Jessica Chastain Photography

Love Drop - So proud to be a part of "the greater good." :)

 

Hey guys!  The Love Drop team is at it again!  Last month they gave over $5,000 worth of cash and goods to their recipient, Katie, who had been battling a couple of brain tumors over the years, and it culminated with a surprise gift of 15+ friends showing up at her house to celebrate with her. It was awesome. You can watch how it all went down here.

 

This month they start all over again and grow support for the Kahlen's - a family who has been hit hard by the economy, and by their daughter's serious medical condition, tuberous sclerosis. In addition to financial assistance, they're planning to unite the artistic community to help support Kent's glassmaking work.

 

Want to help?  Here are two ways you can participate:

1. Give $1.00 - This is the best way to help out and join their team at the same time.
2. Donate a piece of art - They will be hosting an auction this month, and would love to feature your artwork in it. Proceeds go to help the Kahlen's this month, and is a great way to promote your work :)

We'll let you know how it goes!  Thanks everyone.

Sam Barlow High School Senior - Alex // gresham senior photographer

I thought today might be a good day to post some pictures of a senior session I did last October. This is Alex. We had originally scheduled his session on a weekend, and it just happened to be the weekend where it absolutely poured rain...there was no shooting pictures in that (coincidentally it was also the day I had scheduled Shelby, two rain outs in one day!) . Alex is one of the busiest high school seniors I know, and during this time he was in the middle of working on two different plays and busy with school, so needless to say his schedule was a bit booked. We ended up having to shoot after school in poor light, not ideal to say the least. However, Alex was a great sport about it, he had the fun idea of going to The Grotto. I had never shot at The Grotto, and so I was interested to see what we would find. Very beautiful place, but REALLY really dark, lots of trees. We took a ton of pictures there and laughed the whole time about the absurdity of it all....the circumstances that led us there on a late almost rainy afternoon shooting his senior pictures that were due in a few short weeks. yikes!

Thank you Alex for putting up with the weather and a crazy schedule, I had a great time!

 

 

 

 

 

Custom Photo Editing - Limited time service!

Hello everyone!

Well..I've been thinking a lot about my business, and how to keep busy. As a natural light photographer in Oregon, it's almost feast or famin. When the weather is nice, everyone wants to have pictures done, but in the heart of the winter or during the rainy season, sessions can be scarce. I don't have a studio, and I don't set up lights/flash, so for me...this is a slow time of year generally, as most people don't feel too adventurous to be out in the cold, or they don't see the beauty in shooting in their own home. Also...as I thought about my business in general, I realize that some may want the look of custom photography, but simply can't afford it. It's expensive, anything custom always is. (shoot, I couldn't afford myself right now!)  So this brings me to my latest edition of new services offered.

For a limited time (trial basis) I am offering custom photo editing. What is custom photo editing you ask? and why do you want it? Well...part of having a photographer give you a custom session is knowing that the images you will receive will be beautiful, properly exposed, and clear. It's important that any photographer have a basic knowledge of how to use their camera, how to expose correctly and so forth, but sometimes things are out of our control, for instance - not enough light, unsightly blemishes, eyes are too dark, stray hairs, tree branches, etc.. and although we try to look for these things, sometimes they are missed during a session, and that my friends, is where photoshop comes in. I promise you..in the digital age, every single photographer out there offering portraits uses some form of photoshop. A lot of what you pay for, is the custom editing.

I'm sure many of you have images that you have taken yourself that you love, and sometimes you may say, you know..that would be a great picture...If....(insert anything here). So...for a limited time I am offering custom photo editing of YOUR pictures! Here are the details:

The cost is $5.00 per picture (5 picture minimum). You can pay by cash, check or paypal.

The photos you send for editing must meet these requirements:

* NO FLASH (natural light only)

* semi - properly exposed (I can not "save" pictures that are beyond saving (for instance harsh sunlight), other than to make them black and white).

* you must email them to me in a zip file, in full resolution (no compressed files please)

* pictures will be returned via email.

*turn around time will depend on number of orders and amount of pictures submitted

In return you will get:

My custom color and black and white editing of each image as well as basic removal of blemishes and skin smoothing.

So send me your vacation pictures, your christmas card pictures, baby pictures or your everyday whatever pictures and lets get started! The best part is, you don't need to live near me, or even hire me for a session, you just need to have your pictures stored on your computer and an email address. Really simple!

See below of some examples of what custom editing can do for your pictures.

 
 
 
The image on the left is SOOC (straight out of the camera) and the image on the right is edited.

You can see the subtle differences, the background was corrected, the temporary tatoo on the arm was removed, the image was sharpened and skin smoothed and the eyes now pop. it went from a decent image to one that I adore.

Another example:

 

the pictures on the left is SOOC, and really underexposed. I loved this picture of my daughter, so I did some minor editing to get the final image you see on the right.

 

In this last example it was again, slightly underexposed due to the time of day the image was taken (early evening) and with a few adjustments the image is now ready for print.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me at 503-799-7459 or email me at jessicachastainphotography@yahoo.com  I look forward to hearing from you!

