This month the suggestions that came in were for love or Valentine’s related subjects. I’ve decided that suggesting a phrase is probably the best practice for stock photos, and the chosen phrase was, “be mine”. Since I’ve ended the monthly self-portraits of last year, I ask for other people to model for me. This time I decided to combine a couple’s photo session with the “be mine” theme, just for the convenience. Here are my favorite stock worthy images from the shoot.

I couldn’t help but simply write out the phrase for this particular theme.

Another reason why engagement photos are important is because you can practice being in front of the camera. Sure, you can feel free to practice your diva pose, but I really mean that you can practice ignoring the camera’s presence. Ideally you will forget that I’m there on your wedding day, and just carry on as you would if I weren’t. This is hard for most people because we are taught to “say cheese!” at an early age. And while I still want a little cheese action, I also want there to be a good mix of natural and posed… and everything in between.

Want an obvious reason? Well, you have more photos of course! Perhaps you haven’t thought of what you can do with those photos though. Guestbooks, invitations, thank you cards, or even a little something for your guests so they know where to see your online gallery of wedding photos. Cool, huh? Don’t forget, you’ll also have a nice set of professional photos to choose from when you want to update your Facebook profile.

When you include an engagement session in your wedding package, you’re walking away with a great deal! Speaking of great deals, don’t forget to take advantage of my WeddingWire offer for a free engagement session when you book before Valentine’s day. It’s just around the corner, so hurry!

This particular wedding was DIY in almost every way. Every little detail showed off the fun personalities of this amazing couple. From the paper dragons, to the little golden buddhas, to the giant fake plastic ring! And, of course, the barbie and strong man toys to top the cupcakes! So fun!

A long time favorite customer of the Herkimer Cafe, Tina was given a special opportunity to have her small wedding here. With a friend’s art on the walls, yummy home made food, and an Australian relative on Skype, the cafe was an ideal place for this cozy, loving wedding.

Aren’t they a nice looking family? Tina and Jeff, thanks for letting me be a part of your special day!

Besides the fact that photography is a specialized service and one must earn a profit to live, there are many other costs to the photographer that you may not have considered. Here is a list of costs to the photographer, in some form or another, and this is just off the top of my head:

• Years of education, time, training, and energy put into learning the art. It’s more than just a fancy camera, folks!
• Speaking of the fancy camera… Yes, that’s a big one. Then there’s the fancy lenses (sometimes more than the camera itself!), lighting, and other equipment that you wouldn’t think would cost so much, but it does, unfortunately.
• Another big piece of equipment is the computer, not to mention all the things that go along with the computer. Extra hard drives, printer, software (editing software is expensive!), online accounts, etc.
• That just reminds me of all the time I spend on my computer. Not only to edit! Time is valuable, but I spend a lot of it on social media, marketing, advertising, writing blog posts, uploading photos, designing albums, book keeping, and, of course, communication.
• Which brings me to the next one. From the moment someone inquires with a photographer to the moment the final photos are delivered, a lot of time is put into the interaction. This includes a consultation, planning, and just plain communicating a lot!
• An obvious one is material costs. This will be a range, depending on what quality of prints and products your photographer provides, but it’s always there. And it can be pricey!
• Cost of running a business. Licenses, fees, taxes, insurance, and all the other fun things you’re supposed to have when you are a business owner.
• Finally, and in my opinion most importantly, a “creative fee”. This is the cost of doing business with the one and only person that can capture your moments in a certain way. No one else can do it the same. You’re paying for a unique creative vision.

This list really just boils down to 3 things. Time, costs, and service . It’s up to you to decide what you value the most, and that is how you should choose your photographer.

To get some insight on a wedding day in the life of a wedding vendor, click here.

For this photo shoot I envisioned little rubber boots in a reflective puddle. I called up my friend, Olivia, to see if I could borrow her young daughter, Sophie, for the shoot. Sophie was ecstatic to have an excuse to play around in puddles, so she was happy to oblige.

Believe it or not, the hardest part of this shoot was finding a puddle! Darn you, Woodinville, and your perfectly even roads! We eventually found a puddle that was decent enough. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I had to make do with the one and only medium-sized puddle we saw anywhere.

Sophie is a silly one, just like her mom, and just like me. We cracked up the whole time she was prancing around in the puddle, and I managed to get a few stock worthy shots. Mostly, though, she just did her thing, and I was there to capture it.

She started out slow, hesitating a bit…

She got a little closer to investigate…

A little closer still…

And then she jumped right in!

There was no holding back after that! It was difficult for us to get her to leave, but she eventually decided she was cold enough to stop.

The photos above to the right, and below, are more of what I was intending to get as stock photos. I’m so used to going with the flow, and capturing the moments, that it’s hard for me to not to do that!

I figured I could use what I got as stock… or not. That’s the beauty of a self-challenging project. No biggie if I don’t get exactly what I want, because it’s a personal project. These projects are meant to help me expand on what I do; to go beyond my comfort zone. The self-portrait project of last year really took me out of my comfort zone (mostly because I don’t like being in the photo), but I got better and better each month, and I went way beyond what I thought I could do.

I hope this year goes the same. How have I done so far? What should I do next month? I hope you will visit my Facebook Page to join in the most active conversations about my monthly project!

