I don’t work downtown.
I’m glad for that because I’m not sure how I would address the parking nightmare downtown employees face. I do find myself going in for full day consulting gigs though, and I don’t hesitate to use the parking garage on these occasions. I had no problem whatsoever doing that Monday – went in early, snagged a space in the nearly empty garage, whipped out my checkbook and left a fat $5 in the slot. During the entire day Monday I would smile and shake my head a little at the procession of people exiting the office every couple hours to move their cars. This isn’t news to anyone I’m sure – it’s fairly common practice and a constant thorn in the side of the City (if you believe what you read on the subject).
By choice I schedule meetings in the downtown area and Wednesday turned out to be one of these typical meeting days. Parked in the garage, met a friend for coffee at Thump. Left the garage and parked elsewhere to attend another meeting a few blocks away. Followed the 1-hour meeting with a business lunch at Soba. Downtown is hopping and you learn to wait patiently to get your order in and meal finished. I returned to my vehicle to find – my warm thank you from the City of Bend.
And no wonder! Scofflaw and hoodlum that I am, I didn’t excuse myself after ordering my meal to run back to my car to move it. That extra 35 minutes was like a 35 middle finger salute to the City and every business owner downtown, for which I humbly apologize. Granted, in the course of my time downtown I supported two coffee shops, one restaurant and one specialty shop – but there’s no excuse for my lack of planning.
I would ask the City to use my $22 apology to help the homeless. Which might eventually be me if I continue parking downtown.
Saturday’s highlight at the 2007 Women’s Expo was the Bachelor Auction. Not really my thing (bring back the fashion show!), but fun to shoot, easier and with better results than runway. Granted the pace was a lot slower with more time to compose and focus. I have a whole new respect for fashion show photographers.
Anyway, a couple Bachelors from the auction:
Besides “ebay Bachelor style” , there was a lot of cooking going on Saturday.
“Strudels for the Holidays” with Chef TR McCrystal from Jen’s Garden (Sisters) and host Donna Britt from “Cooking Central Oregon Style”. Donna’s cute.
It was a long two days.
Lance Hardy Photography sponsored all photography for the 2007 Women’s Expo – as THE Lance Hardy, that meant an extremely busy, shutter clicking time.
The Women’s Expo is just one of many events I have sponsored, this one in particular for Red Carpet Events. I really enjoy working with great people like Jill, Sarah and Michael from Red Carpet. They have a passion for what they do and that is something I can relate to. Sponsorships like this do take an incredible amount of time and energy, but the experience, friendships and contacts I establish make it personally rewarding. Note “personally” rewarding – one of these days I’ll switch that to “financially” rewarding. Ahem…
Fashion Show
The highlight of Friday was the Fashion Show. Fast paced and difficult to shoot, but a lot of fun!
More on the Expo later…
The Renegade Rollergirls of Oregon had their last bout of 2007 Saturday night. All told it went well with the Wicked Pussycats walking (well, skating) away with the win. As usual it was exciting to shoot, though substantially more subdued than shooting the bloodbath that was the Arizona game…
I’ve been the League Photographer for awhile now and it’s a lot of fun. They are an incredible group of women and deserve community support, no doubt about it. That being said, it was the highlight of my evening last night to have Lance Hardy Photography included in the MC sponsor list and hear a heart felt thank you to Mr. LANCY HARDY. Twice. Alright girls, you’re going to say it was a typo, but I’m gonna get you for it… = )
The Renegade Rollergirls of Oregon League as of November, 2007
Wicked Pussycats warming up in the WP train
One of the friendly brawls from a fun night
Playing with new toys
So Randy let me play with his toys that night – four remote flash units firing in sync. I’m not a big fan of the Midtown because it’s dark as a cave in there, so I was interested in playing with this method and comparing to my typical high ISO and 550EX flash. The results (below) are really interesting and I’m still trying to decide if I like it. At the moment I’m still seeing “video capture still” as opposed to “single still image” – at least that’s what it reminds me of. It’s got a cool vibe, but I’m not sure I’m digging it for an entire bout. I am inspired though to experiment further.
It was a beautiful day in Central Oregon Thursday to capture senior portraits for CJ. Even hobbling around from a recent leg injury, she was a real trooper and pulled it off beautifully.
I was very much impressed by the beautiful setting around their home. Open space – lots of open space with natural growth all around accented with nicely maintained fields. Inevitably it made me more than a little nostalgic. I grew up in rural settings where having open space around the home was typical. Even living in neighborhoods of homes, large front, side and back yards were the norm. A person had room to stretch a little and breathe! There aren’t many people in Bend that have the luxury of being able to step outside their home and not be looking right into their neighbor’s windows.
It’s a real shame neighborhoods are following this “pack ‘em and stack ‘em” master plan. Makes it even more enjoyable though to get out in the open for great projects like this one.
It’s been a goal of mine for awhile to connect with these incredibly talented women to capture some of their beautiful performances. Lady Sitris was kind enough to invite me to their October 30 private performance at the Sons of Norway Hall in Bend. Though only Sitris and Kamini were able to dance from the Bijou Project troupe, they performed a very fun number set to none other than Michael J’s THRILLER!
As with pretty much all Renegade Rollergirls bouts, lighting posed immediate issues and I chose to shoot with a fast lens and ambient light. I’m willing to accept a high percentage of tossed shots to capture the gems.
Sitris in Studio
One of the beautiful shots captured in studio. This particular one graces the cover of my new portfolio book.
