Doug Richardson Photography

Horse Portraits

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've posted some of these photos from a summer shoot either here or on my Website before, but I thought I would give my thoughts on the session.

Marian had contacted me to take portraits of four of her beautiful horses. I was honored to be asked as I hadn't taken portraits of horses before. At the same time I was a little nervous (don't tell Marian!). It is fairly easy to suggest poses for people, but I'm not a horse whisperer.

"The baby"

This is Marian's "baby". Just a youngster, he was incredibly curious. When I would move away to get a shot he would keep coming closer to "say hello". He would sniff my lens and at one point he came up beside me and put his muzzle on my cheek. Then he started sniffing and snorting. I couldn't help but laugh! Unfortunately it made it hard to get some good shots.

We moved inside the arena. I was happy to see a long thin skylight that helped provide some backlighting. In combination with my lighting set up it worked perfectly (in my humble opinion...).

Of the two shots below the one in black & white is my favorite. I think the B&W emphasizes the quiet strength of this beauty.

Maybe some horses understand portrait photography better than I thought. I didn't say "okay, now look to your left and bring your chin up a little", look at that pose!

Oregon City at Night

2011-08-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

I recently had a client who wanted night photos of Oregon City, Oregon (of course...). Oregon City was the first in the U.S. west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is built around Willamette Falls on the Willamette river. The falls have been used to run lumber mills, paper mills and produce hydroelectricity. As such it was/is an industrial town.

This is a shot of the paper mills ringing the falls.

The city is built on the lower level by the river and an upper level on top of a bluff. In 1915 they built the water-powered Oregon City Municipal Elevator. Today it is powered by electricity and is still in operation.

The city has updated their river boardwalk in recent years. I like these illuminated sculptures. The lights on the sides change colors about every minute.

The recently closed Blue Heron paper mill.

VFW bingo hall.

Random shots. This, by-the-way, is where the Oregon City policeman stopped to ask me what I was doing in the middle of the street at 1:00 AM with a camera on a tripod. "Why I'm taking pictures sir!" He was great, just wanted to know if I was okay. For those who take night photos be sure to bring business cards examples of your work just in case...

As for the client they are reassessing their spending right now and the project is on hold for the moment.

Portrait shots in downtown Portland, Oregon

2011-07-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

As posted earlier I have been out on the streets and waterfront in Portland taking portraits of some of the people I meet. All of these, except for "RECKLESS" were shot on Friday, July 29th on the Willamette River waterfront and Old Town. RECKLESS is Thomas, not the same one in the other shots. He is a co-worker and skater.

The teens against the brick wall were taking part in a Mercy Corps camp. Check out the Mercy Corps Website for more info. on their mission. These kids must be all right.

My approach is to ask if I can take their picture and that I'm a photographer practicing portraits. I always hand them a card and let them know I'll send a photo to them if they would like one.

This time I'm trying a movie/slideshow. Let me know if you like this format or would just prefer individual photos.

Thanks.

Well, the video is too small, so here are some of the photos in a larger size.

Portrait Practice in Portland, Oregon

2011-07-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased the new Nikon D7000. This if my first digital SLR ( holy cow it has a lot of buttons!). I'll say that it is a small update to my 1977 Olympus OM-1. The only way to get up-to-date with this newfangled technology it is to use it. Fortunately it still has shutter speeds and f/stops.

My family isn't always available, or willing, for portraits, so I went to downtown Portland on a rainy day (it was June so it was still the rainy season) to take some pics.

While I consider myself an extrovert/people-person I had to take a deep breath to ask the first stranger if I could take her photo. Fortunately she didn't hit me. In fact everyone I asked said okay. I don't know if it's just because people in Portland are friendly or because of my magnetic personality...

Stay tuned for more adventures coming up.

Holga panoramas, PDX Bridge Festival kick off

2011-02-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

I was looking through my files and found some Holga panoramas I shot in August last year. The occasion was the kickoff of the Portland Bridge Festival, the celebration of all of Portland's bridges but specifically the 100 year anniversary of the Hawthorne Bridge. These photos are from the official kickoff event at the East Bank Commerce Center. The event included bridge themed art (your's truly had a photo on exhibit), a D.J., a jerkin' dance crew, and Portland's own controversial mayor.

The local jerkin' crew

This last shot is the Ira Keller's Forecourt Fountain, a popular gathering spot on hot days.

