Zidell Manufacturing Headshots

I shoot annual headshots for Zidell at a manufacturing plant they run in SW Portland, Tube Forgings, to celebrate employees that have hit a landmark work-anniversary or are otherwise being spotlighted by corporate. Everyone usually really enjoys it and it’s always a fun process. This year I met a group of manufacturing workers as well as office-side workers at the plant and we took some headshots that I think turned out really nice.

Tualatin High Graduation 2023

Every year, I cover at least one local graduation for the Portland Tribune. This year’s was Tualatin High’s ceremony held at the Portland’s Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in the Rose Garden area.

Also every year, I seem to forget how fun these are to shoot! As boring as they might be to attend sometimes (mine sure was), being backstage with the kids and seeing the emotions as they come out to a big crowd, in a beautiful arena, to get their hard-earned diplomas. It’s really a cool experience to photograph.

Here’s a link to the gallery as it appeared on the Tualatin Times’ site, and you can view the photos here after the jump.

Portland's Frog Ferry

I was on assignment this past week for the Portland Tribune shooting for a story about the Frog Ferry, the proposed transit project to create a passenger ferry down the Willamette river in Portland. The ferry would serve as an additional transit option for Portlanders, shuttling trips of up to 70 from the St. Johns neighborhood in North Portland, to a number of docks and eventually into downtown Portland, before returning upriver.

The project is still in its funding stage, so for the story the reporter and I joined Frog Ferry staff, supporters, and other media for a test-ride of the proposed route, on board a small cabin-cruiser brought down from the Columbia River Gorge. Susan Bladhom (pictured below), founder and president of Friends of Frog Ferry, served as our tour guide for the adventure.

Photos below, and here is a link to the article: https://pamplinmedia.com/lor/48-news/525572-419531-proposed-portland-passenger-ferry-seeks-federal-funding

Manufacturing Day

Last week I tagged along for Manufacturing Day at LAM Research in Tualatin. Students from local high schools were bussed in to learn about the process at LAM, where machinery and technology for the manufacturing of microchips is produced. The kids were able to suit up in the “bunny suits” and get onto the clean room, the manufacturing floor.

MAC Open 2018

I shot Multnomah Athletic Club's annual Gymnastics tournament, the MAC Open, over the weekend. They were hosting teams from all over the Pacific Northwest, as well as a few from Japan. It's actually my fourth year shooting the event, and it's always a great time getting to photograph these spectacular young athletes in their element. Below is a selection of my favorite images from the event:

Chaseki Supper Club

I shot a weekend Kokoro tea dinner put on by Chaseki Supper Club, a group seven core members and additional guest chefs, that put on a small, intimate, Japanese-style 9 course meal in a backyard in North Portland. They needed some photos for their marketing and web presence, and I was happy to help.

They have 12 guests per service, and sell reservations at $100 per seat. It was a wonderful experience, and I'm super proud of my friends who are a part of Chaseki. You can take a look at their instagram for more info and booking, @chasekipdx

TriMet Biking Ad

I was commissioned by TriMet, the public transit agency in Portland, to shoot an ad that would appear on busses and benches around the Portland area. The ad was meant to promote safe apparel for bicyclists as a part of their "Be Seen" campaign.

The idea was to show a bicyclists with a lot of motion, to the point where the cyclist themself was mostly obscured, but their reflective clothing and lights were the focal point of the image. 

I headed down to the East waterfront with an art director and a model for a night-time shoot with the city lights as a backdrop. Here are some of the shots we got:

 

That last image was the one that was chosen for the ad, and here's how the ads, for bus and bench, looked after some editing from the design staff and text placement.

And here's the ad in the wild:

Portland Pickles

This week I shot the final game of the Portland Pickles' inaugural season, on assignment for the Portland Tribune. The Pickles are a wood-bat collegiate baseball team that plays in Lents Park in East Portland. Tickets (and beers) are cheap, snacks are aplenty, kids are playing catch on the sidelines and the atmosphere is just pure summer baseball. It's really great. It's got a small-town feel that reminds me of going to local summer-league games growing up. Especially seeing the kids that were there reminded me of how much fun that was. To us, as kids, these guys were like pros. We'd get autographs, chase down foul balls, and play our own mini-games on the sidelines as the team played theirs on the field. 

I put together a little photo essay from the game here. The article was mostly focused on the community aspect of the team, so there's not a ton of game-action. I hope the photos look as good as being there feels.

Portland Holds Vigils for Orlando Shooting

Yesterday, in response to the tragic shooting in Orlando, vigils were held throughout Portland. I shot photos at two on assignment for the Portland Tribine. The first, a hugely attended gathering outside of Embers Avenue, and the second, a candlelight sunset vigil at Waterfront Park hosted by PDX Trans Pride. Speakers included Mayor Charlie Hales, Eric Zimmerman, candidate for Multnomah County Commissioner, and Rebekah Brewis, executive director of PDX Trans Pride.

Portland Zombie Homes

I recently shot photos for a story that ran in the Portland Tribune about "Zombie Homes" in the Portland area. The article tells the story of about 430 abandoned houses on Portland's East-Side that often are taken over by squatters, and the Portland Police Departments uphill battles to keep these squatters out and keep the homes in good condition.

The city of Portland is in the midst of a housing crisis. There aren't enough modestly-priced homes and apartments in the city to house everyone that needs to be housed. These vacant homes where squatters have moved in are often in a state of disrepair, and a blight to the neighborhoods they occupy, as well as posing a public safety issue to neighbors. This problem has been left up to "Neighborhood Response Teams" made up of police officers who patrol known abandoned homes as well as field calls about problem houses, in an attempt to keep them clear of squatters.

For the article, writer Peter Korn and I rode along with two police officers who head up a neighborhood response team, Rob Brown and Joseph Young.

We stopped first at an abandoned house that was a known problem spot. There were boarded up doors and windows as well as a "board-up notice" that notified owners and anyone that may be interested that the Portland Police Bureau had been on the premises.

At the second location, a similar house to the first, the officers were flagged down by neighbors who let them know that, while the house they were checking on had been a problem in the past, the real current problem was a duplex just 3 houses down. They had been hearing people going in and out at all hours of the day, and the back of the property was completely trashed. We called in to another officer, Devonna Dick, and went down the street.

The third house we checked on was one that the officers had boarded up semi-recently, but were reasonably sure that squatters were still living in. That turned out to be spot on, as when we arrived the boards had been ripped off, the windows taped up with blankets (a sign, they told us, of current squatter activity), and there was trash all over the property, including drug paraphernalia. 

Officers noted a garbage can set up under the gutter to collect rainwater, as the water to the property had been shut off. We entered the house to check the interior for squatters. There was trash and fecal matter throughout the house. It was...unpleasant to say the least. Officers left the property coughing and gagging. They told us that they could never quite get used to the state they found these houses in.

In the basement of an abandoned home on a half-acre lot, officer Brown found a metal-lunch box where a fire had been lit, and bottles of urine. This home sat on a huge lot, and was completely filled with possessions of its former owners. Clothes, toys, and games were scattered around, and the basement showed signs of squatters.

Here are the articles how they ran in print: