Jon Marshall Photography

Just a Test Drive

2009-03-19T21:59:00.001-07:00

So I'm totally new to video. Here's one from the new G7 and iMovie...pretty fun and learned a bunch

and the link to a larger version

Heli Skiing; Ruby Mtn Style

2009-03-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

There's skiing out here?

So I'm currently down in Nevada outside of Elko in the little ranch town of Lamoille. This is the home of Ruby Mtn Heliskiing. I'm fortunate enough to have some amazing friends down here that invited me down for a week of skiing, exercising, hiking, bs-ing, drinking, eating and having a pretty damn good time. I'm just finishing up day 2 of 7 and have already skiied some pretty unbelievable lines.

I picked up a new point and shoot for the summer, a Canon G7 with the CHDK raw hack and have been testing it out down here. Pretty sweet little camera, especially considering I found one on craigslist for 150 bucks. These are actually just some low res jpgs, (like low quality, blah color, no sharpening); I'm still fumbling through the RAW conversions, but it's hard to shoot this beautiful place poorly...

"Terminal Cancer"....3000 foot long, 10 foot wide couloir unlike pretty much anything I've ever skied. Pics just can't do it justice....And no, not many "guests" get to ski this...

A lifetime of skiing in just one drainage!

Louisiana

2009-02-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Louisiana. I was on a prescribed fire assignment just outside of Shreveport for what turned into a 23 day assignment. Fantastic trip. Great people, tons of fried food, a bit of fire and lots of overtime...and I'm getting back in shape. I've got another one tentatively scheduled for April. We'll be heading to Mississippi for a 30 day hitch around the 11th.

For those that care, we're burning off brush to return the overly thick understory to a more native grass understory. This stuff is so thick you can't walk through it. The trees are very fire resistant and out of some 7000 acres we burned down there probably killed fewer than a few dozen trees.

Here's some snaps from the swamp...I had forgotten how great the lighting on fires can be.

Click on 'em if you want to see 'em bigger.

This little sucker. a coral snake (the most poisonous snake in the US), curled up a few feet from me while eating lunch...

Where You Been?

2009-02-19T14:21:00.000-08:00

So over the last few months I've been getting a lot of emails from people about my blog updates or lack there of and wondering what I've been up to. There are a bunch of reasons for this but it's mostly because I haven't shot any weddings since Taylor and Soo's and at some point last summer I decided that this blog would be devoted to my wedding work. This fall I had decided to focus my energy on my commercial work and have been pursuing that whole heartily until around the first of January. If you haven't seen that work, I'd love for you to check it out, www.MarshallStudio.com.

Since then the economy, and in return my pocket book have steadily tanked until I realized that this just isn't going to happen right now. Then, in addition to that my wife Sarah is finishing up school this spring and we're moving back to Montana in the fall which has been then plan all along. It just made it seem like a pretty tough time to keep pursing this thing right now. Sooooo....

I've decided to go back to Smokejumping...Pretty tough to turn down steady government work right now, especially working with the friends I've missed dearly, fighting forest fires and traveling around the west experiencing more adventure in a summer than most experience in a lifetime. Luckily I had thought ahead and took a leave of absense rather than quiting so getting rehired was a piece of cake.

So there you have it...Luckily, I get to take a camera everywhere I go and I'm working on several personal projects while out on fires. I'll plan on posting up pics and stories here so check in from time to time. It's already shapping up to be a busy fire season and I'm sure it'll make for fantastic photographic opportunities.

One of the projects I'm working on is portraits of Smokejumpers. I'll be jumping with off camera flash equipment and I'm pretty excited to see what I come home with. Here's what I've got so far....

Taylor and Soo

2008-10-21T12:08:00.001-07:00

Adi and I headed over to Hood River on Saturday for Taylor and Soo's wedding. They'd already had a destination wedding over in Soo's home country of Korea, and were doing another ceremony here at Stonehedge Gardens, for Taylor's family. It was a bit on the chilly side but the skies were clear. Just a classic fall day with orange and red leaves falling during the service...Stonhedge is an amazing place and they don't just do weddings. I'm hoping to take Sarah over for some of their live music and wine tasting.

