We were recently blessed to spend some time with the amazing crew from Framed.
What is Framed? In their own words, “Lets be real. Photography is addicting. It’s an intoxicating craftiness that truly has limitless potential for those that crave the art. It is in its own world of ever-changing possibilities and is constantly evolving. With that being said, we decided to create a show. A free, weekly broadcast that captivates as well as educates. Every week we will bring different photographic talents to you that will share a piece of their wisdom, their work, their process, and their art.

[FRAMED] will take you on location to local, national, and internationally known photographers for the purpose of bringing a behind-the-scenes view of photography to your computer. All we ask of you is to share, participate and jump on the train of inspirational photography education to inspire you to be unique. Be careful, you might get addicted.” Yeah, pretty rad…

We are absolutely honored to be featured on Framed and hope you enjoy… Rock on friend.

Father James Keller was a Priest who made it his goal to inspire others.   One of my favorite quotes was formed by Father Keller, “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.”  How true.

In fact, not only does the candle not lose anything, because of the very nature of the candles being (to produce light), the more “fellow” candles it can ignite, the more light produced…much more light in fact than if it was a soul source of illumination.

I believe that we as artists, especially those that are fortunate enough to make a living creating art, are sometimes less willing to share what makes us successful for fear that we’ll be replaced, that someone will learn our “tricks” and steal away our business…

Something I love about my dear friend Kevin Kubota is his willingness to share what makes him successful, in order to ignite others to produce their own light.  Kevin has been a constant source of inspiration to me, and thousands of others.  The world is certainly a brighter place because of his work, and more importantly, because of his heart.

I’m honored to be working with Kevin on an amazing project that’s going to share a wealth of information to photographers of all skill levels, “The Lighting Notebook: 101 Lighting Styles and Setups for Digital Photographers.”  Not only will this be released in a beautiful book format that you’ll want to flip through over and over again, but we’ll also offer a companion app complete with search options, video and more that will work with your idevices…  Get ready to be illuminated this Fall…  Until then, here’s a teaser…

we had a blast a few weeks ago with some stellar models and the crew from central oregon magazine.  we spent some time on the streets of downtown bend to lend to the urban feel they wanted for this particular spread and hit up our friends at the oxford as well for a few locations.  the oxford is a “must-stay” if you’re planning a trip to bend or need a night to get away.

here’s the cover of the wedding issue and a few of our favorite things, rock on…

when you receive an email from rachael hershmann, lace and likes, asking if you want to partner with her and debbie dennis, bridalhood, on a concept shoot for an inspiration contest on elizabeth anne designs’ blog, you don’t say no.

so, we didn’t.  despite the freezing cold temperatures, rach and deb (helpful husbands in tow) with some radness from marigold vintage events, transformed this small garage into a wonderland of epic color and glitter.  our wonderful model was adorned with a (never before photographed) clair la faye dress. floral was supplied by russ wholesale flowers.

if you are planning a wedding, touching base with any of these vendors is highly recommended.  rachael and debbie, thank you for letting us hang with you,  rock on friends…

you can view the blog entry with a ton of images here…

it was time for a new website.

in looking at our options for hosting, design, tweak-ability, back end and customer service support, we felt there really was no choice, or rather a need for a choice.

we had heard amazing things about big folio from current users and were stoked that the bf crew are based out of our home town.   decision made.

jeff caston, the king of customer service in our industry, lead me through the simple proces of creating the site and answered my questions within minutes of hitting “send.”

recently, I was honored to be interviewed by jen thompson (fellow photographer of radness and bf queen)  check it out.

if you’re in need of a website, look no further than big folio friends.  rock on.

We’re honored to be featured on Alt Blu’s blog in an area dedicated to Small Business Success.

Alt Blu is a business located in Central Oregon that’s dedicated to innovative web design & development, branding & logo design, graphic design as well as custom illustration.  I thought it a fantastic idea on their part to highlight and interview area businesses on a range of topics and we’re certainly honored to be one of the first.

Thanks so much Alt Blu, rock on!

We feel blessed to be involved with The Justice Conference, this Friday and Saturday, the 11th and 12th of February at the Riverhouse Convention Center.

What is the conference all about?  Taken from the front page of The Justice Conference website, “The Justice Conference is about the nature of justice.   Justice as the foundation of human rights.  Justice as the expression of equality.  Justice as the fabric of freedom. Justice as forgiveness.  Justice as reconciliation. Justice as restored relationship between the creator and the created.  Justice as the very nature of God.”

Gifted speakers, musicians, and organizations, all dedicated to justice, will be gathering to seek their part in this massive topic.

Saturday evening, I’ll be speaking with my inspiring friend, Kevin Kubota, as he and his wife Clare host a dinner conversation surrounding Creative Advocacy.

We hope to discuss how we as artists, in any media, can come along side organizations and help tell their story and the stories of those they work with.

If you aren’t signed up for the Justice Conference, please consider it.  Rarely is such a production held, especially in our area.  Rock on.

Nearly 10 years ago, my life was changed forever for two reasons.  One, I married my better three quarters in Lauren, and two, I saw what could be done with a camera when Internationally known photographer and educator Kevin Kubota photographed our wedding.

I’ve always enjoyed photography, but it wasn’t until this point in my life that I realized photography was something I’d really like to pursue on a professional level.  I’m thankful that realization came at a point when I had an amazing opportunity to get to know Kevin and his wife Clare, whom I consider to be my mentors and dear friends.

Kevin’s genius behind the camera as well as his production of time saving software solutions for photographers is obvious.  What’s more obvious, and a great deal more important in the long run, is Kevin’s amazing heart and ability to inspire.

In looking back over the last ten years, had I not met Kevin and been inspired by him, I likely wouldn’t have traveled the path that I did.  That path has led me to some of the most incredible places on the earth, shooting for those who help the most vulnerable.  My photography has made a difference in the world, I’ve seen that.  I know that’s not by my own doing.  I was simply meant to do it, therefore, I was meant to know Kevin and be inspired by him.  My greatest hope is that my actions, not just my photography, will inspire others around me.  I suppose then I could say that it’s really a chain of inspiration that I hope will never be broken…  Kevin, me, you…  Who will you inspire?

I feel honored to have been asked to speak at a very special 20th anniversary of Kevin’s Digital Photography Bootcamp.  Photographers come from all over the world to spend a week with one of our generation’s greatest photographers and educators in Kevin and he’s decided to offer this class of attendees something extra…  You can find more information on Bootcamp and SummitUP here and here.

The title of my presentation is “Redefining Success Through Inspiration.”  I hope and pray it will inspire those in attendance to make the world a better place and settle for nothing less.

Rock on.

If you’re around a Barnes and Noble, pick up a copy of this months PDN Magazine.  We were recently featured, along with our dear friend and producer Elizabeth Fischer, in an article discussing the need for still photographers to form partnerships with editors to take advantage of cameras that now shoot HD video.  Video is a great new revenue stream for still photographers, but very time consuming.

PDN highlighted a specific video project that Elizabeth produced and I directed for  Alternatives Women’s Center in the San Diego area.  We had a great group of friends working on the project with us, Gary Christenson, Conor Miller, and Peter Wiley, all who are involved with our media non-profit, Emote360.

I’m looking forward to directing more pieces and learning more about film, it’s my favorite way to story-tell…

Here’s a short commercial style film we shot for their web page intro…

Here’s a longer piece Alternatives is using on their website as well as for awareness events…

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from the extremely talented wedding blogger Annie Packman who operates the popular blog, “Marry You Me.”

Annie was working on a guest project for the highly visited wedding blog site, “The Sweetest Occasion,” and asked if I’d like to be involved by taking a few pictures.  Because I’ve titled the post of this blog entry, “The Sweetest Occasion,” you can guess I said yes.

It was a pleasure to meet Annie as well as Nickol Hayden, the very talented owner of Enlightened Patisserie.  If you have a second, check out Marry You Me, The Sweetest Occasion and Enlightened Patisserie.  You can view our article directly by punching this link here.  Rock on…

Friends, those who we draw inspiration from, and companies that exemplify great business practice.  Kevin, Clare, Wendy, Jed and Vicki, Bill, Craig and the very lovable Doug–thank you for your support of Emote360 and your encouragement to keep going. 

As a special thank you and surprise, these companies (and the dear friends behind them) took out a full page ad in this months PDN magazine, thanking Emote360 for its work.  What a blessing.  Thank YOU!

Photographers, if you aren't aware of these companies, you need to be!  If you are, thanks for supporting them.
Blessings,
–B

We were blessed to have our media NPO, Emote360, featured in this months PDN Magazine.  Emote, which is co-operated with friends Gary Christenson and Elizabeth Fischer, was established to help other non-profits better tell their story utilizing new and social media as well as high end video and still photography.
PDN, thank you for your support of Emote360 and for highlighting those who choose to give back to their communities by sharing their gifts and talents.