Scream at the Beach

Scream at the Beach
Originally uploaded by ballyhoo photography

I belong to a strobist group here in Portland, and we were allowed access (during the day) to all the haunts.
For you non PDX types, the Scream at the beach is a huge haunted house set that takes up 5 retail locations in a mall in North Portland. Some examples are a mansion, complete with crypt, a mine, an urban zombie-scape, and others. This shot was made in the funhouse (from hell) and this attraction was right after you walk through a 24 foot "squeeze wall" and is in a black room. Nice, huh?
It was so dark in many of the areas, that some of us used flashlights to help our auto focus assist. It was too dark to manually focus. You'd think that cameras were made for use in the light or something.
So, we spent about 6 hours in the haunts, checking out the different scenes and figuring out how to make pretty girls with horrifying makeup look like they fit into the place. Can you say head lamp for finding gear? the best part was - what color is most photo equipment? - finding all of our equipment as we moved from one location to the next. A good number of people were at the mall as we went from haunt to haunt. Girls in make up, guys with bags and stands and cameras. Makeup was done by Matt Huntley.

Mourning for a lost friend

I wrote a little while ago about my 11 year old lab mix, Daisy, having cancer. Well, sadly, she lost the fight and has left us. She was the first dog that my wife and I had as a family and we are all very sad. After about 6-700 bucks worth of shoes and other things around the house (including a leather couch cushion) when she was young, she was a great dog.

So here's to a great 90 lb lap dog and loved friend. This is one of the pictures I took of her about a week before she died. She loved to play with spray bottle mist. I would spray just a little water on her nose and she would rub all over the ground and rub her nose. I didn't actually have to spray it. I could hold a spray bottle and make a spray sound and she would do the same thing. Silly pup.

I know, some people say she was just a dog, but she was a big part of our family and will always be remembered as such. You are entitled to your opinion, as long as you know that it is wrong.

Daisy Lou Gill
10.31.96 - 2.4.08