Jeremy Running Photography » Personal

Bright lights, city streets, LED trips

Jeremy Running — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:40:37 +0000

Winter is a difficult time for me as a photographer. When the weather doesn’t tend to cooperate, and finding ways to use my camera become scarce, I tend to lose a lot of my motivation to get out there and shoot. Near the beginning of 2009 (last year) this sluggish feeling hit me really hard, and I did not enjoy it one bit. So for this year, I have remained determined to find ways to shoot the things I love. And in this case, I love shooting bright and colorful lights!

My good friends Haven, Káli, Matt, and Karri agreed to challenge the cold night with me and meet up to spin some fun LED toys while I took lots of pictures. The biggest challenge for us was figuring out a location. Then I remembered the fantastic wedding I shot this past summer, where the bride and groom introduced me to Tanner Springs Park, a very unique block-sized park in downtown Portland, with many incredible features. The main feature being a wavy wall of steel I-beams, rusted and of varying heights, shooting out of the ground to create the most amazing background element.

After we took a few shots in front of the wall, I was happy to see how well the lines of the I-beams, as well as the boardwalk beneath, complimented the curves and patterns created by the LED hoops and staffs these incredible performers were wielding. We were lucky enough to have custom built LED toys for this shoot by Karri and Mark, the creative minds behind SpinStyle! I am so pleased with how the shots turned out, I just can’t get enough of this kind of shooting.

We then moved on to the Eastbank Esplanade across the river, so we could get some photos with downtown Portland as the background. I just love the view of our city from just north of the Hawthorne Bridge and have always wanted to shoot performers there. I think I’ll set up a fire spinning shoot there next. It’s especially handy since the fire department is literally right next to where we were shooting.

We wrapped up the day on a somewhat sad note, as this was to be Káli’s last shoot for me for a while. She is off to South Korea to study and begin a new adventure in life. We’ll miss you girl! Thank you for all the amazing performances you allowed me to shoot!

Lots more pics in the full gallery, organized by performer!

A Photo Walk in November

Jeremy Running — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:51:22 +0000

Recently, I wandered just out my front door and up Mt. Tabor to capture a panorama of Portland at sunset. However, the panorama was not the only shot I brought home. In going along with my goal this year to try and capture as much of the Fall colors as I can, I tried to get as many different shots from that location. The colors were still shining brightly, even though all around town the leaves are piling up along the roadsides and in people’s yards, leaving the trees bare. I knew this may be my last chance to get the full effect of Autumn sunlight in Portland.

The full gallery includes some grand views of the city, HDR shots to capture the full range of light, details of the colors, and even some impressionistic shots throughout the park. Check it out!

Silver Falls State Park in Autumn

Jeremy Running — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:26:43 +0000

For the past year, I’ve kicked myself for not taking the time to photograph all the beautiful foliage last Fall. With Autumn being my favorite time of the year, I guess I feel it is my duty to capture the incredible color and light that the month of October brings to us in the Pacific Northwest. Not just that, but if I could, I would freeze the world in an Autumnal state. The only way I know how to do that for real is with my camera. So after a year of feeling frustrated and disappointed, I wasn’t about to let this time of year pass by without a few images making their permanent homes within my photo archives.

Timing is everything when it comes to Fall colors. Within a week, or two at the most, the leaves go from brilliantly colorful to quickly becoming damp and on the ground. Leaves on the ground rarely lend themselves to great photographs. I watched and I waited as the days and weeks went by, seeing more and more change come to the trees around Portland. I debated on a few simple photo walks throughout town, as there are many neighborhoods in Portland that simply come alive with color this time of year. But I really wanted to get deep in the forests to satisfy this craving. As I felt I was witnessing the peak of the beautiful colors, I decided to spend the day in Silver Falls State Park.

Waterfalls are incredibly satisfying to shoot, and Silver Falls State Park has plenty of them. Ten, in fact, along the Trail of Ten Falls. My plan was to hit up all of them, as I trek along the 8.5 mile trail throughout the day. Hiking with the purpose to take photographs is very different for me than when I’m just hiking to hike. I spend much more time per mile along the trail, usually stopping several times to unpack my tripod and other gear in order to get a specific shot, and shoot it right. Most of the time this means spending a lot of time getting my feet wet, literally. The best shots are usually from right within the creek or river, which means that waterproof hiking boots are a must-have.