Here's the slideshow, Taylor&Soo.

We wish you well and safe travels back home...

Cora and Lucy

2008-10-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Sarah and I headed up north in to Washington for Cora and Lucy's wedding. I've been excited about this wedding for a while. Both Cora and Lucy are two of our very close friends here in Portland and the party promised to be a blast with all of our friends in attendance. I've also been waiting for this because it gave me an opportunity to really test the new camera, the Nikon D700. I'm going to put up a review in a few days, but so you know, I'm blown away by this camera. Coupled with the 24-70, 50 1.4, and the 105 VR macro this is the nicest setup I've ever used. And then I saw the files. Wow. Completely clean files at 1600 and amazing at 3200.

Anyway, enough tech speak, the wedding was beautiful. It was held at The Anderson Lodge just outside of Ariel, WA in the thick wood near Mt. St Helens. The food was the best food I've had at a wedding all summer and the band, Kabir Green, was awesome.

Check out the slideshow here!

Congrats again you guys. See ya soon!

Oregon wedding photographer Jon Marshall is a wedding photojournalist based in Portland. He is available for both local and destination weddings.

Nope, still am...

2008-09-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

While I do think that video feature is an unbelievable feature in the new Canon, it's not where my focus is and there are still too many issues on the "still" end of things.

When I do venture down that road, I'll do it with a video camera instead of a hybrid. I just can't see using it and diving into all of the additional software and lighting equipment right now. So back to the d700....I'll have a review up in the next few days, but in the meantime it's an awesome camera and I can't wait to really start using it.

Oregon wedding photographer Jon Marshall is a wedding photojournalist based in Portland. He is available for both local and destination weddings.

Maybe I won't be switching....

2008-09-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

So I picked up a d700 for last weeks long trip to Montana. I also had a few old lenses and borrowed a 50 1.4. I still haven't looked at any of the images but I was pretty blown away with the camera. So functional, fast, easy to use. I loved the feel. I was totally sold and ready to really start unloading some gear but then I got home last night and saw this...

Vincent Laforet's new video made with the 5dMarkII. Phenomenal....The new canon has completely bridged the gap. Still the same gripes as I mention below, but this is making me reconsider...tough choices ahead as I've always had just a bit of interest in video....

check it out Vincent Laforet

and the making of here...

Oregon wedding photographer Jon Marshall is a wedding photojournalist based in Portland. He is available for both local and destination weddings.

Canon Gear for Sale!

2008-09-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Well I hate to say it but I've decided to switch back over to Nikon. I shot Nikon as a film shooter and made the switch in '02 because of the bad luck I had with the d2h and d100. At the time Canon was just much further along and I've loved the images my Canon's have produced since. But that's were the love ends. I'd much rather have a Nikon in my hands and I've really missed shooting with one. I won't get into my specific likes and dislikes but I think the Nikon's are way more user friendly.

This summer I ended up more or less destroying my 40d in a fall during a climbing shoot and my 20d is about 2 clicks away from a shutter failure. I've been shopping for a replacement for about 4 months now and I'd been waiting for the announcement about the replacement 5d before I really decided.

If I had two totally functioning camera's I wouldn't even be thinking about this but I have to make a fairly sizable investment in a new body one way or another and this is my chance to switch back over. Here's how I came to this decision...

At this point I'm only interested in shooting on a full frame sensor and I'd like to stay with the more compact body size which kind of kills my desire for either the 1ds Mark III or the 1d Mark III and all it's autofocus issues. That and the fact that I could purchase 2 Nikons, a d700's and a d300 for the price of either of those.

Anyway, the new 5d was announced a few days ago and I'm pretty disappointed with it. Really the only improvement was in sensor size and the old camera's 12 mp was enough for all but about 1% of the things I shoot. If I ever do need serious resolution, I'd rent the full blown 1ds Mark III anyway...

So what didn't they improve....

Pretty much everything that's important to me outside of better noise reduction.

Frame rate is still slow, raw memory buffer is still slow, same miserable low light auto focus, no additional weather sealing, no ergonomic changes (the big one being that horrible little joystick) a change in battery, the same viewfinder, the same sluggish shutter lag, a longer than 40d mirror blackout time, and oh yeah, a 1/200 sync speed.

