Pratik: With All That Is Nepal

I love to write, but I know very little about writing poetry. Somehow, through the tick of an idea from a girl from my high school days long ago, I was connected with the great Nepalese poet Yuyutsu Sharma and he invited me to write about my images from Nepal for his publication. I took an awkward step toward writing poetry and he surprisingly published the poem along with some images. I felt a surge of energy when I finished writing this poem, so maybe that is the most rewarding point to the exercise of writing.

Pratik

Bicycles, Art, Oh MY!

Holy Moly! What a fun shoot. Cyclists! Bicycles! Fine Art mash-up! A four-year-old kiddo!

When Kevin Max, editor of 1859 Magazine asked me if I would photograph cyclists and their bicycles inside of an art museum, I told him it would never be permitted.

Lucky for us! The current Portland Art Museum “Cyclopedia” exhibit was about to launch, and the timing was right. The museum swapped out people on every hour whose responsibility was to monitor our moves: no one nor any equipment could get within four feet of any art piece.

Lucky for us again: nothing was broken, and fun was had by all.

1859 Magazine shoot at the Portland Art Museum

In Bed With A Magazine

My affinity for magazine photo assignments has escalated into a full blown love affair. I find myself sneaking into my office at 2am to finish editing and polishing those images so they will fly off of the printed pages.

And I am a cheap date: magazine editorial rates can pay for a few books, but hardly enough to help with college tuition for my three offspring.

But if truth be told, I do this because I repeatedly fall in love with some of the subjects. I never know when it will hit me, and it is a random thing. The way a hand brushes lint from a skirt, a pause in a spoken sentence, a flip of an attitude, a squeal of glee, one sarcastic comment.

I go home, download the images, and BAM. I am in love.

Here are a few people who have had that effect on me.  There are more tucked away on external hard drives, but I snagged a few here because, well, I love to think about what they bring to the world, one small gesture at a time.

(See if you can guess who each person is. Scroll your cursor over each image for the answer.)

An author:

 

A girl living happily on a commune:

 

A beer maker and a building restorer:

 

A folding bicycle maker:

 

The Littlest Cowboy In Frenchglen, Oregon:

 

An indie movie maker:

 

A dancer:

 

A redneck bar stool philosopher:

 

A bookstore owner:

 

An architect with a penchant for the drawing outside of the box:

 

Two crusty miners in Plush, Oregon:

 

A TV and movie star caster:

 

A Shakespeare Theater lover:

 

A lovely creative force who conceived of The Girl Effect:

 

A bread maker:

 

Another author:

 

A chocolate shop owner:

 

A mean ass goalie:

 

An environmental visionary:

 

1859 Editorial Photography Workshop

Just had a great time co-teaching an editorial photography workshop with Leah Nash. Participants’ selected photos from the weekend shooting and critique have been uploaded to 1859 Magazine, where the creative director will select final images for print and online use.

We are all very excited to see which images will be selected for the layouts. Participants learned some insider tips regarding fulfilling a magazine editorial assignment.

(Photo by Sarah Cross)

Portland Does Good!

I just completed a series of portrait images for Portland Monthly magazine depicting a whole assembly of Portlander’s who are doing great things for the world.

Music, nutrition, university fees and more are topics the subjects are addressing in this feature magazine article.

Julia Plowman (pictured below), the founder of The Girl Effect, is one of the subjects featured, relaying her newest entrepreneurial path.

Magazine Portrait: Gus Van Sant

I spent an hour in my studio with Gus Van Sant, and as one might imagine, it was a highly interesting evening!

He talked about how he gets ideas for his films and a bit about his history. But the most fascinating things he spoke about were of the mundane. He is incredibly aware of his surroundings and I loved the endless questions he had regarding minutia found in my studio.

Read more about him in the latest issue of 1859 Magazine.

Love this man.

Cheryl Strayed: Poets & Writers Magazine

My images of Cheryl Strayed were featured in the Spring issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. Cheryl’s newly released book, Wild, debuted at #6 on the New York Times Bestseller List, and the movie rights were recently purchased by Reese Witherspoon.

Cheryl was not the easiest person to photograph, as I chronicled in a blog post. She has an intensity and ease about herself, all in one wonderful package.

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