Also a must-have for me is my Lowepro DryZone Rover pack. This fantastic camera bag both carries and protects my gear, while providing a hydration pack along the way. It does this with a hefty waterproof compartment that holds my lenses, memory cards, and other gear highly sensitive to water and simple moisture. While hiking, I use heavy duty straps to clip my Canon 5D directly to the shoulder straps, distributing its weight along with the rest of my gear. The straps keep my camera safe when I need to stabilize myself with my hands and arms while navigating difficult terrain, but it is still accessible to take hand-held photos anytime. My carbon-fiber tripod is held snugly by the integrated tripod compartment, making it easy to take it along wherever my hike takes me. Unfortunately, having all my gear neatly tucked away and secure means that it does take a fair amount of time to stop and set up for a shot, so when I hike and shoot, the going is slow. But that’s just fine with me, the end results are almost always worth it.

Silver Falls State Park was glowing with color this day, and I was so thankful to be there within 90 minutes of my home in Portland. I tried to add some variety with my shots, exploring more attempts at impressionism photography using the colors of Autumn. Other more realistic shots really benefitted from the use of my circular polarizer, cutting through the reflections on the water, the rocks, and most importantly, the leaves themselves, bringing out their rich color.

There is a gallery of 29 photos from my hike available, with more highlights below.

Elowah and McCord Falls Hike

Jeremy Running — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:06:14 +0000

Since it’s such an easy and commonly known hike, I was surprised that I was unaware of the beauty of Elowah Falls and Upper McCord Creek Falls within the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon side. Elowah Falls especially was quite incredible since it was so tall and majestic. Being the end of Summer, Upper McCord Creek Falls was running very light, with only one side of the normally double waterfall flowing freely.

The hike was certainly more on the easy side, with very little elevation change, and only a short distance. But even with such little effort, I was happy to get such a fantastic reward. It was late afternoon by the time I began shooting the falls and details along the trail, but as a photographer, that’s when I prefer to be hiking. The evening light is simply breathtaking within the Gorge as it cascades eastward, cutting in and out of the crevices along the cliffs. The falls themselves were deep within one of these inlets, so the light didn’t become an asset until the entire Gorge was in view. The low, warm light flicked over the trees highlighting their details with such subtlety and grace, adding so much depth to the scene.

I also took the opportunity to try out the technique of some more impressionistic photography. I’ve seen this technique mastered by William Neil and have always wanted to experiment with it. The dreamy, surreal images produced by impressionism in photography have always fascinated me and, if done right, can truly be works of art. I definitely enjoyed trying this out, and hope to further develop my skills in this area. So expect more updates along these lines in the future.

Below are a few excerpts from the hike, but as always there are plenty more in the full gallery.

Rocking the 8th Annual Northwest String Summit

Jeremy Running — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:16:52 +0000

This year’s Northwest String Summit was nothing short of incredible. It’s an annual bluegrass music festival during which I shot photos last year, but in order to fully enjoy the weekend, I only had my camera in hand for one of the days… the last day. All year I felt a slight regret for that fact. This year, my goal was to shoot as much as possible, but still find the balance with seeing the fun through my own eyes instead of the lens.

String Summit is held at one of my favorite places to shoot, Horning’s Hideout in North Plains, Oregon. To me personally, it’s one of those places that holds a lot of history and magic. As a photographer, it is one of those places that looks beautiful in even the harshest of mid-day light. The only problem is that it is also a notoriously dusty place. This meant that if I wanted to shoot all weekend, I would have to keep it protected. So I decided to do a test run of Think Tank Photo’s Digital Holster 50. It’s features also let me keep my camera ready to fire, even with my longest lens, the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8, even with the lens hood attached. This new bag allowed me to conveniently carry my camera around the festival, with total confidence that it would be protected, but still instantly ready for shooting. All I had to do was pull it out of the bag and fire away.

So.. camera in hand, I decided my focus would be on the people and scene of String Summit, not necessarily the music. The first of which was the annual String Summit Tutu Mafia, which had grown in size significantly since last year. I was impressed with the turnout and the abundance of pure style shown within this year’s Mafia. We managed to get in a photo shoot in at camp before heading to the venue. The glamor was in full effect as the tutus waved and fluttered in the sun. This year we were treated with tutus of orange, blue, pink, red, yellow, and many other different colors worn by a wide range of people. Which Tutu Mafia member is your favorite?

