Sand, Sun & Sauvie Island

Summers in Oregon are glorious. I do the vast majority of my glamour photography in the period of June - October using various locations throughout the state to suit the theme of the shoot. While I love shooting in forested locations, two of my favorite elements are water and sand. I know most of you immediately think "beaches" but that's not always the case, but Sauvie Island does make a great location for combining the two elements.

Sauvie Island is located along the Willamette River west of Portland, about 10 miles from downtown. Farms abound on the island, and it boasts a wildlife reserve and and an extensive beach along the river. Most of the beach front is your typical river beach - wild grasses, sand dunes, and lots of people. You'll find the typical summer activities here - wind surfers, sun bathers, and families playing in the water. In the summer months, this area is quite crowded with parking at a premium.

Further west, though, after the pavement ends along the beach access road, the beach becomes clothing optional with a narrow strip of wooded area separating the beach from the road. It's less crowded here, and the trees give additional opportunity for some interesting glamour photography. The beach is more interesting here as well, and not just because of the naked sunbathers. This area has more driftwood, more natural architecture such as fallen logs, sand berms, and stands of small trees. This, for me, makes the area much better for photography of any sort, glamour nude or not. Small and large vessels often transit through the waters north of the beach and can provide and interesting backdrop for photography if your timing and angles are right.  I haven't managed to capture such a shot yet, but I'm hoping to be in the right place at the right time with the right model for a future shoot.

Mount St. Helens can be seen from most of the beach front areas on a clear day, and the snowcapped mountain provides another interesting backdrop for shooting with beautiful models.  In the image to the right, for example, Mount St. Helens can be seen in the backdrop. With a longer lens, I could have pulled the mountain seemingly closer to the model by compressing the perspective. Alas, on the day of this shoot, my longest lens was a mere 200mm focal length. In one of my future shoots, I intend to replicate the shot using a 400mm focal length to provide to bring out the mountain as a contrasting element to the model on the beach in the foreground.

The model here, Gabriell, and I had a great shoot on Sauvie Island in April of last year. It was her first nude shoot and she pulled it off quite well, despite the occasional sunbather watching the shoot. We started in the mid-morning, not the best time of day for shooting, but we had to let the morning clouds clear and the temperatures warm a bit before beginning our shoot. We shot for about 2 1/2 hours, the typical length of one of my shoots, on the beach and in the wooded areas adjacent to the beach using a variety of costumes and backdrops. The images help to show the versatility of the island as a place to shoot. Had we been shooting fashion or another non-nude genré, we would have had even more choices for shooting, including vast areas of farmlands, wetlands, and other scenic areas.

Here are some other images from the beach:

Gabriell in a red, silk sarong. 

Here she is with a great, big smile. 

We moved to a wooded area of the island for the second part of our shoot and managed to get the following images:

Gabriell in the woods at Sauvie - note how different the feel of this image is from the above photos.

The image below combines the natural architecture along the beach (logs, trees, grass) with a view of water and sand to create another look. I used the Canon 135mm f/2.8 Lens with Soft Focus to create a more dreamy effect here.

Gabriell at Sauvie - Soft-focus Nude

Of course, Gabriell isn't the only model that I've shot here. My first glamour shoot on Sauvie Island featured Sierra as my River Fairy. I've shot with Sierra multiple times in both indoor and outdoor settings, and I was one of the first photographers to begin shooting with her when she started modeling in 2007.  We did several shoots that year, took break over the winter, and the Sauvie Island shoot was our 2nd outdoor glamour shoot in 2008. 

Sierra has a quite different look from Gabriell. All models have different expressions, body types, and poses and that's what creates the challenge and fun for the photographer. Capturing great images of Sierra is a different task from shooting with Gabriell or any other model, and her skin tones call for a more subdued and softer light than some other models. For our River Fairy, and subsequent glamour shoot, we chose a mostly cloudy day (in fact it rained on us a bit during the first part of the shoot) to provide us with softer light. We used a variety of different wings and locations in the water to pull off this effect and once the rain passed we had a great time shooting on the island.

After we completed the River Fairy portion of the shoot, we went up on the beach to shoot in the sand and on some of the driftwood and logs that line either side of the beach area, and then went back down into the water to wrap up our shoot with some fun images in the water without the wings.

We used all the elements of the beach front to our advantage during the shoot and even shot a few infrared images as well.  Here are some of the images from our shoot:

After shooting in the water, Sierra wanted to try some images in the wooded area near the edge of the beach.

We then did some shots with sand and driftwood.

One of our infrared shots

Back into the water for the end of our shoot.

Sauvie Island is a beautiful place to shoot but be aware that portions of the island are wildlife refuges and access to those areas are restricted. It's also a farming community with lots of private property, so don't trespass or ignore the access restrictions signs. Also, Sauvie is a popular place in the late spring, summer and fall and bicyclist and pedestrians abound. Bicyclist will be all over the island and with heavy traffic and narrow roads, long lines of cars are inevitable. My suggestion is to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the island rather than attempting to pass the cyclist when it's not safe to do so.  Also note that parking passes are required for many areas of the island including the beaches, do don't forget to pick one up at one of the small stores on the island. If you plan to visit there several times, an annual pass is available for about $20.

Sauvie Wetlands in early Spring.

Bright Colors

Sometimes you just go with the flow. My most recent model, a lovely young lady with theater experience, is also fond of flamboyant hair colors. In fact, she dyed her hair specifically for this shoot and let me know ahead of time that it would be bright. Since I make a point of encouraging models to show their personality and inner beauty, this was fine with me.

