Colorado! - (In about 10 Hours)

Just a quick post. Patrick and I are almost finished packing and ready to depart! It has been months since I have been able to climb anything outside, and the gym climbing just isn't cutting it. So we are off to Colorado for the duration of the week to push our climbing limits, meet and photograph some Coloradan strangers and hopefully find some incredible single track. Last year's Colorado trip involved shooting with a local modeling agency in a blizzard!

This is a shot taken from last years trip from Ice Cream Parlor in Moab Utah

Speaking of strangers here are two people I met while out scouting in downtown KC. This is Jacob who kindly directed me to the nearest Starbucks.

John. I met John while learning that they allow photography in the KC public library! Look for an upcoming session to be shot here!

Rush Hour, Wranglers and Leather Chairs

What do you get when you combine your dad's leather chair and rush hour traffic in the middle of downtown? Apparently you get Jeff & Jenna in the middle of the street rocking a host of ridiculously awesome poses. Oh and you get spectators from the nearby lofts cheering you on as well.

I am really proud of this shoot! Not only were Jenna and Jeff awesome but we worked together to execute a host of Jeff's incredibly creative ideas in a very limited time frame. Jeff is also a landscape photographer and you find see his work at http://thephotomonger.com. I was so buzzed from this crazy shoot that even though I was exhausted I couldn't fall asleep!

This shoot involved cruising around the city in a bright green 4-door Jeep Wrangler with the doors, roof, and mirrors taken off!

Portland - Stranger Faces

Travel is defined by the people we meet. We are all defined by the people we know.

I wrote this after my first trip several month ago which was dedicated to meeting, conversing with and photographing strangers I would meet along the way.

"My portrait project has been quite simply life changing, more than I could have hoped for. The people I have met have have had a profoundly positive effect on my life. The people I have had long conversations with on park benches, empty parking lots, busy street corners, under bridges, they all surprised me to be honest, because what I found impressed me. I found little bits of myself in each of them and I found ways that I wanted to be better and saw things from perspectives I had not considered. I see each one of these people that I conversed with as a lens by which they were kind enough to let me see the world through and by seeing the world through their eyes I have come to see mine more clearly as well."

Even in the short while I have been in Portland I have met a surprisingly diverse group of people. Many of the encounters so far have been passing, with only a few minutes to listen and capture. But out all all the people I have met while pursuing this side project, Greg(pictured above) has made the biggest impression on me.

I met Greg in downtown Portland, east side of the Hawthorne bridge. Greg approached me asking for a light and after a few minutes conversation on everything from sailing the Puget Sound to fishing in Alaska, he admitted to being in the process of withdrawing from heroin, which in his case meant sleeping under a bridge until the withdraw symptoms faded. I hardly thought that was a good approach to kicking his habit and apparently it wasn't. As the day went on he kept on becoming more and more agitated, heroin withdraw symptoms include, anxiety, nausea, muscle aches and abdominal cramps as well as a host of other things intent on making sure it's as difficult as possible to quit. He kept on talking about needing $15 so he could get better and make it through today all the while complaining about cramps. I wasn't exactly clear on what his definition of "get better" meant, and if I had stopped to think about it, heroin is the cure for all of his immediate symptoms. But oblivious to this fact, when he offered to sell a couple of locking carabiners (used for climbing and sailing) for $15 I agreed. With the $15 dollars he had earned her asked if I wanted a "tour" which I have to admit turned out to be the most interesting tour I have ever been on.

