I had the good fortune to work with the dancers at  Academie de Ballet Classique (ABC) this summer to create some great portraits for their production of the classic Peter & the Wolf. I spent the day shooting portraits of all the dancers (from pre-school age on up) at the ABC studio. A few weeks later I was also able to meet up with the 2 of the lead dancers-Peter (Kendra K.) and the Wolf (Lauren W,) in Sisters, where we did an outdoor shoot in the woods. Lauren and Kendra were such great sports trouncing through the forest–even with Lauren’s sore knee– letting me set them up on some precarious places. I hope you all enjoy viewing these pictures as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Click the arrows on the side to advance the pictures

Here are some highlights from the actual show and recital that I shot as well.

I also want to give out a huge thanks to Valerie H. (owner of ABC) for allowing me to be able to capture the memories for the dancers and to Deborah W. for helping with the logistics and transport for the dancers in Sisters–and for playing the part of my VALS (voice activated light stand).

Summer is over and well…it’s been a while since I posted anything here. Not that I haven’t been shooting. Since my last post I’ve traveled to Alaska and Seattle AND cyclocross season has started here in the Pacific NW. I’ve been spending time shooting CX races for the last month or so. Early season Central Oregon CX=dust, dust and more dust. The rains will be coming and I plan to be shooting some up in Portland this fall/winter and CX Nationals are once again going to be in Bend so there will be plenty of CX weather to come.

I started a YouTube channel for my event photography company where I have been posting the highlights reels for our events: http://www.youtube.com/cascadeeventphtgrphy

We also started a Facebook fan page to keep everyone up-to-date on what going on: http://www.facebook.com/CascadeEventPhotography

Here are a few of my favorite pics so far from this season, stay tuned for more.

Enjoy

-t-

Last week we had a deluge of cyclist descend on our fair area. Over the week 3 sets of races took place. The largest of the 3 was the USA Cycling Jr./Under 23/Elite National Road Championships, which ran in conjunction with the Para-cycling National Road Championships. My partner and I spent the week shooting the action and the emotion of the races.

Racers from the age of 10 and up raced on a variety of courses around town. The younger juniors and para-athletes competed early in the week in a road race around the golf community of Tetherow, a criterium around North West Crossing and an individual time trial on Skyliner Road.  The older athletes competed on a similar, but slightly longer, time trial course, a fast and furious 4 corner criterium course in downtown Bend, and the ever grueling road race course around Awbrey Butte.

The older racers were definitely exciting to watch, however I personally got a lot of personal inspiration from the younger and para athletes. Even though in some of the younger age groups there was marked disparity in ability, it was great to see the drive that these kids possessed to try their best and not give up regardless. The para-athletes, some with missing or deformed limbs  and others who were blind, showed everyone what it’s about to enjoy the sheer thrill of competition and the determination to let nothing stand in their way. One para-athlete, Bend’s own Rachael Scdoris, is no stranger to high level competitions. Rachael, who is legally blind, has competed in the Iditarod Sleddog race in Alaska several time.

While the older athletes represent the immediate future of the sport, the younger ones represent the enduring nature of the sport. The para-athletes will continue to make an impression on me for many years to come, as they represent the drive and determination in the face of adversity that everyone needs to hold on to and strive to emulate.

Here are some of my highlights from the races. The entire set of race photos can be seen in the galleries at Cascade Event Photography.

Enjoy and stay inspired!

Well I had a pretty busy past 2 weekends. Hard core cyclocross racing was in full effect in the Pacific NW.

First came the The Stanley Portland Cup US Gran Prix of Cyclocross weekend–2 days at Portland International Raceway.Then, the next week, 4 day here at home in Bend for the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships.

Morning racing in the fog at PIR

First up was the USGP racing in Portland. The conditions and the crowds didn’t disappoint. The first morning saw the course fogged in and the racers battling the chilling wet air and the sticky mud. As the day progressed the sun came out and the racing got even hotter. Here are some highlights from that first day.

An OTB rider takes the opportunity to make a buck from the crowd

Day 2 for the The Stanley Portland Cup saw conditions change again. The temperature was crisp and the morning sky’s were clear, mostly due to the raging wind that was blowing most of morning (so fierce that several of the team tents that were left up overnight were found that morning ripped up and blow out onto the course). As the day went on the winds blew in the clouds and the temperature went down more. As the racing heated, up so did the crowds–mostly from bbqs and propane heaters…and the occasional beer. Some of the less serious racers were actually able to make a couple bucks by pluck dollar bills out of spent beer bottles the spectators were placing on the course. Here are some highlights from that day’s racing.

A racer takes a flyer...not your typical flyer for racing

The second long weekend saw the racing and the crowds migrate South to Bend, OR  for the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships. Bend is a hot-bed for cycling and outdoor activity and has been bless to host both the road and the CX National Championships for ’09 (and will again in ’10). CX Nationals consisted of 4 full days of racing for  men/woman, Jrs/master’s, amateurs/pros. And in typical fashion, Bend rolled out the red carpet for the visitors and put on what some are saying is one of the best (if not the best) CX Championships ever. Many are already looking forward to coming back for next year’s event.

The crowds enjoying the pros throw it down in the elite men's race

As with the last race in Portland, the temperatures dropped and some of the racers were starting their races in temps hovering around 0 degrees. The ground was frozen and had snow for most of the first couple days and then the temps started to rise and the mud started to come out later in the weekend (ahh Bend has everything to offer a CX racer). With the frozen ground the first couple of days, the less fortunate were hitting the deck all around the course (someone was joking they were averaging 3 broken bones a day…probably not far off). While we had 4 days of racing and thousands of pictures taken by myself and my Cascade Event Photography partner Dina Boswell, I’ve decided not to subject you to all of them unless you want   Here is a sampling of my favorites from the 4 days of action here in town. If you want to see more, we’ll have all of our race photos up shortly on the Cascade Event Photography website.

So as many of the pros head to Europe, the CX season in the PNW is pretty much in the bag. Hope you enjoy seeing what I’ve enjoyed shooting this year.

On Saturday, this past weekend, before we got hit with the season’s first snow, I made a trip with my eldest daughter to Fall Fest in downtown Bend. Turnout this year seemed low, not sure if it was the gray clouds that prevailed most of the day, or the economy. The vendors were trying to stay positive.  One of my daughters favorites was there, a lady who paints with coffee…don’t ask me how she came up with that, but it’s cool. She does some original works, but her most interesting ones are take offs from classics like: the Mona Latte, and a couple of different ones from Van Gogh and Degas.

My initial thought for the day was that I’d experiment with some street shooting, basically carrying the camera around my neck and covertly taking picture or people and activities. Well that didn’t work as expected…I am going to practice that some more in the coming months. Even though the crowds were sparse, the music was hopping. I got some pics of a couple bands: the young guys were on the “locals-only” stage and the other (Flowmotion from Seattle) was playing the main stage.

As we move into fall and winter, I thought it only fitting to end with a  nice fire to help warm things up. Hope you enjoy -t-