Hurry! This offer ends this Friday, April 20, 2012. You’ll definitely want to book your shoot before this awesome deal ends!

portland photographer pete springer

Here’s an example of a nice, colorful sunset on the Oregon coast. Usually these happen in spring and fall when that marine layer referenced in my previous post isn’t able to take hold because the daytime temperatures are cooler. This particular photo was shot in March. It was very cold and the model still has her pants and boots on while a makeup artist stands nearby with a robe and jacket for her!

model Parveen, hair/makeup Megan Root, photography assistant Thomas Lindsay

swimwear photographer pete springer

Believe it or not, this was shot at sunset on the Oregon coast. We often get gray sunsets here, especially in the summer time. The cool ocean air blows inland, condenses into grayish fog (known as a marine layer here) and creates a flat, gray, cloudy sunset.

That’s one reason I like to travel to shoot swimwear. That gray marine layer rarely happens in places like Miami. The flipside of course, is that when the weather is perfect (probably two days of the year), there’s no better place to shoot than the Oregon coast!

model Haydee, location Oregon coast

portland photographer pete springer

Digging through my archives and ran across these photos from two years ago. I didn’t realize until I put them all together that there’s a wood theme in all three. That was purely accidental. My Oregon roots shining through perhaps?

The model is an absolutely fabulous model. What’s funny is we shot photos of her on driftwood in the surf, on driftwood on the beach at sunset, and these photos with a wood theme. There’s just no escaping driftwood and trees on the Oregon coast!

Model Parveen
hair/makeup Jessica Belknap in the left photo, hair and makeup Megan Root in the middle and right photos
photography assistant Thomas Lindsay

portland photographer pete springer

Well this is certainly a clever marketing tool. Got an email today from the US Commerce Association that I was the winner of the 2012 Best of Portland Award in the Swimwear category. Cool, right?

Clicked the link to claim my “customized award” and it’s only going to cost me $200 for the plaque and the crystal award. D’oh!

I wonder if they charge Oscar and Emmy winners for their awards? lol

I will give the Commerce Assn this though. They did a little bit of homework and instead of selling me a generic photography award, they at least picked a genre (swimwear) that I really do love to shoot. Now the question is what to wear on the red carpet? What? There’s no ceremony?

portland swimwear photographer pete springer

There’s this place called Jimbo’s just south of Miami on Virginia Key. Jimbo’s is closing for good after an unusual half-century in business.

What makes Jimbo’s so usual? Let’s start with the fact that it’s basically a squatters camp according to the Miami Herald:

“Jimbo’s has no lease on the public land, and no valid operating licenses, and exists only because of an apparent handshake deal sometime in the ‘50s, no member of the family has any legal claim on the site.”

Sounds like an Occupy camp. One that has existed for the last 50 years!

I visited Jimbo’s last year as part of a photography workshop. Even in the morning, there were guys hanging out drinking beer. Buildings were falling apart and covered in graffiti. There was a raccoon/possum (po-coon?) roaming around. Yet tourists stream in daily. It’s not particularly pretty but it sure is popular. And the fact that it has existed on public land with no permits, permission, or anything officially sanctioned by the city at all — for the last 50 years — is astonishing.

It’s unlikely Miami will ever see a place like Jimbo’s in the future. That’s probably a good thing. Yet still — there’s something about Jimbo’s that was so optimistic. It’s a symbol of the time when you could simply show up in south Florida and grab a beer and just hang out for good without having a place to live or even a job.

Anyway, I’m glad to have had a chance to visit Jimbo’s before it closed. Places like that are unique in this country and an interesting glimpse into what seemed like a simpler era.

models Yolanda and Anna

portland swimwear photographer pete springer

Shot this swimwear photo last week when the sun was shining and the mercury was in the 60’s. This week, it’s been snowing and raining and in the 40’s! Not exactly prime bikini weather. Looking forward to nicer weather as the month of March is supposed to go out like a lamb.

Model Charday with Sports and Lifestyle Unlimited
hair/makeup Jessica Belknap
photography assistant Thomas Lindsay

portland swimsuit model photographer

The stars aligned yesterday. Sunny day over 60F and a local model who brought a bikini. This girl is crazy tough. She was standing in the river no problem. I stepped in to meter the light and all and holy smokes was it COLD! Snowmelt off the mountains no kidding! Yet Charday was not even flinching.

I am always blown away by the toughness of Oregon girls. They like to be pampered for sure, but they can deal with cold amazingly well. Usually a lot better than me.

Anyway, nice to be shooting swimwear on location again!

model Charday, hair/makeup Jessica Belknap, photography assistant Thomas Lindsay

portland swimsuit model photographer

Shooting swimwear on location is definitely my preference. Photos almost always turn out better when there is a cool setting. Of course that’s not always practical in January in Portland so sometimes I find myself shooting swimwear indoors.

I wanted to create something more moody here thus the shadows.

Model Katrine with Sports and Lifestyle Unlimited, swimsuit by Jantzen

portland swimwear photographer pete springer

Check this out. Same exact photo posted on FB by me and the model. She has 684 friends, I have 568 fans. So she has 17-percent more audience than me. Yet check the likes. I received 9, she received 40. That’s 78-percent more likes for her post of the exact same photo!

I am convinced a girl posting the exact same content on FB will always receive more likes than a guy. Would make for an interesting study anyway.

Incidentally, this is by far my most popular photo on facebook and I didn’t even post it. Eighty-five likes! 85!

portland photographer pete springer