Portrait of my father!

While shooting interviews in support of the film “Wearing Normal” i caught a few chair photos with Jessica Claire the star of the film.

Wearing Normal Trailer from Fantini Cinema on Vimeo.

Fantini Cinema Presents
Wearing Normal
Portland Screening on June 4, 2011 5pm at the Hollywood Theater.
www.wearingnormal.com

They are working on a documentary project for Oregon Manifest. Oregon Manifest is design competition with a goal of building the ultimate utility bike.  Many builders are participating in this competition and this week Andy has been shooting interviews with local builders.  We have been going to there workshops and shooting interviews.

It has been amazing and i realize how much i like workshops.  So much potential.  Tools and equipment at the ready, works in progress around, craftsmanship apparent.  As the doc is highlighting different types of custom bike builders from industrial design students to dedicated independent professionals, we have seen a wide range of diversity of building spaces.  From a vast designed room full of equipment on the Nike campus to a dedicated metal workshop with vintage machines, to a shop that specializes in boat repair, and finally the flip side being a room where the designing takes place and the shop is just made reference to as being “in the building”,  i have had the opportunity to see quite a variety of  craftsmen and designers in there element.  I have been loving it.   One shop we visited that captured my imagination was the shop of Jordan Hufnagel of Hufnagel Cycles.  Every sort of metal working tools that you could think of was represented even home build versions of some major tools like an English wheel.  The whole time i just wanted to build something and ask to be taught how to use the tools around me.  Even though I’m by trade involved in photography i still have an intense appreciation and love of industrial arts and metal working.  It should also be mentioned that Jordan Hufnagel is cool dude.  He was great in the interview and was great to chat with which is good as we forgot some gear in his shop and I have had to pop over and pick things up on three occasions. It really was a comedy of errors. I’m just waiting to hear what else we have left there.

A few more interviews to go and some great cut scenes and this will be one great doc about a great competition!

Almost two years ago i got a Motorola Droid.  After that first purchase i have had it replaced 4 different times. Not that the actual phone itself is bad it just seems that they aren’t very robust.  The first of my droids worked well for a few months.  Not without a few eccentricities, like if i didn’t power it down and back up once  every few days it would stop receiving my emails.  Kinda frustrating when your expecting to get emails from clients and you think that they are slacking but as it turns out you look like your slacking for not responding.  That was not insurmountable as i could remember to reboot my phone every few days.  The next little eccentricity was what i called the email infinity loop.  Once every now and again it would let me know that i had an email, then i would open the email and delete it and it would then get that email again and let me know that it was a new email.  Then it would keep setting off the tone to let me know it got a new email over and over and over again.  I generally had to turn the volume way down and let it work it out of its system.  This would commonly occur with my replacement handsets as well mostly with large emails with attachments.  Then finally after about 4 months of dealing with these glitches the phones GPS decided to stop working.  The one thing that i had really come to love about smart phones was its ability to be a GPS.  Once that was not working i had to take it in and get rid of it.  Thankfully it was under warranty and a new one was mailed to me over night.

My second droid was fantastic.  I didn’t have to reboot it every other day to keep getting emails, it only occasionally infinity looped with large emails and was a great handset for about a year.  This time user error set it.  I had my phone in the compartment under the seat on a scooter that i rented while on vacation in Hawaii.  I pulled a towel out from under it and the phone popped out and hit the pavement.  The top of the screen cracked.  I wasn’t too bothered by it as i kept using it for another few months.  Mainly with the intention of picking up the iPhone 4 from Verizon when they came out.  Once they announced the the Verizon iPhone i started to get emails and adds stating a $300 price for the iPhone i wanted but such is life when i went in there to pick one up that is only the price for folks whose contracts are up and folks who are starting a new account.  I was neither and if i wanted to get an iPhone i would have had to spend $780.  Not going to happen!   So i bitterly used my phone insurance to replace my cracked phone.  It cost $55 and was shipped overnight to me.  That phone worked great for about a month.  In one morning i took two calls then after that the screen went dead.  Again a trip to the Verizon store where i got another one shipped overnight and under warranty.   I guess looking, back, it has been a good phone but two out of three have been defective and who knows what will happen to this shinny new fourth one. If it is a pattern it will be user error the next time around.  Later this year when Verizon sees fit to let me upgrade, i hope the iPhone 5 will be out and it is wonderful and indestructible.  At least i know i will be able to get an Otterbox indestructible case for it!  I love those cases!

I came down to bend last Thursday to visit my folks and on Saturday work as an event photographer at an employee appreciation party for the hospital my dad works at. It was a fun gig. A few hours of work hanging out with good people. It was a western themed event and I was asked to dress accordingly. I broke out my old cowboy had and had a great time working the event!

