Lukas did the art on the helmet and Brandon was game to throw it on.

It was such a sunny day that I was worried about heading out without any lighting gear but that is part of the fun of newspaper photography, being creative with what you have.  I hopped on my bike on Thursday afternoon, my tripod awkwardly strapped on my camera bag and sticking out into traffic, and headed down to the industrial area of Southeast Portland.  Brandon and Lukas were about to get some seriously awesome PR with an article in the Times about their publisher Skybound (launched by comic book guru Robert Kirkman).  They created Witch Doctor, a kick-ass comic.

Portland being a small town, I had previously met Brandon on one of my more memorable shoots.  He was writing a story about Portland’s annual naked bike ride for the Willamette Week and I was photographing it.  We laughed about re-creating our last encounter for this shoot.  Mostly an awkward laugh.

And so as usual, I tend to like not just the image that the Times editors choose to publish…and so here are a couple.

I like the splat at their feet. Seemed fitting for a medical horror comic.