What do you get.....21 megapixels...who cares, it'll just slow down my workflow and post production; Video, which I'm not really intersted in, and a bigger screen; which was a given. The high ISO noise performance will be fantastic, but so is Nikon's.

This new 5d is closer to the 50d than it is a 1 series camera. And I know people say wait till you see the actual hands on reviews but if I don't like the spec on paper, a hands on review isn't going to change anything either....

Now compare this to the Nikon d700 for just about the same price. This camera is exactly everything I'm looking for in a camera. It is finally the exact replacement for my favorite camera of all time, my Nikon F100!

That said, I'm looking at selling some gear all in very good condition, mostly used for weddings. None of this stuff has seen/been on a wildfire I promise!

Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS.....SOLD
Canon 24-70 f 2.8 L.... SOLD
Canon 14-40 f4 L.... SOLD
Canon 580 exII flash.... SOLD

Any offers?

I'll be holding onto a few primes and my bodies to use as backups/beat-a-round cameras. Also if you've got a nice copy of Nikon 24-70 or a wide prime, let me know, I might take it off you're hands.

Oregon wedding photographer Jon Marshall is a wedding photojournalist based in Portland. He is available for both local and destination weddings.

Kim and Jeff

2008-09-08T16:49:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I headed up to Sauvies Island and Kruger's Farm to shoot Jeff and Kim's wedding. I've been really excited about this wedding for the past couple of months. The first time I met Jeff and Kim to talk about their wedding photography we ended up having a half dozen drinks b.s.ing before we even got started on the wedding stuff. I knew we were going to have a great time working together.

Sarah and I have visited the farm a bunch in the past for the great fruit and vegi picking they offer but I had never really thought about the farm as a wedding site. As it turns out, the farm is about as perfect a venue as they come. A bunch of old houses, a beautiful big oak tree, classic farm equipment and 360 degree views of one of the nicer working farms in the area. Check out that blog link above for up to the date info on what's in season.

Thanks again you guys, and Jeff I'll look forward to tromping around in the marsh with you this fall ;)

This wasn't my idea, but what a great shot...too funny.

Oregon wedding photographer Jon Marshall is a wedding photojournalist based in Portland. He is available for both local and destination weddings.

Rebecca and Scott

2008-08-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I joined Jessica Watson for a trip down to the Willamette Valley Vineyards for Scott and Rebecca's wedding. The vineyard is just south of Salem and worth the trip. The rolling, grape covered hills surrounding the venue make the trip south feel like you've stepped into another country. I can't wait to take Sarah back for some wine tasting this fall.

First time playing with the lens baby. Kind of fun, but you'll be seeing cross eyed if you use it for more than about 10 minutes at a time...

Scott's an avid fly fisherman. I meant to BS with him about fishing here in Oregon but Rebecca just wouldn't let him get away for more than a minute ;)

Thanks you guys! Have a fabulous honeymoon.

Nai and Khoa

2008-08-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of shooting Nai and Khoa's wedding this past weekend at the Marriott Courtyard at the North Harbour. It was a beautiful day for the festvities and the setting was perfect. Nai is in the wedding buis so she spared no detail when it came to decorating this place. Everything was hand made using synthetics and hot glue and the results were incredible. Even the cake was unlike anything I've ever seen.

This was a big wedding, (which I love shooting, so many smiles); they had over 450 attendees for the party.

Thanks you guys and we'll talk to you soon!

I think they ordered the wrong size clip on...

Are they flashing gang signs at me?

When you line up 50 beautful women the photographers come out of the woodwork ;)

Even a pair of dragon dancers made an appearence. These two teams of two put on a killer show.

This garter toss hapened so fast I just barely caught it . I love the shot though!

Danielle and Brian

2008-08-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been getting a pretty good tour of the Northwest lately. Last weekend I made the trip up to Gig Harbor just outside of Seattle to shoot Danielle and Brian's wedding. The wedding was held at the Fox Island Yacht Club located on ...you guessed it, Fox Island. The setting was gorgeous and the weather couldn't have been better. Just a little cloud cover and some rain the night before. When I first showed up the tide was out and lot of mud was showing making me a bit nervous, but by the time we had finished getting ready and the formals some 20 feet of water filled the bay and created a perfect reflective backdrop for the festivities.

