Well personally, I’m not much of a runner. I’ve tried it, I know the health benefits, and my dog desperately wishes I was a runner. But I’m not.

So that’s why it was so awesome yesterday to photograph Joni as she rigged up a parachute and proceeded to run with it flying out behind her! And you know what? I bet even with a parachute behind her, Joni could run faster than me.

Downside of photographing a runner with a parachute is at one point I was using a studio strobe light on a lightstand and as Joni ran past, the chute hooked the light stand and crashed the light to the ground. The beauty dish on the light seemed to protect it and it still works! Yay! And then it turned out that simply using natural light was how we got this image – which was one of favs from the session.

parachute runner Joni
location SE Portland
© 2013 Pete Springer

swimwear model photographer Pete Springer

Wind can be your best pal on a photography assignment, or it can be a commendable foe. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do other than retouch out wild hair whipped up by the wind. Ideally, I would have turned the model to face the wind, only that was the same direction as the ocean and sunset. So ended doing a big time retouch on this one to get rid of the stray hairs.

model Vanessa with Sports + Lifestyle Unlimited

© 2013 Pete Springer

swimwear model photographer Pete Springer

A great headshot is the cornerstone to a modeling portfolio. It will generally be the first photo a prospective client sees in a portfolio. It will be on your comp card or can simply be printed and given to potential clients at casting calls.

In general, you want your headshot to be natural and fun (unless you’re an actor who specializes in suspense/horror movies of course). The key is to leave potential clients feeling like you’d be fun to work with plus you’ll appeal to their consumers too. Light, natural makeup for women is important. Also, variety is key. That way you can switch out your headshot depending on the client.

I can definitely help you get the best headshots possible. My process is not at all like a Sears Portrait Studio. You don’t get five poses and two outfits in ten minutes and head out on your way with an 8×10. I mean if you want that, great! Head on over to Sears. But if you want a photographer who will take the time to meet with you and go over ideas and what you want to create and will guide you through the process, give me a call at 503.936.9121.

I’ve worked with models from all the major modeling agencies in Portland. I know their requirements and I know what it takes to get a natural, fun headshot. So give me a call (503.936.9121 – in case you forgot!)

model Vanessa with Sports + Lifestyle Unlimited

© 2013 Pete Springer

headshots Portland photographer Pete Springer

Convinced Olivia to dip quickly into the Pacific ocean for our last few minutes of this photo session. It was cold – a challenge I often face as a swimwear photographer on the west coast – but the water gave us a great, authentic swimwear look.

The main trick with swimwear photography is to have a reason for the model to be wearing a swimsuit (ie a beach with water nearby). If your model is standing around in a bikini in a studio, it just doesn’t look right. The viewer will unconsciously wonder, “Why is she wearing a swimsuit?” There’s a reason Sports Illustrated features swimwear photos on location and not in studio. There’s something exotic and adventurous and sexy about beach photos.

Anyway, many more photos of this swimwear model to share so as usual, stay tuned!

model Olivia
location Sonoma Coast State Beach, CA
© 2013 Pete Springer

swimwear model photographer Pete Springer

What’s missing in this photo? A swimwear model of course!

It wasn’t meant to be that way. I had a girl lined up. Talked to her on the phone the night before the sunrise and confirmed everything too. We had been emailing the previous month and had it all worked out. I would pick her up at 5:15 a.m. at her BF’s apartment in SF not far from the location and we’d hit the beach at sunrise.

I was staying in a campground in Bodega Bay (an hour and half north of San Fran) so this was no small feat for me. Up @3:30 a.m., packed and on the road at 4 a.m. I’m always amazed at how many people are out and about at 4 a.m. It’s pretty rural around Bodega, but there were a fair number of people on the roads! I hit it fast though ’cause I had 15 minutes to make up and faced the possibility of getting lost in the city. I made it though! 5:15 on the dot. And no girl. I texted. I waited. I called. I waited. No model.

Now I’ve had no-shows but never when I talk to the model the night before and never when I get up at 3:30 a.m.! Like seriously, I arrange 3 or 4 sunrise photo sessions in Miami every time I visit – usually with complete strangers. It’s always worked. You can usually get a sense of someone by talking to them and if they’re returning messages quickly and seem interested, it’s generally going to work.

Not this time.

Amanda E – I am disappointed. I still made it to beach for the sunrise and it’s quite pretty. But I wanted to photograph a swimwear model on that beach!

So if you’re in the San Fran area and you’re willing to get up at sunrise to create some awesome swimwear photos, let me know. I live in Portland but it’s not that far of a drive or flight and I have a sister in the east bay so I do visit occasionally.

© 2013 Pete Springer

portland photographer Pete Springer

Ever since FB started throttling business pages in an effort to raise money (ie pay-to-promote/boost post), I’ve noticed a sharp decline in both how many people see my photos on FB and the number of likes.

For example, yesterday I posted a photo on FB. The stats are above. FB allowed a scant 123 views out of 941 people who have liked my FB photography page – or about 13-percent of my potential audience. Of that audience, there was one “like” which translates to .1-percent of my total potential audience. It’s not the quality of the photography, FB simply isn’t showing that photo in the feed. Same exact photo on instagram got 13 likes when I posted it (or 118-percent of my audience there – I’m new to instagram and only have 11 followers). The model in the photo got 58 likes on instagram when he posted it there.

