Fashion Fun

 

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the Metamorphose fashion show on the University of Oregon campus. The theme of the show was upcycling, and each designer got to participate in three challenges and show off their creations. Among the ten models walking the runway, was the beautiful La Belle Fille!

Upon entering the show, I was immediately greeted with a free pair of earrings cut from old records. Talk about starting things off on the right note! After taking a moment to enjoy the live band in the lobby, I snagged a front row seat and waited for the show to begin.

I was impressed by the diversity and creativity of the designers. Each designer had their own model, who walked in all three of their looks. It was fun to see how the models and the designers had come together to create the perfect look. Thanks to everyone that had a hand in making Metamorphose happen!  

                                                                 -MM

Belle-icorn

La Belle Fille and I recently went adventuring, with the goal of capturing her beautiful unicorn horn in all of it's magical glory. We decided to go Delta Ponds, which is quickly becoming one of our favorite spots to shoot. There is such a variety of locations, and plenty of opportunities to critter watch between set ups.

I nearly backed myself into the pond while shooting from beneath this foot bridge. Never a dull moment with Belle and I! It was cold outside, but the sun was out and the ponds had a decent amount of foot traffic. Belle got a lot of attention from admirers, and who can blame them... it's not everyday you stumble upon a unicorn while bird watching!

Nothing could make Belle break character, even when we wrapped things up and went out for some pizza to warm ourselves up. As always, she was full of laughs and good energy. Thank you, Belle!
                                        -MM

Snow days!

We had a very unexpected snow fall recently! We don't get snow often in our little valley, and most of our town was shut down for about a week. Ashlei, Josh and I took advantage of the opportunity and captured some photos in the beautiful and empty streets.

Even though the temperature was low, the sun was out and the snow was pristine. As always, Ashlei and Josh were eager to explore! We walked around my neighborhood and settled on the perfect little side street. Soon we noticed some teenagers keeping an eye on us out their window. Clearly, the paparazzi cannot be avoided ;)

We were lucky to grab some photos when we did, later that afternoon things started to warm up a bit and the pavement made its appearance from beneath the snow. Thanks to Ashlei and Josh for saying 'Let's shoot!' without hesitation, be it the hottest day or the coldest. 

                                                          -MM

Friendship

Whew, summer is a busy time of year. I apologize for my brief disappearance!

This cutie is Persephone, whom I was honored to work with this weekend, along with her owner Lia and the lovely La Belle Fille. I originally met up with these girls downtown, but after agreeing that it was too blistering hot to get anything done we took a lunch break and headed to a park with good shade cover.

We wanted to capture their friendship in photos, so we settled in for the afternoon and went for a lifestyle feel. It soon became clear that there would be no shortage of laughs and fun moments! They made my job a piece of cake!

Eventually even Persephone had exhausted herself, so we packed up and headed our separate ways. It was great to work with a new model and an old friend all in the same shoot. Big thanks to Lia, Persephone and La Belle Fille! 

                                                   -MM

Another Adventure

La Belle Fille and I decided to meet up on the Lane Community College campus where we both take classes and do a quick shoot. After checking out a few spots we agreed that we might have better luck if we headed downtown. Little did we know, we were in for another adventure! We hopped on a bus and soon found ourselves heading the wrong direction. A passenger overhead our concern and informed us we were on our way to a nearby town and the round trip would take an hour. The first couple photos here were taken along the side of the freeway on our walk back to school...

After getting back to the school and on the right bus, we made it downtown. Our next stop was the church we had tried to shoot at the last time we met up. It was there that we finally had a lucky break! The front porch and stairs of the building were perfectly lit and completely abandoned.

Thanks to Belle for another entertaining and unpredictable afternoon!

                                                                                    -MM

Oscar the Cheerful

The weather has started to be consistently beautiful and that means it's time to bring out the summer fashion! And if anyone has a good sense of style, it's this little boy right here. Meet Oscar and his mother Kristin.

I met up with these two at the Knight Library on the University of Oregon campus to take some family photos. This guy is quickly gaining height, and no one could stand the thought of his Easter outfit from last month going undocumented! So we began our mission. 

Oscar was extremely patient with us as we set him up in a couple of different seating areas around the building. And of course, he quickly developed a fan club! It was a great way to spend a sunny afternoon. Thanks to Kristin and Oscar for being such happy company!
               -MM

Downtown detours!

I spent an afternoon during Spring Break wandering the downtown area with model La Belle Fille. We had originally planned to shoot at a church in the area, but upon arrival discovered that the stairway was occupied by some very friendly, but very talkative street folk. We spent the first half hour of our shoot speaking with one of these people, then went searching for a more abandoned location!

Our second plan was to use the ever-changing legal graffiti walls as our background, but it must have been the perfect day to go painting, because they were all being used! Then, we had our eye on an old tea house, but just as we neared it people swarmed the stairway. It seemed it was going to be one of those days, but we didn't give up! 

We kept walking, and along the way we captured a variety of images, including a more permanent graffiti piece. Sometimes it's good to get thrown out of your box, because you notice things you would have never seen before! It was a challenge, and because Belle had such a great easy-going attitude about it all, it was also a fun adventure!
                                                                                            -MM