The Art Building Project

There is this building in La Grande, Oregon that was once used by the railroad to work on trains. I called it The Art Building but now it is formally known as Waypoint Studio. This space is occupied by many interesting artists, most of whom have come through the art program at Eastern Oregon University. Some of the activities that go on there include painting, photography, woodworking, welding, metal fabrication and casting. In addition there is a practice and recording room that is home to the band Test Audiences. They occasionally perform shows there as well.


















The first time that I visited the space I was inspired to shoot it. There was so much going on in there visually that I knew the photos would be magical. I had a portrait studio in La Grande for about two and a half years and used the building as a personal project. I shot the building itself, the artists that use the building, and a couple of models with the building as the set.

Since I was friends with several of the people there, I hung out there quite a bit. Since they were artists, they were eager to let me shoot and help in any way they could.

The night I was shooting Tara in the ballet tutus and cowboy boots was a particularly memorable one. Tara is a dancer and her husband, Chris, is a web designer who built my site at the time. I had her outside the building and I lit her with various colored gels as she posed. We finished shooting around midnight. As I was packing up my lights Bill came down from the band practice room and asked if we wanted to do some welding. Well I had a willing model in a tutu and all my lights with me so I said of course we do. Tara had never welded anything in her life but jumped right in there with Bill as her tutor. Bill and Tara got the only good masks which left me with a pair of goggles that were not rated for the type of welding that she was doing. I set the lights up and shot at 1/30th of a second to get the sparks at just the right length. Although my eyes were a little sore the next day, I was thrilled with how the shots came out.