Polaroid Instant 35mm Black and White Slide Film - PolaPan

2010-11-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

I have been organizing the hundreds of slides and negatives I've shot over the years and I rediscovered my black and white instant PolaPan shots. I also found my old processing machine. It was very cool technology at the time, but now it seems so complicated. I was in love with all things Polaroid at the time so I had to try it.

The way it worked was, you bought a package of the film which came with a package that had the chemicals needed for processing. Once you shot the film you put the chemical pack in the AutoProcessor and then the film. You then closed the AutoProcessor, pushed a lever down to release the chemicals and then cranked the knob quickly until it stopped, waited a period of time (I can't remember how long, maybe 90 seconds), lifted a knob to reverse the crank and cranked the film back into the film cartridge. After that you used a special tool to remove the film from the cartridge. Next steps were cutting and mounting... A lot of work.

PolaPan emulsion is very, very soft especially right after you run it through the machine which made it delicate to cut and put in slide mounts. Exposure had to be right on because there wasn't a lot of latitude. I have several overexposed examples that I won't bore you with.

Be forewarned, my Photoshop skills are very basic and I didn't spend a lot of time on these.

Here are some of the scans:

Night Photos of Portland Oregon in Sepia

2010-09-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

As I have posted before I have been working on a project of photographing Portland at night. You can read the previous post to find out about the dr5 sepia slide process I used here.

As I work to get this Pioneer Courthouse Square series scanned and ready for printing I haven't been able to decide if I like the sepia look for the night shots. I love the way they turned out but I think that I might prefer this film for daylight shots. I'd love to hear from you on what you preference is: black and white or sepia. You can look at my black and white night photos here.

Pioneer Courthouse Square may be the iconic place in Portland. It's known as Portland's living room because it seems there is always an event going on there. And the times that there isn't one it's a great place for people watching.

This is the first of the four different perspective shots I did. Wide angle to give a good sense of the space.

Shot #2: To take advantage of the pattern of the curving seating area. An interesting thing that night is someone left a pair of boots there. Did they decide to go barefoot, or just get a new pair of shoes?

Shot 3: Closer yet. I like the fact that there were people hanging out. I think they add interest and some life to this.

Shot 4: The boots as the focal point.

I haven't decided which of these is my favorite yet. I'm going to have one of these photos printed as a post card. What do you think? 1, 2, 3, or 4?

Thanks.

Sepia Slides From Black and White Film

2010-08-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

The Annex Cellar Bar on West Burnside, Portland, Oregon.

Several years ago I experimented with a special development process by dr5 (David Wood). In the early 90's he came up with a photo chemical black and white reversal (slides/chromes) process. You take photos on regular B&W negative film and the dr5 process changes it to black and white slides (developer 1), or to Sepia slides (developer 2). I wanted to see how it worked with night photography, and here are the first few images. The only Photoshop adjustments were levels, dodging, and burning. I'm very pleased with the results.

Harley Davidson motorcycles - night out in the Pearl District.

Portland's famous Benson bubblers near Pioneer Square.

Pin Holga pinhole camera

2010-07-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't used my PinHolga camera for a couple of years, so when I found it in the back of a cupboard while I was rummaging around for something else I knew it was time. Essentially I took the lens off of a Holga camera, placed a pin hole made from a 7up can and modified the shutter to stay open until released. If you're interested you can look it up on the Web, or you can buy Holga pinholes at camera shops (although that isn't nearly as fun as making your own!).

The shot above is at Portland's Pioneer Square, also know as Portland's living room as it is in the center of down town and is always busy with events. There are usually four-to-six chess games going on on nice days. I set my camera very close to the chess pieces and exposed for about six seconds. this gives you an idea of the great depth of field you can get.

The MAX trains stop at the square and these "umbrellas" help protect passengers who are waiting.

Rodeo in Oregon

2010-06-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

It's just about time for the rodeo season to start here in Oregon. These shots below are from several years ago, but I am planning on getting out to shoot some more this year.

All of these photos were taken with black & white film which I sent to dr5 in Denver. He has a developing process that makes black & white film into chromes. That means they come out as positives like slide film. The sepia ones are another one of his special processes. In this age of digital cameras it may seem like just too much work, but the results can be impressive.

Bel-Air Wreck

2010-05-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken several years ago on the way home from one of our trips to the Oregon coast. Although they always groaned, or the kids would say "dad!", I had a habit of screeching to a halt on the side of the road if I saw something that I thought was work taking a picture of. It happened often enough that they finally gave in without too much resistance.

