Redwood memory

This was our very first video, I think it’s still pretty amazing

Grateful Dead ~ Rubin and Cherise, Orlando 4-7-91

Cherise was brushing her long hair gently down
It was the afternoon of carnival as she brushes it gently down
Rubin was strumming his painted mandolin
It was inlaid with a pretty face in jade played in the carnival parade

Cherise was dressing as Pirouette in white
When a fatal vision gripped her tight Cherise beware tonight
Rubin, Rubin tell me truly true
I feel afraid and I don’t know why I do, Is there another girl for you?

If you could see my heart you would know it’s true
There’s none Cherise, except for you, except for you
I’d swear to it on my very soul, If I lie, say I fall down cold

When Rubin played on his painted mandolin
The breeze would pause to listen in before going on its way again
Masquerade began when nightfall finally woke
Like waves against the bandstand, dancers broke to the painted mandolin

Looking out to the crowd who is standing there
Sweet Ruby Claire at Rubin stared, at Rubin stared
She was dressed as Pirouette in red
And her hair hung gently down

The crowd pressed round, Ruby stood as though alone
Rubin’s song took on a different tone and he played it just for her
The song he played was the carnival parade
Each note cut a thread of Cherise’s fate it cut through like a blade

Rubin was playing his painted mandolin
When Ruby froze and turned to stone for the strings played all alone
The voice of Cherise from the face of the mandolin
Singing Rubin, Rubin tell me true for I have no one but you

If you could see my heart you would know it true
There’s none Cherise, except for you, except for you
I’d swear to it on my very soul, If I lie, say I fall down cold

The truth of love an unsung song must tell
The course of love must follow blind without a look behind
Rubin walked the streets of New Orleans till dawn
Cherise so lightly in his arms and her hair hung gently down

Lighting up the garden

We love shooting in Hanu and Karen’s garden because the labor of love and magic that flows into it just makes it one of the best spots we know.

However, up until recently we always shot facing away from the nicest parts of the garden due to the light. The addition of speedlights has made it possible to use parts of the garden that would otherwise be too shaded to really shoot in.

Flowing to the classics like Jimi and Janis mixed in with the Beatles, Ray flowed through the garden.

Playing on the swing and sitting under shady trees in the hot sun were things we are always cautious shooting before. Not now.

What an amazing form to photograph! Stunning  and powerful, she has one of the most athletic and sensual bodies we have had the honor to photograph as well as being a kind spirited and intelligent woman!
The blooming garden and warm summer day made a perfect background for some amazing images. Emma and Hanu did most of the shooting as the flashes made us wait for video till after the stills were done, so we had a a spare photographer so me and Hanu traded off, me doing 2 sets and Hanu 3, Emma jealously guarded her camera!

The shoot went very fast with no hiking around needed and np real need to explore or dodge people, before we knew it we were headed back to south west Portland with the model to drop her off and enjoy a perfect summer day. Look for this and other sets coming soon

Goddess of The Black River

A warn but overcast day shrugged to life Monday in Portland as we headed out to a small funky coffee house to pick up the River Goddess.

A dread locked guitar player sat on the porch of the Mountain Village Coffee shop in a converted Victorian tucked on a side street off NE Glisan. Inside was pretty full of happy shiny folk,  surprising maybe for such an out of the way place. The great Coffee brews, fresh pastries and free internet certainly are a draw, but the home like mellow feel was the big thing, this is what a coffee house is supposed to be.

Emma ordered a Chai while we waited for the Goddess to arrive and before it was done the Goddess came ad ordered one herself.

Armed with blended sweet and spicy Chai’s we headed over to pick up Hanu a few blocks away and then drove out to Sauvies Island.

This was the second time we have shot there this season, so we will try and limit using it again, but it is generally an easy shoot and a fun space, so no promises.

Going through the town of Linton and the NW Portland industrial district, I am always surprised at how magical it is when we cross the bridge onto Sauvies. Train yards and factories give way to fruit stands and orchards. Run down and abandoned houses disappear as farms and nature preserves dot the landscape.

