Kelly Williams Brown.
Another gem of a talent I had the opportunity to shoot for May’s issue of Portland Monthly. Aside from being a total sweetheart and badass writer, she also works as a copywriter for advertising agency Leopold Ketel. Here’s a small intro from the Long Story Short feature on Ms. Brown, as told to editor Rachel Ritchie:
In April 2011, while working as a columnist at the Statesman Journal in Salem, Kelly Williams Brown came up with the kernel of a book idea: a beginner’s guide to adulthood, from writing condolence cards to buying a used car. This month, Grand Central Publishing will release Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps. Her companion blog has already racked up more than 100,000 dedicated followers. A TV adaptation is in the works with J.J. Abram’s fames production company, Bad Robot. And along the way, she even conquered her fear of bleach.
A Photographer’s Trip Through Madness, Beauty and Arizona, Portland Oregon News and Events
Gregory Gourdet.
May I start off by saying: this feature shoot is a perfect example of matching Photographer with Concept. When Mike Novak (AD Portland Monthly) first approached me with the subject matter and concept for this shoot I was thrilled. Greg is the highly energetic, deliciously talented Chef de Cuisine at Departure, the restaurant atop the Nines hotel in downtown Portland. He’s an ex-partyboy turned Paleo/fitness freak with a great sense of style and humor. We shot for roughly 4 hours in studio and he kept his energy up the entire time. With the help of his best-friend/roommate/stylist, Tia Vanich, we managed to keep Gregory looking sharp throughout the whole shoot. The final images reflected his charming personality and sense of humor, along with his good-looks and sense of style. If you live in Portland (or are just traveling thru), do yourself a favor and stop by Departure for their incredible rooftop happy hour with the best view in the city.
Carter Sickels.
Portrait of Portland author Carter Sickels for Out City magazine. In January 2012 Carter came out with his acclaimed first novel, The Evening Hour (Bloomsbury), just as he began coming out as a trans gay man. Since then, the 39-year-old Ohio native has published a short story, “Saving,” in the recently released anthology of trans fiction The Collection, and has begun work on a new novel, all while teaching fiction online for New York City’s Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Carter invited me into his home in SE Portland one hazy afternoon to take his portrait. I hauled all my gear (lighting, grip) into his apartment building that was built sometime around the 1930’s, only to find out thru much trial and error, that my power packs for my lights needed more power than his outlets could handle. And of course I forgot to bring my battery pack that day. Rather than wasting anymore precious shoot time I decided to utilize the soft light pouring thru the windows in his corner studio apartment. The final portrait really captured Carter’s presence, and the natural light helped the portrait feel authentic and true to my subject.
Beer West magazine, Travel Issue.
Another season, and another couple tearsheets from the best craft beer magazine on the west coast. This issue we got to toy around with the theme of “travel + beer”. I always love the opportunity to shoot inanimate objects as “portraits” and had a great time setting up and styling the cover shot in that fashion. Another great round of art direction and layout/design by my friend, the talented Amy Johnson.
D’Wayne Edwards.
Two years ago, former Nike Air Jordan shoe designer, D’Wayne Edwards founded Pensole, the country’s only design school exclusively for shoes, in Portland. Not only is D’Wayne an über talented designer with an inspiring story, but he was such an all around rad guy. Photographed on location at the Pensole Footwear Design Academy in downtown Portland for Portland Monthly.
Art direction: Kate Madden
Photo assist: Ashley Anderson
Parker St. Mozée-Baum.
Parker has been a working drag queen for six years, although she started hormone therapy a year ago to begin her transformation into a woman. These portraits are just a small sample of a personal project I will be working on this year, and maybe longer.. Keep an eye on my blog for more updates!
Familiar with William Wegman’s dog photos? The famous photographer has recently created his first ever .GIF.
Is there anything else to say?
via Colossal
Ok, i’ve been getting variations of the same email lately that go something like this: “how did you start getting work?”. I do like getting these emails so keep on sending them. I’m more than happy to spew nonsense at you, just keep in mind i’m not exactly a seasoned pro here. I’ve been shooting…
Well said.
My Illustrator Skills.
I just came across this gem. While brainstorming the shot for Ian Karmel’s ‘Portland as Fuck’ portrait I decided to open up Adobe Illustrator and draw a little inspiration. This makes me giggle so hard every time I look at it. But, Scrappers, the always fantastic art director over at The Portland Mercury really seemed to love my drawing skills. So much so that we ended up with 2 great shots that resemble very closely my ultra-fancy drawing.
Out of the three, which is YOUR favorite?
Side note: a dude totally biffed it on his bike when he rode by and saw boobs.
Fighters. photos by Nicolle Clemetson
Thanks for the love WM!
San Juanita Moreno.
Juanita and I met up one freezing morning a couple weeks ago for a quick portrait at the practice field in West Linn, OR. She plays center position for Team USA’s Fly Emirates all female rugby team. For being the smallest on her team, she sure is a tough lady.
Neil Kelly. HomeForce.
Home remodeling company Neil Kelly™ contracted me a few weeks ago to shoot hero portraits of their five top general contractors in Portland. It was a 6am call time to photograph all five guys in one hour, during their monthly corporate team meeting. The Portland winter weather wasn’t cooperating that morning, as most of us rolled in late due to heavy ice on the roads (our city doesn’t believe in salting the roads…). But we all made it safely, and in the end we wound up with a great, honest set of portraits. Special thanks to designer/art director Fae Young for bringing me in on the project.
You can see more of her work here: www.faeyoung.com
(Source: ww.nicolleclemetson.com)
Outtake.
I just love this completely unfocused outtake from my shoot with Eduardo. I try not to let myself think how badass it would have been if it were in focus!