senior photos – Portland, Oregon

Though I don’t really market myself as a senior photographer, I’ve now done a couple of senior photoshoots pretty much based on word of mouth. Here’s a shot from last night. It was a fun shoot and hopefully, the photos are cooler than any of those boring senior photography studios that advertise in the paper.

Anyway, I know senior season is coming to a close for this year, and I’m completely booked up or unavailable for anything new for the next month, but just in case someone runs across this, well, keep me in mind. I’m open to all kinds of ideas and concepts when it comes to photography– and though I love fashion the most, I will consider band photos, senior photos, editorial work, etc, etc. Only thing I’m ruling out right now are weddings, but… if you have a really crazy wedding portrait idea, I’d be happy to consider it.

Check out my website for more pics and photography services:

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

audio + photos = cool audio slideshow

So I don’t mention this here too often, but in addition to photography, it turns out during the days I’m actually an award-winning producer for the local (and crazy popular) public radio and t.v. station. No, really — it’s true!

Lately I’ve been combining my passion for photography with my audio editing skills. My latest project was a behind the scenes look at the costume department for a big local production of ‘Cabaret’. Okay, okay, the actual credit for the idea comes from Lisa at ultra. Lisa is super-duper cool and I really love helping her out. She came up with this really cool idea to do a photo essay on what it’s like for the folks responsible for the costumes for ‘Cabaret’. It needed to be shot during my day job hours though, so I talked my editor into letting me shoot it and drag a tape deck along for interviews.

Now I’m not crazy about shooting stills and recording audio (who is?) but it turns out I’m actually pretty good at it. If you’ve ever tried shooting pics while gathering sound and getting interviews, you know I’m not just bragging. It really is tough.

So HERE are the results of my latest project (you’ll need to click on the “audio slideshow” link near the bottom). There are still some serious glitches in the audio slideshow software we use (syncing audio to the photos is, well, sort of like those old kung fu movies only worse– the software seems to randomly switch the photos no matter how you set it up) but you can get the idea. But again, how many people do you know who can actually juggle a tape deck, shoot photos, conduct interviews, and edit everything (including the audio) themselves?

So in other words, Pete Springer Photography is very forward thinking. As much as I’d like to think that photography skills alone are the future, it’s becoming more and more clear to me that multimedia skills are necessary. So if you want someone who excels at both, check out:

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

portland band photographer

Though I’m not officially a band photographer, I’ve been getting more and more gigs shooting local bands. Here’s a studio shot from yesterday of Portland band Valedicition.

Soooo… the purpose of the this post is of course my usual self-promotion. Portland bands– you need cool photos and guess what? Pete Springer Photography can help you out! I specialize in fashion and portraits, work fast and have a full set of location gear… so check out my services if you’re looking for an innovative photographer in the Portland area! Whew… that should be enough keywords for the search engines for today…

Pete Springer Portland Oregon Photographer

mario’s fashion show photos now posted

My photos of the fashion show last night put on by Mario’s are now on my website. Many, many thanks to the awesome production and PR team at Mario’s for great access and just an all-around friendly atmosphere. The runway was awesome (it wasn’t elevated– which is good, and even better there was and elevated riser for photographers… smart thinking!) and the overall production was top notch.

I did try something a bit different– I shoot shows with two cameras– one with a long lens and one with a wide lens. Normally I shoot with a strobe on each camera, but I took a gamble that the lighting would be decent and only shot one camera with a strobe. It pretty much worked, but there were several photos that could have been improved with some fill. I also forgot to zoom the flash head on the wide camera, so it did a pretty great job of lighting up the backs of people’s heads! Whoops… luckily that was with the 5D and it’s a pretty easy crop without losing much res at all.

Oh well, enough excuses– it was a cool show and it was a lot of fun to photograph.  Check out the photos by clicking the link below and looking under “Fashion Shows”:

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, OR

your photographic light in the darkness

Looking for a Portland photographer who knows how to capture the essence of the Pacific Northwest? Pete Springer Photography is your best source.

Though I specialize in fashion and portraits, I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon (how many people do you meet these days who are actually from PDX?) so of course my photographic adventures frequently lead me to the fantastic outdoor opportunities throughout the NW. Here’s some personal work from a backpacking trip this past weekend.

Packed up the wife and dog and hiked into one of my fav local wilderness areas– Indian Heaven. It was very foggy and misty.

My wife is a little more reluctant than me to embrace the moisture that seems to frequent the Pacific Northwest so much. She was a real sport this weekend though, and was willing to give it shot for a night. If you’ve ever backpacked in the rain, you’ll know why this is such a big deal!

Like I said, when we arrived at our campsite, there was lots of fog and mist but nothing a little fire couldn’t take care of, right?

Okay, okay, so by morning the fog and mist had pretty much turned into rain– this last photo was shot just before we hiked out and judging by the expressions, there was at least one unhappy camper in the group. Thanks sweetie for putting up with yet another of my soggy adventures!

