We Back!

We Back!

Is this over? The pandemic… is it over? No? Ok. No problem. We can still have fun outdoor shoots in beautiful Dallas any day of the week! This particular shoot was my first family photoshoot in what feels like a lifetime. Thank you, Sarah, for allowing me to be a part of your family photo shoot and for the opportunity to finally step back out and get active in photographing families again!

Stay on the lookout, y'all!  I’m going to start getting more active in posting new blogs and new images. I miss being able to share what’s going on and show what new photography adventures I’m having. Hope all of you are doing well and staying healthy!

Black Lives Matter

I haven’t posted anything to my blog since July of 2019. However, I wanted to use my platform to bring attention to injustices and to talk about how a broken system has continually failed me and my people. With the death of George Floyd and countless other beautiful black men and women, we as a people are outraged, we are sad, we are upset, we are sick. We wonder why these things continue to happen to us. We wonder why the system that is supposed to protect every American somehow fails US. We are upset about being told that our protests and rioting should be done differently.

We cannot be too focused on the fact that Target was gutted or that businesses were destroyed or looted. It’s an unfortunate inconvenience where a broken system affects more than just the oppressed. Those businesses have insurance and everything from the building structure to the contents inside of them can be replaced. A life, however, cannot. We must keep our focus on the lives that have been taken from us unjustly and lead the charge in dismantling a failed system.

Do not be silent. Do not be complacent. Do not think that it can’t happen to you. We need each other so that we can make a better world for our children and our children’s children.

I support the Black Lives Matter movement and I support the efforts being made all across the United States of America. We want justice, we want peace, we want to live.

Here are ways you can donate money to organizations that are helping make this country better:

10 Black Lives Matter Organizations You Can Donate Money To Right Now

Here’s how you can donate to support the fight for justice right now

Take Action: A List of Ways You Can Stand in Solidarity with the Black Community

Greater Kind

When I tell y’all that I have some extremely talented friends, I really mean it.  This past Thursday at the Holocene in Southeast Portland, my friends Charlie Brown, Cory Limuaco and Samuel Eisen-Meyers headlined a show.  Their band is called Greater Kind for anyone curious or wanting to check them out when you visit Portland (highly recommend). 

I met Charlie and Cory at Thy Kingdom Come International Church my very first Sunday in Portland.  At one point, we were playing together every week at church and it was such a blast being around a group of musicians who played at such a high caliber.  I met Samuel at another music event and ended up photographing one of his shows at Mississippi Studios back in June!  Samuel is one of the best guitarists I’ve ever met and I have sense gone to a few other shows where he’s played at to support him! 

Anyway, I saw that the fellas were playing at the Holocene and I was going to go anyway to support them.  So, I told Cory that I’ll be there, camera strapped.  The venue was one that I had never been to before.  The sound was superb, the vibes were even better.  I even saw Charlie sing for the first time! That was an experience all in itself.  We’re going to have to give Charlie a mic at church from now on! 

I’m extremely pleased with how well these photos turned out.  The way the photos looked had me shook!  The back lighting was literally what that made this shoot so nice.  There was little to almost no lighting coming from the front of the stage so it added to this super moody look.   

Also, I'm available to answer any questions you all have about how I do this, what my settings are, how I edit, and even making connections to get you into venues like this.  I feel like I'm starting to really get a grasp on my networking and would love to spread that knowledge to anybody looking to do what I do!

Lastly, please do me a favor and follow these guys on Instagram (the images below are clickable)! Keep up with the latest gigs, see their posts, find out what they’re doing! These guys go on tour in Europe, they play all around the country, the play locally, they play everywhere! Support musicians any chance you get! It means a lot to them and it means a lot me when you share my posts and engage with me!

Portland Timbers

I totally got to photograph my first professional sports game ever, y’all!!!! I couldn’t wait to finally cross that off of the list of things for me to accomplish as a photographer!  It was such a good time and with Portland being a city where they love their soccer, it made the experience that much better!  The crowd was rowdy, the teams played hard and I met a bunch of really cool people too. 

What really put the cherry on top was that the game was against FC Dallas!  It was like watching old home versus new home so that felt pretty good.  A couple months ago, I reached out to FC Dallas and asked if I could shoot a game or two but they denied my request because I don’t shoot for any publications.  After two months of being in Portland, I emailed the Timbers and asked if I could photograph their game against FC Dallas.  They happily accepted and allowed me to come and shoot. 

When I got there, I do what I also do!  Get there early, walk around and network.  I ended up meeting Craig, the Timbers’ team photographer.  He was a pleasure to talk to and it was a true honor to meet him as I’ve been keeping my eye on his photos for years!  It was nice to finally put a face to the photos. 

A challenge that I faced was not having a 300mm lens to shoot the game (if anybody has $6k to spot me, that would be great!).  It was rough trying to shoot a soccer game with just a 70-200 because you miss a lot of the action because everything is just so far away.  Another challenge was missing a lot of the action because the ball would be played on the other side of the field and moving back and forth would’ve been way too much work.  It was almost like I was fishing.  Just waiting for the right moment to get a shot.  Occasionally I would move around but would still feel restricted by a 70-200 lens. 

The next professional game I want to photograph is a Portland Timbers game so maybe I’ll test the waters when basketball season rolls back around! 

Swatkins & The Positive Agenda

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A post shared by Swatkins (@swattykins) on May 27, 2019 at 3:32pm PDT

For the first time in my life, I photographed a live concert!  Can y’all believe it?  I’m finally branching out of sports and portraits to try something completely out of my comfort zone.  This specific event was a special one because it was the EP release show for Swatkins and The Positive Agenda.  Since moving to Portland, I’ve been attending a bunch of live music shows and meeting a ton of amazing musicians.  One day last week, I figured I would reach out to Swatkins and ask if I could photograph his EP release show.  He agreed to let me come by and take some photos of the concert and I tell you what, it was an amazing time for me, both as a photographer and a musician!  Swatkins played nothing but funkalicious original hits and at one point in the concert, we were taken to church! 

As someone who has never photographed a concert, I have to humbly pat myself on the back because I was very pleased with how they turned out.  As always, I’m looking to learn more and perfect my craft as a photographer so if anybody knows of any bands who need a concert photographer, let me know!  I need more practice so that I can start taking this more seriously and also use this to meet a bunch of other really cool people!

See the Youtube link below to hear one of Swakins and The Positive Agenda’s songs. He is crazy good on that talk box and it is really hard for me to not go and buy one when I know I don’t need it!

In the meantime, give Swatkins (@swattykins) a follow on Instagram and as always, be sure to follow me (@londensbridge) to see the latest and greatest things that I’m doing and posting! I really appreciate everyone for the continued love and support since moving up to Portland! Y’all can expect a blog post about my move to come soon. I just have a few things to get squared away and that will finally be ready to post! Peace, love and funk to y’all!

Click here to listen to Swatkins & The Positive Agenda’s latest EP!