New show at The Tea Zone in Portland

2010-04-05T18:00:00.001-07:00

I have a show at The Tea Zone in Northwest Portland for the month of April. I have twelve photos of Portland at Night including most of the ones below. If you're in town and have time go take a look. It's always better to see the work up close and in-person.

This is the sidewalk on the Steele Bridge from the east side. I have heard that this is the only bridge in the U.S. that has two separate lift mechanisms for its railroad span and road span. Who new?

More of the Steele Bridge.

Old Town near the New Market Theater and the Burnside Bridge.

The Broadway Bridge from the west side.

The Burnside Bridge from the east side.

Holga panoramas

2010-03-24T13:16:00.001-07:00

Here are some more shots of my experiments with using outdated 200 speed 35mm film in the Holga. The Portland water front above was three overlapping exposures. The Hawthorne bridge below is a single frame.

This is how you can use 35mm in the Holga. I used foam from a toy, but any kind of hard foam will work. Make sure that they are cut so the film is across the center of the back.

I tape the film to the take up reel with masking tape. As for how many times to wind the film that's up to you. I have been using 27 clicks for each shot and that seems to work fine. This time I'm using 100 speed tungsten film that I'll cross process. Stay tuned for those shots.

Prinville, Oregon at night

2010-03-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

A few months ago on my way to do some fly fishing on the Crooked River I stopped in Prineville, Oregon to get a burger at the Tastee Treat. It's hard to pass up on the way to the camp-site and it was a good opportunity to take some pics.

Although I didn't stay here, I love the sign.

Holga 35mm panoramas

2010-02-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

Last month I loaded my plastic Holga with expired color print film and had fun playing with multiple exposures and low-tech panoramic shots. The first one above is an eight exposure of one of the many tower condos built in Portland over the last ten years. It was a rainy day so it looks like eight shots were just about right.

35mm film in a 120 (medium format) camera makes for one image about the size of two regular 35mm shots.

I was crossing the Hawthorne Bridge on bike when this Portland Fire boat was docking. Not bad color for film that expired in 2006. Thanks to my friend and artist Shu-ju for storing it all those years in her refrigerator before giving it to me.

This was an accidental double exposure that I really like. The Hawthorne Bridge over Portland.

Portland night - fountain & art museum

2010-02-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple of months since my last post... Computer issues required a new scanner.

This is a fountain in Portland's south park blocks near the Performing Arts Center and the Portland Art Museum. This shot creates a completely different feel for the area. On Thursdays there is a farmers market and this space is jammed with booths and people.

This is the sculpture plaza at the Portland Art Museum. They recently held a show on the art of China. they hung these red Chinese lanterns for a couple of months. They really looked great until a wind storm thrashed them around.

More to come soon.

Holga in Sydney

2009-11-28T16:48:00.001-08:00

I was in Sydney four years ago on business. I had almost a full day until my flight so I took a stroll with my Holga camera. This is one of the perspectives of the opera house. At the time they were repairing or replacing many of the tiles which looked to be a very difficult and labor intensive job.

I took the hundreds of steps up one of the bridge foundations. I think they put these windows in to let you know you were getting close to the top. The view from the top was fantastic, a panoramic view of the city and the harbor. Strangely enough I didn't like any of the shots I took from there. They looked pretty standard...

Here is the bridge span from inside. The little dots you see on the top left are people. If you get up early enough and get in line you can pay to climb the span to the middle of the bridge.

Holga shots

2009-11-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

I'm still having trouble with my scanner so I've gone back to my archives again.

This is a shot of chess players at Portland's "living room" Pioneer Square. It was taken several years ago when I was still getting used to shooting with a plastic camera. Whenever I was downtown in this area there was always a group of people playing chess and queuing up to be the next one to give it a go.

This was taken during the Portland Rose festival. The bear was trying to say hello to the little girl and she started running! I don't blame her.

Point-and-shoot

2009-10-04T20:42:00.001-07:00

We had to buy a new computer and now I can't get my scanner to work... So here are a couple of point-and-shoot pics of rivers I've been to lately. The top shot was taken from my VW camper van as I drove along side the lower Deschutes river in Oregon. The bottom one is the Crooked river also in Oregon. Both of these are true high desert rivers with native "redside" rainbow trout. They are both beautiful places to be. It looks like they both could have been used to film those classic Cowboy movies.

I'm really bummed about my scanner. I have some new night photos I'd like to post. Wish me luck on getting it back in working order.

