Ryan – Senior Portrait

Finally, a guy! I was beginning to think that only girls graduated! Ryan is a Stadium High School Senior and will be attending WSU next year.

His high school is a castle. Who can say that? This has to be the coolest looking school ever and it sits right on a cliff looking over the water! My son, Nick, attends the same one. What I really love is not only the historic value of this school, but because of what it is, there is very little vandalism. The kids respect it and know how fortunate they are.

I love this S in front of the school! This is my second favorite.

Ryan was great to photograph. So easy going and did everything I asked, only occasionally was there hesitation :).

He brought his little sister, Kylie along to watch, so I thought I would get a few of her too. She just donated her hair (11 inches) to Locks of Love, so she is sporting her new hair do.

We tried to stay close to home around the castle.

We found a cool field and wall right down the street. This is my third favorite.

Don’t you just love the colors!

And an alley, right next to it with tons of colors and textures. The next set of pictures were ALL from that alley within one block!

Can you tell Ryan likes to work out?

My favorite of the shoot.

More alley pictures…

Last alley one, then we will move on, even though I do still have more :).

We headed to the graffiti garages, since that is one of my staple locations!

And it’s a great place to show off your car.

Ryan loves listening to his music, even though he wouldn’t dance for me :(.

Had to get a classic shot too.

We had a great time and I even got Ryan to Let me get a picture with his sister… don’t these kids look alike!!!

Have a great day… I have another Stadium High School Senior coming on Thursday!

Read Full Post »

Graffiti Wall – Alice in Wonderland Update

Our family saw Alice in Wonderland this past weekend… favorite line: “I think I must be bonkers”… the response “all the best people are”.

On Tuesday, March 6, the Alice in Wonderland graffiti wall on Market Street, downtown Tacoma was finally completed! I was able to capture pictures of their progress and then the final masterpiece. You can see the first stage here, if you missed it.

As far as I could tell there was a total of 4 working on this wall at various times.

They have amazing talent and we are blessed to have them share it with us.

I have enjoyed watching the images develop and transform.

Just when I think they are done with a section, I come back the next day to find more detail added.

Up close and personal with art…

… the last time we saw these guys they had light green clothing on…

And drum roll please… it’s finally done and it’s AMAZING!!!  Grab some coffee next door at Satellite or a smoothy at Smooth&Juicey… Joe says the PB&J smoothy is to die for!

The detail is just incredible.

… so cool! What a masterpiece, don’t you think?

Some of the same artists painted the characters from the movie UP on the graffiti garages down on Broadway … you might want to check those out too, but they are filled with cars during the week, so wait for the weekend and maybe you will catch some new pieces as the artists are developing them.

Awesome work!!!! Can’t wait to see more.

Read Full Post »

Suzy – Anytime Portraits

Really now, how many of us have a beautiful portrait of ourselves other than when we were graduating from high school or getting married?  We just don’t take the time to do something like that for ourselves or the people we love.  I know I don’t have one… and quite frankly I understand why people shy away from doing this.  I would be afraid of not having deleting rights, or someone capturing a picture I won’t like of myself, or the photographer won’t be sensitive to those things that I really want to downplay in a photo. Because I know how I feel, I am extremely sensitive to others and really watch for the most flattering angles, I coach you through positions and we laugh a lot… I share images along the way, all in the attempt to make you feel confident that we are capturing you the way YOU want to be captured.

Suzy calls these her “Cougar Portraits”… she is so funny! Maybe we can open a whole new market for fabulous photos over 30, or maybe 40… not sure what the age limit is on the “Cougar” category :D.

I also try to turn the images into fine art pieces… not just snapshots that anyone could take from their point and shoot. I spend time finding the right affect for each photo, so they are special in every way.

I usually take hundreds of images in just a short period of time. I think Suzy and I spent about an hour on this shoot and I left with 500 images, which then got trimmed down to about 70. This next image was both of our favorites and you need to click on it to take a closer look… the bracelet and earrings were my mom’s and the necklaces were Suzy’s. It was fun planning this session out.

I love the vintage look. I grabbed a mirror off my wall, stuffed a bunch of pillows and blankets into a garbage bag and we were off to our location.

To prepare for my shoots I always first get into the “mood”.. I look for inspiration in magazines or review past thoughts I have journaled. I look around my house and see if there is anything I can use. I ask my client to do the same and see if they have any vision… if not, I am comfortable planning the whole thing. My mind is usually overactive with photo ideas, so I am glad to take that fully on and I LOVE doing it!

Suzy brought a couple of fabulous dresses and I grabbed a few scarves to add some interest. Did I already say that we laughed a lot! I just love her! She is honest and makes me smile.

Her blue eyes just popped out with the beautiful light coming in from the “window.”

There are just so many I would like to share, but will keep it to just a few more…

Promise, almost done… love how the necklaces stand out in this image…

Can you blame me?

Aren’t these fun? What I have enjoyed lately is finding my own style, not trying to emulate someone else’s style, but just doing what I love and envision. It is comfortable to get there and I am excited to explore that some more.

This is Suzy’s author pic, now she just needs to write a book.

I will leave you with one final image… xoxoxo

Read Full Post »

Scavenger Hunt #5 – Lock or Something Locked

I started the day off without a lock picture and ended it with too many! Joe and I decided to make an adventure out of it and go to one of our favorite spots in Tacoma, antique row. We have lived here all our lives and have a love for this city and all that it has to offer.