The rest of my time down here has been spent relaxing a bit but also doing a little work around the house for my father. They had a big winter this year and the snow, wind, and rain took it’s toll on some of the trees in my folks back yard. My father had rotator cuff surgery three weeks ago so he asked me to run the chainsaw around the the yard cleaning up broken branches and trimming back the rest of the trees. I like, but also have a healthy respect for chainsaws. I felt very rugged and Oregonian after that. In a few days down in central Oregon I’ve used a chainsaw and wore a cowboy hat in a social situation. Two things I never do at home in Portland! It’s been fun.

Today I had a dentist appointment. I woke up to a phone call from my dad reminding me of said appointment and giving me directions to the dentist. I quickly fell back asleep but was reawakened by a call from the student loan company with a friendly reminder that I owe them money. I think I only answered the phone cause I was half asleep. Once done dealing with that joyless call I was awake. In the time it took to hop in the shower and brush my teeth my phone decided that it was done. The screen no longer turned on. I tried the gamut of powering down, pulling the battery, and so on all with no luck. After the dentist I would now have to go to the Verizon store. Now this phone is the third Moto droid I have had so far the most recent replacement only a month ago. Apparently these are not very robust phones.

Dentistry has changed a bit since the last time I went in 2005. They did digital x-rays that I got to see on a monitor while I waited. It was a very quick visit as I had no cavities or dental work that needed to be done. So my no cavity streak continues. 28 years with no problems with my teeth, I figure that I have had so much troubles with allergies and Asthma that I get a pass on the whole teeth thing!

While I was at the dentist my dad used the van to run to the house. I only mention this as because when I visit my folks usually leave the door from the house to the garage open for me so all I have to do is use the code to get into the garage. But dad locked that door, out of habit I’m sure, when he left the house. Thus why I’m locked out.

Like I said my dentist visit was quick and once done i drove to the Verizon store to deal with my faulty phone. The folks at the bend Verizon store are very friendly and great customer service reps. The put the Portland Verizon stores to shame. Unfortunately they didn’t have any of my phone in house so now they are overnighting me a new one. So till tomorrow I don’t have a phone.

Had some lunch with my dad at the hospital he works at. St Charles in bend has great food! After that I headed balk to my folks house to find myself locked out. Now using this time, and the wifi from my folks house, to hack out this post on my iPod touch. I think I might go to target and pick up a few necessities and a copy of “True Grit.” It just came out yesterday! That’s my day in a long nutshell. Tomorrow I’m heading back to portland!

Well not really but pretty damn close! There is nothing i like more that shooting portraits with friends. This was the night before Chris Davis got married. He had been growing a beard for sometime and then he was going to shave it off for the wedding. This was the perfect time to shoot some photos of crazy displays of facial hair! I a number of hats with me and when he cut the beard like this it was so motorhead time!

Bend Oregon Winterfest_20110220_25.jpg, originally uploaded by screaminginsidefilms.

The Metal Mulisha put on an amazing display in Bend Or at the Bend Winterfest 2011. It had snowed so much in the days prior to this show that they had to use many gallons of propane to melt away the snow and dry up the road so that they could put this show on! And what a show it was. This back flip was one of many death defying stunts these riders performed.

Bend Oregon Winterfest_20110219_2.jpg, originally uploaded by screaminginsidefilms.

The fire breathing women of Central Oregon.

While visiting my family down in Bend Or my dad and i went down to the old mill district and took in some of the fun of Bend Winterfest 2011. This year snow dumped in town making winter fest look very appropriate. Previous years were more spring like. We got there at the beginning of the Rail jam event. The snow was falling and the temperature was cold, a dry brisk cold, not a wet annoying cold. A live band was playing and the beer garden full and inviting. The event was hugely attended. I grew up in Bend and in comparison to events of my youth i think this was one of the most well attended. After a about a half an hour of the rail jam we turned our attention to the large covered pavilions housing the local vendors and restaurants booths. Soon we saw what there was to see and we left the pavilions nestled in the snow and made our way to the car. But before we could make our way to the ice rink that was the event parking lot we ran into the fire dancers. It was an entertaining dispaly of pyromania in the snow. It brought oooooohhhhs and aaaaaaaahhhh from young kids and the propane canon put up a fireball easily visible from pilot butte! I got some great photos and enjoyed and evening trudging in the snow with my dad.

_MG_3965.jpg, originally uploaded by screaminginsidefilms.

Chris Davis after growing out his beard before his wedding. We shot a progression as he shaved it down. This is my little nod to Karsh and his beautiful photos of Castro.