Photo Shoots

Twinka Thiebaud Steps In

I met Twinka Thiebaud during the Photo Lucida show at the Portland Art Museum back in July and a few weeks later connected one-on-one over her table for tea. There was an instant ease and connection with Twinka as we shared aspirations and stories. I was tickled learning about her tribe of creatives that surround her now and the ones she's travelled with in the past, including her years with Henry Miller (you can find her book here), the many photographers and artists who have documented her over the years including Judy Dater (check out her infamous portrait of Imogen Cunningham and Twinka here), fellow Portlander Susan Seubert (with a current fine art portrait of Twinka), to name a few. I invited her to come into the studio and participate as a model in my most current work entitled 'DEEP in Between', which she'd seen at the Photo Lucida show. She was on board and we set a time to get together to play in the 'sandbox'. Thoughts about end of life, tranquility, energy, play and power were some of the themes we explored. I am always inspired and excited to collaborate with new people and the enigmatic Twinka was no exception. 

The Making of 'The Childhood Gravity Games'

​box of Peppermint Patties

Literally fueled by a box of peppermint patties I got nine children through a topsy turvy few weeks of photo shoots.  Some longer than others as I worked out the story I wanted to tell.  This is what creativity looks like after about 15 minutes. I didn't mind living amongst this chaos until it was time to clean up the photo studio for actual clients.

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This series is a culmination of a lot of head scratching, thinking, experimenting and playing. I wanted to address some socially relevant themes including children and danger, exploration of fantasy and the role of games (including video) in our children's upbringing and more. My resident technocrat Tamaio was a protagonist of imaginative proportions with truly fantastical attributes.​ The cast of characters who step into this weird and wonderful world made such a huge difference for telling this tale.  Special thanks to Finn, Ellora, Wiley, Olivia, Lucca, Callum, Henry and Charlie. And a shout out to our studio kitty 'Hazel' for getting in the way just enough to worm her way into the finished series.