New York City in Polaroid SX-70

2009-08-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

I'm still digging through my old pics and decided to post another NY set. As you may have read from my earlier posts I used to go to New York on business a few times a year. I usually had a few hours to kill before getting to the airport at the end of the week and I would spend them wandering around exploring Manhattan. Most of the time I would have my plastic Holga camera with me, but as you can see with these photos I had my folding Polaroid SX-70. Too bad Polaroid has failed and no longer makes SX-70 film...

These photos were manipulated, not with photoshop, but with a tooth pick. Yep, a tooth pic. The dye stays in a gel-like state for several hours after taking the picture and the Mylar cover allows you to push the dye around to get different effects.

Enjoy.

Carousel Horse

2009-08-04T18:53:00.001-07:00

I'm going through my archives again. This is a Polaroid image transfer of a carousel horse at the Seattle Center taken many years ago. I used watercolors to enhance the image.

NY revisited - Holga Camera series

2009-06-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

NYPD at Rockefeller Center, 2002

Lunch time nap at New York Library, 2002

Enjoying the sun, New York Public Library 2002

Flyer Man, Avenue of the Americas

Flatiron Building

Digging through my old files again and thought I'd post (possibly repost) some of my old NYC Holga series. No new stories to tell here. Enjoy.

Made in Oregon

2009-06-19T17:28:00.001-07:00

This is my take on the "Made in Oregon" sign on west Burnside street. The sign as it's usually represented on post cards doesn't show the grittier side of this area.

The University of Oregon, which is based in Eugene recently bought this building and the sign. The want to change it to "University of Oregon". This has created a huge controversy. Some think the sign should stay as is even though it was changed to "Made in Oregon" by the Naito family who ran the Made in Oregon stores. Others think that having U of O on it is a slap in the face to Portland State University (the home team). From what I know, the sign originally was erected as advertising for White Satin Sugar, it was then changed to White Stag for the White Stag sportswear company and finally to its current name.

As it turns out a comprimse has been reached. It will now say only "Oregon".

That's your history lesson for today.

Florida Life Guard - Holga Color

2009-06-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

I rarely shoot color with my Holga so it was a fun surprise to find these shots as I looked through old files.

I used to travel to Miami for occasional meetings and we were lucky to stay at a hotel that was a 20 minute drive from South Beach. I'd try to sneak out in the afternoon to get some shots in.

If you aren't familiar with it, it is well known, not only for it's night life, but more so for it's Art Deco architecture. From 18th Street south along Collins Ave. it's one of the largest areas in the U.S. on the National Register of Historic Places.

The life guard stands are also designed in the Art Deco style with bright colors as you can see here. It was fun to get out in the sun with the Holga.

Rural Road, No Signs

2009-06-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

While I was on another one of my solo camping trips to the Alvord Desert, I came across this sign. I guess sometimes the obvious needs to be pointed out, which in turn creates a little irony...

And this is the Alvord Desert. Here's a description from the BLM Website,http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/recreation/alvord-mann.php - "The Alvord Desert is accessible year-round; however, ideal conditions exist July through November, when the playa is usually dry enough for vehicular travel. With no potable water, restroom facilities, cell phone service, or designated camping areas, travelers to the area should bring their own conveniences and plan on a desolate, open-air adventure." It's a great place to go if you crave solitude.

Oh yeah, this is my VW camper. We have had many great family trips in it.

Peter French Round Barn (corral)

2009-06-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

I like to take off by myself in the camper van (VW) every now-and-then. I load up the cameras, some books and trail guides and head to one of my favorite places in Oregon, the southeast corner of the state. It's like traveling back in time. Miles of sagebrush and beautiful scenery. This is the Pete French round corral. It sits by itself near Diamond (The name is on the map but there's nothing there) in wide open country. The barn was built in the late 1800's so the ranch hands could break horses in the winter. The color photo above was in the May issue of Oregon Home Magazine in the "why we live here" section. The other photos were taken with my plastic Diana toy camera. I have to say that I like the Diana shots better...

Oregon, Washington Interstate Bridge

2009-05-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

I took this about two months ago. With a new job, I haven't been keeping up. Sorry!

The I-5 bridge is actually two separate bridges side-by-side. It looks like an old railroad bridge with its steel beams and trusses. This shot was taken from the Washington side and I must say that it looks a lot better at night. Check out the cell-phone pics below for comparison.