The always adorable kids’ parade was Saturday afternooon. The young ones worked so hard creating their costumes and decorations to show off in their parade, and their efforts did not go unnoticed. Led by Tyler Fuqua in his incredible custom-made dragon costume, they proudly wandered through the crowd. Some were more nervous than others, but it was my friend Amelia who was shining the brightest, towering above all others on her stilts! How can you not love the kids’ parade?

A couple of tiny lost creatures found their way into our camp at one point during the festival, and I couldn’t resist taking out the macro lens to get some good close-up shots. One was a small but beautiful butterfly who seemed very interested in our camp flowers. She fluttered around each blossom, not minding that myself and fellow photographer Carlton Ward fussed about trying to get the right shot. The other was a tiny little inchworm crawling across a friend’s finger. That little guy didn’t have a care in the world as he slowly explored the ins and outs of his new friend’s hand. We were careful not to drop him as I snapped frame after frame, trying to keep him in sharp focus. I guess String Summit isn’t always just about the people and music!

Horning’s was as magical as ever through that weekend. I saw everything from a didgeridoo playing rooster to a team of fun loving people calling themselves Gang Green. I was honored to receive a green star on my belly by a real-life Sneetch, and I stunningly read our manaquin’s jail release papers. Who knew he was such a criminal? I left the weekend thankful I live so close to a wonderful scene, fulfilled musically by all the incredibly talented artists, and so very grateful I got to share it with my amazing group of friends. Until next year, Strummit!

Here are a few more sample photos, but feel free to skip straight to the full gallery!

A Hike up Hebo

Jeremy Running — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:33:33 +0000

Mt. Hebo is a little-known spot just inland from the Oregon Coast, right where highway 22 meets the great costal highway 101. The trail, which starts at Mt. Hebo Campground, actually runs about 8 miles total, though it’s about 6.5 miles round-trip to the spectacular summit views. Since our start time was a bit later than planned, a summit trek was all we could fit in.

That’s not to say there was any compromising on quality for the day. The trail winds through amazing secondary and old growth forest, with descriptive signs filled with trivia along the way. These signs teach such tidbits as the fact that the bracken ferns along the trail may be eaten when they first emerge from the ground in the spring.

Fire ravished this forest in the 1900’s, so the Forest Service replanted most of the area, aside from the early stages of the trail which runs through homestead land. This becomes more and more apparent as you compare the early sections which contain varied ages and tree sizes to the later sections where the forest is much more uniform and specific.

Once we hit the summit, we were treated with a grand, yet hazy, view of the surrounding mountains and ocean. I found the view to be quite disorienting, as the reflection of the sun off of the ocean gleamed bright white, while the shades of the forest-covered hills were a rich deep blue color. This reverse in colorization made it difficult to distinguish each element in the view. See for yourself in the full gallery of photos. Enjoy!

Let the Rose Festival Begin!

Jeremy Running — Sat, 23 May 2009 07:00:03 +0000

This year, Portland’s Rose Festival will include a bonus third weekend. Normally, the two weeks of celebrating Portland and its cherished roses spans only two weekends, and they always seem to fly by. This year, I decided to be there at the beginning for the first time as a photographer.

Friday night marked the beginning of the Rose Festival with a spectacular fireworks display along the Willamette River. People lined both the Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade awaiting the show. I positioned myself on the east side between the Hawthorne Bridge and the Morrison Bridge, with the firework launch barge between my camera and the downtown skyline.

This was my first time ever shooting fireworks, so it was quite a learning experience. I loved the fact that it felt like everything I loved about three styles of photography: Urban, low-light, and fire. Enjoy the full gallery to see more!

The Forests, Streams and Creeks of the Willamette National Forest

Jeremy Running — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:01:06 +0000

During a day trip on the hunt for a good trail to hike, my partner Christy and I found ourselves near Detroit, Oregon in the Willamette National Forest. We originally wanted to hike to Phantom Bridge, a natural rock bridge, mostly because it has a really cool name. Unfortunately, when we drove up French Creek Road, the snow level was still low enough to barricade our path to the trail head. We’ll have to return for this one later on in the year, so keep checking back for those photos.