So I decided to run a test to see where the most people see and like my work. It’s a little geeky in terms of numbers and percentages, but that’s the point of this test.

Now to be fair, this test was a little lopsided because FB actually let people (a whole lot of people – like ten times more than normal since FB began throttling content) see this photo! Here are the results.

On the upper left is the FB post. FB let a whopping 1038 people see this post. The model shared the photo so I tapped into a lot of her audience. Even so, with 38 likes out of 941 fans on my FB page, that’s 3.66-percent of my FB audience that liked the photo.

Same photo (upper right) on G+ got 30 plus one’s (likes) and three shares. That’s 1.65-percent of my g+ followers there who liked the photo.

Lower left is the photo on pheed. One like but with only 9 subscribers to my pheed, that’s 11-percent of my subscribers there.

Lower right is instagram. This photo received 28 likes on instagram, and with only 11 followers, that’s a whopping 254-percent of my instagram followers!

Here are the results in a little easier to understand list:

Instagram is the clear winner here in terms of audience. And again, these results are a little skewed because FB rarely lets so many people see one of my posts. Even so, instagram still was far more popular considering I’m brand new to instagram and don’t have much audience base there yet. Posting to instagram from the web takes a couple of steps, but it’s worth it if you’re looking to share your photos.

This is far from a scientific or exhaustive test. Your results may vary. I know I’ll be posting more on instagram in the future though! And yes, I know FB owns instagram so it’s probably only a matter of time before they start throttling posts there. But until that happens, it appears to be a pretty great resource for promoting photography work.

Oh, and finally, I opted to skip twitter on this test since I don’t use it much in my day-to-day posts. Maybe in the future but ever since my account there got hacked, twitter has lost some appeal to me.

© 2013 Pete Springer

portland photographer Pete Springer

Ever since FB started up their pay-to-promote program, they have definitely been throttling business pages. No question about it.

Here’s an example of that. Model posted same photo I posted and she’s up to 28 likes and counting. My EXACT SAME post has 2 likes and will probably top out at 4 likes by tomorrow. Sheesh. I bet she tops at 50 likes. I see this all the time. If I post a photo, FB throttles it and maybe 200 people will see it (about 20-percent of my fan base). It’s almost enough to get me to pay to promote. Almost.

* update if you’re curious – model post of this photo has 56 likes as of this morning. My exact same post got 8 likes. *

I feel like I post some pretty decent photos on FB but the audience there (sans paying FB to actually show people the photos) is not seeing them so I’m starting to explore alternatives. FB – just a word of advice. Ease up on the throttling just a bit – people really do want to see my photos. I create great content that keeps people coming back to FB – don’t stifle that. I’m not saying my photos are the only reason someone comes to FB, but do this to enough photographers and your content starts getting kind of stale and boring.

© 2013 Pete Springer

portland photographer Pete Springer

Back to business – I’m loving this look right now. Thought I had sworn off ringflash but I haven’t. It’s off-camera at least. My original RF was a powerpack unit that packed a lighting bolt punch! This one is much more manageable, especially on location.

Vanessa was fabulous to work with. We had a LOT of wind and that made hair management tough plus made the notorious Oregon coast cold set in by the end. Thank you Vanessa and Sierra for sticking it out until after the sun actually set!

Location is Brookings in southern Oregon. I really want to go back to that area this summer to photograph more swimwear. It’s a beautiful spot and only 20 minutes or so from Jedediah Smith redwood state park in California which is an amazing place. Biggest, oldest trees I’ve seen and I grew up in the pacific northwest. Meaning I’ve seen a lot of big old trees but not like in northern California.

© 2013 Pete Springer

oregon coast swimwear photographer Pete Springer

Now this is seriously messed up on a number of levels. Why is she orange? That’s not how I photographed her. And Mother’s Day? Ummm, she’s not a mom and she’s 17 in this photo!

Sometimes this business drives me crazy. I’m all for marketing and promotion, but aren’t there one or two actual mom’s out there who would be more appropriate in a Mother’s Day ad/contest? And what is up with the orange coloring? I just looked at the original photo and it’s not orange.

original (not orange) photo © 2012 Pete Springer

photographer Pete Springer website

There’s a scene in the movie “The Birds” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963) where a group of school kids runs from the school behind this church (Saint Teresa of Avila in Bodega) as birds are descending down on them. They run down the hill and past this church to escape.

So when the bride told me she wanted a photo of her and the groom posing in front of the church while the wedding party is fending off attacking birds, I was totally into it! Used a beauty dish on a light stand to overpower the mid-afternoon sun and had a retoucher add in the birds. This was such a fun wedding to photograph. There was a “Birds” theme throughout, with even ceramic birds handmade by the bride for wedding favors!

I’ve photographed my share of weddings, but I gotta say this one was especially fun. The location was amazing (Bodega Bay) with coastal vistas and a cool small town where “The Birds” was filmed. The bride and groom have been dating for 15 years so getting a chance to be part of this day and document it with photos was truly an honor.

Congrats Tanith and Tim! You’re a great couple and your wedding was fantastic!

© 2013 Pete Springer
Birds added by Pratik Naik of Solstice Retouch

california swimwear photographer Pete Springer