Oregon is known for a lot of great things; the amazing Pacific Coastline, towering volcanoes of the Cascade Range, and every single episode of Portlandia. But you may not know it’s also one of the best places in the world to grow the fickle pinot noir grapes needed to make pinot noir wine—specifically in the famed Willamette Valley. It’s there in the Dundee Hills region where you’ll find Erath Winery, makers of Oregon’s No.1 selling pinot noir.

It was this fact we dove into head first. That Erath is the culmination of all the best things about Oregon’s culture, climate and soil coming together in a bottle of wine. And every time you open a bottle of Erath, you’re invited on a sensory excursion to Oregon, no matter where you happen to drink it. Which is why we dubbed it, “An Oregon Original.”

I’m a big fan of Oregon (and the Pacific Northwest in general), so this was personally a super fun campaign for me to work on. You don’t have to twist my arm to conceptualize what Oregon means, look through beautiful photos of Oregon landscapes and create a voice that captures the same essence. So hopefully that passion comes through in what you see here.

CLIENT: Erath Winery | AD: Andy Westbrock | CW: Carla Sparks | ECD: Mike Hayward | AGENCY: Copacino Fujikado

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While visiting Cannon Beach, OR over the summer, I took these three shots of Haystack Rock, then somehow forgot about them. And being that you only get twelve images out of a single roll of 120 film, you’d think that would be pretty hard to do. Well I did, so now I’m trying to right my wrong and give these photos some recognition. Enjoy!

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In my book, anything that’s described as a monolith is pretty cool. And anything that appeared in the movie The Goonies, is also pretty cool. Therefore, Haystack Rock is pretty cool. Take that Arthur Fonzarelli.

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You may notice the title to this photo is Haystack Rock Holga No.3. Yes, that is indeed the world famous Haystack Rock near the coastal town of Cannon Beach, OR. And it was indeed taken through the plastic lens of a Holga medium format camera on Kodak Professional 120 Portra 400VC film. But, “No.3” you say? “Where are the other two?” Well, tune in tomorrow you’ll find out.

As for this photo, if you look closely you’ll notice little purple-ish red specks in the sky. Those are actually kites, and there were a ton of people flying them up and down the beach. Never before did I feel such a strong urge to buy, rent or build a kite, or even attach a sting to a seagull. Anything to make use of the constant winds coming off the mighty Pacific.

As promised, here are some more images captured through that magical plastic lens of the Holga. These exposures come to us from a few locations from around the Pacific Northwest. Namely the Oregon coast, beautiful downtown Portland, OR and finally the remote beaches of Olympic National Park, along the Washington coast.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of shooting with my Holga.  Its pure simplicity can’t be beat, and the beauty of film can't be denied. The more popular digital photography gets, the more rewarding it is to shoot film. So with that in mind, hopefully it won’t be long until I can expose a few more rolls and post some more.

During a visit to S.C.R.A.P. this weekend, I became the lucky discoverer of some 2006 test prints made by the talented Mr. Dan Stiles out of Portland, OR. If you’re not familiar with Dan’s work, he makes some of the most strikingly beautiful poster art you can find out there for bands such as The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco (the list goes on and on), plus brands like Nike and promotional work Bumbershoot.

Because of this, I was pretty pleased to stumble upon this glorious bounty. So was the drab office wall they now call home. And by the looks of them, coupled with the fact that S.C.R.A.P. is run on peoples donations of art supplies, I have to believe they were donated by none other than Mr. Dan Stiles himself. So thank you, Mr. Dan Stiles.

Here you can even see the different screens they were made from during the test prints in the second image.

Update: A few weeks after posting this, GrainEdit posted a great interview with Mr. Dan Stiles that you may want to check out as well.

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Perspective is an amazing thing. Taken at Clear Lake in Mt. Hood National Forest, OR.

Back in February I got the opportunity to spend a weekend down in Government Camp, OR with my good friend, Mr. Lucas P. Will. Now his middle name isn’t actually anything that starts with the letter “P”, but that’s beside the point. The point is Mr. Lucas P. Will basically lives right in the gut of Mt. Hood and is next door neighbors with both Timberline Lodge and Mt. Hood Meadows. Needless to say, it’s a good spot to find yourself.

Riding down Vista Ridge at Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon - 2/6/09 Camera: Andy Westbrock Skier: Lucas Will

It being February and all meant we had to ski/snowboard and ski/snowboard we did. I on a snowboard, Lucas on skis. I even tried my hand at riding with a camera to document the experience on the way down.

Lucas has since moved on from his cabin on the mountain, but hopefully we’ll get to do more riding together this coming season. Keep and eye out for that Lucas though. He and Greg Petry plan to circumnavigate Lake Superior so chances are you’ll see him in a kayak.