Halle’s Smooooth Words o’ Wisdom

The good folks at Mojo Studios just finished work on our new site and files were uploaded today. There are some kinks to work out yet and an ‘about’ page and ‘purchase prints’ page soon to be added. Stay tuned!

It’s not often we receive mention let alone praise from a really smart, prominent Economist. We photographed economist Bill Conerly for Oregon Business Magazine and art director Jon Ferland recently. Apparently Bill likes the picture we shot albeit a cropped version. He says so in his blog. Thank you for the mention Bill. And thanks to Marty, left, for agreeing to be photographed.  

Spent the weekend covering a conference at the Portland Hilton for a Washington, DC client: lots of snapshots plus some formalish portraits. This is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend. This fellow reminded me of John Matuszak. Tooz minus a head of hair.

This is a picture shot for myself and not necessarily the client.

I worked in the Dalles today. A friend from grad school called it the Dulls. There are some interesting old buildings that appear to need serious work. The town seems on the verge. I like the Dalles and want to shoot more pictures there.

Wow, who says you can’t make silk out of sow’s ear? This pic almost makes the aluminum plant look pretty! That plant which isn’t in operation anymore, sits adjacent to a Martin Marietta/Lockheed superfund site - but Mt. Adams in the distance kinda makes you forget about all that…

These 2 pictures were shot in a friend’s Portland garden three days ago with assistance from Mark Clawson. The flowers were lit with sliver and gold reflectors held very close to the flower.

He’s a designer & shaper based in Seaside, Oregon.

This picture, shot at a private local garden, will be used for fundraising efforts as part of The Berry Botanic Garden’s 30th anniversary celebration this spring.

Pictures for now. Words later.

I love frequent flyer miles plus the fact that Alaska Airlines has added direct flights from Portland since the last time I flew to AK. Dark Anchorage here I come. Yes, I still use pad and pencil.

So I was shooting pictures of the rock posters for a magazine article I’m writing when my monoball locked up completely(insert pun here) as if someone dabbed superglue inside the thing. There was no movement whatsoever and I started freakin’. ‘Relax Halle,’ I thought and don’t put the thing in the table vise just yet. Arca-Swiss ballheads cost a small fortune and are worth every penny imo. Mine had performed flawlessly for 7 years.

Desperate, I considered roaring to the nearest photo store, Portland’s venerable Citizens Photo, and asking for help, a rental or worse yet buying a new monoball.

It then dawned on me: Google it baby!

This article and Bob Johnson’s words, “Simply grab the main locking knob firmly and force-rotate it clockwise about an eighth of an inch,” saved my bacon. Today anyway.

Shit happens and shit gets fixed quickly sometimes thankfully.