For nearly 36 years, a unique photographic studio has existed continuously on Miramar Beach in Half Moon Bay. It all began on a stormy winter day in 1968, when Michael Powers discovered a rustic little two-story redwood house there, and left the corporate world to build his first studio, to begin actualizing a long-held dream of becoming a professional photographer. Within months, Michael's brother Pat and four other aspiring young photographers, Ted Porter, Jack Izzo, Jerry Koontz and Mark Fraser, had gathered to work at the little studio on the beach. They began making prints on the old Agfacolor paper from Hasselblad negatives on a then state-of-the-art Chromega enlarger, surviving at first by selling their photos at art shows. But soon they discovered an exciting new venue for outdoor photography in the posters and &"soft touch" greeting cards that were coming into vogue at that time. The Miramar Beach team became one of the world's leading producers of romantic, humorous, and inspirational photography for this market, working with publishers across America, in Europe and in Asia.
and now....
For some time, a minimalist, highly mobile, & "less-is-more" style of image gathering with lightweight 35mm cameras has allowed a few adventuresome photographers to make their way by recording images of the outdoor world they love so much. Now the methods by which photographic images are gathered, digitized, and brought to higher states of perfection with Photoshop, etc, are prepared for publication, or printed with archival quality for exhibition. This evolved to providing wonderful new tools - that exponentially expand the creative potential of the photographic medium. Months of research, visits to top digitally-equipped studios, and pooled resources have enabled us to assemble the best of this exciting new digital technology in the original studio at One Mirada Road on Miramar Beach.
The success of the original Miramar studio came in great part from the synergistic effect that the shared creative space produced. Once again, the new digitally-equipped facility will be made accessible to a select group of dedicated adventure photographers, filmmakers and graphic designers on a time-share basis. The free exchange of technical skills, creative discoveries and marketing opportunities that is bound to occur will be stimulating and empowering for everyone involved. The members of OCEANS will have opportunities to participate in group exhibitions at galleries, the creation and publication of prestige photographic books, magazine features, adventure travel catalogs, and travel to exotic locations on photographic expeditions.
