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Portland Portraits | Jessica Belknap Makeup Artist

Continuum Photography — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:00:18 +0000

Jessica Belknap is one of the best makeup artists in Portland. We’ve gotten to work with her a number of times, and she’s always shown up early, done a fantastic job on our subjects, and she’s fast. Not only that, but she’s an absolute sweetheart and is great at putting people at ease. I was talking to Jessica the other day, and she said that she needed some new photos for her website. Despite the fact that I’ve photographed Jessica putting makeup on people more than once, she was actually a bit nervous about the camera being focused on her. I think she did great!

- Josh

Denver Wedding Photographer | Joni Schrantz

Continuum Photography — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 05:16:38 +0000

Denver wedding photographer Joni Schrantz? Portland’s loss is Denver’s gain- Joni is on the move. We got the chance to hang out a little with Joni the other day between cleaning and packing her old place. Since I hadn’t taken had the opportunity to take any photos of her prior to the move, I dragged her kicking and screaming over to a little spot in near our place for a quick portrait session. I might have had a little longer with her but it was getting rainy and cold so we cut it short. Despite the short time I got a few shots of her a really like. Good luck with your move to Colorado Joni!

- Josh

Portland Portraits | Katie

Continuum Photography — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:33:44 +0000

Katie is one of our friends from Women For Success, the charity group whose events quite often appear on the Life blog. The first time I photographed Katie she was in her paint clothes with a breathing mask on, and covered in black spray paint. It wasn’t exactly the type of moment that typically gets the photo shoot wheels of my mind turning. A few months later the Beauty Bar event came around, and I got to photograph all of the ladies dressed up. Katie’s photos from that day were a standout for me, and it was obvious to me she was very photogenic. Convincing someone they are photogenic is not always an easy thing. I began suggesting to her that we do a portrait session just for the fun of it, but my suggestions were usually met with Katie flashing her big smile and laughing like I had just told the funniest joke ever. I’m not exactly sure when the concept of a shoot went from pure giggles to a viable reality, but during the last WFS event I was bugging her about it again and something switched in her brain. Suddenly the Katie photo session was a go.

I’m glad I was persistent in making this shoot happen. I think Katie totally rocked sketchy NW industrial Portland. Katie’s makeup was done by Courtney Rogers, who was able to work with us when we needed to move the shoot up a couple of days earlier due to a foreboding Portland forecast. Love, love, love these photos!

- Josh

Portland Portraits | Jessica Hill Photography

Continuum Photography — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:35:26 +0000

Jessica Hill is one of my wedding photographer friends in Portland. I think I met her in early 2010 at one of those Wine Country Wedding Professional meetings. You know- those networking meetings. I knew of Jessica before I met her in person. I had stumbled upon her website when we were researching our Portland move, and was instantly impressed. In addition to being a great photographer, Jessica is also a savvy businesswoman, and if I had to describe her in a single word I’d choose “real.” She is sweet, lively, opinionated (in a good way), and passionate about what she does. All good qualities to have in a friend and artist.

It’s no big secret that I want to photograph everyone I know. If I haven’t taken a photo of you, I want to. It is however, somewhat intimidating to take photos of other photographers. With a photographer there is no secret or mysticism to the large piece of metal you have stuck to your face. Jessica also has no shortage of photographer friends who would probably enjoy taking pictures of her. So when she asked me to take some photos of her and her assistant Lindsay, it was much like the feeling you get when you’re 6 years old and you’re pulling up into the Toys R Us parking lot. Excitement! It took us awhile to nail down a date, but finally our schedules managed to align and we got our photoshoot.

I arrived a little early that day because I knew Kirstie Wight was going to be doing Jessica’s makeup. Kirstie has done the makeup for a couple of my senior shoots, and she is lovely- so I thought I’d pop in and shoot a bit of the getting ready. Now I’m not going to lie and tell you Jessica is easy to photograph. She’s unquestionably beautiful, but you usually only have about 20 seconds between her giving you a serious look and then completely spazzing out. It was definitely a great time, and even though Jessica only wanted me to shoot for a few minutes I managed to coax her into going a little longer. Thank you Jessica for giving me the chance to photograph you, and introducing me both to Kirstie and Lindsay. It was so much fun!

- Josh

Portland Headshots | Leslie

Continuum Photography — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:22:38 +0000

A few weeks ago I shot some portraits of my friend Leslie in SE Portland. She mainly wanted a good image to use as her Facebook profile photo so she could participate in our July Facebook contest. We shot for about an hour, and I think we ended up with lots of great images. Facebook is obviously a dynamic part of how we all interact on the web with one another, but I’m always a bit surprised at some of the photos of my friends that wind up on there. Personally I’m committed to raising the bar a little. I’m sure I tend to notice these things more since I’m in the business of imagery, but the images on your Facebook are often viewed by hundreds of people, friends, family, acquaintances, and sometimes even employers. My suggestion to everyone (friend and photographer alike) is to considering eliminating out of focus images, or those that are over or under exposed. If an image of you isn’t flattering don’t post it (or de-tag yourself)! Everyone gets caught in an unflattering photo from time to time, but why put it online? And if you can, schedule a portrait session! It’s a lot of fun, and you might be surprised how good it feels to see yourself looking your best!

- Josh