There is an Oregon/Washington committee working on replacing this bridge because it's a huge bottle neck for traffic. But, as you might expect, there is no consensus on what kind of design to use. Most of the community doesn't want the typical wide, flat, concrete behemoth. Portland citizens, being Portland citizens would like something with architectural style and room for light rail, pedestrians and bicycles. If you'd like to know more check out this link - http://www.columbiarivercrossing.org/Default.aspx

When I worked in Vancouver I used to commute by bike (12 miles one way) over the bridge. The "sidewalks" are very narrow and if you aren't paying attention it is possible to take a fall. I came close a couple of times before I decided that I needed to slow down. Here are some shots of my commute. This will give you an idea why one of Portland's nick-names is bridge city. You can compare these day shots (camera phone pics taken while I was riding, thus the bad Paul Bunyan shot...) with my previously posted night photos. Bridges in order: Interstate; Steele; Morrison (seen from the water); Hawthorne.

Enjoy.

Paul Bunyan in Portland

2009-05-02T19:53:00.001-07:00

This shot is of Paul Bunyan on N. Interstate Ave. and Denver St. in Portland. The statue was built in 1959 for the Oregon Centennial. It's quite a unique landmark for the Kenton Neighborhood. When I see it it makes me think it should be at one of those roadside attractions in the Northern California Redwoods.

It is now on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic example of roadside architecture. Click on the title above for more information.

I like this shot more than the ones that I took showing Paul only. I think it gives perspective on how he appears in the neighborhood and to those passing by. At first I thought it looked out of place here. But the more I explored North Interstate Ave. it started to seem quite normal for a 35 foot statue of Paul Bunyan to be on an urban street corner. This is the same street that has the Palms Motor Hotel which I posted earlier. There are a lot of quirky places in this part of town. Like "The Alibi" club and other unusually named "motor hotels". My only problem now that spring is here is that I have to wait longer for the sun to go down...

Acme Welding - Holga

2009-04-05T15:39:00.001-07:00

The sun came out today for the first time in a long while and it got me thinking about carrying around my plastic camera. I haven't used it in a year... which is hard to believe. It is by far my favorite. So, this month is dedicated to my Holga.

In any case, this is the first shot for this month. For some reason I'm drawn to old, run down things. This building and sign have seen better days.

City Hall at night.

2009-03-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

My exploration of the city at night continues. This is Portland's City Hall. It was built in 1895 and renovated in 1998. Stay tuned for more.

Bank Tower

2009-03-14T17:03:00.001-07:00

This used to be the First Interstate Bank Tower. They were bought out or disappeared probably ten-to-fifteen years ago. I don't know who owns it now, but it made for a good subject after an unsuccessful night trying to shoot a well known Portland fountain graced by a very large bronze elk... I'll have to try that one again sometime. The bonus was the full moon that night.

Olympus OM-1
Lens: Zuiko 28mm
Shutter: 14 secs.
Aperature: f8
Film: Ilford 400 processed normally.

Mustang

2009-03-07T20:47:00.001-08:00

I thought I would change it up this week and post a color photo. This is a Polaroid SX-70 shot I took several years ago during Portland's Rose Festival. There is always a big carnival on the southwest water front. And there's almost always rain... For those of you who aren't familiar with SX-70 instant film here's a quick explanation: This is the film that spits out of the folding camera you see above. The dye in the film remains soft for about three hours. This allows you to use a toothpick or some other small tool to push the dye around under the milar cover. That's how I got the lines on the airplane and the squiggles on the background.

Enjoy.

The Palms Motor Hotel - Portland

2009-03-02T22:02:00.001-08:00

The Palms Motor Hotel is on North Interstate Ave. in Portland. I call it motel row. There are around six-to-seven within 15 blocks or so, and they all have just as unlikely names as the Palms. I showed this to my cousin who is a retired Portland police detective who started out as a patrol officer. She said "ughh, I remember the Palms. We were always going there for a drug bust or prostitution problems". That was some time ago. Interstate Avenue has cleaned up a lot now that the MAX (light rail) yellow line has been built.

Stay tuned for more motels as weather and time permit.

2009-03-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

For those of you in the Portland area, fellow photographer and blogger Chris Tolomei is having an exhibit at Powell's books this month. She is showing her photos of Portland at night. Opening reception is this Thursday night starting at 7:00pm. She does great work, I recommend checking it out.

Fremont Bridge at night

2009-02-27T21:20:00.001-08:00

This is the Fremont bridge from the west side. It's the same bridge as the one above in my banner. This is where I was spotlighted by a Portland patrol officer. As I said before, he wanted to know what I was doing in an abandoned field at night... "Why, I'm taking photos officer!" I'm happy to report that I didn't spend any time in lockup.