Greg's tour involved meeting several of his friends(also junkies) who went on to brag about purchasing 8balls, which made me chuckle, I guess every social circle has it's own goals to strive for. The tour also included a run down on the the pushers we past and what they charged. We eventually ended up in the South Park Blocks which apparently has someone willing to sell for $15. After an initial disagreement among his friends over whether or not their needles were clean I stepped back and watched them prep the shot. Greg got his shot ready, his friends left to find their own and I was left with a Greg looking happier than had seem him yet. This is where things really got interesting, even though the shot was prepped and inserted into his arm he couldn't plunge it no matter how hard he tried. The needle was clogged and he started shaking, attempting to transfer the shot to another plunger all the while getting big air bubbles in his syringe, which in spite of everything struck me as dangerous. After his third needle clogged on him he really starting to freak out his voice was quivering as he told me "dude this is like a junkies worst nightmare", followed by a whispered "please God help me" which seemed painfully ironic at that moment. I thought he was about to cry and when he snapped the plunger on his third needle and after throwing it on the ground he did. Up to that point I wasn't sure how bad his withdraw was but seeing him cry definitely brought home the kind of pain he must have been in.

I think off all the strangers I have met Greg has had the biggest impression solely because his view, his uniquely distorted version of reality allowed me to see something different. I mentioned several paragraphs up that I think every person is a lens, with their own focal length and particular distortion brought on by their own experiences and the experiences of the people closest to them. The lens that Greg let me see his world through encouraged me to reevaluate opinions I've held and things I've taken for granted. I can relate to how Greg feels in certain capacities and finding relation with someone who is apparently so different is always eye opening.

Unfortunately I am going to have to leave you with only the faces and not the stories of all the incredible people I have met here in Portland. Otherwise this post will grow to ridiculous proportions!

Check out this cycle tourist, travel writing and yoga instructing girl at http://Elleesyoga.com

Portland - First Impressions - Textures

I was surpirsied when the first thing to catch my attention upon venturing out into portland was the texture. So many things here seemed to have a unique and beautiful texture to them, as if everthing was finely aged to provide captivating details waiting to be explored. The frequent rain seems to create an enviroment for moss to thrive and many of the massive trees that dot the neighborhoods here are covered in it.


Metal texture on a playground that reminded me of the ones I used to play on.

Rivets on the "Steel Bridge" constructed in 1912.


Best of all, spring is in full swing here with more cherry blossom trees than I can count! There is so much to be explored here and I have not even begun to detail the diverse group of people I have met. I have talked about everything from, bicycle tours to learning about v-8 tractors and even hanging with some guys shooting heroin. Aother blog post should be coming tomorrow dedicated to all those people.

E-session!

My first E-session in quite some time kicked off just right with Meghan and Danny. We had a blast and I can't believe how many ideas we tried. I love combing and channeling my creativity with a great couple and I think this session just..gelled :)




I even got to climb a tree while wielding a camera. Good times! :)

Fitness Fused with Urban Landscape Model Shoot

This is Laura, a super sweet girl and beautiful model. For this shoot the goal was to create images that cater to the fitness market. My inspiration stemmed the Under Armor style adds that usually are characterized by intensity and motion. I wanted to combine that feeling with an urban setting. But first I couldn't help but use her gorgeous long hair for some killer conceptual portraits.


So I had Laura posing on a railing that had at least a 25 foot fall onto pavement behind her. Nothing like adding a potential for serious injury or death to make things a little more interesting ;)



Overall I was really pleased with how the shoot turned out and I look foward to working with Laura in the near future!

Meet Alex

My session with Alex was fantastic, we both had a similar idea of what kinda image we were shooting for and he was totally open to creating unique non-traditional images. I love it when a photo shoot just clicks.



I love this with the flair and colors and of course Alex is pulling out his supermodel on us

The lovely Karissa and Senior Portraits

I recently had the pleasure of kickin it with Karissa. It was such an awesome(and long!) day that started with a senior session, included an invitation to a homeless camp by an interesting old guy that had a beard to rival Santa Clause, and ended with me watching the sunset over the Kansas River. I had so much fun working with Karissa, it was such a chill session, just walking through city market and stopping to shoot whenever a promising location presented itself. I think I need to do this more often.






What made this even more interesting was the homeless camp was about 100 feet behind me. It was complete with broken chairs, plywood and old mattresses. I had been invited there earlier but unfortunately I don't think the pan handlers had not come back yet. Maybe another day.