Dana's Violin

What a beautiful day and a beautiful girl for a senior portrait photo session in Portland!  Dana Bethune is a violinist, among other things, playing in a variety of bands and orchestras. We had a fun senior portrait photography session in Washington Park, enjoying the summer evening sun. Here are a few favorites.

Alberta Street Faces and Fashion

This month's installment of Faces and Fashion on Alberta, coming to you live from the evening of the Democratic Convention. A few TVs on the street and lots of people crowding into bars during Obama's speech. Which is why this first image is so appropriate:



And this one also, of Christophe. "I felt like exercizing my freedom of expression tonight."


That's just creepy.



Lauren Portinga and Brent told me they thought people could use some hugs, because "people aren't as friendly here as they are in some places." They took their inspiration from the Free Hugs Campaign. (Take the time to watch the sweet--and frequently hilarious--Free Hugs Campaign video on YouTube. It's actually quite moving.) You'll notice a couple other Free Huggers in an image at this post from London's Hyde Park in the spring.



Here's Bianca, owner of the very popular Bink's, carding folks at the front door.


This was the first evening ever that the Alberta Street Last Thursday had the streets officially closed to traffic. The whole event was 'staffed' with volunteers explaining things to people, including this gentleman.



Kelsey Robertson is an artist. She had some paintings out for sale, her first time doing so on Alberta. She seemed pretty content to sit in the car and draw.


Tito and Emma were tied together at the foot, just because they felt like it.


If you stroll the street regularly on Last Thursday, you'll recognize Rabbit's mini bus parked there, usually used as a stage for hula hoopers. She actually lives in the bus, which is rather intriguing.


The tall bikes were out as usual. I liked this guys riding outfit.


Musician Adam Hurst is a great and popular addition to the mile of music on Alberta. I've heard him play in several venues. Check out his website at www.adamhurststudio.com. He does beautiful work.


Darcy Lee is an artist and substitute art teacher. She showed me a bunch of fun line drawings she does while substitute teaching, of her students. Lovely, flowy lines and shapes. (You can see more of her work at http://www.myspace.com/darcyleeart.)



Last but not least, there's McKenzie Wharton, the rather animated human mannequin. "My sister's selling stuff. I'm just doing entertainment." And entertaining she was. "Press my nose!"

Well, that's some of the most fun work a Portland editorial photographer gets to do!

Sara and Jesse at Youngberg Hill

It was a beautiful weekend for wedding photography at Youngberg Hill Vineyard, outside of McMinnville, Oregon. Sara and Jesse and their families have been planning this for some time, and we had a blast together. They and their friends put on one of the best wedding dance parties in recent memory, and we had a great time photographing them.






A number of wedding cakes that we have photographed outdoors (in Oregon...) have had their frosting melt and slough off. Unfortunately, it happened at this wedding, to the lower layer of the cake. It turned out to be humorous, for those who looked closely, as the plastic-shrouded newspaper classifieds that showed through were for rather interesting things. This was my favorite: an ad for 'Anonymous Egg Donors Needed.'








There are far too many wonderful photographs than I can post here. You should definitely visit Youngberg Hill sometime; it's a beautiful wedding venue!
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Don

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My friend Don likes to make things, including medieval armor. When he was part of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms), he made a full set of armor, and some weapons, by hand. That's a lot of little blows with a ball peen hammer.

The helmet in the photo belongs to one of his sets of armor. He would have modeled the full suit for me, except that, as he put it, "I made this armor 30 pounds ago...."

See more of our editorial photography in Portland at www.fritzphotographic.com.

Cow Snot

I love the fair.

`

Pam and Scott and All That's Hot

Well, Saturday was hot. It was a scorcher.  The funny thing is that you can rarely tell how hot it is from looking at their wedding photographs. Unless you consider the Ziploc baggy of ice that Scott is holding to his head.

I love to photograph weddings at Youngberg Hill Vineyards outside of McMinnville, Oregon. It's Oregon's beautiful Wine Country, Yamhill County.

We got to photograph something we rarely see at weddings these days: the old-fashioned cake smear. Pam and Scott did it with style and gusto.








I just received this note from Pam:

"Fritz, thank you a million times for the beautiful wedding photos. They turned out better than we could ever imagine! We had a great time working with you and sharing our special day. I don't think you realize how easy you make it for the people you are photographing to be themselves. You have an amazing gift and we are so happy to have found you. You did an amazing job and we can't thank you enough. We look forward to seeing the book and you will definitely be seeing us in the future."

See more of our award-winning Youngberg Hill wedding photography at www.fritzphoto.com.

Summer Light and Night

I love summer. It's my favorite time of year. Not only for the warmth, but especially for the light.

So it's always a delight to have a summer evening fashion photography shoot in Portland. My model Anna and I have worked together before, and she's a lot of fun to photograph. After hair and makeup by AJ of AJ's Hair and Makeup, we headed up to the top of Rocky Butte with my assistant Mary Fox, and had a good time working as the light faded in the sky. Beautiful.

New Images and Stories in the Skeleton Series

I've just updated the web gallery of my series on eating disorders, to include new images and stories from the past few months. They include a pregnant woman, a girl in London, a pink rock, and more. Check them out when you have time.

I also recently completed my first portfolio for this series, for museums and private collectors. It consists of 14 16x20 images, with their stories printed separately on translucent vellum. It also includes an introduction by myself, and a moving essay by accomplished author Gina Ochsner. All of this is assembled in a custom archival box with leather embossed title on the front. It's really quite stunning, if I may say so. This is a limited edition portfolio; please contact me for purchase information.

Alberta Street

A couple of photographer buddies, Steve and Evrim and I, went out street shooting on Portland's Alberta Street's Last Thursday. Here are a few images.








There's always more fun Portland editorial photography on our website!