Crawford Family // Portland family photographer

There are so many types of photographers out there. I get requests from people to take pictures of non-people subjects all the time and I just can't bring myself to do it. Why? Because I love to photograph people, and it's especially fun when the people are some of your best friends. This is my oldest and dearest friend Deb (friends for 30 years!), her husband Mark and Jack and Michael. I've been photographing Jack for a few years (in place of the tacky school pictures), but was super excited when Deb asked if I could photograph the entire family this time.

We didn't do anything too fancy, she wanted a really relaxed feel to the pictures, we took them in their backyard. Some of my favorite places to take pictures are at my client's houses, everyone is comfortable there, and hey, when it's your friends house the food and drinks are always good! They boys are getting older, Jack will be a senior next year and Michael is already in college. I think it's great we were able to catch them before they are gone and getting them to the house for pictures seems impossible. Thanks Deb and Mark for a great time and for sharing your family with me.

This was my favorite family shot...what a cool family right? :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Estacada Senior, Shelby // Portland senior photographer

Well..I know Shelby has anxiously been waiting for the sneak peaks of her senior session. This was one crazy day, so cold! We were rained out on her first scheduled time, managed to find a day in the middle of the week, she took off from school and we met out at Eagle Fern Park. She was a trooper, because let me tell ya, it was definatley not warm at all that day. I had a great time, and Shelby, I hope you like the peaks! :)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Stephens' Family 2 ll Portland Family Photographer

I was so lucky to get to photograph such a close fun family. The kids told me that it had been years since they all had family pictures together and wanted to do this for their mom as a Christmas gift this year. There are 6 kids and 1 funny mom. This group was pretty much up for anything, including sitting in front of a "fake" campfire and climbing up into an old tree house. It's clear this family loves each other and their mom a whole lot, it was wonderful to see. I really enjoyed my time there and hope they did do. I hope you all enjoy the sneak peaks, because the pleasure was all mine! :)

 

 

 

 

 

Looking ahead to the end of the year...

First and foremost I want to thank all of my family and friends for the support I've received during this year. Starting a photography business isn't easy and it certainly isn't cheap. I've learned a lot, taken a lot of photos, gotten lots of referrals and had lots of fun. so THANK YOU.

Looking at the calendar for November and December I only have a few available dates to book. This includes only 2 days in November and 4 days in December. And with a new year also comes new pricing, my full long term pricing. I know..I know...But Jessica, what about the great pricing I received this year? Well, in answer to that I will be running my current pricing through the end of December for everyone who books one of the 6 dates available and has found me on facebook. Specifically, this is a CD of your session (35-40 fully edited images) for $350.00 plus your session fee. As of January 1st a CD of your session will run you $1,200.00. So, if you are interested in a CD of images, book now before the spots are gone. I won't be extending this offer, it's first come, first served.

I do have a few new things planned for the new year, and I will post more about that as the year comes to an end, but I will tell you that my services will include professional editing of your own pictures at a cost per picture basis. I'm really excited about this and can't wait to tell you more about it. I will also be offering a referral rewards program, so look for that as well.

check out my website for details about what a custom photo session would include, I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Jessica

The Brown Family ll Portland family photographer

And they thought it couldn't be done! I was lucky enough to photograph the Brown family a few weekends ago and finally get to meet little Ruby. I've been telling Colin for years how tough it is to be a parent, especially the parent of a child who is a handful. I've relayed tales of my youngest daughter's antics and told him " just you wait. someday it will be me laughing at you!" . Lucky for them, Ruby is as sweet as pie, and it doesn't hurt she is super adorable, with a big sister who loves hanging out with her, and was great for me in front of the camera as well. The park was magical, and was somewhere I had never been (I actually couldn't even find it at first! oops!) We spent a few hours just hanging out and following the girls around. It was a beautiful morning and I can't wait to do this again. Thank you Colin, Melissa, Zoe and little Ruby for the great aventure. Hope you like the sneaks. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Adrian and Mallory ll Portland family photographer

The best thing about being a photographer is hanging out with my clients. I've known Adrian for a long time, we work for the same company, so you can imagine how excited I was when he asked if I would photograph him and his beautiful daughter Mallory. Not only is she sweet but it was a joy to watch her open up in front of the camera. Both of them I think are reserved by nature, but the connection they have is amazing.

Can I just tell all potential clients now that one of the BEST locations to take pictures in is downtown Portland?? I'm not sure why no one ever wants to go there? Let me say that  the building are beautiful, the scenery is always changing and there are a TON of great locations to photograph. Well..just see for yourself! Thank you Adrian and Mallory for letting me hang with you on a cloudy Friday morning, I had a blast! :) hope you like the sneaks!

 

 

 

 

 

Stephens Family : Portland Family Photographer

After a rain out the weekend before, we were super happy to have some decent weather to shoot in, despite the noon sun, we made it work, and I was so happy to be a part of it! Some of you may remember Conner from my senior shoot last month, well here is his lovely family. Hope you like the sneaks!