University of Montana - Lighting Workshop

While in Montana, Paul had the opportunity to teach a Photography Lighting Workshop at the University of Montana. The Photography Department recently acquired a fully equiped shooting studio complete with studio strobes, backdrops, and state-of-the-art computers. It is any photographer's dream come true! Paul taught an array of lighting setups from simple one light configurations to more advanced multiple light setups. The workshop was captured on video for future class use and we will be posting some segments of the workshop in the upcoming weeks. Here is an example of a directional lighting technique created by the use of one light and a white reflector. Recognize the model?

Missoula Art Museum Lecture

This past Thursday evening, Holly presented her recent body of work to an over-packed crowd at the Missoula Art Museum. The event is called Artini and it is an opportunity for the local community to learn more about contemporary art through engaging artists' talks. Holly was the keynote speaker for the evening. The crowd had the opportunity to learn more about her work titled "Stories from a Short Street," a body of work that is inspired by her unique upbringing in Missoula, Montana.

Missoula Art Museum

From February 12th - April 26th, Holly's recent body of work titled "Stories from a Short Street" will be on display at the Missoula Art Museum. This is Holly's second museum showing of her personal work. Having returned from Holly's LA showing just the other day, we are now re-packing and getting ready to head out to Montana tonight. Here is an excerpt from the Missoula Art Museum's website regarding Holly's work:

Stories From a Short Street is a series of photographs inspired by Andres' experiences growing up the youngest sibling in a family of ten children in Missoula, MT. Each image is a carefully crafted scene constructed by Andres with scavenged props, live models and dramatic stage lighting. Some of the scenes depicted in Stories, painstakingly staged from vivid memories, enact specific, seminal moments from Andres' childhood with the fictitious family loosely based on archetypes of her family. In this vein, Andres intertwines fact and fiction to create complete photographic narratives with each image. The attention she gives to the smallest details in her sets and toward her subjects pulls the viewer deep into each chapter of a larger, nostalgic story that, when taken together, completes the series.

MAM is excited to announce that Holly Andres has graciously agreed to donate two works from Stories From a Short Street to the MAM Collections. During the exhibition, the Collections Committee will make a final decision and announce the latest acquisition to the public.

Los Angeles - Day 3 & 4

We spent the later part of our trip visiting local sights and museums. It was a great opportunity to explore the city even further and to take in some nice warm sun.




We actually got to play "tourists" and had someone take our photo. It is a very rare occurrence to have BOTH of us in front of the camera!


Paul enjoying some of the art at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art


For those of you who may or may not know about the history of photography, this is me standing directly in front of one of Robert Frank's most famous photographs. I find his work to be truly inspirational.


If you travel to any major city and see a building like this, you know right away it is the ingenious work of Frank O. Gehry. This building here is the Walt Disney Concert Hall (the permanent home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic). The only reason we were able to photograph the building without any traffic in the streets is because the road was blocked off for a commercial photo shoot for Volvo.

Los Angeles - Day #2

Holly and I have had intermittent access to the internet during our trip so we are a bit behind on our blog updates. However, I am very happy to report that Holly's show was a huge success. We spent the early part of the day on Saturday going to various galleries. One of our friends, Anna Fidler, who used to live in Portland and is now down in LA guided us throughout the city and helped point us in the right direction. Holly and I had the opportunity to view some of our favorite contemporary artists' work prior to heading off for Holly's first gallery show in LA. Here are some images from the show:

Weddings for a Cure

I wanted to take a moment out of our trip to inform you of a great event that is coming up in Portland. Our friends at Creations by Ly are producing a dinner benefit auction for breast cancer awareness. The event is on March 15, 2008 and it brings together a large selection of wedding vendors who have donated various services and packages. From flowers and photography to catering and gowns, you may find everything you'll need for that dream wedding...and make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. To purchase tickets to this event, please click HERE.

Los Angeles - Day #1

We arrived today around noon and immediately headed over to Avis to pick up our car. After standing in line for about 30 minutes, we got our keys, activated our GPS, and hit the road. Driving in LA is exactly like you hear - constant stop and go traffic where even short distances take at least 20-30 minutes. Want to drive "across town?" Forget about it! After getting settled, we grabbed a quick meal and headed to Hollywood for some sight seeing. By the way, the image of the Hollywood sign was taken later in the day. It was shot at f5.6 for 15 seconds. I love playing with slow shutter speeds late at night.



We found Michael Jackson's star!


Holly and Grace posing at the Kodak Theater where we were told the Oscars will be happening in a week!




A portrait of me standing next to a life size version of the tallest man in the world!

Portland Airport

One of the great things about the Portland Airport is the fact that you can be waiting by your gate within 15 minutes of your initial arrival. I can't say that about most airports that we travel to. Take Boston for instance, where after 15 minutes you are still looking for a parking spot or even trying to figure your way out of the parking lot all together. So, we are already waiting by our gate, sipping on some hot morning coffee, and looking forward to landing in an area where there is a whole heck of a lot more sun!

Devoted Bloggers!

Thank you to all of our devote bloggers who frequent our blog on a regular basis. We began tracking the web traffic to our blog as of October 2007 and are proud to report that we have had over 1,000 visits to our blog since... An average of 13 people visit our blog per day taking a look at an average of over 20 page views daily. We appreciate the following and look forward to providing you with even more regular updates.

Tonight we are packing for a brief trip to LA. Holly has an art opening at The DNJ Gallery. We will arrive in LA by the early afternoon on Friday and will be heading directly to the local galleries. We will be sending you updates while on the road...so stay tuned!

Tip of the Day - Wedding Websites

Wedding websites are becoming increasingly more popular these days as they provide a convenient way to keep your guests informed about the details of your wedding. If you are interested in setting up a wedding website, click HERE for just one of the many, many options that are out there. One of the things that we like about this wedding website offer is that it is free. As a wedding website, mywedding.com offers such great options as: photo sharing (of course!!), an online RSVP service, a customizable music player, an updatable blog, and more...

Vendor Spotlight - Bigler Productions

I had the privilege this evening of hanging out with the Bigler Clan. Dave, Cilicia, Brandi, Michael, Colin, and Jon all make up Bigler Productions. They are not the Men in Black -- they are the Team in Black. Great seeing all of you and thanks for entertaining me with a fun group photo. See all of you later this summer!

Mardi Gras @ The Wonder Ballroom

This past Friday we got to hang out at one of the coolest parties in all of Portland. Our friends at A Swank Affair hosted the Mardi Gras Moulin Rouge Event at The Wonder Ballroom. The evening was kicked off with fire dancers and various circus performers and followed up by an 80s Video Dance Party and Dr. Theopolis.

To view pictures from the evening, please click HERE.

Josi & Kenny - Save the Date

Josi and Kenny are getting married at the Abernethy Center on September 20, 2008. Josi contacted me a few days ago wanting to do their engagement shoot so that they would have pictures for their Save the Date magnets. Knowing how unpredictable the weather is this time of year, I recommended that we connect for a brief Save the Date shoot and to save their official engagement shoot for later this year when the weather is a bit nicer (aka a bit warmer). Josi and Kenny could not agree more so we connected this Sunday for the shoot. I really enjoyed spending some time with the couple. It also afforded me the opportunity to meet Kenny's Best Man for the wedding...his son KJ. Here are a few of my favorites from the session.