Not a fan

Of digital. I just bought a canon g9. I think I'm gonna turn right back around and sell it. Then buy some 4x5 film and a flatbed scanner. Haters.

Flew East

Flew to DC, VT today, FL in a week, NYC in two weeks.

If it's not good, make it big. And if it's not big, put a ridiculous flash on it.

yeah!

An Update

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have my hand in about 8 different projects right now, all in preparation for 2009. They include, but are not limited to (take a deep breath and run through this): getting my editorial game off the ground, arranging meetings with photo editors, prepping my book for this, redoing my web portfolio, meeting with some select ad agencies, working with a legit and quality based stock agency out of Germany, making plans to meet up with some snowboard crews to shoot this winter, pitching ideas to various magazines on topics from sports to farming, working with a potential gallery in Portland on a "transamerica" show, starting to do writing and layout for a book I plan to self-publish, assisting, working on my new side project- too much chocolate, interviewing people for that, and participating in alot of potluck dinner with friends. Whew.

Things are going very well here. I couldn't be happier to have moved to Portland, it's pretty much the best city ever for me. I ride everywhere, touch my car maybe once every two weeks, have a great group of friends, and there's an awesome creative/visual scene here. I'm about to head back to the East coast for about a month this Wednesday. I fly back 'home' to DC, then jet straight to Vermont to ride, shoot a mini-story at Stowe Mountain, and I'll be meeting up with two internet friends who I've been hoping to meet in person for a while. Then, I drive back to DC and take off for Florida for a mini bicycle trip from Orlando to Florida for a week. After that, I drive back to DC and head back up on a bus to NYC to meet up with some aforementioned photo editors at some of my favorite magazines. I'm excited. Finally, I head back to DC, hang for a couple days, and fly back to Portland on January 12th.

On the photo front, I haven't been shooting too much. Well, I take it back. I have been "shooting", but haven't been shooting. In otherwords, I've been taking plenty of photos with my canon 5d, but honestly, I don't care for any of them really. Except for like 5. Out of... maybe 1,200 frames. I had this epiphany that I only seem to progress as a photographer when I'm shooting film, which seems odd and inexplicable, but honestly, I know alot of people that feel the same way. I'm not going to get into why, it just is what it is. You either get that feeling or you don't.

Anyway, the main reason I haven't shot 4x5 here in Portland is because film is totally dead. I'd have to send my film back to NYC, and I don't know of any places here where I have access to a drum scanner. I'm a little low on cash... actually not super low, just not at a point where I can spend a ton on film/processing/drum scanning. But I NEED to shoot 4x5. So here's my solution- I bought some b/w 4x5 film, and some chemicals/trays to do my own film processing in my basement bathroom. I'll then scan my 4x5 negs on a flatbed, which I've been told is good enough output for web. If the shots go well, I'll invest in drum scans.

So, I'll be taking my 4x5 with me all over the east coast, and plan to shoot a decent amount, about 1 shot per 2 days or so. I'm excited, and I've been thinking about how to progress, who I want to be, and what I want to show as a photographer. Speaking of that, one of my favorite photographers, Richard Renaldi, who I worked for in Spring 2008, just wrote a nice post about too much chocolate and my work on his blog. It was touching and I can't wait to build my porfolio of work in '09.

I think I've exhausted everything on my mind, so bye for now, and happy holidays.

Complex(er) thoughts to come, but I'm throwing this photo up for now and am off to see the new James Bond flick with some friends. 1000 px wide, for your viewing enjoyment!

Fairgrounds

Took a bike ride late this afternoon, started to rain about halfway out. Happened upon this empty fairground. Only had my phone to take pictures. I'm a step away from buying a canon g9, just to have in my bag, and also for the surf project. I think only 4x5 can do this place justice though. Too bad there's not a single (good) place in town to get film developed. Might shoot some b/w anyway, and find a darkroom to do it myself.

Proud to be an American

Welcome to Portland, OR

Taken at the grocery store, Saturday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving

I spent Thanksgiving out on the Pacific Coast this year, at my friend Benna's house right on Cannon Beach. Her great grandmother (Benna is a 4th generation Portlander) started renting a house on the beach many, many years ago, then bought a plot of beachside land for $7,000 in the 1920s. The house is beautiful and full of light, filled with inspiring art and family treasures. We had an amazing thankgiving day- I wore my pajamas nearly all day, played speed scrabble, went for a walk on the beach, adventured over some rocky points, ran into massive flocks of seagulls, cooked, ate, drank, passed out.

surf's up (have I used that one before?)

I'm a little behind.

Here's some stuff from last weekend. I'm sitting on hella RAW files that need conversion, and I'm a man of quality. So sit tight.

Lauren. Love this shot alot. Near a new favorite hiking trail, under some railroad tracks.

Nighttime, quite obviously.

Snowboarding in the city

There was a rail jam happening on the streets of downtown Portland today. I was moving a little slow today, and figured that by the noon-4pm event time, the first half would be practice and the second two hours would be the actual event. So I rolled up at 2:15 or so, only to find the event ended like 20 minutes later! Oh well. Got a couple shots.

p.s. I've got a major with a capital M internet portal project in the works... stay tuned...
p.p.s. Headin to the coast to shoot some more surfing tomorrow. Yuh.
p.p.p.s. Pray for snow.

The Art Intitute co-sposored the event, and I got funky with their goose (sculpture).

Right before the contest winners were announced, this guy in shorts and a fleece bed-sheet-cape came out and danced some robot-style moves. I don't think anybody knew who he was, or what he was doing there. But I enjoyed it.

Remember mogul ski pants?

Pretty boardslide.

More from the surf project

I just started some new projects. I forget if I wrote about it. But here:

Newnews

I've just begun a couple of new projects, and I'll be posting shots as they come in. One is about surfing, one is about hospitals, and one is about farming. This shot is from the surf project.

Peter- Indian Head, OR

Portland es mucho rain(o).

The coast

More posts, more photos coming soon. I'm stepping it up.

Taylor

Ocean

New website section up: Reportage.

All the digital shots from my most recent cross country bike trip are here.

This is why facebook is worth $15 billion dollars:

Happy Halllllloween

Bowie was my favorite.

Less money less problems

I have spent one and one half hours on the phone today dealing with health insurance and trying to fix my downed email account. Maybe I should sell everything and go live in the woods.

enohPi