Hanu and the Goddess discuss the local berries and plants as well as herbalism and gardening and as per usual, by the time we get to the shoot, it feels like we have made a friend.

The beach is moderately empty, but the people that are there are camped out in most of the spots we usually like, so we move around a bit

The moment we begin the first shoot, Hanu notices that the camera battery is near dead, really near dead, we get about 20 shots and it conks out. me and Hanu both see the battery indicator and warning light with our own eyes despite me having charged that battery overnight. Now are are down to one camera and a video. It sucks, but not a tragic loss, we can keep going.

It’s coolish enough that we barely drink any water, a huge difference from our usual need for multiple bottles when hiking and walking around the summer days.

We attract a crowd for a few of the sets and startle a couple trying to have sex under a secluded tree, but all and all, not too bad finding spots.

The Goddess brought an accordion as well as a Ipod full of Gypsie style neo-Jam band groove music that was just great.

When we got home, after dropping everyone off, I pulled he camera withthe dead battery out of the backpack, the battery read fully charged.

FAR OUT MAN!!!

I must say I had to look twice this morning, just to make sure that the colors on the bird and tree branch were there and I was’nt flashing back from 15 years ago. Very cool.

Peace
Dave L.

Storm Large, Crazy Enough

Being a bit of a hermit, I had never heard of Storm Large before our friend Marlene suggested to our little family group of like minded spirits that we should all go check out her one woman show, Crazy Enough, here in Portland. (This was technically  false as her band was also there, but for all real purposes, it’s a one woman show)

Described to me as a mix of music with Storm talking about her life I was decidedly uninterested in general, but I let Marlene get us tickets anyway as Emma seemed somewhat interested and we like getting out and doing stuff with the family. After we ordered the tickets I found out Emma was not hugely interested either as such, but did not mind going. Marlene is holding our tickets for us, we get to the theater later then I wanted and nearly miss the show as people were heading inside.

Ok, the music starts, Storm, a tall blond woman in sweats starts to sing.

Ok, first song, Crazy, sets the tone and pretty much has me hooked on this ladies voice and the band.

The emotions that flow through her voice, well, I just don;t think you can fake em, they reach into you and make a nest and then offer you popcorn while you enjoy the vibration.

But that’s just the start.

Ok, I don;t like singers going on about themselves much, its pompous and annoying, Barbra Streisand comes to mind. but Storm, well, Storm was not telling us her life story. She was performing her life story, she was pouring it out in words and action and music, she was ripping herself open and gracing us with this amazing story and more than a story, her spirit.

None of us escaped crying, repeatedly. We sat stunned, we sat taken to our core by his woman, we fell in love with her completely and we felt like when we were done, we not only knew her, but were humbled by her.

I thought it was a one night show, maybe two, how could any human being sustain that level of emotion, some of it so heart wrenching and painful night after night?

There was nothing fake here, nothing contrived, that came through so clearly.

And yet, for over two months now, extended twice she has performed

We really must go again

JUST RANTING

The Goddess are so wonderful to look at. There are many things I can say about the Goddess…for instance, their hot…maybe thats not a word that gets used alot on this site, but its true they are hot, their also so much more… alot more. There’s magic in these women there is such a oneness with their earth mother. They’re intoxicatingly hypnotic in there movment. I would love to see them all in one huge photo shoot, how ever I would also settle to see Alexia and Thyme together…that my brothers would surely make a blind man see!!!!

Peace
Dave L.

A new face you may spot

Some of you may have noticed our Dog molly in some shots. When we first started bringing Molly to shoots she loves getting in the shot with the Goddess.

Well, Molly has mellowed a little tiny bit and generally will stay out of the shot now, so you will see her less.

However, we now have a new puppy who we may bring to some shoots

I just could not resist introducing Bella!!!

