Way Off the Beaten Path Travel Writer: Vanabonds
Peter Barry
Here at Jared Cruce studios we’re always looking for things that inspire us. From a great cup of coffee to off the chart artists, inspiration is what keeps us moving and on our toes. If you’re looking for some personal and perhaps visionary inspiration on how to throw your cell phone into the proverbial lake and set out into the wild blue yonder (i.e. radically change your life and do what you’ve always dreamed of.) look no further than the Blog of our friend Christina Ammon – Vanabonds.
Her blog shares her story as she travels the world on a low budget and describes her travel style as “near to the ground, cheap, and [involving] no agendas, no guidebooks, no home base and little money.” Many of us dream of this type of commitment to a pursuit of adventure and exploration but fail follow through with it. As one blog reader once stated: “I’m glad you are doing it so I don’t have to.”
Her adventures were recently written up on Oregonlive at we’re hoping her blog continues to blow up. It’s definitely a fun read and puts the world of facebook updates and never ending tweets sort of in a “what the f@#!” is my life all about perspective. The blog features stories of her travels while living out of her van in various countries (16 thus far).
Chris and I have done some editorial assignments together (her as a writer) and she has hung her hat in Ashland on and off for the past decade. We’re keeping our eyes peeled for her first novel! When’s it coming Chris?
For further information about Christina check out her Q & A at Oregon live here.
The Environmental Portrait – Photography Workshop
Coming Soon! May 19-20, 2012
Spend two days with professional photographer Jared Cruce in ths energizining photographic workshop. From our base in Ashland, Oregon we will prepare for and learn the craft and equipment needed to tackle any location portrait. Then we head out into some of the diverse and eclectic environments around the area. Students will learn location assessment, portrait lighting, and techniques for bringing out emotion in their images! This is a hands on workshop!
ASHLAND, OREGON
Ashland, Oregon is an amazing vacation spot with the mountains, Crater Lake, the coast, rivers all right there! The small town is nestled in the mountains, has all qualities of lodging from B&B’s to inexpensive motels, quaint shopping, awesome dining, Lithia Park and the prolific and award winning Shakespeare Festival.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAIT
MAY 19-20, 2012
HD DSLR VIDEO – MOVING FROM STILLS TO MOTION
JULY 27-30, 2012
SHOOTING / LIGHTING ON LOCATION
AUGUST 2-5, 2012
REGISTER HERE
SOU Football – Commerical – “One Team”
Jared Cruce studio wrote, produced, directed and edited this commercial spot for Southern Oregon University Football Team. This is the first of a three part series with each spot featuring a different athlete (Running Back, Quarter Back, and Linebacker.) Working with the team’s coaches and media relations department, we sculpted a “brand” message that is the core of the team. It was awesome to work with the team’s new Coach Craig Howard on this. Coach Howard will lead the Raiders into the Frontier Division of the NAIA and we are glad to be a part of this new era.
The production was shot with the Canon 5d MarkII and Canon 7d cameras, Kessler Pocket Dolly and Pocket Jib, Glidecam 4000HD w/ Steadicam Merlin arm and vest. Lighting was a mixture of 1k Incandescents, and Flourescents with softboxes. Sound was recorded with Tascam DR-100, Rode NTG 2, Seinheisser Wireless Lav setup.
Gaffers: Eric Bixler, Errin Connors
First AC: Rocky Garretto
Editing included Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, After Effects CS5, Magic Bullet Mojo.
Southern Oregon Magazine – Wine Clubs
Some of our work in the Fall 2011 issue of Southern Oregon Magazine. Thanks to Heidi Chackel (our editor) and Brian Page ( art director) for the opportunity and the great layout. Big props to Tiffany Trevalant for producing this and to Christine at Troon Winery for creating such a nice space and treating us so well.
Southern Oregon Magazine - Wine Clubs
Sometimes Taking Pictures Can Be a Lot of Fun.
In the life of creating images for a living, sometimes I think to myself, “Well, this is alright.“
It’s like between the constant crushing need to brand yourself, adapt to a radically changing market (as in what the hell market am I in anymore), and shoot a lot of images under a lot of pressure, there is a brief time when you say this to yourself, “I’m working my ass off and having fun, while sailing!“ Last month, was one of those in between times. I got to go shoot for San Juan Sailing shooting marketing stills and video, while taking a week long course to get my bareboat charter certificate. (more on that later)
In preparation for the assignment, Sebago, sent me a pair of sailing shoes to put through the ringer. I’d never heard of Sebago, until my friend KC Guyer, their fit model, turned me onto them and I’ve got to say that they are way cool shoes with a slight European feel. They were instrumental in clambering up a metal pole that rocked side to side and back and forth. They also had a badass draining quick dry system that actually worked. Here are some pics of me on the boat hanging cameras from the spreaders and a portrait of me I had setup for one of my fellow sailors to take. Sweet pick Julie!