Hollywood Theatre at Night

2009-02-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

This is the Hollywood Theatre which was built in Portland in 1926. This was harder to shoot than the other photos I've posted here. Part of it was because the street is right in front of the theater and it's a busy intersection with stop lights. That made it impossible to set up in the middle of the street. The other problem, for me any way, was the extremes in exposure from the super bright entry to the dark facade. I've included a photo from the 1926 opening.

Here's an excerpt from The Oregon History Project:
The 1920s witnessed the explosive growth of the motion picture industry, and the popularity drove the construction of more and larger theaters to accommodate the crowds. Built at the end of the silent-film era—sound was not successfully introduced until 1927—the Hollywood seated 1,500 viewers in a “palace of luxury, comfort and entertainment unsurpassed by any theatre on the Coast,” according to an opening-day advertisement.

New Market &Theater - Night photograpy

2009-02-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

The New Market and Theater building was built in 1872 and functioned as a public market.

Here is a quote from Portland Public Market History: "The high-ceilinged market vault was divided into twenty-eight stalls, which ran down both sides of a centralized arcade lined with “marbleized columns and arches.” Each vendor stall sat between a pair of columns with aligned “counters … enhanced by … marble tops and carved fronts.” A “six-tired octagonal display covered with mirrors and plants” occupied the middle of the floor at the vault’s central axis. The market floor was lit by five central bracketed gas-lit chandeliers as well as by smaller stall chandeliers. Never were beans shucked nor chickens slaughtered in such opulence."

It has lost it's opulence on the interior and it operates like a permanent flee market with t-shirt stores and head shops...

Union Station at night

2009-02-19T16:00:00.000-08:00

This is Union station in Portland. It was opened for service on Feb. 14, 1896. The exterior is unchanged in materials and design since then, but the interior was updated in 1930 to an Art Deco style. When I have time I want to get back down there and see what kind of shots I can get from inside.

Check out Chris Tolomei's blog. She has some great night photos of Portland and Union Station from the back side.

Night photos

2009-02-17T16:23:00.001-08:00

I've been out-and-about with my camera the last couple of weeks. Sometimes shooting at night in strange places can cause curiosity or fear. I pulled into a vacant field at the other side of this bridge last night and as I got out of my van I found myself blinded by a police car spotlight. It turned out that the officer was friendly, he was just making sure it wasn't a drug deal or other nefarious activity. I didn't have any of my photo business cards or my mini portfolio with me. I will carry them in the future to better explain what I'm doing at night lugging a camera and tripod around.

In any case, this is the Fremont bridge in Portland. This is shot from the east side. I had to hike down a steep bank to get this angle. I'm glad I did. The other shots from the sidewalk weren't nearly as interesting.

I've been shooting all of my night photos on film. Here's some more info.

Camera: Olympus OM-1
Lens: 28mm
Film: Ilford Delta 400
Aperature: 5.6
Shutter: 14 seconds

Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase

2009-02-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

I went to the gala opening of the Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase last Saturday. This was my first time at this event and it was very crowded. Who new so many people would show up? It was also like a reunion for many of the artists who were in Portland Open Studios last year, there were a lot of us there.

Click on the title above to read more about it and see photos of me and friends.

Portland at Night - Steel Bridge

2009-02-03T17:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in new postings, I've been pretty busy the last few weeks.

This is the Steel bridge in Portland. It is the crossing for our MAX light rail transit system and has this very handy bicycle/pedestrian crossing at the lower level. During the morning and evening commute times it's full of bicyclists and walkers.

Pinhole print vs. negative scan

2009-01-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the scan of the Polaroid 665 negative from the pinhole shot yesterday. It's the image on the bottom. The print scan is at the top, for comparison. The cool thing about Polaroid type 665 B&W instant film is that you get two for one. You peel the print and you also get a negative. To me this was the best of both worlds in the film era. I'll be judicious with the film I have left.

By-the-way, my scanner did something strange. You can see that the bottom right corner of the negative scanned it to look like a negative. I don't know how that happened...

Stay tuned for more of this cool film.

Polaroid pinhole photos

2009-01-19T17:24:00.000-08:00

Here they are! Not too bad for film that expired in October, 1996. The exposure was a guess. I did one trial at 8 seconds. It was underexposed so I increased the exposure to 20 seconds for both of the above photos. The actual pinhole I taped to the front of the camera was home-made from a 7up can and a small beading needle. See the previous post below.

