With Lana Nyman

Lana and I have gotten together a few times now to take photos and it’s always pretty enjoyable. She resembles a younger, more easily-gotten-ahold-of Amanda Seyfried, which is braggable. And like so many of my recent personal shoots, having convened, we decided to throw a few old blankets into the truck and head down the river into the Columbia Gorge. I should mention it was freezing outside. I should also mention that I may have gotten a speeding ticket (but it was a set up, I swear). So yeah, it’s a good thing that the shots ended up turning out, or else it would have been a bit hard to swallow my Christmas present from the Gresham PD.

Speaking of which, I was hoping to have posted these before Christmas, what with the heavy green and red color palette, but time and life had other plans, so you’re only just seeing now. Sorry about that. Merry late Christmas (or early, however you wanna see things).

In all seriousness, though, Lana is a real beauty and it’s always a great experience taking photos with her. One or two of the photos from our outing turned out to be some of my all-time favorites for 2011 (this and this and this are her too). I can’t wait until the next time!

 

With Amy Merrick

At the Portland Bazaar, I had the distinct pleasure of being introduced to a certain Amy Merrick. She was attending the event as Design*Sponge’s resident floral expert and wreath instructor, and it just so happened to be the girl’s first time in Portland. Ever.

So of course I had no other alternative but to show her around the local sights.

Since she was staying at the Ace Hotel which has a Stumptown attached to the lobby, and is located a mere block away from Powell’s bookstore, I decided to just skip the city and bring Amy to where the real awesomeness is around Portland: the Columbia Gorge.

First stop was a super secret location and one of my favorite places in the entire state. It’s deceptively trixy to get to even though it is about a stone’s throw from the highway. The undisclosed island boasts a diverse set of quintessentially northwestern landscapes (All Earth Was Once Sky was shot there too) and a fantastic view of the river in one little compact area, which made it a great place to give Amy a sweeping impression of all that is Oregon.

After a brief tour of things, though, we were forced to start back towards Portland, but not without a stop by Multnomah Falls.

All in all, an exceedingly pleasant adventure. Ms. Merrick is a bona fide sweetheart, and that’s the truth.

Oh, and fyi – Amy also runs her own bit of internet called An Apple a Day, so go say hi.