As  a producer it’s my job, and my JOY, to seek out and scout all of the locations, find and cast the talent, and organize the photo shoot for my client from top to bottom.

I’m an expert in organization and planning, which lends itself nicely to my job as a freelance producer. This summer Andersen Ross, the stock photography company I work for, ventured into the world of motion. It’s a scary thought, the photography world is in transition constantly. As the demand for interactive media goes up, the demand for still media will go down. It remains my goal to be on the upside of that curve, always staying current with technology and accepting the future. With the assistance and partnership of HD Cinema Group, we have been working with the top of the line motion equipment, the RedONE to create the highest possible standard of stock motion available! It’s very exciting!

I’m thrilled to share this loop with you, it’s essentially all of our hard work condensed down to 1 minute and 40 seconds. I hope you enjoy!

When I had the opportunity to bid on this project for Ovations Catering for their digital reader boards, I knew I had to do it. They do the concessions for Rose Garden, the Memorial Colliseum, and the PIR in Portland, and I had so much fun shooting this. Oh the glorious hot dogs. I’ve never been so excited about hot dogs and hamburgers in all my life. The only thing better than shooting this food was STYLING this food!

You can get all of these fine food items from Ovations the next time you go to a Blazer game. Go Blazers!

From their website:

“We carefully design and select our products with an eye for craftsmanship, the smallest details, and that certain something special that makes each item you find in our stores and website more than novelty but a personal discovery. Our clothing, jewelry, and objects for home are always changing. So is our world. Our hope at Anthropologie is to share with you in the breathtaking possibility of it all.”

Whoa…. that’s deep! But so true!! I actually prefer to buy my funky clothes and furniture from thrift stores like Goodwill and estate sales (more on that later), but I get down with their style. They’ve bottled it and turned it into a brand. Anyone can appreciate that. Next up you’re going to see a Pemco commercial for the “Thrifty Northwest Shopper”, standing in the rain… waiting for the store to open. You heard it here FIRST folks. I want my cut.

Everyone who has visited the blog in the last week has seen that my friend Renae is stunningly gorgeous in every possible way. What they might not know is that she also has the skills to pay the bills when it comes to her own artform and that takes shape in the most resplendant jewelery I have seen in a long time! I identify with it in the same way that I do with Anthropologie, it’s eclectic, but classic… one of a kind. Some of the charms are found objects that can never be replicated. Her business on Etsy is just blowing up. If you like her style you had better get in on it before her prices go up because they will! Her brand is called Brooklyn Grace, click on the link and check it out. When she first launched, her photography was no bueno, she was doing it with her PHONE people! I immediately called her up let her know we needed to have a sit down.

Lovely Brooklyn Grace:

Leave a comment and tell me which brand best represents your personal style. I’d love to know!

I have some amazing clients, clients that understand what I do and why I do it. Kristine at Cognition Studio (the same  designer who did my killer identity design) recently approached me about doing new portraits for their website.  She was inspired by a cover of  W Magazine that just hit the newsstands with Brad Pitt on the cover… you know the one. The photos in the spread were done by Chuck Close had a very specific look. Close used an archaic technique called Daguerreotype, and if you’ve ever seen a photograph predating 1850 you’ve probably been looking at one.

The Daguerreotype was the first successful photographic process, the discovery being announced on 7 January 1839. The process consisted of:

• exposing copper plates to iodine, the fumes forming light-sensitive silver iodide. The plate would have to be used within an hour.
• exposing to light – between 10 and 20 minutes, depending upon the light available.
• developing the plate over mercury heated to 165 degrees. This caused the mercury to amalgamate (found this word on the internet) with the silver.
• fixing the image in a warm solution of common salt (later sodium sulphite was used.)
• rinsing the plate in hot distilled water.

The process of creating a Daguerreotype is detailed in itself, but the actual photograph is so desirable because of it’s ability to record even the smallest, most minute amount of detail. Sometimes the details might reveal something that the photographer had not intended.

In Brad Pitts’ case, every line, wrinkle, blackhead, and 3rd world adopted baby was revealed with the printing of his negatives.

After researching exactly how to give Cognition Studio the best from a photography perspective, I really wanted to go as true to the process as possible. Traditional Daguerreotypes have an exposure time of 30-45 seconds. That’s a LONG time to hold one’s breath, plus I had an apprehension to working with liquid mercury (I eat sushi, but come on)  Shooting film, however, was a must. I busted out the 4×5 moves for these portraits, which  was challenging enough. The focal plane is narrow so the subject must remain perfectly still after focusing while the film backs are inserted.

Yes, the filters were applied in Photoshop to give it that Daguerreotype look. I cheated, don’t tell.