Radeo, Apnea and Verronica Divine in the Forests of Portland

By the time we arrived in Portland we were completely exhausted.  After leaving San Fransisco we averaged two locations a day for 5 days straight while still managing to fit in multiple 8 hour drives.  After 6 years Steven, Nicole and I have all become masters of sleeping in the car, but the pacific coast part of our trip took it to an entirely new level.  Where we normally fit two people we were managing three including all of our gear.  It was the proving ground for our even crazier journey through the Canadian Rockies and Montana, but that is for another post down the line!

After all the madness of traveling I probably should have taken it easy in Portland.  Catching up on sleep, editing, and eating fist fulls of Blue Star donuts in between lattes at Heart would have been a great way to spend three days, and believe me I still managed to fit in a coffee and donuts, but over the years Portland has become the light house that draws many of my favorite collaborators, and so not picking up the camera was not an option.

Our first day in town Radeo, Steven, Nicole and I hiked out to Wahclella Falls
Multnomah Falls prettier, less touristy cousin that is just 15 minutes further up the Columbia River Gorge.  Radeo and I have wanted to create something beautiful in nature since our first shoot in Indianapolis for 50 Models 50 States, but the geography of our previous locations has always left us wanting more.  Her recent move to Portland gave us everything we wanted and even more.  We met up right around sunrise, and headed out.  The light in the canyon was perfect for shooting despite the fact that it was a sunny day, we had a lot of shade to work with.  High canyon walls can be a serious savior on days when the clouds are not giving me what I am looking for.  Along the hike to the falls we stopped at a number of different spots to shoot as we were lucky enough to have Nicole and Steven as look outs, and then got our waterfall shot and ran home for lunch.  Everything we shot that day was with the Canon 17-40mm F4 L.  A big wide lens for the beautiful landscape.

The following day during a picnic with Apnea, Radeo, Floofie, Nicole, The Morty, and Verronica Divine, Verronica and I decided we should sneak off to forest park for a couple of minutes during sunset and shoot a couple images real quick.  It'd been a little while since we've shot, and the light was perfect so why not?  It was kind of crazy as I rarely see light so perfect occurring in nature, and as well know I shoot a lot out doors!  I used my 85mm F1.4 to capture most of these images save for one wider shot I used the 17-40mm for.  The lighting that is so good it looks like it had to have been done with strobes was the result of the 15 minutes the sun was perfectly illuminating an area underneath the tree branches.

The next day Apnea and I took to the woods as well shooting a few things in Forest Park, but having realized that it was a weekend, and despite the fact that nudity is legal in Oregon, we decided to drive out to Sauvie Island and finish up our shoot on the nude beach.  We got to the beach right at last light, and shot for about a half hour.  I was definitely amazed by the way she managed to bend and twist around these gorgeous pieces of beach wood, and make a place that initially seemed sort of flat so dimensional.  Working with Apnea is always such a pleasure.  The calm that surrounds her and the way she moves in front of the camera makes for some fantastic images.  These were all shot with the Sigma 85mm F1.4.  

I hope you all enjoy the images from Portland as much as I did creating them, and please if you find yourself out there take a minute and enjoy some donuts, some coffee and some nature as Oregon has some of the best of all of the above!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pd2cmqgwr7v51vh/AAA38e34VpI-4ZofEsChC2TFa?dl=0