Climbing the mast on the Botswain's Chair.
Assignment: Photograph the sailing school
Taking Time Lapse to the next step
My friend and photographer / film maker Carson Garner has been taking HD DSLR filmmaking to the next level in a very short time. Check out his recent timelapse and his work over at www.f9photo.com He’s a really bright guy with a great eye his projects really show it.
Todd Davis is the Handy Dad!
Well I now know that KIDS RULE! And, being a kid once myself I am reminding myself to act more like one!
I just finished shooting one of the most fun, energetic and pretty much over the top projects I’ve ever done. And the great thing was that it involved kids, families and my great friend Todd Davis. Todd is the author of the Handy Dad series of books published by Chronicle Books and this is his second book. As a sequel to the best selling Handy Dad, Todd talked me into (in about 3 sentences) shooting the hero shots for Handy Dad in the Great Outdoors.
Background on Todd: Extreme skiing, snowboarding, wing suiter, with his own TV show on the HGTV network called Room Crashers. Check out the article here. He also owns a very cool design business www.epic-spaces.com
Well, I worked around Todd’s insane TV production schedule which was about every day for the last year (acutally we tried to shoot kids in the outdoors about 3 times in the winter, which was kinda dumb) we shot in San Francisco and finally finished it up last week in perfect weather here in Oregon.
It was an epic adventure of laughter, energy, late night editing, dusk to dawn shooting, and me going “is that a little over the top?” and Todd going “that’s perfect!” In about a week we pulled off about a years worth of crazy, cool images of kids having a hell of a lot of fun.
I thought I’d share some of the out takes with you over over a couple days. This shot is a long exposure where I framed the Golden Gate and SF (Todd lives in the city), he took a red flashlight and light painted the word Handy Dad and then stood over on the left and I popped him with a softbox. Looks like a bunch of photoshop, but it wasn’t. Enjoy!
Behind the Scenes of Yala Designs: Fall 2010
In fall 2010, Jared Cruce Studio was approached by a national clothing company working on one of the scariest things a company can do: A total re-branding. Originally called DreamSacks, the mission was simple: take the new name, Yala, and actively create a new look for a new company but still maintain the customer and client base. Working closely with the founders/owners of Yala, Jared Cruce Studio was asked to conceptualize and create a style of imagery that would breath their creative vision and set them apart.
Our studio took on the pre production, location scouting and talent casting with an absolute dream team of talent, locations, and crew we pulled off a heroic shoot All tin less than two months from initial concepts to capture and delivery!
On January 1st, www.yaladesigns.com officially launched. The site has seen an incredible amount of activity and now Yala is starting to see all kinds of press. Check out this article written for The Oregonian‘s business section.
With this new image, Yala can now extend themselves further; beyond the DreamSacks moniker and reach out to a world of buyers and supporters. Congratulations to Yala Designs.
You can look forward to more great Jared Cruce Studio/Yala Designs collaborations in the coming months.
2011 Workshop Schedule
The workshop season is here and we have an awesome schedule of workshops to announce. Last year was great and this season looks to be even better as we have added an HD DSLR video workshop to our program. This will cover equipment, production and shooting for documentary and narrative. 
Coming Really Soon!
Adventure Photography Workshop May 13-15
Rafting / Photography / Lodge Stay
Also, we are again offering one of the coolest photo courses available – a white water rafting trip / lodge stay / photo workshop on what many consider to be the premiere multi-day wilderness river in the US, the Rogue River. Check out the Rogue River Workshop for more details.
Last year many of the workshops sold out so book early to insure your spot.
Ashland, OR A hidden Gem of a Place!
Ashland, Oregon is an amazing vacation spot with the mountains, Crater Lake, the coast, rivers all right there! The small town is nestled in the mountains, has all qualities of lodging from B&B’s to inexpensive motels, quaint shopping, awesome dining, Lithia Park and the prolific and award winning Shakespeare Festival. Best of all most of the courses are held in Ashland in or near our studio, so pretty much you can walk from your hotel, to class, to dinner, to a play and to bed!
Workshop Schedule 2011:
Adventure Photography May 13-15
Location Lighting June 24-26
Rogue River Workshop September 16-19
HD DSLR Video Workshop October 7-9
Discount for Multiple Classes and Professional Associations
We offer a 15% discount to students who take multiple courses * See our About the Workshops page. We are also offering a 10% discount to ASMP members as well as members of Southern Oregon Film and Television – SOFAT.
Please contact us if you are a member and we’ll hook you up with a discount code!
