photography part, but…

September 19, 2021

This summer I’ve been working on my portfolio a lot, trying to push my work in a new direction. I’ve been coming up with shoot themes that are specifically designed to get me out of my comfort-zone. It’s just too easy to just go with what you know…

September 17, 2021

I recently created product photography for the Fall 2021 candle collection by Alchemy Candles. This was my third round of product photography for them, and again, I matched the look from previous shoots as closely as possible. 3 out of 8 photos are…

August 31, 2021

It is morning, and the forest is peaceful. The birds are singing and hopping from branch to branch as the sun finds its way through the canopy of leaves. With this serene feeling inside, she walks deeper and deeper into the woods. The allure of the…

August 15, 2021

I recently collaborated with a model named Albrey at Mt. Tabor Park in Portland. We incorporated the concepts of lucid dreaming, connecting with a location’s collective memory, and dissolving into the environment into these visuals. Many of these…

July 17, 2021

Lately while shooting portraits I’ve been trying to come up with little challenges because it’s too easy to shoot the same way and go with what’s comfortable. Approaching photography (or anything) with a specific set of limitations/parameters is…

July 7, 2021

In early June I did a black and white film portrait shoot with my partner. Me being me, I thought it would be fun to challenge myself by imposing some major limitations on this shoot. First of all, it could only be a maximum of one hour long…

June 10, 2021

I have to say, it feels like a breath of fresh air to be able to do some ‘normal-life’ things again. Aside from a handful of professional headshot sessions where I was masked up and using a telephoto lens, I haven’t really been able to do many in…

November 5, 2020

Although many people own the tools needed to take quality photos, acquiring the skills to take consistent photos remains a trade that takes a long time to learn. Early this fall, I photographed more colorful and unique handcrafted candles for the…

June 9, 2020

The blatant murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020 has triggered mass protests across the entire country during the Coronavirus pandemic. These are a handful of photos I took from a protest I attended on June 5, 2020…

May 18, 2020

I did some product photography last month for Alchemy Candles, of Molalla, Oregon. This was a great photography job to have during quarantine because I was able to create all the photos from my home studio. It was also really enjoyable to photograph…

December 31, 2019

Remember when you used to play make believe as a kid? Cops and robbers was one of my favorites. And then there was, “the ground is hot lava.” Why did we stop pretending as adults? Lately, I’ve been trying get back into fiction by inventing narratives…

October 30, 2019

Throughout 2019, I’ve been creating photos for East West College of the Healing Arts, located in Portland, Oregon. They’re a massage therapy school that have been around for almost 50 years. They have an intensive 800 hour program that prepares…

October 28, 2019

Here’s the story…of Summit Learning Charter…needing headshots of all their lovely staff. In all seriousness, I recently created headshots of 40 staff members at Summit Learning Charter, which is an online K-12 school within the Estacada, Oregon…

October 22, 2019

I recently did a conceptual photo shoot with my friend Madeline that was inspired by mid-century pop art and materialism. Using vivid colors, isolated subject matter, and a good dose of sarcasm, we created some really fun images that are both shallow…

October 14, 2019

This summer I created some artist portraits and product photography for my partner, Quinn. She’s an artist who has been making hand-made earrings for a while now, but recently wanted to put her jewelry creations on her website. She also wanted an…

October 3, 2019

On September 20th, 2019, over 4 million people in 150 countries filled the streets to protest global inaction on climate change. Students all over the world have been striking on Fridays over the last year in a movement known as Fridays for Future…

August 15, 2019

Retouching can make or break a professional headshot. It can make you look like your best self after a good night’s sleep. It can also make you look so “perfect” that it looks unnatural and just off. Have you ever seen a headshot of a co-worker that…

July 30, 2019

What if it were winter and spring at the same time? What would it look like if barren tree branches and bleak January skies were paired with the rejuvenating colors of April flowers and sunshine? That’s what I tried to create with a double exposure…

June 5, 2019

There’s that umbrella again. This is from my other portrait session during the 2019 PDX Squared Photography Contest with a model named Annika. We collaborated on some portraits a number of months ago, so it was really cool to work together again. It…

May 31, 2019

I recently participated in a photography contest called PDX Squared in Portland, Oregon. 100 photographers were assigned to a random location in town and had 24 hours to shoot, edit, and submit their entries. There were a number of categories in the…

April 19, 2019

I recently finished a product photography assignment for Wild Chick Organics, a brand new skin care company in Portland, Oregon. Kate Egge, the founder of the company, is launching three products (an organic face cream, an organic salve, and an…

March 8, 2019

Here’s some new work from a portrait photography session I did at my house with a Portland model named Tori. She has a very active modeling career in the Portland area and beyond, and she was really great to work with. For this shoot I thought, how…

February 13, 2019

Here’s another recent shoot I did with a model named Alexandra. We met in industrial S.E. Portland, which is a location I keep returning to for portrait shoots. However, this part of town is changing fast. All the grungy industrial building facades…

February 7, 2019

Hello! It’s been a while… Here’s some new work from a portrait shoot I did in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon with a model named Aubrey. I’ve been doing quite a few sessions lately with local models, so I thought it would be fun to try…

October 30, 2018

St. Johns Bridge is Portland’s Eiffel Tower. Everyone and their mother takes photos of this thing, and for good reason. It’s the tallest and arguably most beautiful bridge in town. There’s also Cathedral Park, which is the city park that sits…

September 27, 2018

The clothing you wear for your professional headshots can easily elevate or detract from your portrait. So, what to wear? “Should I wear my zebra-striped blazer, or should I wear my neon golf shirt with a popped collar?” Uh…….so glad you ran that one…

September 18, 2018

Hi all, I want to share my first official senior portraits I did recently with a young man named Noah in S.E. Portland. My last blog post was about a senior portrait test shoot I did with my cousin to get all the details worked out. This time, it was…

July 6, 2018

I've been trying to do more street photography lately, and Last Thursdays on Alberta St. in Portland is a great place to do so. I chose my newly-acquired Olympus XA 35mm film camera for the evening. This thing came out in 1979 and is quirky AF. I had…

June 11, 2018

Last month, I did a bunch of headshot sessions for some folks in Portland. Photographing all these people made me realize I needed a profile pic update for myself as well. At the very least, it would be a good reminder what it's like to be on the…

May 25, 2018

Here's a recent headshot session I did with Preston near Belmont St. in Portland, OR. He told me he wanted some new professional pics for his LinkedIn profile. We got these, and much more! Starting out on a variety of simple backgrounds: Let's…

May 24, 2018

I recently did a headshot session with Hanna on Alberta St. in Portland, OR. This is one of the most photogenic places in town, if you ask me. There are amazing murals, graffiti, and all sorts of other street art. There's also a lot of clean…