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I've just added a new feature to my blog: the ability to receive these posts via email, whenever I make a new post. If you look to the right, you'll see the box where you can enter your email address. It's not for spam, it's just for subscribing to this blog. And why wouldn't you? Beautiful photographs and interesting stories, delivered every so often straight to your email inbox.

If you're more technically hip, of course, you can subscribe to my rss feed. (If you have no idea what an rss feed is, don't worry about it; just enter your email address!) You know who you are.

Either way about it, it's easier than navigating over here every once in a while to see what's up. With subscription, it's like receiving free candy every time I make a post, hand delivered to your desktop....

The Catcher

Heritage High School in Vancouver is new, and massive. In the early morning light, the 3 baseball fields glisten with the dew on the grass and the fine layer of spiderwebs that cover every inch of the ground. Our breath glows in front of our faces as if we were smoke-breathing dragons.

Into this scene steps James, varsity baseball catcher for the Timberwolves. We fire away, imagining this photograph reproduced one day in Sports Illustrated, when James has his own trading cards, screaming fans, and pennants.

As one of the premier Vancouver senior portrait photographers, I love portrait sessions like this!

Grace's Portland Portrait Photographer

I've known Grace since she was in the 7th grade. She was going to DaVinci Arts Middle School while I was there working on a photographic project on adolescence. One day I looked out the classroom window and saw Grace down on the swingset, wearing a pearl necklace and jeans and Converse, looking a little melancholy under the gray skies. I told her to stay there, while I grabbed my big wooden field camera, and raced out to photograph her. Later that day I discovered that Grace and her friend were supposed to have been in class at that time, and they spent a little time in the principal's office as a result.

On the upside, the portrait I took of Grace on the swingset made the final cut, and was published last January in LensWork Magazine.

So it was a delight to have opportunity to take some new portraits of Grace yesterday at Mt Tabor park. Here's a favorite:


I'm pleased to say that, in spite of her time in the principal's office in middle school, Grace is now the student body president at Franklin High School. Pretty cool.

View more of my Portland portrait photographer portraits at www.fritzphoto.com!

Amanda the Cellist--Portland Senior Portrait Photographer

Well, I've only included one photo of Amanda with her cello here, but she does play one...

We photographed Amanda's Portland senior portrait photography at the amazing Leach Botanical Garden.  
 
Such a gorgeous venue for her senior portrait photography!

Steve and Darla - McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse Wedding Photography

Steve Baliko is quite a guy. Two years ago, he dressed up as his favorite poet/author, Wendell Berry, to go to a costume party. This means he dressed up as a farmer, because that's what Wendell Berry is, overalls and all. In fact, Berry still farms with a mule team on his family's farm in Kentucky.

When Steve first told me this story, my ears perked up. Anytime you meet a Wendell Berry fan, you know you've met a brother (or sister). Berry writes novels (my favorite: Jayber Crow), short stories (Fidelity), the most insightful essays (Sex, Economy, Freedom, Community), and poetry (Collected Poems). He's written a wagonload of books, most of which I've read. In fact, before I ever met my eventually-wife Shannon, I had perused her bookshelf and discovered Wendell Berry. I was intrigued.

Well, Steve Baliko was intrigued when he met this girl at the costume party, because when asked to guess who he was, she said, "Wendell Berry?"

You can guess the rest.

They were married this past Saturday, and I had the privilege of being their Portland wedding photographer. Obviously, I go to a lot of weddings, but it's rare that I am as excited to see two people together as I was this weekend. What a gracious, real, joyful, beautiful couple. Darla glowed, and she made everyone around her glow, as well.



Steve's brothers tried to make him glow, also, but it wasn't quite the same:




This young lady is a sweetheart. I loved the way she gnawed at her apple. Check out those teeth.



We love being some of the most experienced McMenamin's Cornelius Pass Roadhouse wedding photographers!

Natalie's Portland Senior Portrait Photographer

On Wednesday I had a portrait session scheduled with a young lady who is the younger sister of someone I had photographed a few years back. I waited at the Washington Park Rose Gardens for her to show up, enjoying the warm sunlight and the scent of the roses. After a while, her mom walks up to me, and asks if they might reschedule their portrait session for a few days later. It turns out that there was a little relationship trouble that day in her daughter's life, and she just wasn't up for it. So I went over to the car to talk to the daughter.

I wish I could have photographed her right then, with tears streaming down her face, dripping onto her shirt. It's hard to concoct a good crying picture, and this was the real thing. But, even though I'm a guy, I do have enough working radar to be able to detect when is a good time to ask for such things, and when not to. This was a definite 'not to'. So we rescheduled for today.

And it was worth doing so. Natalie is about as easy to photograph as they come. Here are some favorites:







Natalie is such a beautiful high school senior!  Hailing from Jefferson High School in Portland, she made for some stunning Portland high school senior portraits!

Meg's Portland Senior Portrait Photographer

High school senior portrait photos in Portland are just an excuse for me to take some really cool photos of cool young people, such as this young lady from Lake Oswego. That's how I look at them, anyhow. Instead of me having to go and find models/subjects to shoot, they come to me....

Alaina

Even though her sister had chicken pox, I had opportunity to photograph some portraits of Alaina in her yard. What a cutie.

Hoop Dreams

I love photographing kids.

Alleeya

A guest at the party....

LensWork Magazine

If you love fine photography, especially black and white, you should know about LensWork Magazine. It is, without much competition, one of the finest photography magazines out there, for several reasons.

First, the award-winning duotone reproductions are magnificent. Each issue, which comes in its own cardboard envelope, is like a fine art book unto itself.

Second, it's all about photography as a fine art. There's nothing commercial about it or its articles or portfolios. The only ads are for LensWork's own products, which are excellent. The essays and interviews are thoughtful reflections on the creative process, as pertains to photography.

Third, they only feature the work of 3 photographers per issue, including an introduction to the photographer, a brief essay about the work, and a portfolio of usually 15-20 images.

Fourth, Brooks Jensen has a lot of innovative ideas, and runs with them. They produce an extended CD of each issue, including more images from each photographer's portfolio, audio interviews with the photographers, printable images, extra essays, and other goodies. They publish a few books on photography (I've read "On Being a Photographer" by David Hurn and Bill Jay, twice). At one time, they had a Special Editions fine art print series, whereby they would faithfully reproduce, on silver gelatin paper, master prints from master photographers. I own one, an image by Wynn Bullock, and it's magnificent.

Fifth, and most important, they published one of my portfolios ("Welcome to Wonderland") in the Jan/Feb 2006 issue (20 pages, including the cover, above). It's beautiful.

I'd encourage you to browse their site, and even subscribe.

See Welcome to Wonderland on my fine art photography site at www.fritzliedtke.com.

My Own Fan Club

Ever since LensWork Magazine published a portfolio of my work in January (issue #62), I've discovered, here and there, that other people like my work. They link to it in their blogs. They purchase fine art prints from me. They steal my pictures to use on their websites. And they start discussion groups about my work.

One of these is on Flickr. It's called the Spirit of Fritz Liedtke, and here's their theme:

"If you are interested in child photography in the least, and don't know who Fritz Lidtke is, you should! There's a couple of us that love his style of work (selective DOF of adolescence, of course it's not limited to that, in my opinion). :)"

While my work, of course, is not all child photography, it is an honor to me to see people congregating around an interest in my photographs. One woman's work I find especially engaging, as she photographs her own children in haunting, beautiful ways: 'sweet disten'.

Here's the link. Check it out for yourself. I really do have fans.

Now, if they'd just start sending me money, I'd really have it made.

See more of my fine art photographs at www.fritzliedtke.com.

Au Revoir, Petit Soeur...

Today marks a sad day for me. For the past 4 years, Evie Webb--who happens also to be my youngest sister--has been my main assistant and second shooter when photographing weddings in Portland, New York, etc. She is always cheerful, bright, and fun to work with. I love her, customers love her. We'd spend hours together at weddings, shooting, running, covering each other. When one of us shot something we were particularly proud of, we'd show the other our LCD screen and laugh together. She was great to travel with too, because, being my sister, we could share a hotel room and it wouldn't be inappropriate.

