Meet the Blue Moon Crew
Written by Mary Thomas
Whether you come in often or have never met us face to face, we thought it’d be a good idea to introduce ourselves. Meet the crew, learn what we do, and, if you feel so inclined, listen to our recently curated Blue Moon Camera Dancing in the Darkroom playlist – a collection of what each of us listens to while working on our personal photographic creations.
Blue Moon Camera Crew contact sheet by Jim Hair, 2017
Pete Gomena
Photo by Jim Hair
Where you’ll see him: Pete works at the scanner making our customers’ film into digital files. He also helps out with our tech department to keep all our online entities running smoothly. You may have seen him in the past around Newspace, where he was the facilities manager.
What he does in his off time: Usually going to the beach, forest, or any other type of nature to, of course, make photos.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Grateful Dead
What’s in his camera bag: Rolleiflex, stereo pinhole Holga, 4×5 pinhole
Mary Thomas
Photo by Peter Carlson
Where you’ll find her: Mary is either behind the counter, getting film where it needs to go, or in the back writing and photographing content for our Instagram and Facebook feeds. She’s recently started a series called “The Analog Profiles,” where she interviews photographers that come through the shop.
What she does in her off time: Mary attends the University of Portland as a history major. When she’s not studying, she’s writing, photographing, painting, creating with local artists, and going to house shows for fun.
What she listens to in the darkroom: King Krule, Alvvays, Cherry Glazerr, Chicano Batman
What’s in her camera bag: A Nikon EL II and Yashica Mat 124-G
Mary’s website portfolio Mary’s Instagram
Ian Beckett
Photo by Jim Hair
Where you’ll see him: You probably won’t! Ian comes in after-hours to develop our black and white film in the darkroom.
What he does in his off time: Ian spends time with his wife and daughter and, of course, makes photos. Ian also runs Beckett Lead, where he preserves the historical craft of lead typesetting for letterpress printing and ceramic impressions.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Blazer games, Meat Puppets
What’s in his camera bag: Olympus XA2, Mamiya C330, Speed Graphic
Renee Heister
Where you’ll find her: Renee will either be printing black and white and specialty photos on Ray (one of our RA-4 machines), developing slide film in the darkroom, helping customers out with a smiling face, or competing with Faulkner to cook the most delicious lunch for all of our hard workers.
What she does in her free time: Renee also goes by the DJ name RK Heist, playing tunes every Monday from 10 to noon on Freeform Portland Radio
What she listens to in the darkroom: Buck Owens, Digable Planets, This American Life, Wire, Freeform Portland Radio
What’s in her camera bag: A Yashica Mat 124-G
Arthur Ruckle
Photo by Jim Hair
Where you’ll find him: Arthur is usually up front helping customers with a friendly face and knowledgeable word. Otherwise, he’s working with Mike on our repair line.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Steely Dan, Charles Mingus, The Meters
Misty Kerr
Where you’ll find her: Misty is one of our extraordinary printers. Most afternoons, you’ll see Misty printing on our machine, Nora, behind the counter. If you’ve gotten the classic Blue Moon Print, a 5×6 “sloppy border,” along with most color prints, Misty probably did the work to make sure your photos look as fantastic as possible.
What she does in her time off: Misty likes to go backpacking and hiking, or hang out with her ducks at home.
What she listens to in the darkroom: The Specials, Reel Big Fish, Bad Religion
What’s in her camera bag: A Pentax MX, Yashica Mat 124-G
Erin Johnson
Where you’ll find her: Erin might be a number of places around the shop. As of late, she’s been running most of our color film. If you give us color film, she’s developing it. You can also catch her helping customers and persuading them to try out her favorite film stocks.
What she does in her off time: Erin recently turned her basement into a gallery and spends a lot of her time curating for and working on OV Project Space, where a variety of artists showcase their work of all mediums. Or she’s eating bagels.
What she listens to in the darkroom: Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Blood Orange, Ariel Pink
What’s in her camera bag: A Hasselblad 500 c/m, Voigtlander Bessa L, Fuji Tiara, and Fuji GW690
Sophia Diaz
Where you’ll find her: Sophia is usually behind the curtain, taking in mail orders from all over the country and beyond. She is also a writer and poet; you’ll find some lovely couplets she’s written alongside the staff-curated customer-made photographs on our Blue Moon Camera lab Instagram.
What she does in her off time: Sophia enjoys amateur boxing, brushing her teeth, and writing poetry.
What she listens to in the darkroom: Björk
What’s in her camera bag: A Canon F1 and Holga
Mike Knight
Photo by Jim Hair
Where you’ll find him: Mike is a long time expert in film cameras and photography. You’ll see him out on the shop floor, talking up cameras and checking out the attic relics that find their way into the shop. He’s our resident repairman as well, so if you’ve got a bum camera, he’s your guy.
What he does in his off time: Mike is often spending time with his awesome daughters, Kassie and Lexi.
What’s in his camera bag: Mike’s camera bag is like a magician’s hat: it has no limit in what it can hold, and there might be a few stray rabbits in there. Pretty much if it exists, it’s in Mike’s camera bag.
Molly Strohl
Where you’ll find her: Molly is most likely at our scanning desk, providing expert scans of our customer’s film.
What she does in her off time: Molly is a DIY queen; on her days off you’ll probably find her cuddled up with her cat, embroidering, or creating some other multimedia masterpiece.
What’s in her camera bag: A Pentax 67 and Nimslo
What she listens to in the darkroom: Angel Olsen, Solange, Triathalon, Timber Timbre, Shakey Graves
Molly’s website portfolio Molly’s Instagram
Jim Hair
Where you’ll find him: Everyone knows Jim; he’s a staple of the Blue Moon Camera counter. While you’re here he will gladly let you in on all his insider’s knowledge about film, photography, and life. It’s well worth your while to give him a listen.
