Family Portrait | Portland Family Photographer

Chelsea, James, & 1 1/2-year-old Jay came to the studio looking posh and fantastic for a holiday family portrait. At 17 months, Jay is a little wild man and has given me another glimpse of what's in store for me with Jonah in a few short months!  When photographing energetic toddlers, the best tactic is to find something that engages them and go with it rather than trying to get them to sit still because that is not likely to happen with these guys unless they're asleep!  Could be ticking, peekaboo, or me acting, uh... zany (stupid) that does it, you just never know.  For this little guy, it was throwing things and/or keep-away!  For whatever reason, we got mega smiles every time I hid something from this cutie. For these photos I used a singular XL softbox on the right and a huge reflector on the left, and I very much like the large, soft light from the softbox, especially on the portraits of James & Chelsea.  I just got a 430 EX II slave earlier today (at Best Buy, where there were 10 people already waiting for Black Friday savings... the thought occurs to me that waiting 2 days in the rain is maybe just a little excessive?!) to complement my 580 EX II, so I think I'm going to start using a lightweight wireless Speedlite setup in the studio more often as well as on location.  It's so much more portable and flexible than the strobes, and it seems to have all the power I need in there, so I'm going to invest in some more flash modifiers (beauty dish, strip light, octobox, Rogue grid?) and do some test shooting over the next month or so. I already did a few test shots on Jeremy & Jonah, and I love them!  I have learned so much from this book, highly recommended for anyone looking to learn more about Speedliting.

American Cancer Society Hope Ball | Camp Ukandu

A couple weeks ago I was asked to donate a session to the American Cancer Society's Portland Hope Ball auction, a fundraiser for Camp Ukandu, a medically-supervised camp for kids with cancer.  Of course I jumped all over that and asked if there is anything in addition that I can do to help.  Turns out some of the board members needed headshots for their website, wo I had the pleasure of meeting them and doing some quick portraits. These three striking gentlemen donate a lot of time and energy to helping kids and families who have been dealt a very difficult hand in life.  It is my goal to continue to be involved and to help in any way I can!

Portrait of Three Generations | Edgefield | Portland Family Photographer

When I was considering locations for this family of eight, it occurred to me what a spectacular location Edgefield would be for a portrait.  I got married there, so I already know some good locales for portraits, plus it's fall and there is beautiful foliage and interesting details to spice up the photos. I was patting myself on the back for thinking of such a cool and interesting location. Well... turns out I am one of MANY who thought of this idea that same day!  It was a spectacular fall day when we took these photos, and I didn't just see a couple of other groups doing portraits there--I kid you not there were at least 10 photographers there.  I think a lot of them were doing some last-minute seniors since the yearbook deadlines are approaching as well as families doing holiday portraits.  Lots of portraits to be done this time of year! I had a lot of fun with this family, especially the two middle-schoolers.  They remind me of my art students, totally cool kids! You can see why photographers choose Edgefield; look at the beautiful color in these photos: For this shoot, I used my Canon 5D Mark II with a 24-105 mm zoom lens for versatility.  The light was perfect, and I was able to stay at 100 ISO without adding light with a flash or even a reflector.  Sweet  :)