Since we were shooting in the studio, I deliberately chose to shoot with a black background so the models colors would pop and not blend into the background. Except for the simple nude you see below, the chains and weapons were also chosen to be complement the bright, bold look and I dug up a prop to use which went well with the entire look.

I used a standard three light set-up - key was a large octobox, fill as a large softbox set 1 stop below key, and the rim/hair light was a small softbox set to equal key.  We also worked with some more subdued and moody lighting, but I actually prefer the brighter shots.

Megan, the model, enjoyed shooting and so far has liked the way the images have been processed. She's already looking forward to her next shoot with me and has made me promise to shoot again with her in the very near future. She really wants to be part of my Fae in Us All series and I'm more than willing to accomodate that request. So, I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her here in the future. In the meantime, here's a simpler shot of this lovely model.

Barefoot Glamour

It's getting to be warmer and drier here in the Pacific Northwest which means it's also getting to be weather for one of my favorite genrés of photography--Barefoot Glamour. I define Barefoot Glamour as  photographic imagery containing several essential elements: a girl-next-door look, casual clothing, an outdoor setting, and, of course, bare feet - though, I do find sandals acceptable as well. For me, another distiquishing element of Barefoot Glamour is that it is a planned photo shoot and not just a casual snapshot or image from another event.

When I shoot Barefoot Glamour, I plan the shoot as meticulously as I plan a full studio shoot. I meet with the model and discuss makeup, jewelry, and clothing and I pick the locations in advance as well as the time of day. I prefer minimal and natural looking makeup for the model, little or no jewelry, and very casual clothing. The idea is to create images that bring to mind a beautiful neighborhood girl enjoying a casual day in the great outdoors.

Of course, given my definition of the genré, I have a limited shooting window of good weather in the Great Northwest. I can get in a few good shooting days in April, May and June, but the prime shooting months are July through mid-October. September is a great month for this type of photography, especially during the weekdays when school is back in session and the shoot is less like to be interrupted by wandering families and children. While Barefoot Glamour isn't necessarily nude photography, some of the outfits can be quite skimpy and it's best to choose locations that offer some privacy and solitude. Fortunately, I know of several such places.

Sometimes Barefoot Glamour can combined with a fun roadtrip and often this results in some lovely photographic finds. For example, the image to the left was taken near Florence, Oregon next to an abandoned rail spur. There was a rusted old train car sitting near next to the track and leaning about 20 degrees off horizontal. My model and I had a great time shooting on the car, along the track and even on a farmer's gate to an adjoining pasture. We changed her outfits for each new scene, and I was particular fond of the gypsy outfit for the train car.

We also shot her in military camo, in casual shorts and tops, and as a pirate wench. It was a fun day and the model got lots of great images for her portfolio.

I suppose I started shooting Barefoot Glamour when I first began shooting models when I lived in Upstate New York. I didn't call it that back then, but the shots contained all the essential elements I described above. I shot with about a half dozen models in the 3 years that I lived there and though I had a small studio at home, I enjoyed the outdoor shoots far more than I did shooting in the studio. In fact, I still enjoy shooting in the great outdoors far more than shooting in the studio.

Upstate New York has an even shorter shooting window for Barefoot Glamour than the Oregon, but much like Oregon, it had some great scenery. Unfortunately, those were the days of film and the images I have from those days simply can't match the quality of the images I shoot today.

Models seem to enjoy Barefoot Glamour, so once they've shot a session with me once, it's not hard to get them back for future shoots. Sierra, the model you see in the image to the right, has done several Barefoot Glamour sessions with me. In fact, her first shoot was a Barefoot Glamour shoot underneath the St. Johns bridge in Northwest Portland. We spent about three hours shooting in Cathedral Park and along the Willamette River. We also shot at waterfalls in the Tillamook State Forest (as you can see in the image here), on Sauvie's Island, and on the campus of the local community college near my home. Unfortuately for me, Sierra is now in Dallas, Texas attending college, but that's great for her. I'm sure I'll get to shoot with her again from time to time as she still visits her family here in Oregon during the college breaks.

Cathedral Park is one of my favorite locations to shoot Barefoot Glamour. I've shot in the park a half-dozen or so times in the past three years. For a short time, I leased a studio in the building next to the park.

The park offers a variety of shooting backdrops; two large open areas, several small glades, numerous flowering bushes, a small beach along the Willamette River, a pier, and, of course, the buttresses and concrete arches of the St. Johns bridge that towers above the park.

In the image to the left, Holli is posing for me on the small sandy beach at the south end of the park. There are lots of large logs and pieces of driftwood scattered along the beach and the shadow of the bridge provides some great open shade for shooting even on bright sunny days.

In September the annual Portland Pirate Festival is held in the park and one can photograph many beautifully costumed pirate wenches along with many other characters and scoundrels.

So, as the weather turns warmer and cloudy skies become less frequent, I look forward to shooting in the park and in many other wonderful locations around the Pacific Northwest. Of course, I'm also planning on doing a lot more landscape photography this summer now that I have a new ride, but I won't be doing much transporting of anyone for a while.

I'll leave you with this final image of one of my first models from Oregon, Lynda. Lynda and I have done many shoots together, but none in the last 6 or so years. She moved from Oregon back to the East Coast some time ago, but for a while we probably did a shoot every couple of months or so, even when she was pregnant.

This image was part of series we took in a local park in a very populated portion of Portland. Lynda enjoyed surprising me, I think, and was comfortable with her body. In this image, she wanted to show off one of her tattoos. It wasn't the best lighting, but I really love the expression on her face as well as the dappled lighting in the background and on the trees.