Portland Photographer Susan Seubert shoots 2013 Chicken Coop Calendar

Last year I worked on my first calendar project with Amber Lotus Publishing.  The topic was something I was vaguely familiar with: urban chickens and their coops.  I’ve done a fair amount of assignment work photographing various gardens and a few stories about people who have urban farms, but this was the first time I’ve worked on a project specifically for a calendar.  The 2013 version is now available either directly from the publisher or on Amazon.com.  I’m sure you might run across this in garden stores too!  It was great fun working with each coop owner as every chicken coop had wildly different personalities.  It was also wonderful meeting the ladies, who turn out to make not only great pets, but also great eggs.  I’ve posted a few photos from the shoot on my stock photography site and will add more in the near future.  This is the perfect gift for anyone who keeps chickens as the coop ideas featured in the calendar are all very original.  We photographed the 2014 calendar this past summer and it was neat to be able to show those coop owners the ideas that are featured in the 2013 calendar.

City Chickens and Their Coops 2013 Wall Calendar featuring photos by Susan Seubert

Lydia Hess, the art director, and yours truly working on the perfect light for those glorious eggs

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Portland Garden Photographer Susan Seubert shoots for Garden Design

It is with great pleasure to announce the publication of a story that I shot last July here in Portland for Garden Design Magazine’s Green Living section.  The garden belongs to Maryellen Hockensmith and has a mid-century Modern designed Pietro Belluschi home on the property.  Maryellen’s life partner, Michael McCullock, who is an architect, designed the yoga house and the design of the garden was a joint effort by a team of regional designers including Ann Lovejoy, Beth Holland, Eamonn Hughes and Laura Crockett.  There is a saltwater swimming pool and views of the coast range along with outdoor rooms, an amazing stone fireplace and cascading waterfalls.  Lee Kelly was commissioned to create a large piece which is entitled, “Window to the Gone World” that both captures views of the garden and frames the coast range in the distance.  Although it was July, while I was shooting the weather ranged from the 40′s at dawn to up into the 70′s during the day.  There was a marvelous bee balm “hedge” that attracted many hummingbirds, which were my constant companions during the shoot.  It’s a marvelous garden with the added bonus of enlightened and generous homeowners who are good stewards of the earth.  You can check out the story on Garden Design’s web site here and see outtakes from the shoot on my Stock Photography site here.

The Lee Kelly sculpture and the yoga pavilion

the waterfall and outdoor fireplace

detail shots of the outdoor rooms and view of the Coast Range from the property

All the images were shot with Canon’s 5D Mark II and various lenses.

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Garden and Landscape Architecture Photographer Susan Seubert in Portland Oregon

One of my first assignments was for Garden Design Magazine back in 1998.  It was shooting a story about a landscape designer in Los Angeles named Chris Rosmini.  She not only had an extraordinary garden in the middle of the city, but she also had amazing collections of things.  Suitcases, alabaster statues, and other ephemera were strewn through her three bungalows.  Last summer I was asked by Portland Monthly Magazine to shoot a series of front yard gardens. The assignment was not nearly the deep investigation of space that the Rosmini story was, but fun and a way to learn about garden design from a completely different vantage point.  Here is the story which is running in the April 2010 issue.

The opening spread of Ketzel Levine's front yard garden

a boxwood hedge to keep out dogs and a more formal approach to a front entrance

Ketzel Levine's front yard private space and Marina Wynton's habitat garden

The images were made with a Hasselblad Camera shooting with Kodak 160VC film and a few of the pictures were made with the Canon 5D Mark II with a 24-105mm Lf/4 IS USM lens.

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Summer In Portland

Summer is our favorite season when we’re in Oregon, and for good reason. The farmers’ market is overflowing with fresh produce, the sun is out and the weather is warm and lovely.  Steven and I spend many evenings on the deck, eating fresh, locally grown produce, drinking fine wines and listening to the birds that live in the surrounding woods.  Every year I try to create a small container garden devoted to the hummingbirds and usually we have a family or two that are regular visitors.  This year is no exception and although I got the plants in late, we now have a peaceful and colorful deck on which to enjoy our evening meals.

porcini raviolis with black truffle salsa and fresh tomato sauce

speck and arugula salad with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano

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Garden Feature Story, Portland Spaces Magazine

It’s that time of year when we all look outside on days like this, sunny and bright, and see the battering that the surrounding flora has taken, particularly this year of much snow.  Dead plants abound.  I wonder if the rosemary bush we’ve had for the past ten years will actually come back to life and how many moles have found their way to my bulbs.  But fear not, hope comes in the form of the printed page.  Portland Spaces Magazine’s April/May Issue is filled with great ideas including a fabulous feature story about gardening!  I had the privilege of shooting a few gardens last summer for this issue.  The opener is my favorite and I hope you like it too.

If you would like to look at more garden photos on my web site, you can do that here.  Thanks for visiting!

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