These are scans of the actual photos. Once I clear the negatives I'll scan them for comparison.

Thanks for the film Shu-Ju!

Polaroid Pinhole

2009-01-19T13:34:00.001-08:00

My neighbor Shu-Ju called me the other day and asked if I wanted some old Polaroid film. She has been storing it in her refrigerator for a long time (years...) and decided that she wanted more room for food and that her digital camera works just fine for what she needs.

Of course I said yes. I didn't want to be rude you know! She had a couple of packs of great pos/neg black & white 665. I just loaded one into my pinhole Polaroid camera (notice the missing lens) and I'm off to try it out. The film expired in 1996, but who knows? It might prove interesting at least...

Louvre lights in new show

2008-12-31T15:19:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to announce that this photo has been accepted by the Beaverton Arts Commission into their 27th annual Visual Arts Showcase. The show takes place Feb. 8-21 at the Beaverton Library. If you're in the area please stop by and enjoy all of the great art.

Polaroid image transfer

2008-12-23T21:18:00.000-08:00

I was shuffling through a box the other day and found this transfer of my daughter. My guess is that this was about eight years ago. She's now in her third year in college... Time flies. I like it a lot, but someone I know said it was spooky.

We're still stuck in the snow here, hoping that it warms up quickly and melts it all. But they're (weather forecasters) saying we have another chance of snow tomorrow... Enough already!

More snow!

2008-12-22T11:05:00.001-08:00

At this rate it doesn't look like we'll get out of the house for Christmas. We got more heavy snow last night, most businesses are closed for the day, Interstate 84 is closed due to snow and high winds with gusts up to 70 mph and buses to our part of town are canceled. On the bright side it's pretty outside.

Cabin Fever!

2008-12-21T15:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't been out of my neighborhood since last Wednesday. Our house is at a higher elevation, higher than most of Portland anyways, and we have a foot of snow. As I look out the window now it's snowing again... We're nice and cozy, but feeling a little house bound.

Union Station - Portland, Oregon

2008-12-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

New Show

2008-12-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

For those of you still looking for last minute holiday gifts, some of my photos are part of a three artist show at Baristadors Coffee in Portland. The other artists are Shu-ju Wang and Erin Leichty.

Baristadors: 11136 Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR 97219, 503.206.5234. Say hello to Gerrik and Nick, great guys and great coffee.

Portland at Night

2008-12-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

This is the latest in my "Portland at night" series. I've been busy so I haven't had time to work on the other new shots. Stay tuned.

Polaroid image transfers

2008-12-02T18:16:00.001-08:00

These images were shot at the Royal British Columbia Museum's Thunderbird park.Click on the link to learn more about the totem poles.

Float people

2008-11-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

As I travel through Oregon I'm no longer surprised at the creativity you can find expressed in what I call "folk art". This yard on the Oregon coast had probably six or seven "people" constructed from fishing floats, nets, marine rope and other discards.

More transfers

2008-11-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

Polaroid transfers - black car

2008-11-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Polaroid Image Transfers

2008-11-20T15:46:00.001-08:00

I've started to go through my box of image transfers. I'll try to post a couple of new ones every few days. I scanned twenty-six today. All of them are a least eight years old. The two below were from the Philomath, Oregon rodeo (voted the best small rodeo in America!). The flag is painted with water colors. These transfers were from sepia slides. If you're interested in the process of getting sepia slides check www.dr5.com

Burnside kinetic sculpture at night

2008-11-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

Night photography kick

2008-11-11T18:30:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been on a kick for doing night photography. I've decided to shoot all of Portland's bridges at night. I think there are eight in the city limits. It should be an interesting exercise. While most of the bridges are very interesting from and architectural point-of-view two of them are freeway bridges that I'll need to poke around to find and angle or angles that will be interesting.

Fuji Image Transfer

2008-10-31T21:27:00.001-07:00

I've continued to experiment with the Fuji instant film for image transfers. It can be a little fickle depending on colors and contrast. As you can see in these images, red transfers really well. High contrast images aren't great as shadow detail turns completely black.

For those of you I met at Open Studios who would like to take a class, please let me know. I'd like to gage interest and if there are enough people I'll calculate costs and come up with a fair price.

Thanks.

