THE NEW BLOG!!!

Hey folks....if any of you have been wondering why I haven't been posting here...its because I have a new blog! So update your readers...tell your friends...it is no longer here. Click HERE to access the new blog! Thanks!!

A Portrait for You

Hey peeps. I know it's been a while since my last post. There are big things in store for Kristopherorr.com, so just bear with me. I was just going through a shoot and I had to share this portrait with you. The whole shoot will be up on the new blog when it's up and running. For now..here is a portrait of Kara.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope these holidays are your best yet! I guess I'll take the time to update you on what is going on in my life, as there are some big changes in the near future. Last week I graduated from Brigham Young University Idaho with a Bachelors degree in Studio Art. It feels so good to be DONE. I'll miss all my friends a ton, but its good to be moving on. And moving on I am...down to Salt Lake City. I've got an apt in Holladay, one roommate, and he's CLEAN! Its a really nice place. In Jan it will be go go go with the new lab down in Orem...Canle International as it's affectionately being named (we went with the most ambiguous name in order to dissuade burglars from breaking into the lab and stealing our thousands of dollars worth of equipment). Jonathan Canlas is the man behind the operation and Tavis Johnson and I will be managing the developing and scanning of photographers film. I'm super stoked to see how that gets going. Also, I bought a seasons pass at snowbird, I have two friends that are unemployed and also have passes, so we will be doing a lot of skiing and snowboarding. Hit me up if you want to go!

So some big changes in 2011! I'll have a new blog, new website, and a whole new way to view all that portfolio stuff that has been hidden in the recesses of my hard drives for the past year or so. I can't wait to get everything organized. That will be the first big project of 2011. Also, I plan on doing a bit of traveling. Right now Mexico in Feb is looking like a real possibility. Max Low is now the proud owner of a '96 Ford Explorer that is registered in Mexico for the next six months...so we plan on putting that to use. We're thinking Yucatan road trip? Also I will be heading out to Seattle in April to help out with Film Is Not Dead. It is always the raddest time hanging out with Jonathan Canlas and the FIND posse. I can't wait for that. Places I hope to visit this year?? Obviously San Francisco, New York, it's been far too long since I've been to either of those cities. I want to go back to Hawaii so bad that sometimes I physically hurt inside, so we'll see if that happens. I want to go back there with friends, or a friend. I've come to decide that traveling by yourself, living the gypsy lifestyle is all well and good, but unless you have people there to share the memories with, they start to fade, and they aren't worth much over the years.

My Mom does her share of worrying about my current bachelor status and reminds me repeatedly that there are plenty of nice marryable girls down in UT, so I'm sure I will keep busy finding a girl that I want to keep :) But really, I am excited to move to a new place and start living. I appreciate all of you. You all mean a lot to me more than you know. May you have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year :)

Kristopher

Portland LDS Temple

Last month I was able to fly to Portland to shoot Cassie and Justin's wedding. It was so much fun and the weather was PERFECT...a rare occurrence in Oregon. I thought I'd share a couple of shots of the magnificent building they were married in. To see the rest of their wedding, click HERE.

Lets Take a Trip Back...

...To before film was born...Ok so I guess technically film was born. On glass plates. Turns out I'm not the first photographer in my family. When my mom went to visit our Aunt Nony in Holland Aunt Nony started pulling out photographs that her Grandpa had taken during his career as a photographer. Of course like most photographers (at least...the good ones) their main subjects always end up being their families. Hence we have a pretty good photographic record of the Vanderstock family during the turn of the century. A time when it was fairly rare to have a LOT of photos taken of you and your family. My mom asked Aunt Nony if there were any photos that she could have to take back and show the cousins in Canada, and the following are the photos that Aunt Nony gave my mom, who has in turn...handed over to me. I can't wait to go back to Holland and look at the rest of these photos, and perhaps be given an opportunity to take part in the preservation and archiving of them, so that we can enjoy them for many years to come! Most of the following are albumen prints.

So my Great Great Grandpa Vanderstock lived in Leiden, Netherlands. He was a member of the Dutch army in the late 1800's.



When he was done with the army, he studied photography and eventually became a fairly well known photographer among the well to do people of Leiden. This is his business card:



Here is a picture of the man himself.



Like I said...he liked to take photos of his family. Here are one of the RARE ones where he is actually in the photo (this is totally posed):



This is the house that he raised his 6 kids in. 5 girls and one boy. He also ran his business out of his home....yes, those windows are facing north :)



Often his daughters became models for small cards that were customarily given out to guests when they visited:



Even they had babies melt down. Its funny that he still made the print of this one...I guess maybe it was his last plate and he was like "Whatever...another family photo with me not in it"



He loved to travel. This is a post card from when he visited new york in 1929. And yes...this is his actual hand writing on the back. Any of you read dutch?




The rest of these are pictures of his family as well as his children. But I want you to look closely at these! It is INSANE how crisp some of these shots are. And the lighting is just soft and buttery on a few. Think about the photos that were being taken in the turn of the century over here in america and canada....they were grungy...dirty...and well yeah. You get the idea. But these show us a little glimpse of where European photography was at the turn of the century. Pretty cool. Here are the last of the images, in no particular order.







The girl on the left of this photo looks EXACTLY like my mom did at this age!!







Look how sharp this one is!!







I love this portrait above.
This next one is a normal grad photo for a student at the University of Leiden. This is what they wore. My Great Grandpa hand tinted this.



Anyways, thanks for checking these out. Hope you enjoyed this little piece of my family history!

Some Instant Film

These were all shot on my Graflex 4x5 using FP-100C Instant film. Bleached neg scans. Took me a little while to dial in the results (and about a pack of film) but I think I have it down. More to come.

Car

Shot a little 4x5 while we were camping...I've been doing a 4x5 independent study for my last semester. Sort of a BFA project, without the show at the end (hopefully I'll find somewhere to do a show down the road) but I've been shooting a bunch of 4x5 wherever I go. Mostly it's been portraits, but once in a while I try out the landscape. I love how the tilt makes things look miniature. Speaking of tilt shift, have you guys seen "The Social Network"? Right around the middle of the movie there is an AMAZING sequence, the Henley races shot tilted to Grieg's "in the Hall of The Mountain King"....it was so good. Here's a link if you wanna watch. Don't worry...no spoilers. Click HERE