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.

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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).

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-