Our eagerly anticipated April 2011 Oregon Coast Lookbook is finally here, and yes, the dream of the 1990's is alive in Portland! Huge thanks to Stylist Michelle Quon (no, not the ice-skater), Producton Manager Catherine Liu, and non-model-models Alicia Kroell, Hannah Vogel (our Sunday Volunteer), Katherine Voskressensky, Rebecca Peel, Katie Leedy, Maddy Harkness (our Marketing Coordinator), Hillary Murphy for making this possible, as well as to The Giribaldi House for lodging, and Esther Stanford and Natasha Stevens for remote assistance in our location scouting endeavors! You were all SUCH a pleasure to work with, such beautiful people inside and out, and there's no way we could have done it without you! Thanks in advance to friends, family, and members of the press for passing this along in support of Golden Rule Gallery! XOXO, Wynde Dyer

See something you like? If you're a Portland local, stop by and make it yours FAST! These pieces aren't sticking around long, and this is only the tip of the iceburg of our insanely awesome April collection, all of which is a great complement to the humor-based conceptual art we're showing this month by Jessica Reaves. Those of you who are not able to visit our brick-and-mortar location, please send us an email or give us a call at (503) 477-5124 any day of the week between 12-6 p.m. PST and we'll be happy to provide you with additional information on our pieces. We gladly accept all forms of payment including American Express and are happy to ship nationally and internationally! Interested in styling, photographing, or modeling for our upcoming lookbooks? Read more below and email us, we're always looking to bring new folks on board.

FAQS About Our Lookbooks:

1. How do you find your models?

Our models are all members of our community--friends, family, customers, volunteers, interns, consigners, designers, etc. We prefer to work with "real people" as opposed to "professional models" (though we occasionally take these, too), and we tend to work with people who are "interesting pretty" or "normal pretty" as opposed to "traditionally pretty" or "model pretty." We don't style our models' hair or faces, we prefer for them to look like they normally look, made up or not. We keep it real. Our only requirements to model are that (a) you actually like our clothes, (b) you are more-or-less comfortable in your own body, (c) you're nice to work with, and (d) you don't expect to be paid, as we can only afford to compensate you with a special article of clothing per shoot, photos for your portfolio, 20% off Golden Rule purchases for life, and a lot of fun during the shoot. Email us!

2. How do you find your photographers?

People ask us or we ask them. We prefer to work with a new photographer every few shoots or so. First we worked with Brandon Witzel in 2010, then we worked with Katy Knowton for February and March of 2011. This most recent shoot was photographed by me, Wynde Dyer, our founder. While I'm able to photograph our lookbooks, I really DO NOT want to. I am a retired photojournalist, and I prefer to shoot our behind-the-scenes photos, as opposed to the actual lookbook photos. I'd rather give the work of other photographers exposure. If you're interested in shooting for us, please email us!

3. How do you find your stylists?

People ask us or we ask them. We work with a new stylist each month. First we worked with Sarah Van Raden, then Sarah Baker, then Lahaina Alcantara, and most recently Michelle Quon. We do this, again, to showcase the work of members of our community and to give them images for their portfolio so they can advance their careers. We also do this because we REALLY work the hell out of our stylists--so many models, so many looks, so many group shots where everyone's clothes have to interact well together--so most folks really don't  have the time or energy to do it more than a month in a row. If you think you're up for the task, please contact us and we'll be happy to test you out and then schedule you for the future.

4. Why do your photos look so funny? What camera do you use?

The photos I take look funny because they are taken with a not-that-pro consumer-grade Cannon Rebel with a 13-year-old 28-105mm lens with a crappy aperature and a hella scratched and hella dusty lens that has never had a lens cap on it. This lens produces slightly blurry (either from motion, or from lens fog, if it's raining) images with a halo of light around anything bright. Because our computer likes to crash when we plug the camera in to upload, instead I photograph the LCD screen of the camera with my LCD screen. This produces hypersaturation of color and the weird lines. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can get our crappy computer to actually download the photos straight from the camera instead of from my iPhone. When this happens I use iPhoto to bump the contrast way down and the lightness way up. I then photograph the dirty/scratched computer screen with the iPhone (which, again, hypersaturates and makes screen lines) OR with the Rebel (less hypersaturation, less lines), and then re-import into iPhoto and use the sharpen feature to further degrade the image quality. So that's why they look funny.

5. Why do you do that to your photos?

Many reasons. First, it began as a work-around to our technological challenges of having a computer that constantly crashes when we go to download photos. Secondly, taking photos of the LCD screen on location gives me the ability to give our blog and FaceBook readers a real-time sneak peal of what we're up to without having to wait several days or weeks for editing and post-production treatment of our photos. Thirdly, I became a photojournalist because having a camera between me and the world enabled me to participate in the life with a barier between my sensitive self and the emotional intensity of the world. Connected to this, I have found it is pragmatic for me to edit photos with a camera, rather than on a computer. Seeing my photos through a camera--as opposed to on a computer screen--gives me a kind of objective emotional distance I need in order to effeciently and effectively edit my work. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I like the way it looks. There is a dark haze and a light glow and a blurriness and a moodiness to the images, combined with a certain amount of mystery about whether they're film or digital, old or new. All of this connects with me and my experience of the world on a deeply personal conceptual level.