I’ve been away in Portland, Oregon for the last 2 weeks as the DOP on a new feature documentary by “Traces Of The Soul” Director Martin Cooper.
Tentatively titled “History, Mystery, Odyssey” the film examines the animation scene in Portland and focuses on 5 amazing artists – Joan Gratz, Joanna Priestly, Rose Bond, Jim Blashfield and Chel White. It also features Zach Margolis who as well as being an animator in his own right, is the compositing artist for a number of the other artists in the film.
Go and check out their work, you won’t be disappointed and may even see some things you recognise :)
Only my 2nd visit to the US, LA and Vegas in 2014 being my first, Portland was a real pleasure. We were lucky enough to be staying on a houseboat near Sauvie Island on the outskirts of Portland which made waking up every morning a real pleasure.
The US always feels like being in a waking dream or some sort of continuous deja vu, having grown up saturated in American TV shows and movies, everything down to the font on the road signs feeling so familiar, yet knowing this is the first time I’ve seen it “for real”.
An odd, but an oddly pleasing experience.
A huge and special thanks to Joan, Joanna, Paul, Rose, Jim, Mellisa, Chel & Zach for shooting with us and your overwhelming kindness. It was a real honor to meet and hang out with you all. Deeply appreciated.
Below are my collected Instagram posts from each day, hopefully giving some flavour of the really great time we had (despite a couple of hick-ups – smashed lens anyone?) and the visual landscape that is now floating in my mind like an animated movie.
