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Pronghorn Magazine::Holiday Recipes
On store shelves now! The newest issue of Pronghorn Magazine featuring my food photography for some great holiday recipes! Holloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, and of course, New Year’s! Enjoy!
Africa Oh Africa
After spending 6 months on a trip
around the world, the last three in Africa, my eyes have been open to the opportunities to help others less fortunate. My husband and I spent those 3 months working in a township called Red Hill, living amongst the Xhosa people. Yes, we lived in a “squatter camp” in a shack, and loved every moment of it… well, almost. We were able to help the people living there rebuild their homes after a huge fire that destroyed all of what meager possessions they had. Our team built 79 homes in 2 short months and witnessed changes in people that last a lifetime. Here are a couple images of the faces I saw on a daily basis. Unforgettable!
The Bold and the Beautiful Residence | Bend Oregon Architectural Photographer
Holy moly, I’m behind on my blogging. Did I just say holy moly? Okay, go with it.
This project below was an incredible project for me. I was able to photograph a handful of professional’s work that are so intricate and so talented, it made my job challenging, but such a privilege.
Often times, I do not get the opportunity to meet the homeowners of these beautiful residences that I photograph because they are often their vacation properties or second residences. It’s an unfortunate side of the job, but you learn to get used to it. With this project, I again, did not have the privilege of meeting the homeowners, however, feel like I can know so many things about them just based on their home. For instance, they value “quality”. Enough said right there. They accomplished that with hiring Kirsti Wolfe Designs, Sunwest Building and Neal Huston Architecture. They felt comfortable enough with Kirsti to leave the design and project management in her hands, and were not disappointed!
Their value for the outdoors and nature is evident as their property sits right up against the Cascade Mountains, with views as far as you can see. Photographically speaking, because of this, it is so important to show the views from the windows whenever possible. The architect, Neal Huston did an incredible job showcasing their views with large windows and expansive ceilings to bring the focal point directly to the mountains. As a photographer, I balanced the natural light from outside and additional photographic lighting to showcase those very important aspects. Architectural Lighting 101.
Details within their home that add to their high regard for quality, yet spurts of playfullness, are things like the onyx bar in their home-pub. Yes, I said it, Home Pub (I know I could spend many-a-nights enjoying that feature), high gloss Polyester red kitchen cabinets (very European in style) with Vetrazzo recycled glass counter tops (a very challenging kitchen to photograph with all the reflective surfaces but well worth the challenge), exotic wood veneers seen throughout their home including their master bath and pub, custom two-story fire place with a waterfall effect emulating the river in Bend, and a floating onxy sink in the powder bath lit by LED lighting against a full wall of recycled mosaic tiles (1 of 10 bathrooms)! This 10,000 square foot contemporary home with mountain views shows a home can be bold and beautiful!
Casino Photoshoot California Logistics, Logistics, Logistics
The logistics of a professional photoshoot for a casino might surprise some of you. You might see a nice image like this one in an advertisement and think “oh, the photographer caught a nice moment”. For this image, we had a very tight shooting schedule and had a few images/angles/setups we needed to accomplish before the salon opened for the casino customers. We needed to photograph the inside areas first so we had a very early call time that morning. The last image at this location was this image.. the models exiting the salon as if they just had a wonderful time at the spa, pampered, happy and on their way.
Between the salon manager still needing to run the front desk (answer phones, etc) and setting up lighting against a very specular and reflective background (can we say marble facade, glass doors and glass waterfall feature), we had to act fast and we had to act well.
This final image is the culmination of my assistants sneakily hiding lights, moving lights in different areas for multiple exposures, having the hotel manager duck behind the desk while on the phone, the models moving 2 inches “pretending to walk” and give multiple facial expressions and looking at multiple exit locations, and finally blending the best of all of those scenarios in one.final.image. Sigh. Phew. And on to the next.
A solid take away… when choosing a professional photographer, don’t underestimate their working knowledge of tight shoot schedules, a great team, and pro knowledge of lighting for every scenario.
Bend Living Food Photography
This image was shot for Bend Living Magazine for the March 2008 issue, but since I’ve been gone, I didn’t have a chance to show it off yet!