In the Park with Krisa

Cathedral Park, in northwest Portland, spans the area below the St. Johns bridge. I've shot in the park many times over the years with different models and returned there this morning with my friend and model Krisa. We had last shot on Sauvie Island during the past summer. 

The park has always been a beautiful place to shoot. Well landscaped with the magnificent bridge high above and the Columbia River flowing past, it's always provided me with wonderful settings for my lovely models. Two of my favorite locations in the park are on the stairs under the bridge and under the large willow tree between two supporting columns. Alas, the stairs and most of the area under the bridge were roped off for maintenance, and even worse, the willow was gone, cut down to a stump.

Tropical Joey

I have used the willow often. With the model posed within its fronds, it provides an almost tropical atmosphere. Put the model in a bikini and a sarong, and it completes the illusion. That illusion will no longer exist.

Despite all that, we had a productive shoot. A large mural on one of the buildings adjacent to the park made a nice backdrop for a couple of the dresses Krisa brought. A walk through the park led us to some newly landscaped areas where we also got a few shots. 

Busy Shoot Week

Graffiti Girl (Joey Darke)

After my adventure with Danielle and Naked Santa, I returned to Sauvie with Joey Darke, one of my regular models. Joey is always a joy to shoot, and Tuesday morning's shoot with her was a pleasure, despite the light rain we experienced throughout the morning.  Joey loved shooting in the mist and rain, and I'll have to say she managed to create some wonderful poses and didn't seem to get cold at all.

To our benefit, Tuesday was warmer and far less windy than Monday's shoot, though that didn't allow us to effectively use the silk veils I brought with us.  I like to have the model hold them in the wind and let them stream behind them.

We wrapped up after about two hours of shooting since I had commitments for the afternoon and we had gotten plenty of great images by that point.

The next day I met Brennan in Cathedral Park for a quick shoot. Despite having visited Portland many times, Bree had never before shot in the park and I was delighted to provide her with that experience. It's a lovely park and great for shooting glamour and fashion.  The weather turned out much better than forecasted, though it was a bit cool since we were shooting in the morning to beat the crowd.

We spent a couple of hours meandering around the park shooting in the various dresses Bree and I had brought with us. The transient population in the park has increased over the past year and we had to adjust our shooting locations a bit to avoid capturing others in the shots, but all in all we had a lovely little photographic expedition.

I have quite a bit of editing to do for Merrique the rest of this week and then a shoot in Maupin this weekend.  After that a break from shooting for a while and chance to catch up on some editing, I hope.

Bree under the bridge.

On the Trail

Summer Shooting

Belle - Backyard Boudoir

It's not quite summer (officially) yet, but you can't tell it by the weather here in the Pacific Northwest.  May and June are usually unsettled months with lots of rain and even storms.  This year has been much hotter and drier than normal which has been great for my backyard boudoir project and for my flower garden, but has played havoc with allergies and the lawn. 

The rivers have receded a from their spring high, so I've also been able to shoot at Sauvie and Merrique and I made a trip out to the coast to shoot a genie themed set in the Sand Lake dunes. I've shot with a couple of traveling models, and some new local talent as well. No shoots this week, though, since I need to get some images edited, posted and out to models.  Shooting will slow considerably until the end of July due to other commitments, but I do have some interesting themes and locations planned.

Merrique at Sauvie

Merrique and I have several shoots planned for our joint projects, and I'll have to say that she has been providing me with some interesting challenges. Gamora from Avengers, Dustin from Stranger Things and the Khaleesi from Game of Thrones has been some of the more interesting concepts. Future concepts include Rambo, Bettie Page and the Joker. 

In July, I do have one shoot planned with a model I've been wanting work with for quite some time. Vox Serene and I will be shooting art nudes in the river and the woods at Sauvie.  I'm planning for an early morning shoot, and I'm hoping for some mist on the waters.


As usual, I do a lot of shooting in the summer and save my editing for the cold, wet winter months, but I'll continue posting here since Tumblr is still being stupid about nudity.

Verronica in the Park

Cathedral Park Revisted

Tropical Audi

With the return of warm weather, fleeting as it is this week, I've started thinking about summer shoots in Cathedral Park, both with models and with my family. The park has so many delightful areas in which to shoot and I want to explore many more of them this summer. I'd especially like to do more Barefoot Glamour images and some portraiture, but it would also be fun to do portraits of my own family in the park as well, and I'm setting aside some time for that as well.

I've written about the park in the past, but it's worth repeating that by selectively choosing different areas in the park, the atmosphere of the image can be made to look tropical, urban, woodland and any other number of scenarios. The St. Johns Bridge offers many unique backdrops, but there is also a set of rail tracks that run through the park, a long pier and dock. a small beach area, fields, trees, buildings, and a number of other structures.

Light, Texture and Beauty

I particularly like the light and the textures directly underneath the bridge. The bridge provides an extensive area of open shade, but enough light filters through at an angle to provide a bit of contrast to intensify the colors. The concrete pillars and the painted steel provide a textural and color contrast with the grass, trees and other vegetation that abound throughout the park.

There are certain drawbacks to an urban park, of course. While the city of Portland does a great job of preventing and removing graffiti from public lands, inevitably there will be some trash and debris, mainly cigarette butts that have to be picked up from the shoot area. On occasion, I have had to remove liquor bottles and beer cans as well, but I've seen a lot worse in other areas. My recommendation is to take a small trash bag with you just in case you need it. It never hurts to leave a place in a little better shape than in which you found it.

Stairs and Arches

Urban Lines and Curves

Under the Bridge

Audi in the Park

Contrary to popular belief, I do sometimes shoot women with their clothes on, and in fact, I'm hoping to do more of that in the coming year. It's not that I've given up on shooting nudes, but rather I want to explore more along the lines of matching clothing and other props to the outdoor settings or using them to contrast with the scenery.

In the images seen here. Audi and I spent about a half day shooting in Cathedral Park under the St. Johns Bridge in North Portland. We were exploring the park and using the various areas there as settings for different outfits that both Audi and I provided for the shoot.

The park is great for glamour and fashion shoots, and it's one of my favorite places for photography from late spring to mid-fall, or anytime it's reasonably warm and dry. The park has many features to recommend it. The bridge, of course, is the most distinguishing and prominent feature, but there are fields, trees, shrub lined paths, a dock, a sandy beach, the river, benches, lamp posts, stairs, railway tracks, and a lot more.

Under the Willow

One of my favorite elements is a large willow tree near the base of one of the bridge supports. It's large enough to provide a canopy of leaves and branches under which I can shoot a model and provide a somewhat tropical feel to the image, despite actually shooting in the Pacific Northwest. The tree's canopy drapes over an embankment under the bridge and that provides lots of room for shooting. Add a bikini top and a sarong and you get a delightful setting.

The bridge supports also provide interesting structures that add visual interest to shoots. Models can climb on the large concrete platforms to pose--sometimes two levels high if they are courageous and you have good insurance. Walking around the platform can provide varying lighting and different structural elements for backdrops.  The structures are so large that they can be made to become ambiguous in terms of location which allows it scene to appear to be an industrial setting rather than a park.

Now, while I don't want all you photographers flocking to the park to take up my best shooting, if you ever want an interesting place to shoot, you might check it out.

On the Bridge Support