Great Looking

You're not going to believe this, but for the first time in ages I actually ventured out (on a week night!) to First Thursday. But only because my friend Dana felt she needed to attend the openings of a couple of her photography students and she wanted some company. After getting a guarantee that the evening would include having a drink and snacks, I agreed and she came and whisked me off to the Pearl.

All this is the long way of telling you that you've got to get to PushDot Studios and see the work of photographer Tara Chatterton, a recent graduate of Mt. Hood's digital photography program. I rarely get knocked to the floor by someone's work anymore, but Tara is a major talent waiting to happen. Like great photographers such as Mary Ellen Mark and Elliott Erwitt, hers is a personal sensibility that is somehow transmuted through the people she photographs, so much so that you're not sure if you're looking at the person in the photograph or at Tara herself. It's a show well worth seeing, because you're going to be hearing more about her, I can guarantee you.

Details: Tara Chatterton at PushDot Studios, 830 NW 14th Ave.; Feb. 1-24; Phone 503-224-5925.