What he does in his off time: Jim takes no off time from photography. When not in the shop, he is out in the world turning light and happenstance into photographs and strangers into portraits.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Louis Armstrong, PRI’s The World, OPB
What’s in his camera bag: A Hasselblad 500 c/m and Speed Graphic
Jim’s Flickr Portfolio Jim’s Instagram
Sarah Graves
Where you’ll find her: Behind the curtain in the back office handling the national sales desk. If you send in a package or an email, you’ll most likely be corresponding with Sarah or Sophia. Sarah also takes care of the Customer Show and does some design work.
What she does in her time off: Sarah is probably making photos, printing in her darkroom at home, drinking wine, eating amazing food with her husband, or traveling.
What she listens to in the darkroom: Tammy Wynette, The Cramps, Bob Dylan, Neko Case, St. Vincent, PJ Harvey.
What’s in her camera bag: A Crown Graphic 4x5 and Rolleiflex
Sarah’s website portfolio Sarah’s Instagram
David Paulin
Photo by Zeb Andrews
Where you’ll see him: David is either up front managing the lab to make sure everything runs smoothly, sitting behind our optical printing machine Nora, or organizing our 8×11 sized Spy Film for MINOX cameras.
What he does in his off time: We don’t give David off time.
What he listens to in the darkroom: George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
What’s in his camera bag: A Mamiya C330, MINOX B, Nikomat, Holga, Zero Image 2000, and Stereo Realist
David’s Flickr Portfolio David’s Instagram
Peter Carlson
Where you’ll see him: Peter is a master darkroom printer, and to that effect we often lock him away in the darkroom to produce our true black and white prints. We let him out occasionally, though, and you’ve likely seen him at the counter or talked to him on the phone at least once.
What he does in his off time: Peter has been working with his friends in the burlesque scene lately to create dramatic (sometimes satanic) photographs.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Terry Allen, Leon Russel, Willie Nelson, Erkin Koray, Amon Düül II
What’s in his camera bag: Currently, Rolleiflex Automat EVS, Hasselblad 500 c/m, Wista VX 4×5, Pentax 67, Nikon F100, and a couple of Holgas
Peter’s website portfolio Peter’s Instagram
Claudia Howell
Photo by Jim Hair
Where you’ll see her: You probably won’t! Claudia works part time in the back darkroom creating custom black and white enlargements and contact sheets.
What she does in her off time: Claudia is a polo instructor, which often influences her photographic work (lots of horses!)
What she listens to in the darkroom: NPR
What’s in her camera bag: A Holga, Diana, Nikon FM.
Faulkner Short
Photo by Mary Thomas
Where you’ll see him: Faulkner is one of our star printers, and is often seen working on our black and white and obscure film format printer, affectionately dubbed “Ray”. If he’s not there, he’s probably processing black and white film in the back, or making the staff a delicious five-star lunch in the kitchen.
What he does in his off time: Faulkner is also known as DJ Folklore. He has his own show, Chauncy Pops, airing on xrayfm on Sunday mornings and House of Sound Monday nights.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Jimmy Reed, Dead Moon, Charlie Parker, Howlin Wolf, Bob Dylan
What’s in his camera bag: A Zero Image pinhole, Leica M3, Nikon F2, Instax Wide, Minox B, and others
Faulkner’s Flickr Portfolio Faulkner’s Instagram
Zeb Andrews
Where you’ll see him: Zeb is our resident Jack-of-all-trades. When he’s not up front answering all imaginable obscure questions from photographers, he’s probably performing quality checks on our printing machines or mixing chemistry in the dark room.
What he does in his off time: If he’s awake, he has a camera in his hands.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Podcasts – 99PI, Radiolab, Hardcore History, Lore
What’s in his camera bag: A little bit of everything, including a Hasselblad 500C, Zero Image 2000 pinhole, Holga, and Pentacon SixTL, just to name a few.
Zeb’s Website Portfolio Zeb’s Instagram Zeb’s Pinhole Instagram
Kelly Palin
Where you’ll find her: Kelly does all our books, so she’s often seen in the back working away on Excel or other complicated financial spreadsheets the rest of us can only begin to understand. She’s the one making sure we’ve crossed all our t’s and dotted all our i’s, and we would be an uncrossed, undotted mess without her.
What she does in her off time: Our resident expert in a variety of topics related to gardening and healthy eating, Kelly loves spending time in her garden. When not busy raising her garden, she is most often spending time with her daughters.
What’s in her camera bag: A calculator and portfolio of really good looking spreadsheets.
Jake Shivery
Photo by Jim Hair
Where you’ll see him: Jake walks the floor most days, handling all your sales, consignment, and general expertise needs. He’s just the person to provide the odd piece of expert information and invaluable advice on photography at large.
What he does in his off time: Many Sunday mornings, especially in the winter months, are dedicated to large format portraiture in his back yard. Jake released a book of his 8×10 film photography, titled Contact.
What he listens to in the darkroom: Kendrick Lamar, Dwight Yoakum, Solomon Burke
What’s in his camera bag: An 8×10 Deardorff and MINOX III camera, loaded with Spy Film.
Daisy
Photo by Jim Hair
Where you’ll find her: Daisy is Jake’s dog, and she is very calm, friendly, photogenic, and well trained. To the last point, she will not venture out past the black curtain, but she may poke her head out to say hello every now and then. Feel free to go give her a pet if you’d like, and she’ll love you for it.
What she does in her off time: She is often seen being incidental in the background of Jake’s portraits. When not lying just within frame, she can be found running through the park or the river, or enjoying a lazy afternoon in the backyard.
What’s in her camera bag: She has no camera bag; she’s a dog, silly.