OMSIOPOLIS! Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

Distinguished humans and humanoids alike were in attendance at the annual Oregon Museum of Science and Industry black-tie fundraiser OMSIOPOLIS. Donations helped fund OMSI’s Inspire a Child Program. A veritable who’s who among Portland were in attendance.

The theme this year was robots in honor of the featured exhibit Robots+Us produced by the Science Museum of Minnesota. This event proved to be one of the more challenging assignments I’ve faced in a long time. Tracking down major contributors for photographs in a room of 300 guests, difficult lighting ranging from sunlight to a darkened, near black dining room and an unprofessional photographer shooting for a local magazine competing with me for every shot. Overall, it was an extraordinary event and everyone was having fun.

April, the event coordinator is taking a moment to celebrate all her hard work before the guests arrive. She created a 50 foot robot at the entrance with red carpet running beneath his legs. What a sight as you pulled up to OMSI for the event.

Suspended from the massive ceiling performing over the guests at the cocktail reception was local aerialist acrobat Kyoko Uchida. Truly spectacular.

While guests arrived and mingled, music was served up by 3 Leg Torso. An amazing local band, they truly set the stage for this event. An eclectic blend of world music from Paris to Argentinean tango and Latin music. Their music has been described as “all the beauty of Astor Pizzaolla’s music and the spirit of The Kronos Quartet.” You can listen to their music on Spotify.

Pictured are some of the guests in attendance at this fundraiser. These images are typical of the style of photography that corporations hire me to create for their events. Cinematic, authentic, engaging images of people being themselves captured in beautiful natural light.

Entertainment was provided throughout dinner by aerial acrobats. In keeping with the “let’s see how many challenges we can throw at Randy” theme, no flash photography was allowed during their performance. Fortunately, using the latest digital technology, I was able to capture these images with incredible clarity and detail. I could never have accomplished this with film.

Following dinner and fundraising, Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers surprised us with a visit. These were the actual costumes used in the Star Wars movies. I must confess that it was strangely eerie being surrounded by these very realistic characters. I felt like I was in the middle of a weird Star Wars dream. And once again, in keeping with the “let’s see how many challenges we can throw at Randy” theme, they asked for a group photo in the glass walkway above the OMSI entrance.

Thanks for checking out my post. It was a long one, but I know you want to see photos and not read a photographer pontificate about technical challenges. Having said that, I am truly honored to be a part of the wedding and event photography community. We don’t have the luxury of taking hours to set up perfect lighting and creating beautifully crafted images. Our jobs require that we are flexible and quick. We have to locate and create beautiful moments from the most challenging situations. You never know what you’re walking into, but professional photographers always delivers! So the next time you see a photographer, give ’em a hug and tell them how much you appreciate them!