One of the first things I tell my portrait clients is to bring props! My background (and love) of commercial shoots lends itself to making sure that the backdrop of every session has an interesting or fun element. The thing I love about working with the Wurl family is that Hans (husband to the beautiful Angie) works with custom exotic cars and we never have a lack of automotive props for our sessions. (You may remember them from their portrait session a few years ago with the vintage Rolls Royce). This year, I was contacted by Hans’ parents to do a generational session of each of their three kids plus their spouses and children. We had a great time and who wouldn’t love a vintage VW van?!
Location: Clise Mansion, Redmond, WA
I am blessed to be able to work with so many amazing people. I love my job, (otherwise, it would be “work”), but when you get the chance to meet and work with such amazing people who make you laugh and genuinely feel happy about life, working for a living doesn’t seem that bad! I had the pleasure of working with Emily a few years ago when I shot her Senior photos and was so excited to hear that they were ready for family photos. This beautiful family works together in their family business in commercial fishing. Each year, they take their boat up to Alaska and work side by side on deck. I know, from being a mom myself, that trying to get your children to do anything together, let alone productively or in a confined space is a feat, but watching the love and sense of humor that these guys share, I was truly in admiration of them and can see how their business is such a success – besides, can you imagine the laughs and jokes that must happen?? I’m looking forward to our next session in Cannon Beach together! Anyway, here are the antics…. I mean, the portraits! 
Location: Ballard Locks
Hair and Makeup: Swink Style Bar
As I may seem to say with each post, but I truly do mean when I say, that I had the privilege of working with these clients! Jon, Micheal and Seng are the talent behind the Seattle DJs – The Milkmen. They are incredibly talented and so much fun to be around. I think the “behind-the-scenes” photos of this shoot would prove that – as we were laughing (mostly at them) the whole time! Please check them out and see if they are available for your next big event! They also head up a lot of great parties around the Seattle area, so make sure to check in on their site to see where they will be next!
Set Director and Styling: Elaine Batingan
Location: Georgetown neighborhood in Seattle, WA
Set Director/Prop Stylist: Elaine Batingan
Makeup Artistry: Justine Martinez of Makeup by Justine
Hair Styling: Phillip
Clothing: WWF
Jewelry: Poshmark and Stella & Dot
Models: Twana P. and Rome Mills
This is one shoot in a series of recent fashion photography sessions I shot in Seattle this past week. I worked with the most amazing team and I cannot thank them enough! It was a hectic day with three models and a few equipment malfunctions, but my team pulled it off without a hitch. So blessed to be a part of this industry.
Set Director/Prop Stylist: Elaine Batingan
Makeup: Justine Martinez – Makeup by Justine
Hair: Shawnesty Green
Jewelry: Stella & Dot
Wardrobe: Poshmark
Model: Cyan K.
I am finally able to post more from this fall’s teen fashion campaign. It was remarkable to work with these young entrepreneurs – one is a singer with an album coming soon; three have collaborated together to create a vintage meets urban fashion clothing line (website information to come); one is an aspiring model; and one has started his own photography career. It was wonderful to work with these guys and to see their excitement for their respective businesses. This campaign was a part of a teen fashion line shoot, that incorporated photos for an album cover as well as the lookbook for the clothing line. It will be fun to share the final products as they are available.
Location: Point Defiance, Tacoma WA
Set Director: Elaine Batingan
I started my journey into photography at a young age with a Nikon film camera and slowly grew my collection of cameras, much to the dismay of my mother who had to pay for all my rolls of film and developing. Through the years, as digital became more accessible and storage became a hard drive and not a mountain of albums, I joined the movement and set aside my film cameras. After several years, and thousands of pictures stored on a hard drive (never to see the light of day again) I really began to miss shooting film. Not only for the pure rush that film creates, but for the tangible pictures that come back from the printer – ready to go into frames or albums. I missed the excitement of anxiously waiting for the pictures to be developed instead of the instant gratification of looking on the back of my camera 1.2 second after I clicked the shutter. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t do my business without digital, and in fact, having learned how to shoot manually on a digital camera has improved my skills as a photographer – but there is just something about film that is good for the soul. To go a step further, developing your OWN film in a darkroom is like my nirvana! I fondly remember countless nights where I would stay long past midnight at a local darkroom, pushing the film, dodging and burning for hours just to get ONE good picture and how I couldn’t return fast enough. Though those days are not as readily available to me now (living in my neck of the woods), shooting film is, and I’ve had fun the past two months playing with a lot of my old cameras (and a few “new” old cameras). If Santa hears my wishes, maybe a new “old” camera is in my future. Because, Santa, I’ve been awfully good this year!!