Eve of the new moon

Eve was one of our first self submissions. Her striking energy and beauty came through in the images wonderfully that she sent and we were hoping for more. Well, we got a email asking us if we would be able to shoot her as she would be here in Portland for awhile.

Well, Portland being Portland in June we naturally came across rainy days. Still, after a false start we made our way out to Sauvies Island to go shoot at the nude beach. Not my favorite location in some respects it does offer a nice open sky that works out pretty well on cloudy days.

Eve borrowed a lighter from a couple frat boy types who were busy trying to get some bugs drunk, no really, and had a smoke of some non-tobacco before we began set 1 while moving to Terrapin Station.

The frat boys stayed in the distance looking over at the happenings in between the insect drinking game they were playing.

We went over by some driftwood next and with Row Jimmy playing did a very flowing and  nice set.

Heading to the waters edge by a fallen tree I switched some Hamsa Lila on. Emma headed out into the water a bit to get some good angles of Eve out on the fallen tree while I stayed dry on shore. The clouds made a nice big softbox in the sky.

The last couple sets took us inside the branches of this odd little tree using speedlights for illumination and these great root structures.

Eve is an amazing Goddess and the flow and energy were simply great. What an amazing start to the summer!

The Wisdom of Time

We decided to do the second of our summer shoots here in our new home with yet another returning Goddess.
I picked Wisdom up at the train station in the early afternoon. Despite hot days just prior, the Portland skies looked primed for rain and clouds. Of course the rain started just about the time we got setup, but instead of panicking as we may have done if we were out and about, we simply used a canopy we had as well as an umbrella to protect the cameras and did the shoot.

The clouds made a nice soft box in the sky and with the help of the speed lights we used some shaded areas like the one in the photo to the left. Emma created a nice effect in a small area under an overhang where we did that set.

We finished the shoot in the pool, which we have used only once before for a shoot and the clear water really stands in contrast to the heavy greens that many of our shoots feature.

This shoot will also feauture our second erotic video clip, following the self pleasure video of Diana

Wisdom hopefully will be in Portland a little more often and we certainly expect to see her back on Hippiegoddess!

Alexia in the tree

Alexia in the tree, originally uploaded by David and Emma.

After picking up Hanu, our handy-dandy super amazing special wondrous co-photo and video wonder woman we swung over and picked up Alexia.

For soem reason we never really connected up with Alexia during this last year, so it had been awhile since we talked to her. It felt like reconnecting with a long lost friend, we talked about the new things in our lives, about past shoots and diet.

In general hanging out with Hanu is always a little like going to school and listening to a really amazing and cool teacher wax about something interesting. With Alexia around, the effect is kinda doubled.

Hanu, Alexia and Emma were talking about the evils of corn, the meat industry, chicken franchises and a myriad of other subjects while we drove up to Oxbow park. We had never been there for some reason, but Alexia was pretty familiar with it.

She took us over to a great little beach on the river where we did a few sets, one part of set 3 on a fallen tree arching over a small pond like area came out over exposed as we used a couple sb-900 speed lights to add some light to the scene but forgot to compensate for the dark background of rock and shaded vegetation behind her. Luckily some adjustment in post processing saved the pictures and in fact they turned out quite nice.

Alexia then took us up to Elks Meadow. I refer to it as the death hill. I am seriously not in shape for inclines, while everyone else trudged up easily, I had to stop several times to calm my heart rate and drink some water. After finally cresting the death hill, we did a great set by some flowers and then moved on to the hollow tree area shown above, stopping to get some pics of Alexia with a deer laying in the background. Quite beautiful in my opinion.

The Speed lights really made the hollow tree set come alive and we got to experiment with the lighting a bit for some really interesting pictures. We finished the shoot on the road back down the death hill by a fallen log. We hope to shoot Alexia again the summer, we will keep you posted!!!!

Summer Time

Single Pink color burn, originally uploaded by David and Emma.

It’s starting to feel like summer here in Portland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!