Pete Springer Photography Blog

So my dog recently turned eight and I realized I hadn’t shot many pics of him recently. Grabbed the ol’ G9 and sat out in the backyard for a bit the other day to grab some shots. All natural light– I was too lazy to set up lights!

Yeah, the G9 is noisy– especially at ISO 1600! But these were just snaps– just a record of his life and aging.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Photographed the Hillary Clinton visit to Portland this morning. Barack Obama was in town at the exact same time too– but the decision was made by more important people than me for me to cover Hillary. Besides, I’ve already covered two Obama events locally– and this was my second Clinton event. So now I’m even and not showing any bias, right?

So I’m really proud of these two photos– it’s tough to get shots like this when you’re in a media mob and everyone is going for this shot only most of the folks are taller and more aggressive than me! Anyway, these are the shots I wanted last time Hillary was in town and just didn’t get ’cause I didn’t work it hard enough or something.

Okay, and speaking of media mob… this should give you an idea of what it’s like shooting these events. And there are secret service agents in the crowd too– you don’t want to be bumping up against them!

Oh yeah, and I have two words for a federal cop who was the biggest a$$hole I’ve met in a LONG time. You can probably guess my two words.

So here’s what happened– I was THREE HOURS early to this event and there was a cop standing on the sidewalk. I want to be VERY clear it was not a city police officer– it was an arrogant federal cop. So I pull up and ask the cop where to park and show him my media credentials. His response?

“I have two words for you: impeding traffic!” he yelled at me. “Move your vehicle or we’ll arrest you!”

Gee– that sure was nice of him, eh? There were no cars behind me, it was a 15 mph road next to a hospital clinic, Hillary was still three hours from even showing up, the area had not even been “swept” or cleared or anything, and this nice friendly federal cop was threatening to arrest me for asking him where media were supposed to park. Amazing. I sure feel more secure with jerks like him running around.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Brand spankin’ new portfolio on my website — flash based and pretty slick by my standards. The advertising can go away– for a monthly fee. I’m gonna get it all figured out before I pay for that though. But here’s a preview. There’s both a fashion and a beauty port.

I’ve been workin’ on this one for a bit– always wanted a side-scrollin’ portfolio. I coded one for my main website but it was a total bitch to update and was limited by a number of factors. You couldn’t click images and get them to open bigger and there was a limit on the number of files and it wasn’t very user friendly either.

Check out this one and click on a couple of images. Oh yeah.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Covered a deal yesterday for the ol’ day job– a bunch of homeless people are camped outside the Portland city hall. They say it’s a protest and they’ve been there for about a week. So far, the police have made them take down their tents, but allowed them to hang out otherwise.

Now I’m just the photographer for this story, so I’m not going to get into the details about this issue. So just sit back and enjoy the visuals– go to a news website if you want details! I’ve been trying to limit myself to a 24-70 on a 1.6 crop cam using natural light– it’s a whole different world than I normally prefer with strobes and full-frame sensors!

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Couple more from a recent shoot– still working on my post-production but slowly, slowly making progress!

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Still working through this shoot. I can’t get over how nice the shots in the brown dress turned out.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Just ran across this gem tonight. This model is really amazing– I’m just doing basic, basic retouching with the healing brush– not my usual heavy handed emboss-surface-blur method — and still her skin looks great.

Dress Frocky Jack Morgan, makeup Terri w/Blush Premier, hair Julie Ruckman, and model Leesa.

Pete Springer Fashion Photography, Portland Oregon

Couple pics from yesterday– covered the May Day happenings in Portland for my day job. And what a job that was! I worked twelve and half hours yesterday! Four different stories on the radio — plus web pics. I was so tired by the time I got home that I was giddy– the kind of tired where you’re just plain silly and dance around singing Pat Benatar songs (no really– I heard “Heartbreaker” on the radio as I drove home and even though it’s been 15 years or more since I’ve heard that song, I still know all the words!)

Anyway, these are couple of my photos from yesterday– shooting natural light with a 24-70 on a 1.6 crop cam so there wasn’t much chance for wide angle shots (oh how I miss the 16-35 on my full-frame 5D in situations like that… but the work cam is a 40D… no slouch of a camera but not great for wide angle shots)

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Okay, so this photo really wasn’t all that long ago (couple of months) but I just finished some post-work for a hair stylist for this shoot and this was a photo she requested. I love the coloring but sure do wish I had added a hair light!

It’s ironic because I think most decent photographers are great at critiquing photos– even their own. It’s all too easy to light subjects on one plane and forget about creating depth by adding a light on another plane (ie a hair light and perhaps a background light). But then it’s quickly noticed in the final product and there’s always a moment of, “Ahhhh– why didn’t I add another light?” Well, for me there is anyway!

Okay, okay, lil’ bit of a random post today. I’m off to an interesting (and challenging) PJ assignment today so hopefully some cool, fresh photos tomorrow.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Slowly working through my fashion shoot from Saturday. Here’s another I liked. The river was COLD snow melt though and both me and the model (yup, I waded in too) could only stand it for about four shots before we had to dash out and warm up. Dress by Frocky Jack Morgan.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon