Washington Park Portland Portraits

Last week I found myself in Portland, OR for the 2016 Mystic Seminars. I’ll be sharing some of my overall thoughts on the conference in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.

However, I had never been to Portland–never been to Oregon either–and I just couldn’t stand the thought of going to a  new place and spending the week inside.  For me, a photography conference isn’t complete without creating or finding opportunities to explore a new place and play around.  When I went to WPPI two years ago I knew I needed to do a shootout to round out my experience, and I’m so glad I did.  So, naturally, I needed to find the time to do that in Portland too.

So one afternoon, while our lenses and camera bodies were getting cleaned (another perk of the Mystic experience), my roommates and I checked out the new Sony mirror-less cameras from the Sony reps and jumped on the lightrail to Washington Park.

It was chilly, it was a little bit rainy, but it felt so good to get out and explore.  We wandered Washington Park for about 2 hours, looking for cool backdrops, taking in the green scenery that is so foreign to Colorado, and snapping portraits of each other.

I haven’t really taken any photographs since October (except for on my iphone), so I feel like it took a few minutes to warm up to shooting again.  It took time for my eye to see light and shadow and backdrops with an artistic eye, but by the end of our jaunt, we were stopping every 5 minutes to explore something new.  It was awesome.

Featured below are my awesome roommates, Savannah (Savannah Chandler, Wedding Photographer) and Jenae (Jenae Lopez Photography), who were such a pleasure to get to know in Oregon.

Washington Park Portland PortraitsThe mirror-less camera took some getting used to compared the DSLR I’m used to, but after some fussing with the menus I was able to make it work. Washington Park Portland PortraitsOur catchphrase for the week: The Muck is Where the Magic HappensWashington Park Portland PortraitsWashington Park Portland PortraitsWashington Park Portland PortraitsWashington Park Portland PortraitsWashington Park Portland PortraitsI also had the chance to play around with a tilt shift lens and I loved it! I especially love what it does for wide landscape shots.  I think I’m going to seriously give this lens a go at a few weddings this year and see how I like it in a fast paced environment.Washington Park Portland PortraitsWashington Park Portland PortraitsMore awesome Oregon coast photos and my Mystic Seminars wrap up coming soon!

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