Rain can’t stop us. We shot these engagement photos Downtown Portland on one of my favorite streets for shooting photos, just outside the Ace Hotel. Even with full on rain, there are a handful of sick spots to grab some frames. Dan + Rachel brought it for their engagement photos and we’re just getting warmed up. Their wedding at the Benson Hotel is just around the corner.




I would be totally alright if all engagement sessions wrapped up at Por Que No.

Ally + Darrell were married on New Years Eve and had an awesome industrial wedding in The Pearl District.  Being the middle of Winter, we photographed all of their portraits after dark and had a blast.

We started out with their first look at The Nines.

Ally is a writer.  They asked their guest to circle sentences that will remind them of their wedding day.

It was the first time I’ve seen a preacher say “Now you can kiss the bride and tweet about it!”  Ally + Darrell have an awesome semi-online dating story and Darrell is a social media consultant.

Love Portland’s awesome Pedicabies.

Brandon + Elisa were married at Oregon Golf Club - though they got suited up for game day at Hotel Modera downtown Portland.  We shot photos around the hotel and down on the Eastbank Esplanade  by Vera Katz .   I’ll post more from their wedding soon, in the meantime if you haven’t seen their awesome Mt. Hood / Timberline engagement session, check it out.

We’ve been traveling and shooting so much lately, so it is just now that I’ve found time to share some images from my wife Jacqi’s charming beach picnic birthday party on Sauvie Island.  She is beautiful and wise, and I’m so happy to be married to her.  Also, she just started a Doctorate program in Psychology, which amazes me.  It really is a perfect and natural fit for her so needless to say she’s doing great in the program.  I call it sleuth camp.  Beyond that, she amazes me the way she invests so deeply in relationships and genuinely cares for people.  So celebrating her life and the way she lives with her closest friends was perfect.

As our friends arrived we all enjoyed cocktails and appetizers.  We settled down and shared lots of laughs and spent time talking and eating Jacqi’s favorite, her’s dad’s meatball recipe!  After dark the lanterns were lit and over campaign and cake, we all toasted to my beautiful wife.

The guest list was a group of her closest friends who also helped me pull it all off.  I also had some timely help from Common Wealth who specializes in vintage event rentals in Portland.

p.s. I shot the majority of these photos on my hand-me-down Nikon - the same camera that our Grandpa has photographed our family with since the 60’s.  He gave it to me in jr. high, which was a huge stepping stone in my love for photography.  You’ll find it makes a guest appearance further down.

We served ’sauvie island iced teas’ in mason jars which was a peach and ginger concoction I spend the week prior perfecting.  And that’s a blanket from my childhood from my Grandma Emmy.