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!

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!

For those who do not live in the Portland, Oregon area, Sauvie Island lies within the Columbia River, in between Oregon and Washington states.  It is made up mostly of farmland and wildlife refuges, so it can be a peaceful place to visit, getting away from the rush rush of the city.  Along most of its shores are sandy beaches, much like along the ocean, but without the waves.  A group of us thought it would be a perfect place to do some fire spinning with hoops, poi, fans, and other toys.  Specifically interested was my friend Haven, who was hoping to spin some fire in the sand in preparations for a beach-side fire performance she was planning a couple weeks later for her sister and family.

Along for the shoot were more performers than we’ve ever gathered before.  In the past, I have done shoots with Haven, Kali, Zac, and Paul.  But some new people I shot for the first time were Harmony, Kristin, and Karri.  Every performer brought something unique and powerful to the session, it was a treat to get so much variety out of the finished photos.

For this shoot, I rented two very powerful strobes powered by a huge battery pack.  I have been wanting to experiment with lights more powerful than my 580ex II off-camera, so this was a perfect opportunity to do so.  One of my biggest complaints when it comes to my own fire spinning photos was that the light of the fire causes my exposures to become messy and blurry.  Fire hoops are just so incredibly bright, I figured I needed a much brighter light source to over-power it.  Unfortunately in this night’s case, that meant we wouldn’t be able to capture the incredibly textured sky we were blessed with.

My other goal for this shoot was to experiment with the contrast of fire and water in the same shoot.  Reflections of the fire on water I thought would make an incredible addition to the fire spinning imagery I’ve collected so far.  Fortunately, the weather cooperated (a challenge in an Oregon October), and the Columbia River was not nearly as cold as we all thought it would be.  It was the water itself that presented a challenge to the performers.  Well, not to the performers specifically, but to their toys.  If a fire hoop was dropped into the river while shooting, not only would the flame get doused out, but the wicks would absorb water and need to be dried out before soaking up fuel to be re-lit.  After the first time this happening, we were all fairly timid to risk causing too many toys to be out of commission.

I couldn’t be happier with the photos that came out of this shoot.  We faced a few challenges, and avoided any major accidents caused by a soaking wet dog feverishly looking for his friend Mr. Ball. Thanks to Haven, Harmony, Kali, Kristin, Paul, Zac, and Karri for putting on such incredible performances; thank you for sacrificing your body warmth for the sake of art; and thank you for being such great friends!

I have a full gallery ready for viewing, but here are a few more samples.  Until the next burn!