Anyway, the whole point of today’s post (aside from the usual SEO goals) is that when it comes to your photographic needs in Portland and Vancouver, make sure to select a local, home-grown photog. Pete Springer knows the area and can easily adapt to the soggy weather and any of your location needs– even miles from the nearest electrical outlet or building. You’ve chosen to live in the Pacific Northwest, so when it comes time to hire a photographer, why not select one who lives and breaths the great outdoors and knows how to capture the essence of the PNW with a camera?

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Portland band Pseudosix

Just did a very quick (half-dozen photos total) of Portland band Pseudosix. This was my very first shot and it’s also my fav. I absolutely love it when that happens– when the first photo of a shoot just nails it and really you don’t even need to shoot anything else.

Ironically, I don’t “chimp” nearly as much as many photographers these days– I still shoot it like it’s film and make sure everything is right so I don’t have to chimp. I just don’t trust that camera LCD (and neither should anyone else unless you’re looking at the histogram).

More cool photos from Portland, Oregon:

Pete Springer Photography

flourish fashion show photos now posted

Photos from the Flourish Fall Fashion Show in north Portland now posted on my website.

One note for boutique owners– the best photos you’re going to get of your designs will almost never be on the runway, especially this type of runway. Really. That’s why I offered to shoot photos of your designs before this show. Out of seven boutiques involved, not a one took me up on this offer.

Consider the runway lighting here– it’s the exact same lighting you used to use at summer camp when you’d put a flashlight under your chin and tell a scary story. Lighting from below looks terrible. I tried my best to overpower this lighting using a studio strobe, but there’s only so much I can do in a situation like this. With a chance to set up a quickie shoot just before the show, I can create beautiful lighting that will flatter both your models and your clothing.

The other thing that I don’t understand is why so many boutique owners seem to put so much emphasis on the show itself with no regard to what photos of the show will look like. Look at this photo above– there were maybe 50-75 people at this show (note the empty chairs). This is not a slam on the organizers or boutiques, just something worth noting.

But when I shoot a fashion show and post the photos on my website, I’ll easily get 500 unique visitors in a single day checking out the images. In addition, thanks to the power of search engines, a mention of your boutique on my website will magically appear on google, etc– and not just in any ol’ spot. In most cases, you’ll get listed on the first page of a search (I’m very good at SEO – search engine optimization). In other words, you may get 50-75 people at a fashion show, but the photos will end up getting viewed by thousands! This is all a long way of saying, please, Portland boutique owners, if you want to boost your sales and listing in the search engines and really get yourselves out there, work WITH me! I love Portland fashion and all the indie designers, but if you’re only going to let me shoot your clothes on a poorly lit runway, well, the PR you’ll be getting won’t be very flattering.

And one more note for the boutiques– tell your models to slow down on the runway! I shoot fashion shows all the time and if your model is moving too fast on the runway for me to get a decent photo, well, that doesn’t help you much, does it? BTW: I shoot a Canon 1D Mark IIn– the fastest and most consistent focusing DSLR available these days.

Sure, this is all a lil’ bit of a rant but if you’re going to all the effort of putting on a fashion show, you should know how to make it pay off. You can see in the photo below– the lighting is not nearly as flattering as it could be and unfortunately there’s not much I can do about something like that on a runway.

Pete Springer, Portland, Oregon fashion photographer

fashion photography, portland oregon

Haven’t posted here in a few days but it’s not because I don’t have any fresh fashion photos to share. In fact, just the opposite– I’ve been swamped trying to keep up with my fresh images.

So here’s a sneak preview from a great local Portland designer, Sarah Wallace, who designs and runs Lucia Apparel. These are from her upcoming spring collection.

I did a shoot for Lucia this past weekend and though I’ve done dozens of shoots for local designers, I was blown away at how organized and efficient Sarah was with this particular shoot. She was amazing– we whizzed through something like 25 designs in four hours (on location at that) and not once was I waiting on anything. Two beautiful models, fantastic clothing, and an organized and speedy designer– it was one of the coolest shoots I’ve done lately.

I haven’t made any images from this shoot public on my website yet– soon though. So make a note to visit my photography website in a couple of days to see some of the cool fashion photos from one of Portland’s best (and most organized) clothing designers.

Pete Springer Photography, fashion and more, Portland Oregon

obama presidential campaign

Photographed the Obama campaign visit to Portland on Friday for my day job. They decided not to put anything about the visit on their website, but if you want to check out the pics anyway, you can look at my website:

Pete Springer Photography, Portland Oregon

Bruce Davidson – Magnum

I had the pleasure of meeting, photographing, and interviewing Bruce Davidson yesterday. He’s been shooting for Magnum since the 50’s and was in town for an exhibit on photos he shot of low-income Oregonians. It’s a really cool exhibit and Davidson was really cool to speak with. Incidentally, he shot this project on film.

To see and hear an audio slideshow on Davidson and his favorite photos in the exhibit, check this link to my day job:

Photographing the Invisible

And as always, if you want to see some of my cool photography from Portland, Oregon (including fashion, fashion shows, portraits, and landscapes), check out my photography website:

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon