An interesting feeling happened to me while I was in Paris. It’s a little hard to describe, but I just wasn’t feeling my camera. I was enjoying being there and the first day or two I had fun shooting. But very quickly, I realized I wasn’t enjoying lugging around a body and three pro lenses (or about $6000 worth of gear) all day. I wanted to lighten up. Take it easy. Relax…. I needed something simple. Plus, my 5D MK II is the camera I use for “work” and I was trying to be creative in a non “work” kind of way.

In researching where we were staying, I discovered that a Lomography Store was only a few blocks away from our rental apartment in the Marais. Lomography Stores sell all kinds of toy cameras including Holgas and Lomos. I have a Holga, but was never that stoked on it. It’s a little too toyish for my tastes. I like cameras that don’t have light leaks

I had read about the Lomo LC-A+ a long time ago and really wanted one. They’re not too hard to find, but I never wanted one at the same time that I could buy one easily. Walking in to the Lomography Store, the right impulse buy happened at the right time and I knew this was the camera I wanted to shoot for the rest of my trip.

This camera is pretty basic and it’s not fussy at all. It’s really fun to shoot. One of the funnier things about shooting film again is every so often, I’d catch myself chimping after I clicked the shutter. Old habits die hard.

Anyway, these next couple Ides of May posts will be all Lomo and all film. Thanks for looking.

Around this time of year, I get a lot of emails from photo students about to graduate. I think part of their curriculum is to go out and ask photographers they like how they got their start.

So, when Andrew Torres emailed me a few weeks ago, I decided to make a blog post out of it. Hopefully this answers his questions about how to start out as a photographer. At least it tells my story and I can reference it again the next time a photo student emails me.

AT: How did you get started in photography and what education/training did you receive?

LB: I learned the basics of photography in high school and did it as a hobby for a number of years. In 2001, I quit my web design job and started working as a studio manager/1st assistant for an architectural photographer by the name of Philip Beaurline. I knew some Photoshop from my design days, but I know nothing about professional photography. Everything I know today I learned by working for him.

It was a very lucky time to make the shift into photography. He was still shooting film and he was shooting with a view camera primarily. I learned to load film, label shot rolls, and how to set up a view camera. After the shoot, the film workflow became my responsibility. I took it to the lab, made selects on a light table, drum scanned the selects, cleaned it up in Photoshop, made prints and CDs, and then delivered the job to the client. So not only did I learn all the nuances of film and the look of film, but I also learned all the digital post production side of things, how to interact with clients, and to know how to properly deliver a photo shoot. It was really an amazing experience and I don’t think I would have learned as much had I just freelanced as a photo assistant.

AT: Would you recommend internships or assisting before starting your own business?

LB: Absolutely. I think internships are good place to start. It gets your foot in the door and there’s not a big commitment on either part. Once you move into assisting, make sure you assist a photographer who you admire or for someone who shoots the subject you’re interested in. If you like architecture photography, assist an architectural photographer. If you like food photography, assist a food photographer. If you like travel photography, assist a travel photographer. If you like all three, you can assist me.

AT: Are you a member of any professional organizations and would you recommend joining?

LB: Definitely start by joining ASMP. The main things you get from it are tons of business materials ranging from estimates, to copyrights, to legal documents; a national network of photographers that you can reach out to for help or advice; and amazing discounts on everything from computers to business Insurance. After that, if you want to shoot editorial, I definitely recommend joining Editorial Photographers (EP). The member forum has helped me so much throughout my career as a photographer. If you want to go more commercial, APA is a good place to be as well. They have a great find an assistant listing program as well as invaluable information and discounts.

AT: What piece of equipment could you not live without for your type of photography?

LB: Besides a computer, Lightroom and Photoshop, I could not live without the Canon 24mm TS-E II and the Canon 17mm TS-E. The TS means Tilt-Shift and these lenses allow me to shoot architecture almost as well as if I had shot it with a view camera. Architecture photography is all about perspective control. These lenses allow me to keep my camera level, yet rise and shift the lens to compose the without getting keystone distortion. Not only that, but these lenses are incredibly sharp and show very little (if any) chromatic aberration.  I just hope Canon release new editions of the 45mm TS-E and the 90mm TS-E. Nice lenses, but not sharp enough with for a 20MP digital SLR.

For digital, I’d say your lenses are more important than you camera. For film, they’re both important.

AT: What are the advantages/disadvantages of working out of a larger area like Portland?

LB: Portland (and Oregon) is fortunate to have all the support you need to pull off a really big production. Everything from an international airport to professional camera and lighting rental can be found here. Plus there are some amazing rental studios and great locations all over town. There are some great stylists living here as well. There’s a strong creative vibe here and I feel lucky to be a part of it. The downside of working here is the cost of living is pretty low and there are A LOT of photographers and assistants moving here all the time. With this much competition, you really have to work hard to make yourself stand out. I would not want to start my career here. Start someplace smaller and build up your portfolio. Then move to a medium sized market like Portland.

AT: What have you found to be the most effective ways to market yourself?

LB: You just can’t do one thing and expect it to be effective. You have to market everywhere and it has to be consistent of what you shoot (your brand). You must have an easy to use and fast loading website, a carefully edited portfolio, email marketing campaign, direct mail marketing campaign, social marketing network, all of it. It’s not cheap and it takes up a lot of your time. So you have to build it into your cost of doing business. Also, word of mouth is so important, so make sure you do a good job, deliver on time, and work well with others.

AT: Any other words of wisdom you would offer a photography student nearing graduation?

Being a working professional photographer is a job. It’s not romantic, it’s not glamorous, and you’re probably not going to make a living at it for about 5 years. But it’s a fun job and it can be very rewarding personally and emotionally. So, if you don’t have any business skills, start getting some. You’re going to need it.

Also, do your cost of doing business every year. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know the real costs of running a photography business.

Over the past year, the five of us set out to document and illustrate the cycle of food at the Oregon Food Bank, a non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating hunger in Oregon. Each of us took a different approach photographically and literally went from farm to table to highlight every aspect of where the food comes from and where it goes. The body of work that we’ve created will be donated to the Oregon Food Bank to be used in their marketing and promotional materials.

25 selected photographs from the project will be on display as large-format prints for one night only on January 21, 2010 at Venue Pearl. Details below:

When: Thursday, January 21, 2010 from 5:00-10:00pm
Where: Venue Pearl – 323 NW 13th Avenue Portland, OR 97209

I would like to personally invite you to come to this special exhibition. Please feel free to bring a guest and pass on this email. The event is free and open to the public. Music and refreshments will be provided. You’re encouraged to bring a canned good donation for the Oregon Food Bank.

I’d also like to thank our sponsors, Pro Photo Supply, Venue Pearl, House Spirits, Pushdot Studio, and Rogue Brewery. Collectively, they are providing prints, rental, refreshments, and a space for the event. Without them, we would not have been able to put on such a wonderful event.

For more information, visit http://www.photo-force.com/

For a sneak peak of the photographs, go to http://www.photo-force.com/2009/12/oregon-food-bank-preview/

Also, Click here for a PDF flyer to print off and put up in your office or school.

Hope to see you there!

Back in my early web design days, I worked in this tiny 800 square foot office with five other guys whose ages ranged from 21 to 60. Our wood laminate desks were back to back in rows, so you felt isolated even though you were two feet away. We had a white drop ceiling with fluorescent lighting and two windows that didn’t open. It was also in a loud industrial park for a phone company. Needless to say, it was a miserable place to work, but it was my first “real” job, so what did I know.

Fast forward 11 years when I go to meet Chris Erickson at his top notch design firm’s office in the OMCC Building. My jaw just dropped. Parliament is an amazing space and I was just blown away by how cool it was. If my office looked this good back then, I would never have quit.

The space is true a reflection of Parliament’s aesthetic of quality, clean design, and superb execution. A lot of thought went behind every detail in the spaces all spearheaded by Chris’s great design sense and collaboration with master carpenter Kyle Sharp. Everything from the slat walls to the pizza oven work table was crafted with amazing amount of care and effort. I really had a great time shooting the interiors and think we got some really good stuff. Check it out:

All the posters are original screen prints. Chris has a huge collection. This isn’t even a quarter of them.

How cool is this table?!?!

Speaking of, as I was setting up the page design today, I kept humming a lyric from R.E.M.’s song “Orange Crush”. You know, the part that goes “Follow me, don’t follow me I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush” Well, I looked up the lyrics and “We are agents of the free” is in the first verse. How appropiate for all this social media stuff.

One of my favorite features is how the images are displayed. Click on the thumbnail below:

Neat huh? What else is cool… at the bottom of every page is a link that says ShareThis. Click it to send any page on my site to your favorite networking site, group bookmarking, or even email it to someone.

Under the hood is really where a lot of the magic happens. By using the power of WordPress, I’m able to update this site anywhere from any web capable device. So, while on a shoot, we could post working images to a private page just for the client to see. Or if I find a cool location, I can upload a photo of it right to the blog. I can even update my portfolio from anywhere. Also, any redesign in the future will be a snap. I’ll just have to change the template.

Another reason for the redesign was to help me set a goal to post every job I shoot this year. Like my old photoblog, I want to keep a visual journal of my progress through the year and see what it looks like all together. Plus, it’ll keep you up to date with what I’ve been doing lately.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the new format and design. Have a great and prosperous 2009!

It’s been a really great year and I wanted to touch base to say thanks. I’ve been very fortunate to have shot so many wonderful projects and wanted to share some highlights. I also have some exciting personal news!

First, the really big news is…. I’m getting married! This November 1st, I will be marrying the love of my life, Lauren Brooks. We met in Virginia and then moved to Portland together over 3 years ago. Needless to say, it’s worked out quite well and we’ve decided to tie the knot.

Which means, I will be taking a long break starting October 27 through November 17.

I’ve also hired my first studio manager, Jonny Davenport, to handle the emails and phone calls while I’m away. You can email him here or call the new studio line at 503-232-0988.

So, what else is going on…

The year started off with a luxurious bang photographing a new condominium called The Wyatt in the Pearl District of Portland. Working with local ad agency heroes CMD, we pulled off 12 stylized shots in only two days for Prometheus Real Estate. Molly Anderson was our superb stylist on this job, along with Jeff T. Smith as my assistant. Everyone worked really well together. I love having a good crew! One of my favorite shots is this one below of the rooftop garden patio. It was a tough shot to because the landscaping was so new, but we wanted to illustrate a sense of the space, the fire pit, and the water feature all in one. Models in this shot were CMD staff and Prometheus Real Estate staff. What a good looking bunch!

After that, I went a little outside my comfort zone and did a B&W Avedon inspired classic fashion shoot for the Ardea, a luxury apartment tower in South Waterfront neighborhood of Portland designed by GBD Architects. We rented out the Pittock Mansion for two days and brought in a crew of 3 stylists (Allison Jones, Megan Kaufman, and Lisa Joe), two assistants, (Jeff T. Smith and Dan McLaughlin), a freelance AD (Samantha Gardner, of Seattle/Portland Bride & Groom), and five models (from Mode Models and local freelancers). It was a big production with casting, tech scouting, test shooting, catering, you name it! With big production comes big results. The final photos are being used as permanent wall covering on every floor of the Ardea. The biggest photo is the lobby and it’s roughly 20’ high by 22’ feet wide (yes, that’s feet not inches). Here’s the photo that was selected for that jumbo size.

The whole year has also been peppered with lots of editorial shoots. Most have been for Portland Monthly and Portland Spaces, but I’ve also shot a profile of Nando Costa of Nervo for UK magazine Computer Arts, The Raw Family for Natural Health, Jackie “Scoobie” Stanley a Southwest Flight Attendant/former Raiders Cheerleader for Spirit Magazine, and interiors of Lounge Lizard for Antenna. In October, I had two magazine covers coming out simultaneously. I shot the cover stories for both Imbibe magazine and Portland Spaces.  Be sure to pick up the magazines on the shelves, too!

I guess the economic slowdown and housing crunch isn’t a factor here in Portland. My biggest increase of new clients has been in the architecture area.  I’ve shot several new projects including, a remodeled home by Jessica Helgerson Interior Design (featured on DesignSponge here), the Clackamas Town Center for DLR Group, two private residences by SRM Architecture & Marketing, and The Rebound Joint Center at Southwest Washington Medical Center, Columbia Gorge Title Company, and two private residences by Surround Architecture. I also shot some interiors of all the Elephants Delicatessens in Portland (they have the best sandwiches in town!). Right now, I just finished up photographing two educational projects for Mahlum Architects and the beauty shots for Schoolhouse Electric’s next catalog.

Clackamas Town Center designed by DLR Group

Private Residence designed by SRM Architecture & Marketing.

Private Residence designed by Surround Architecture.

Elephant’s Deli on NW 22nd

Another big shoot worth mentioning was for UBS. I shot a profile story on three of their retiree customers. The shoot had me flying all over the country; from Portland to Santa Cruz, CA; back to Portland and then to Athens, NY; and then back to Portland for the last shoot. Even though there was a lot of travel, each shoot day was really laid back and fun. When working with real people, I try to keep the atmosphere relaxed and comfortable. I think the shots come out better and more natural if no one is feeling stressed. It was a lot of fun and I met some great people. The shots will be featured in a forthcoming Wealth Management magazine. If you’re a UBS customer, you should see it in your mailbox soon.

As I said, these have been just some of the shoots this year. I tried to mention everything, but there’s been a lot. I’m working on a new website that will give you a chance to see everything I shoot. It’ll be pretty cool.

Thank you to everyone for making this my best year ever. Get ready for some awesome holiday gifts.

All the best,

Lincoln

This was my biggest project to date with Portland Spaces. I shot nine locations over six days to fill twenty-three pages of the October/November 2008 issue. It was a really a great experience to shoot so many different types of work spaces, yet keep a consistent theme going throughout. Working closely with Jason Blackheart, Portland Spaces’ Art Director, really helped to pull it all together.

Making this cover shot happen was almost too easy. Linda’s home office pavilion provided a great backdrop for the type considerations of the cover layout. The day was pretty sunny, so I used a strobe inside her studio to match the outdoor light. I really wanted the shot to come out natural looking. The trick was to have the light source coming from the same angle of the sun.

Here are some behind the scenes photos shot by my trusty assistant, Dan McLaughlin.

We really didn’t have a lot of time to get this shot. The sun was creeping around an rising up the side wall. If it got to high, it would have been too hot for the shot.

I shot this with a Canon 5D, 45mm TSE, and tethered to a Windows machine. Jason Blackheart is on the left.

Shooting tethered outside? Make sure your laptop battery is charged.

We shot a lot of different versions of Linda’s son walking. Here, I want him to act like he was running and then start moving on my signal. That way I could position him exactly where I wanted him, yet still get the blurry effect. The end shot was actually a composite of three different frames.

It’s funny how a laptop has become the new Polaroid.

Here Jason and I are talking about options the shot for the cover.

When the Art Director smiles, you know you’ve got it in the bag.

An article about Jessica and the home was published today on Design*Sponge, a website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney.

Here’s one of my favorites from the shoot.

UPDATE: Design*Sponge’s Grace Bonney spotlighted one of my photos of the EMP Museum at the end of last week. Thanks Grace!