Here are a few shots of my kiddos as we enjoyed a leisurely day on Vashon Island last month. Taken with my old Canon and Pentax cameras, shot with Kodak Portra 400 and Ilford Delta 3200.
I recently worked on a teen fashion line campaign and had a wonderful time. If you know me, you know that I am a sucker for the entrepreneurial spirit – and I’ve been very excited to have had the opportunity to team up with several young businessmen this year. During my Lil’ DJ campaign, I worked with an eleven year old skateboard designer who has the talent and social savvy to achieve great things in this life! This campaign, I teamed up to work with four teens who have created their own clothing line, derived from thrift/salvage clothes, brought back to a new life with embellishments and additions for today’s modern teen. Even though their line of clothing is very reminiscent of my own childhood in the late ’80s/’90s, I was kind enough to pretend the style was brand new and they were kind enough to keep their old lady jokes to a minimum – which this old lady certainly appreciated! All joking aside – all the designers and models were wonderful to work with and I wish them absolutely nothing but the very best of luck in their careers in fashion!
We had a total of 10 teen models, but we also had the pleasure of having two younger models come to the set. I decided to break up my blog post into two, so that I could specially introduce the lovely Nevaeh and David.
(*Again, I had the pleasure of teaming up with the talented Elaine Batingan, who I couldn’t love more!)
This sweet little girl inspires me. Her very strong mama inspires me. The two of them (along with their wonderful family) have endured so much and have persevered through it all. I am blessed to know them and to have been able to capture the love they so clearly share. I look forward to many future sessions watching Faith grow.
Andrea and I met in early 2010 during a photo session. She was such a fun spirit and I adored her. We frequently talked about working together again, but as life usually goes, we were not able to meet up again until this month. We kept in touch through Facebook and I was able to celebrate as she married her love, Dan, and announced her pregnancy with sweet baby Faith.
Then, more than half-way through her pregnancy, Andrea and Dan received news that their sweet baby girl had ARPKD – which is a rare disease that affects the kidneys. I know a mother’s love and in knowing that immeasurable feeling, I cannot fathom the roller coaster Andrea must have felt. Like I said, she inspires me! Doctors prepared her that Faith would not survive her birth. She did. They told her that Faith would not survive her infancy. She did. In fact, Faith has survived every obstacle and statistic that she has faced. Faith is a fighter and has beaten all the odds and has perservered through all the tests, surgeries, and countless appointments. And through it all, Faith has kept her smile. Just look at the pictures. You see, Sweet Faith is a survivor. She is a blessing from God and she shines. Her mama is a survivor too and the bond between them is palpable. And even now, as they both recover from their recent surgery where Andrea donated her kidney to save Faith, they continue to smile. And fight. And shine. It is a reminder how precious life is and how, with Faith, nothing is impossible.
“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” – Washington Irving
We are proud to announce Brandon, one of our High School Senior Reps from Pendleton High School – Class of 2013. Brandon is a great addition to our team this year and is a wonderful teen to work with. Brandon is very involved in the community, including work with his church, Eagle Scouts, Choir, National Honor Society and foreign languages (I hear he can speak French which came in handy during his trip to Europe this summer). I enjoy my work with high school seniors for many reasons, including watching as they begin their preparations for college and beyond. Congratulations to Brandon and wishes for the best of luck in your BYU adventures!