Photography Blog — Tag: portraits

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…

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…

March 3, 2021

As the morning sun illuminates the silent lake, I see my strange reflection in between the slow surface ripples. I am warm, and the water is cold. I walk a little closer. My feet leave the bank and begin to feel a sharp reminder of who is in charge…

February 27, 2021

When I close my eyes at night, I hear the same song. It’s in a minor key, and the melody is repetitive but pleasant. There’s a soft voice in the distance that somehow synchronizes with the song. I start to walk towards the voice. It’s pitch-black all…

February 21, 2021

I sit by myself in a cold yet comforting home. It’s the place I’ve known for longer than I can remember. The walls are a different color behind the picture frames. There’s a window that’s also a mirror. I spend many hours a day looking through this…

May 8, 2020

Here’s another recent FaceTime photo shoot with a model named Tatiana. We spent a couple hours creating photos in and around her home on a sunny spring day while in quarantine. I got a wide variety of images during this session and really enjoyed the…

May 1, 2020

Here’s some new work from my recent FaceTime photo shoot with my friend Madeline. In the last year, we’ve been collaborating on shoots every few months, so it was nice that quarantine didn’t stop us this time around. This was also my second shoot…

April 21, 2020

I know photography certainly isn't a priority during the Covid-19 crisis, but creating is an effective way for me to keep a positive attitude during all this. I recently got inspired when I saw the photographer Allesio Albi collaborate with models by…

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…

November 6, 2019

This summer I created more promotional photos for Lensbaby and their new product called the Omni Color Expansion Pack, which works with the . While the Omni system is originally based around prisms, crystals, and…

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…

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…

June 18, 2019

I recently created some promotional photos for the launch of a brand new Lensbaby product called the Omni Creative Filter System. This product works with your existing lenses and creates a huge variety of effects that range from subtle haziness to…

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…

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…

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…

June 27, 2018

I put a call out recently so I could test my headshot setup in the studio. I've mostly been doing on-location work outdoors, so this was a nice change of pace. Tony answered the call, and here are the results. After Tony arrived, we chatted a bit and…

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…