A collection of highlights from the last 6 months

As a general rule, I don’t blog about weddings. They are their own separate entity, tons of fun, lots of work and really different from what this blog is trying to showcase. I did about 25 weddings in about four months and sadly failed to post any of my other work in my blog. There is so much delightful stuff I could show you from the last 7 months or so, so much to catch up on! I can’t unfortunately cover everything I’ve done in this modest blog, but I can give you some highlights

(perhaps one of the reasons I haven’t been posting is my inordinate obsession with tango…Way to much dancing in the last little while. These are my most recent pair of tango shoes, and I’m almost scared to wear them, they’re so pretty. This has become a favorite photo recently, inspiring jealous death threats, shoe fetish flavored teasing, and even a dance related photography job offer)

This is a photo I took for The Stranger, back before they stopped hiring contractors I thought this photo was so funny, both because of the difficulty of making chicken-fried-steak look appealing and also because of the lucky grab shot of the guy in the background. That guy is actually my dad, and he posed for fun, not intending me to actually take the picture. Beware! ye unsuspecting. For a week his photo was on the cover of the food section of the Stranger!

A friend and I organized a boudoir shoot just a couple months ago, mostly for fun and advertising material. We learned a huge amount and had a lot of fun.

We loved our models and felt blessed to get to photograph girls with so much personality and joy.

I also had a great time photographing Jasmyn, an aspiring model who introduced me to Point Defiance Park…

The shoot was fantastic, and we got some great stuff, but it was actually snowing on us the entire time we shot. Needless to say, we made frequent car ‘warm up’ trips throughout the afternoon.

And Finally, I spent on long summer day doing photos for Derby Salon http://www.derbysalon.com/  , getting to know their stylists and having fun with about 10 different models and looks.

The shoot reminded me how nice it is to have professional makeup and styling, and now I’m working on my own collection of makeup artists and stylists to work with. Thanks Derby!

Mayors Arts Awards 2008

I got the honor of photographing these award winning artists at the beginning of the season last year and I’m finally getting to put some of the photos up on line. These photos were taken for City Arts Seattle http://www.cityartsmagazine.com/ and the Mayors Office of arts and cultural affairs. It was a pleasure to see a couple of them used on Seattle Channel during the award ceremony but the best part of all was getting to meet the outstanding artists of 2008 that received recognition for their work in the community.  For more info on the artists, the awards, and to see the final photos that were picked, please visit http://www.seattle.gov/arts/community/arts_awards.asp

Cathryn Vandenbrink of ArtSpace;  http://www.artspace.org/

Hugo Ludeña, photographer extraordinaire and mentor for Latino youth

Beth Takekawa of Wing Luke Asian Museum; http://www.wingluke.org/

14/48 – the World’s Quickest Theater Festival

Coyote Central and Marybeth Satterlee; http://www.coyotecentral.org/

Steve Peter, Nonsequitur; http://nseq.blogspot.com/1990/01/brief-history-of-nonsequitur.html

Anna

Anna and I had a great time on our shoot. She’s a glass artist extraordinaire and the presenting artist at my favorite Gala of the year. She’s also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and won my undying loyalty by making me her special butter ginger tea. Visit her web site to see more of her amazing work

http://www.annaskibska.com/

Tango!

I just finished this promo shoot for tango dancer extraordinaire Jaimes Friedgen (http://www.the8thstyle.com). I think the photos came out great and I had some fun playing with the post production.

We got lucky with the late afternoon sun, but boy was it cold! Thanks Jaimes and Christa for dancing in spite of the weather

Eventually we changed locations, but didn’t get to spend to much time there. I’m hoping to shoot more of these guys soon!

More on Dancing!

I was talking to a tango dancer tonight who hinted he was tired of the photos on my web site!! So here are some few more, teasers…just a casual collection because I like dancing so much.

Belly Dancing!

Finally a 2008 post! I try to shoot as much dance photography as I can, and am lucky to get quite a bit of studio time with belly dancers. Here’s a shoot I did recently with beautiful belly dancer ‘Banshee’

Yolanda and Brandon

Yolanda was one of my great friends in High school and I was honored to shoot her wedding in California this summer past. We started shooting early and got some great morning light. In the tradition of our unique high school experience, the wedding wasn’t your average American fare

Here Yolanda and her sister are getting ready

Here the groom waits eagerly on horseback to start the procession

The ceremony was beautiful, and the couple couldn’t have been happier

Julie and Nick

Julie and Nick are getting married in August 2008 and I’m so excited to do their wedding. We got lucky with the engagement shoot and found a beautiful day in the middle of winter. We started out at the Tacoma Museum of Glass and had a great time taking pictures and looking at the art.

Then we headed over to a nearby park and played with their enthusiastic dogs…

I can’t wait to see Julie’s dress (which she’s making herself!) and take great pictures for them at their wedding

2007 Overview

What better way to start a blog than with an overview of the year gone by? These are some of my favorite photos and jobs from 2007.

I got so excited about portraiture this year, and got some great opportunities to photograph really interesting people.

Becky Andrews (acupuncturist extraordinaire–drb@doctorbecky.net) and I got to be good friends during her portrait sessions. I was so happy to be able to give her gorgeous photos, and will be even happier to keep her as a muse in 2008!

My actress friend Katya came from the big apple and we had a great shoot together in September. I love photographing people who don’t believe they’re photogenic. Its so much fun to surprise them with how well they can look.

I first photographed Lyall Bush for the Mayors Arts Awards portrait series, but then got to spend a little time with him later for a head shots. He is a great author and the executive director of the Ricahrd Hugo House (http://www.hugohouse.org/). I was honored to photograph all the arts awards recipients, and it was certainly a highlight of 2007!

Lyall Bush

Mayor Greg Nickels

The Massive Monkeys

Jean Griffith, renown clay artist and founding member of Pottery Northwest (http://potterynorthwest.org/) 

Another fun, noteworthy shoot in 2007 was a portrait series I did for Seattle Art Museum.

It was a challenge to pull the curators out of their shells, but it was one of the more satisfying jobs I’ve done this year.

And of course, I can’t think about 2007 without thinking about the weddings! I did about 30 weddings in the four month wedding season. I hope do even more in 2008!

Hello world!

It’s a new year, and a new year’s resolution! Finally a blog for Jennifer. I’m excited to share my recent work with you. After all, what’s the point of taking beautiful pictures if you can’t give them a good audience?  Enjoy and stay in touch!

Jennifer