We walked the streets in search of a special lock, but instead captured all kinds of images along the way. I make cards from many of the photos I take, so might as well turn some of these into cards for future family gatherings.

The Old Elks Building is one of my favorite places. You will notice it a lot in my shoots, but every time I go there I see more destruction and it just makes me sad.

Within the last week orange paint now spots the historic staircase.

A trail of rose stems along it with a broken vase…

A Valentine’s message I could not fully read…

And one red rose…

We spotted a few more locks on some of the closed antique stores…

Then walked to the graffiti garage I love so much!

We even got to watch one of the artist making some new graffiti.

We walked through all 3 garages admiring the work of so many.

There was even a fresh Valentine’s message.

We found some art on the floors too. This one will be a card for sure.

After hitting a few of the open shops we headed back home, but not without a few more stops along the way.

Can you see the opossum hiding in the tree?

Not far from our house is a lock smith with some pretty cool old safes in the front of his shop.

Loved the vintage vibe of them!

I grew up collecting antiques. My mom frequented garage sales and estate sales, then when I met Joe I introduced him and we have continued the collecting together.

Not everyone thinks that old stuff is cool, but we do!

We have been watching that show, American Pickers, lately… so cool!

Last lock image for the day…

Thanks for stopping by!

Next photo scavenger hunt theme: Pain – something that shows pain, but is not a person.

Read Full Post »

Natalie – Ballet and Child Portrait Session

Meet Natalie, she is a dancer at the ballet school with Amanda and after her mom saw Amanda’s ballet session she booked me to do the same thing for Natalie. I loved so many images that it was almost impossible to whittle it down for the blog. I wanted to post them all!

I stared at this image for a while. The backlight is just so soft and the shape of her leg… so pretty.

Love the colors in the art and her dress.

I have fun looking for artistic graffiti. It’s highly requested in my sessions.

Natalie was a natural in front of the camera and had a ton of fun. Amanda came along to help me and keep her company and Natalie’s mom, Shelly, the sweetest lady! She carried the wardrobe bag around the entire time. I think she had just as much fun as we did.

Here it is again, that classic black and white head shot that everyone needs.

As soon as the rain died down we headed outside… I just love downtown Tacoma. The picture possibilities are endless! Who needs a studio when you have a whole city!

Her vintage looking ballet dress was simply beautiful and I loved it so much we used it for much of the shoot!

Since it was still a little misty we decided to use an umbrella in some of the images and they ended up being some of my favorites.

Pointe shoes can be tricky to master on the ground, but even more tricky up on a pedestal high above the ground! This was Amanda’s idea and she helped her get her pointe shoes on, so Natalie didn’t lose her balance.

In my top 5 favorite images…

I have always admired the Spanish Stairs next to the old Elk’s building. I have watched them deteriorate over the years and it is sad. Many of the small stone columns are no longer standing, but the stairs are still grand to me. I love how they change with the season. In the Fall they have leaves littering the ground, but in the winter and early spring there is moss. It is a popular place for local photographers.

After taking this shot and seeing it at home on the computer, Joe said to me, hey that is the exact spot we used in our band photo (back in the best era of all times, the 80’s)… I think he is actually standing on the same step that Natalie is sitting on.

I have more… so many more to show you…

This is Amanda’s favorite…

I didn’t plan on using my ice cream chair in this shoot, but it came in handy with such a wet ground.

We headed down to a nearby parking lot to get a few more… can you say 80’s!!!

In fact, it oddly reminds me of someone else in the 80’s! 😀 Gotta love it! Sorry Joe, I know I will be sorry for this… be kind :).

This is one of Joe’s favorites.

What a great day!

Read Full Post »

Amanda – Ballet Session

I love experimenting with textures, colors and effects, so I thought I would use Amanda’s images to experiment on. I am working on a new site that will show larger images, but for now remember to click on any of them if you want a closer look.

Amanda and I are always thinking of shoots… love that she has a creative mind too. This time we planned on a more traditional ballet session, but turns out I drove to an untraditional spot :). The weather just wasn’t right for the original idea, so we quickly changed course and came to this garage I found in downtown Tacoma. I have shot here before, but the graffiti is a new addition to it. It’s a great spot to use if it rains… there was even some fresh art being worked on as we shot.

I get my inspiration from a lot of different places… for this one it was a Marilyn Monroe photo I recently saw.

Sometimes the inspiration comes from the place I happen to be at… the light behind Amanda is magical and I love the grainy look if this image.

Or sometimes it is just from my thoughts in the middle of the night or how I am feeling at the time…

I have loved ballet since I was a child. There is just something about the movement of the ballerinas and the powerful and romantic music behind it. I love how I feel when I watch it… it envelopes me. Amanda attends the same studio I did as a child and she loves it too. It might have started out because of my influence but it has continued because of her love and dedication to it.

I have another ballet session coming up in a few weeks with another ballerina from the studio. Can’t wait! I know it will keep me up at night thinking of ideas for it, but that is ok… I am most creative then.

I love the power of this image…

And the beauty of this one…

My sweet girl…

There is just something about this that I like…

It’s funny, we never even noticed some of the writing and images on the floor of this garage, but when we got home and reviewed them on the computer I had to skillfully do some editing 🙂 hee hee

Notice the red polish…

Love eye shots!

And close-ups…

Hope you enjoyed! xoxoxo

Read Full Post »