Tag Archives: portland

Portland Photography: Lake Grove Upholstery

I grew up with a mother who loved antiques. For a time, she even ran a large Antique Warehouse on Apache and McClintock in Tempe, Arizona called Cheap Antiques. It was huge: one of those buildings filled with different vendors and rooms. It was unlike any other I’ve been in since though. The back section of the warehouse was a workspace for certain employees to refurnish the some antiques. I used to watch in awe as they dipped heavy pieces into an industrial sized tub to remove all the varnish. It smelled like stripper, oil, and wood shavings back there. I loved it.

It’s been a long time since then; my mother has long since changed careers, but I did inherit a couple of large chairs that wouldn’t quite fit into her house the way she wanted. I lugged them all the way up here to Portland. (Thanks David! I know they were heavy!)

One of the chairs in particular has always been ugly. The fabric on it, I just don’t even know how to describe it. Colorful?

I have provided evidence with a “vintage” photo of me and my cat taking a nap on it. As you can tell, it is comfortable. Definitely worth saving. MAKEOVER MONTAGE! (Just kidding, although if I already had photos of the after…sorry you will have to wait. JUST.LIKE.ME.

I took it to my local reupholster-er. These folks are legit. Alexander Baghdanov is the third generation in his family to practice this business. His wife Lyubov runs the front desk, and his children work in the shop as well. They have beautiful accents and are wonderfully friendly.

Part of what they do is give the furniture a little love. I look forward to seeing how they salvage what my mother’s pug pack did to this arm.

Alexander Bagdanov

There are A MILLION FABRIC SAMPLES. It was so hard to decide. But I finally did. EEEEEEEE!

I hope to have the “after” photos in another week or so!

Portland wedding photography: Matt and Christina

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I received a call from a good friend; his cousin wanted to get married the coming weekend-could I shoot the ceremony? Of course! It was a small gathering, and their most special guests were their family of dogs. (I am sure some of you can relate!)

We met in one of the parks in Sellwood. They wanted to be surrounded by nature, so we had the ceremony near a small pond surrounded by trees. After, the dogs ran free near the river and they celebrated with (so Portland!) Voodoo Doughnuts!

Congrats to you both! Thanks for letting me be part of your big (little) day!

Portland Photography: Camamu Soap

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There’s a little workshop in my neighborhood of Sellwood called Camamu Soap.

It smells amazing-and it should! They named it after a little piece of paradise in Brazil-a small port town inside an amazing mangrove edged bay. When you first walk in, you are actually standing in their workspace. If you are lucky, they’ll be pouring or cutting the soap into bars. I visited when they were doing just that! They take the soap out of the wooden molds and cut them into pieces with wires.

Sarah is pushing the soap through the wires here in the above photo.

After they cut them into bars, they go into a cool closet for about a month to cure.

You might think that handmade soap is just for little old ladies, but I was surprised at all the products they had. The soaps had all different uses-some were gritty for gardeners, but I could see mechanics and cooks using it too. They had shaving soaps, soaps for skin conditions, and gentle soaps for babies. They even had dirty dog soap!

I wish you could smell these hand poured soaps. So many different combinations! All made with essential oils, hand foraged herbs, and quality oils! (I’m hoping that Lori will let me follow along on one of her herb picking walks.)

They make more than just bar soap too! They sell some gorgeous Turkish towels-they are a smooth cotton, much different than the type of towel one normally finds in a bathroom. I think I may splurge on one.

Lori is creating an oil here that she infused with herbs. If I recall, it’s a hair oil-like a leave-in conditioner or for bearding softening. Mmmmm! Smelled lovely!

They also make lotions, toners, creams, and salves.

I asked Lori a few questions about how the business came to be and the inspiration behind it:

“I started the company 13 years ago after apprenticing as a cheesemaker on a biodynamic farm in the UK. I’d always been interested in both cheese-making and soap-making…ended up back in Portland without farm or sheep/goat’s/cows and so started making soap instead. I had no particular intention of starting a business but loved the process and the alchemy of it, the creativity and artistry involved and couldn’t stop making more and more batches. I worked for years out of my home until 2006 when the business had grown to the point that it could support a storefront/fabrication area. I have always loved the idea of having what we do be visible and the process accessible.

I have created most of the recipes. Sarah created the chakra soap line.

We source our ingredients and packaging supplies as locally as we can. The bulk of our base ingredients (fixed and essential oils) come from three local businesses. Our organic culinary and botanical ingredients come from a company in California. Items in our retail section are also primarily from other local artisanal businesses (Wild Carrot Herbals, Portland Bee Balm, Big Dipper Wax Works, Cusp Natural Products, etc.)”

Portland Food Photography: The Sapphire Hotel

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Last week, David and I decided we needed to celebrate so we searched for happy hours on Yelp and we choose The Sapphire Hotel based on the reviews and the menu. Their website claims long roots into the history of Alberta Street:

The Sapphire Hotel was originally a turn of the century seedy hotel in Portland, Oregon inhabited by sailors, travelers and ladies of the night. They rented rooms by the week, night or by the hour and spent long days and evenings in the lobby drinking, laughing, eating, talking and kissing.

Aside from entertaining one another you could count on the presence of a mystic, traveling musician or a handful of gypsies to lend some fun and adventure to your night. As the years went by, the area around the hotel grew more affluent and the ladies of the night took jobs as shop girls along the avenue. The artists began to sell their work at the galleries that cropped up along the Avenue and the rooms became upscale apartments leased to the people in the local community.

There’s a long list of signature cocktails, wine and beer followed by a shorter list of tasty food.

I ordered the hour hour special marionberry margarita and (I think) David got the Common-Law Girlfriend.

I couldn’t resist ordering a couple happy hour appetizers in addition to the food. We chose pickled veggies and nuts & olives.

Dinner was a seared tuna nicoise salad and a meze platter. Two thumbs up! Give them a try for some ambience and delicious drinks and food!

Portland Food Photography: Portland Juice Press

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Okay seriously. This place is so good! I heard about it through someone on Instagram (can’t remember who), and I rode my bike up Milwaukee to visit it. It’s right by Bushwacker’s Cider.

They juice hundred’s of pounds of vegetables, fruit, and nuts every day. They specialize is juice fasts-you can actually have them deliver to your house or work. I just happen to like fresh juice and had a craving for a thick nut milk. So I picked out The Ohm. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted: hazelnuts, dates, cinnamon, and filtered water.

If you are undecided, they have no problem opening up bottles for you to sample the flavors. Next time, I am getting the lemon, ginger, honey one.

They even have these vintage inspired postcards -FOR FREE! I took one or six.