The short, sweet season

The Franke family enjoyed one of the nicest evenings we've had in the Northwest this summer, and got some really great family pictures to boot. I met them at one of my favorite locations in Steilacoom, and shot into the start of that magic hour.

There were the usual challenges working with a three-year old, but their daughter is adorable, precocious, full of personality, and quite a talker. It was really fun working with them. And though they're moving away soon, they'll now have some beautiful visual memories as souvenirs of their time living here.

Here are just a couple of the photos we got.

It's the busy season for outdoor portraits, and it doesn't last long around here. Who's ready for their family portraits next?

Group Dynamics

I took part in a really fun group photo shoot last weekend at the graffiti garages in Tacoma, WA.

The group shoot was organized by #Gary Walmer, and we were joined by model/jewelery designer #Emily Blodgett (plus more models, jewelry designers and makeup artists).

Usually when I'm photographing people, I have to stick to the script, and give them what they want...a professional portrait, cute pictures of the kids, etc. Group shoots like this though are a good opportunity for me to experiment, and work with other photographers. This time, I was able to do some fairly experimental shooting (using remote off-camera flash, shooting in low light, and using a very shallow depth of field).

Here are just a few of the shots I really liked of Emily. I feel that shooting like this gives me an opportunity to grow as an artist, and as a professional. Besides, it's just good fun, and in this case, I really like the results! To see more of these shots of Emily,click either of the above photos to go to my Facebook page, click on "Like", and leave a comment if you'd care to.

Hope to hear opinions from my "fans" soon!