I had a lot of fun with this group. Brian and several of his buddies are all pilots and I've been hanging out with this kind of crowd for years in the forest service so we hit it off beautifully. And any bride that wears tennis shoes under her dress is going to be about as easy going as they come. Some of the cowboy hats in the crowd even reminded me of the summer I've been missing back in Montana.

Thanks again you guys and congrats!

Running shoes just in case ;)

Keep an eye out for this young vocalist. She was the star of the show with her amazing voice and stage presence. We'll probably see her on the big screen in the next few years!

So tired but still not wanting to miss out on the action.

She's already stealing his beer. Good luck Brain...

Natalie and Jimmy

2008-08-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting caught up on my post production...

Last weekend I shot Natalie and Jimmy's wedding at the Acadian Ballroom. A beautiful venue, friendly staff and excellent food. The mood was very romantic with dim lights, candles and an excellent DJ and everything from getting ready to the dancing went off fantastically.

FYI, this dark venue made for some challenging shooting. I was pretty much parked at ISO1600, 1/30 and 2.8 all night and running through flash batteries like I had stock in energizer... I ended up blasting a studio strobe off of the back wall just to boost the light a little. Hopefully I didn't blind anyone too bad ;)

I really don't mind shooting at high ISO's though and think that the grain/noise really adds a classic character to the images that you just don't have at the lower speeds.

Thanks you guys and have fun on the remaining days of the honeymoon!

Marshall Studio; Soft Launch

2008-08-01T10:38:00.001-07:00

So in an effort to better serve both my wedding and commercial clients I've come to the conclusion that I have to separate my work.

JonMarshallPhotography.com and this blog will remain dedicated to my wedding photography and I'll hopefully get another blog relating to my other work up and running here in the next few weeks.

In the meantime you can find all of my non wedding work at MarshallStudio.com.

I'm pretty excited about this new site. Everything from my new branding, thank you Kelly, to the navigation and site layout are awesome and I'd love any feedback if you get a second.

I'm still adding to the portfolio over there and have some pretty fun shoots planned in the next few weeks so check back in periodically and I'll put a link to the blog on here when I get it up and running.

Thanks guys!

Amanda and Patrick

2008-07-22T12:44:00.001-07:00

Sarah and I just got back from our trip down to Denver to watch two of our best friends, Patrick and Amanda, get married. We had an amazing weekend and owe a huge thanks to both Patrick and Amanda's families for hosting such a great time. With only 30 people attending the festivities we both felt truly privileged to be a considered part of such an incredible family.

I had expressed interest in photographing the weekend for them and am so glad I did. The setting was amazing. We spent the weekend at The Wildhorse Inn, just outside of Winter Park ski resort. The Wildhorse consists of multiple log cabins, incredible scenery and amazing hosts.

Custom designed rings. I've seen a ton of rings lately and these are definitely the coolest. Nice work Patrick!

Sarah was the creative genius behind this shot. It started off with Amanda on the car looking amazing, but how can you not include Sam, the 150 lb Mastif.

The best part of the weekend was getting to experience another friends wedding with my amazing wife Sarah and I owe her a big thanks for being such a great assistant ;)

Thanks again you guys and have an wonderful Honeymoon and congrats. We'll look forward to seeing you soon and in the meantime scruffle that enormous dog for us!

Little Angels

2008-07-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

Last one before setting the camera down, getting away from the computer and heading to the river for a couple days of well deserved R&R. I'm not even gonna take a camera.

Here's Kileigh and Cambriah. I've been lucky enough to work these two before. I tried to get em to pull the arms of the thing but that was one stubborn bear ;) Thanks girls, that was a lot of fun. When can I come watch you guys jump on that trampoline?

Pastor Tom

2008-07-09T17:46:00.001-07:00

I talked about shooting the wedding at first Presbyterian last week. Well it's one of the cooler churches I've ever been in so I asked Sally, their Business administer, if she'd be up for me coming down for a shoot. These folks are just about a friendly as they come and invited me down just a few days later....

