Portland Oregon Wedding and Portrait Photographer
I took some photographs at the first Portland Blues Dance competition at Portland’s Lenora’s Room. It was a very fun event and got some great black and white dance pictures of the dancers. The rest of the night was filled with great blues dancing as well!
The starting day of Portland Lindy Exchange is finally posted here. The event was at the great Tiffany Center Crystal Ballroom where I shot one of my very first weddings in Portland. Can somebody remind me who the bands on each three days were?
You can order prints from this shopping cart:
http://evrim.zenfolio.com/f56202098
It even allows you to buy digital files (for personal usage only).
As you most likely know, I go out swing and blues dancing couple times a week in Portland. When I showed up at PPAA dance featuring Midnight Serenaders couple months ago, I saw that they were filming it!
The footage was used in Oregon Art Beat on Oregon Public Broadcasting - you can see it here:
Oregon Art Beat featuring Midnight Serenaders
I appear for couple seconds at the 10.5 second mark. Fun!
It is with great sadness I learned Frankie Manning passes away today. He was an amazing dancer, and has been teaching workshops event his year, at the age of 95. He was scheduled to be in Portland later this year. Earlier this month we photographed a shim sham event by Denise Steele that was done by him. The video of it was to be shown at his 95th birthday. I was able to attend some of his workshops and one thing I learned from him was to always smile while dancing. He had an infectious energy. He will be missed.
Manning and his partner Fredi Washington are credited by creating the first air step or an aerial at a 1935 competition at the famous Savoy Ballroom. He was also the chreographer for the famous Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers. On his birthdays he insisted on dancing with as many women as his age.
Here is a video of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pMDf4ciCRs
Here is his bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Manning
Denise Steele and Frankie Manning at 1999 Workshop at Crystal Ballroom
I had the pleasure of attending Portland Lindy Exchange this year as well. It was a blast. Due to my travel schedule, I am only able to post Day 2 at this point, but check back in about 10 days and I will post the other days as well.
If you want to see the whole set from day 2, go here.
I also shot some video - it is not edited, but it is fun to watch.
Portland Crystal Ballroom Shim Sham:
Here are couple quick picks:
Here is a very cool wedding I have done over the New Year’s eve and wanted to share. The theme of Chris and Alexis wedding was Great Gatsby. It was at the First Congregational Church for ceremony, and then we moved to the Art Museum to Fields Ballroom. The processional was escorted by guests with sparklers walking to the Art Museum.
The event coordinators Blush Consulting did a fantastic job and there were gambling tables, a live period gypsy jazz/swing band (Stolen Sweets), and even swing/charleston dance instructors. The drinks were cooled in an old claw foot tub. Portland has quite a few great event planners/coordinators and I am lucky to work with quite a few of them!
We also did a unique set up this wedding and had a portrait booth set up. The bride and groom provided the props and a second photographer took photos of all the guests in their cool flapper/zoot suit outfits with this decor. You can see a funny one of such a set up shot below.
So I rang the new year’s at the Art Museum. Towards the end, guests were served with chocolate cups with Bailey’s and also mini burgers and fries in martini glasses. Nice!
Venue: First Congregational Church, with reception following at Portland Art Museum Fields Ballroom
Coordinator: Blush Bridal Consulting
Band: Stolen Sweets
Dance Instructor: Ann Marie Hathaway
Catering: Salvador Molly’s
Label: Swing Dance Wedding, 20’s Wedding, Great Gatsby, Portland Art Museum, Portland Wedding Photographer
I know Sarah and Jonathan from swing dancing, and I was very honored when they picked me as their wedding photographer. We got some great shots at the World Forestry Center Miller Hall - a unique area with very high ceilings. There was a lot of swing dancing as well!