This morning, bright and early, Evie and her husband James loaded a van with their belongings, and headed to Denver to find their fortune there.

We'll miss you Evie. Your smile will be hard to replace.

See our amazing lineup of Portland wedding photographers at www.fritzphoto.com!

My Protege, Olivia and Friends

You know all those plastic disposable cameras you see on tables at weddings and bar mitzvahs? Ever wonder what they're really for? Well, let me show you:








These photos were from Jamie and Dustin's wedding this past July. One of the children, Olivia, who happens to be the daughter of friends, decided she liked my racket. She began shadowing me as I worked the dance floor: she would hold up her disposable camera, crouch down beside me, pretend to fiddle with dials and buttons just as I was, and snap away.

I tell you this because, if you come by the studio soon and are greeted by a 5 year old with a plastic Kodak camera in hand, don't be surprised. Good help is hard to find.

But you can still find the best Portland wedding photographers at www.fritzphoto.com!

An open letter to my faithful fans:

Faithful viewers, I know you exist. I know you're here often. I even know how you get here. Now it's time to take another step into my world....

I've so enjoyed having this outlet to share my work. It's been an encouragement for me to have work that usually would be seen by a few special people, be seen by many special people. It's been, along with lots of camping, hiking, and frisbee throwing, one of the things that has really refreshed me this season.

So far, having been summer, most of my postings have been commercial in nature. But fine art projects are also in the works. So keep coming, and...

Consider this an open invitation to be more than just a viewer: leave a comment! At the end of each post, there's this little button for doing just that: Comments. Click it, and let me and other visitors know what you think!

Join in; be part of the conversation.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Fritz

Stassia's Portland Senior Portrait Photography

High school senior portrait photos can be rather dull and repetetive. That is, if you go to a studio that manufactures them like the Chinese manufacture plastic toys. I try to keep mine fresh and interesting, and try to do something different every time. This includes interesting lighting, which I got by the boatload yesterday: the sun shining off the Willamette River across from downtown Portland made for wonderful light. Interesting lenses also help, and this portrait includes one of my secrets:


Would you believe that Stassia actually wears braces?  We removed them for her.



See these senior photos and more of the best Portland portrait photographers at www.fritzphoto.com!

Sean and Quin and The Fire Truck

This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Sean and Quin's wedding, out in Laurel, at the base of Bald Peak, south of Hillsboro, Oregon. My wife grew up on top of Bald Peak, overlooking Gaston, so I know and love the area. The wedding was held at the Denfeld's orchards, and it was a beautiful (if hot) day.







Here's something I've never seen before: Sean is a volunteer firefighter. So his dad had this wild idea: While Sean's out fighting fires, Quin should have something to do as well. So I'll buy Quin...her own fire engine! And that's exactly what he did. He gave it to them that night, and it was something else. These guys looked like kids in a candy store:



We love photographing weddings in the Portland, Oregon area, in the city and in the country. Especially outdoors! We especially love being Hillsboro wedding photographers!

Kate and Keith in the Melon Patch

Yesterday, which was a Thursday, I managed to photograph a wedding ceremony, all the family and wedding party photos, and a sweet suite of bride and groom portraits in a single hour. Not only that, but I took my first portraits in a melon patch at the garden of McMenamin's Edgefield.

As some of the most experienced Portland wedding photographers, we would love to photograph your wedding!

The Ryder Family

We spent the past weekend on the coast near Ilwaco/Long Beach. It was cold. But we made up for that with great company, reconnecting with extended family, breathing voluminous amounts of camp fire smoke, and rock climbing. A couple favorites:

At the crest with two sisters:


And my second cousin thrice removed Duncan, with his parents:

Andrew Hoover and Tina Gonzaga's Portland Wedding

This past weekend we had the privilege of photographing Tina and Andrew's Portland wedding. They were married in what I discovered is the most photogenic Catholic cathedral in Portland: St. Mary's Cathedral. 

We took some portraits at the Rose Gardens, and finished the day with an elegant reception at the Governor Hotel's Grand Ballroom. Andy and Tina were gracious hosts for this lovely day.

See more of the best Portland wedding photographers at www.fritzphoto.com!