This is Tom, one of the church's pastors, and again, one of nicest men around.... I can't remember all the details but he said something about it being built around 1890 using some 26 species of wood. Fantastic.

Check out their website for more info about getting a tour....www.fpcpdx.org

Oh yeah, and I better apologize ahead of time. It was an accident that this pic is right next to the one below :)

One more, with a little different post work...

"The Paper Boy"

2008-07-08T20:55:00.001-07:00

I've been reading so much doom and gloom lately about the newspaper industry. Staffers are getting laid off left and right, advertising revenue is way town and even some of the big ones are closing their doors.

I guess I haven't done my part. Buying the paper for my shoot today was the first time in years...

So that got me thinking. Remember that old Nintendo game paper boy. We used to love it. Do they make a paperboy for Wii?

Thanks Austin...perfect execution!

Grouse hunt and man's best friend

2008-07-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

It's definitely not grouse season, but the cooler weather, a day in the mountains and sighting in a rifle with a good friend sure made it feel like it.

As much as I love summer, I really love the fall; favorite season? Hard to say. Love the winter....well maybe not here in Oregon. Anyway I'm definitely glad springs over ....

...ramblings, but I guess that's how I come up with these shoots. Stay tuned, I've got some fun ideas in the pipeline, lets see if I can pull 'em off ;)

..she's only been gone for two days!

2008-07-06T01:31:00.001-07:00

Sarah left yesterday. Things started out well enough. Relaxing, listening to some tunes, drinkin' beers, having a couple smokes.

Then things got ugly. I remembered I'd be cooking for myself for the next 10 days...

...and fear sets in...
I'm buying the next round for whoever guesses the number of lights used, and I've got some free time on my hands this week to pay up.

BTW I'm not a smoker, but it sure makes the shot, eh?

Wanna Ride?

2008-07-01T13:33:00.001-07:00

Audrey and I went up to Powell Butte bright and early yesterday morning. We had planned on shooting in the meadows up on top, but this California Fire Haze makes for some pretty blah sky. Instead we went for the deep woods and unfortunately for me, the stinging nettle. What is it about Oregon. Everything here has thorns, stings, or is just impenetrable. You ever tried to hike through a rhododendron forest with 50 lbs on your back.....

Anyway I digress, we had a great shoot. I had all the flash power in the world in the deep shade and for whatever reason we didn't see a soul. I love that. 15 minutes outside of town and nobody. After the shoot we took the dogs for a trail run just to round out a perfect morning. Thanks again Audz!

Lisa and Chris

2008-06-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening shooting Chris and Lisa's wedding. Lisa looked absolutely stunning and Chris had an ear to ear grin the entire day. The heat kept us on our toes but out of the sun which made for some challenging shooting. The ceremony was at 1st Presbyterian, a gorgeous church complete with high ceilings, wrap around balcony and a ton of stained glass. I had been warned this was a challenging church to photograph so I made sure to scope it out the week before. Sure enough, ISO's in the 1600-3200 range, with speeds around 1/30 at 2.8. Bring your tripod and primes!

From there the plan was to walk the 6 blocks down to the Treasury Ballroom and get some shots of the couple on the way. The heat was just too much so instead we hustled for the A/C and refreshing libations afforded by the Treasury. Another 5 star choice of venues, the Ballroom is perfect.

Troy from jus4fun promotions was the DJ for the night and kept things flowing and fun. Definitely check him out.

Can you believe I didn't even set this one up....

Congratulations again you guys and have a wonderful honeymoon!

A River Runs through It

2008-06-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

When living in Montana I'm known as a somewhat obsessive fly fisherman. I can't really wrap my head around things here in Oregon but the scenery is still pretty hard to complain about. Here's a few of a good friend, trout aficionado and overall fish bum Justin. I owe him a day of hopper fishing on the Bitterroot. Maybe this fall we'll get lucky enough....
Any guesses for the lighting on these. Definitely a challenge!

Yoga with Jillian

2008-06-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

This is the second time I've been lucky enough to shoot with Jillian. A great model who is about as nice as they come, and of course super fit! Our last shoot together was pretty high fashion, so for this one I suggested something a little more in line with my athlete portrait series. Thanks Jillian!