Along the way up the road, which follows the path of its namesake French Creek, we were floored by several spots along the way that would make for excellent photo opportunities. Since we could go no further along the road, this gave me an excellent chance to double back and get those shots I thought I was going to miss. On either side of the creek were several smaller streams pouring down the hillside over moss covered rocks. The water in some areas looked to be coming straight off the side of a glacier, radiating that chilly light green glow as it swirls about

Our purpose of the day was to find a trail to hike, so after exploring French Creek, we headed to the other side of Detroit to the trailhead for Stahlman Point. From there, it was a fairly tough 1200 feet climb to the summit, switching drastically from fresh new growth to what felt like ancient old growth.

We made it to the summit, which used to be the location of an old forest fire lookout tower, though all that remains are the foundation blocks. From there we would have had an incredible view of Mt. Jefferson but a mid-level cloud cut most of it off from view, save for a small portion of the peak.

Soon we were away back on the trail, which was much more comfortable doing downhill. The sun was falling low in the sky, which gave me a great pallett to work with photographically. From among the trees of the forest, the low lying sun became a huge rim light for nearly everything it touched, while it’s warm glow seemed to bring it all to life.

Overall, today was yet another example of why I am in love with living in Oregon. Barely two hours outside of Portland, we were engulfed in nature and felt completely at home. There are many other photos in the full gallery, but for now, here are a few samples:

Earth Day Celebrations in Portland

Jeremy Running — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:04:29 +0000

To most of us from Portland, Earth Day is every day. But when the holiday actually arrives, we really know how to celebrate it. A local organization called City Repair organized a fantastic gathering in Wallace Park in Northwest Portland. As a group, City Repair’s primary purpose is to inspire people to get involved and stay active in their communities. This inspirations comes from their many projects, activities, and in this case their events.

Inspiration was most definitely in abundance on this Earth Day. For those wanting to learn about Earth Day is all about, there were plenty of booths to explore based on a variety of subjects. There were also plenty of activities for the kids, and different kinds of food to enjoy. But the real action was around the stage. Apparently, in Portland, Earth Day means celebrating through music. The artists played music throughout the day, and I was lucky enough to catch several of the bands.

When I arrived, the band Alpaca! was just beginning their set, and the people were ready. As soon as the first flowing, funky bass line dropped the grass was covered with enthusiastic dancing feet. It was easy to see the enjoyment on everyone’s faces, and I was trying to capture every smile I saw through my lens.

As the sun dropped in the sky and the light softened and warmed to a glow, I went exploring the park for more photo opportunities. What did I find, but one of my favorite subjects to shoot: hoopers! In fact, Lauren Rose, a very talented fire spinner I’ve shot several times in the past, was there displaying her many talents with the hula hoop and poi.

After Alpaca! finished their set, Tapwater was set to do a drum performance in front of the stage. They began with a funky march towards the stage, keeping the rhythm alive for those dancing feet. They chanted and drummed and kept the people moving. It was the second time they played during the celebrations, so it was unfortunate that it was so short. But even so, we all had a great time getting down to their drums.

I managed to collect many photos of the day, and below are a few samples. As always, view the full gallery through the link below. And remember, the full gallery is separated into smaller photo albums based on subject, so feel free to explore them all!

A Foggy Sunrise in Pennsylvania

Jeremy Running — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:42:52 +0000

I don’t get many chances to visit rural Pennsylvania. In fact, today was my first time here. I have found myself visiting family members just north of the Maryland and Pennsylvania border in a small town called Salisbury. Everywhere I look there are Amish communities. Yup, I’m a long way from home. It’s an entirely different league of beauty here, with vast farm fields and forests of maple trees linked together with a webbing of tubes, draining the sweetness for maple syrup and other delicious goodies.

This morning, I woke up before dawn to try and photograph the tranquility and peaceful nature of this wonderful area during sunrise. What I got was fog, and lots of it. As the morning grew into day, the fog rolled in and out, thick one minute, light the next. I slogged carefully through the fields, hoping not to offend the Amish with my camera, thankful that they don’t observe daylight savings time. That gave me an extra hour of shooting before they began their days of hard work.