Polaroid SX-70

2008-10-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a recap of the Polaroid SX-70 process I use and some images. As most SX-70 fans know Polaroid discontinued this film, so the process is dead... However, I pulled my old land camera out of storage today and discovered that it was loaded with a full pack of 10. It has been in the camera at least a year, so the film is technically expired. But I tried a shot this afternoon. The colors aren't as bright as they should be, but I was able to manipulate it successfully.

Here's the short how-to: I wait an hour after the picture is taken. The chemicals (emulsion) is still in a gel-like state at this point. I use a small tool, some people use a flat tooth-pic, to gently push the emulsion around underneath the mylar cover. you can see the results of the different pressures and techniques I used in these three photos.

Open Studios - one more gaffe

2008-10-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

One of my image transfer demos turned out to be "interesting". Since I had to do these in the the dark there were about three transfers that I did in the bathroom (insert your own joke here). This was the first effort. When I peeled the film apart I didn't realize that I had dropped the other side right where I then placed the backing to do the transfer. This is the result... the top image is the transfer with the blank spot. I taped the other piece to the paper on the second image so you can see what happened. I kinda like it.

Portland Open Studios recap

2008-10-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone who came by my studio (house) this weekend. It was fun for me to see how you responded to my work.

Although my demos didn't fare as well as I would have liked, I think everyone now has a good understanding of the image transfer process. For those who didn't see the demo here's the scoop: Polaroid has stopped making their film. So for the first time ever I tried Fuji FP-100c for transfers. The problem was that unlike Polaroid, Fuji transfers need to be done in darkness. My home-made table-top darkroom had light leaks, and running to the bathroom (to do the transfer, of course... It's dark in the bathroom...) didn't give any better results. However, sometimes "problems" can turn out to be something fun and creative any way. Posted above are two of the "bad" transfers. I hand colored the one on the top using Prismacolor pencils, the one below it using charcoal pencils and, as you can see it's not too bad, in my opinion.

For those who were interested in taking a class on the image transfer process, stay tuned to my blog for updates on a time and date.

Thanks again to my visitors!

First day recap of Portland Open Studios

2008-10-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came by today to see my work. The image transfer demo's seemed to be pretty interesting to everyone who saw one. Some of you expressed interest in taking a class. I'm thinking about putting one together, so check back here in the next week or so.

This is one of the transfers I did last night. Since Polaroid stopped making their film this one was done using Fuji FP-100c. I'm impressed with the Fuji film, it really works well. The only downfall is that it has to be done in darkness.

Portland Open Studios continues tomorrow the 12th.

2008-10-10T18:40:00.003-07:00

Holga series - day 3

2008-10-07T22:00:00.001-07:00

New York's Finest.

This was taken in New York city about ten months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The security presence was still heightened.

These guys were on duty, but were basically models all day. Everyone was taking their picture and they had their poses down perfectly.

Holga series - day 2

2008-10-07T12:31:00.001-07:00

This old truck was part of a car "grave yard" near Lakeview, Oregon. Traveling through remote areas I would sometimes find interesting things abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

Holga series - day 1

2008-10-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Holga is an all plastic medium format (120 film) camera. Although it is inexpensive and has it's flaws, the magic is that it can produce wonderful photos. It has become a cult camera for many photographers and it is my favorite.

See my link to Toy Camera for more information and photos.

My work often took me to Miami. When I had some extra time I would go to South Beach to walk on the sand and take photos of the art deco life guard stands. Each of them was different and very brightly colored. This one, 10th Street, was bright pink.

Featured artist on Portland Open Studios Web site

2008-10-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

This week I'm the featured artist on Portland Open Studios' Web site. Follow the link to see one of my Polaroid SX-70 images. This picture is titled 14th street. South Beach in Miami has life guard stations every "two blocks" from around 4th street to 18th. In keeping with the art deco architecture of that area, each of the life guard stations is built in a unique art deco style. I hope to see you on Oct. 11 & 12. http://www.portlandopenstudios.com

Night Photography

2008-09-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to announce that this will be my second year as a participating artist in Portland Open Studios. This year I will be showing several new prints of night photography.

I spent a night out and about in Portland with my tripod and I got some great shots. Portlanders will recognize some of the photos and some they'll have to ponder before they realize what they are looking at.

I shot the image above of the Flatiron building several years ago on a business trip to New York. As is typical for me, I have had the negative stored away and this is the first time I've printed it.

Hope to see you in October.

Watch Artists at Work - Portland Open Studios, Oct. 11,12 & 18,19 2008

2008-09-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Just starting

2008-09-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

This is my first effort to set up a blog and photography site. Stay tuned for more information, photos and photography discussions.