This year, I will be doing a different project each month, but I will (fortunately!) not be in front of the camera. I know, I know, the self-portraits were usually pretty hillarious, but I want to give someone else the opportunity to make a fool of themselves. Just kidding! I plan to make each photo stock worthy, which means it would look worthy of being in an advertisement, a calendar, or something else that you might see when flipping through a brochure. If you are familiar with Getty Images, then you’ll know what I’m going for. Hopefully, my last series of monthly photos will convince people that they want to volunteer as a model (instead of me!)  for one of the upcoming photo shoots. I promise not to make you look too ridiculous… unless you’re willing to be a little silly and you don’t care.

If you are interested and in the Seattle area, please let me know through email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or by phone. My contact info can easily be found in the menu above. I will then add you to a list that I’ve already started, and contact you to find out your availability for the month. Another way you can volunteer, is to follow the conversation on my Facebook Photography Page, and speak up if you happen to have a free month or are interested in a particular idea. And don’t worry, it’s unlikely that I will have too many people that I can’t fit everyone in at some point this year. I may very well need more than one person for each shoot or even assistants for behind the scenes, so we shall see.

Don’t forget, I will still need people to make theme suggestions each month! That has not changed. Just keep in mind a few things if you are new to suggesting themes:

• Themes are general ideas, I try to steer away from specific suggestions because they don’t allow for much flexibility. To help you with this concept, think of what would be an acceptable theme for a party, like “the 80′s” or “Hawaiian”.
• Supplies – I am not rich! To make a theme a theme, I will likely need some props. But I will beg, borrow, and buy some props within reason.
• Location – It does not snow here much, it is not sunny here much, it is mostly rainy and gloomy. Okay, so not always, but just consider the weather, that’s all.
• Just suggest something. If I don’t pick yours, it could be any number of reasons, but I always appreciate a suggestion. Ideas often spawn other ideas, so yours could be inspiration for someone else’s.

I can’t wait to get started! I’m looking forward to staying behind the camera this time!

Happy new year!

Let me begin by explaining the building of the house itself, since that involved most of the work. I started by sketching out what I wanted the house to look like. From there I guessed what each piece of the house would look like, and created 2 prototypes out of cardboard. Since I am no architect, this took a bit of trial and error, but it did work. From there I began baking away. When it came time to stick the pieces together, my good friends, Olivia and Mary, came for some much needed help. Then began an epic week of decorating when I had time, and figuring out how in the world I would be able to conceal the platform that the house sat on.

(These photos were added after the original post date… I had forgotten that I took them!)

The platform was the result of about 2 hours spent wandering around Lowe’s, collecting hardware that might fit together to form a sort of raised structure. I knew that I could use a bike maintenance stand to clamp whatever structure I came up with, so I had to make something small enough to be hidden by the house “grounds”, yet sturdy enough to be raised up and out from the stand. I’m not sure I will win any handyman awards (if there is such a thing) for building this, but it did the trick. Although, if I had found a way to make the thing levitate, I would have preferred that!

After convincing myself that, yes, I absolutely needed to buy a new power tool, I proceeded to cut an organic shape out of the wood base that the house sat on. To the base, I added a layer of wire mesh and then a layer of white felt. Together they formed a sculptable ground cover which hung over the edges of the wood base. Then, the gingerbread house and base were connected to the stand via the contraption I built.

Last, but not least, with the help of my friends, Shannon and Rachel, I managed to come up with enough “giant candies” to give to everyone for props. I hope it’s obvious that they were all putting the final pieces onto the house. Like the pouring snow! One of my favorite parts!

Moving on the day of the shoot…

All of my volunteers showed up early enough to enjoy the coffee and donuts provided by my generous boyfriend, Dave. Meanwhile, I trimmed and adjusted the overhanging felt/mesh to fit the contours of the famous hill at Gasworks Park. I piped on some last bits of icing and covered the ground in a layer of sugar. The stand was in position close to the camera, my aperture was open to F20, and I sent everyone off into the distance. When everything was all ready to go and everyone was in their exact positions, I ran out to take my place amongst them. My remote wouldn’t work that far away, so Dave volunteered to push the button. Again, I’m not sure if it still qualifies as a self-portrait, but it’s close enough for me.

My friend, Laura, of Casual Family Photography, and Mary and Sara, with their cameras, documented the photo shoot, so you have some visuals to make sense of it all.

And that was pretty much it! In post processing, all I had to do was take out a little bit of the stand. The rest was almost entirely concealed by the overhanging base. I think it all worked out pretty well. Oh, and the gingerbread house was about 98% edible. I added some plastic for the windows, and a few toothpick pieces to hold the garland together. Not too shabby for my first gingerbread house, eh? If you haven’t seen the final image, you can see it here.

So, I guess that wraps up my year of monthly self-portraits! What do you think I should do next year??

The suggested theme was simple: making a gingerbread house. I just made it a little more epic, by using a photography technique called “forced perspective”. Try to wrap your head around the fact that the house was actually there at Gasworks! If you don’t believe me, I have proof! Check back soon to see how it was all done.

I had several friends and fans help me with this project, including the people who came out to Gasworks to be in the photo. I can’t thank them enough for volunteering!

I think we pulled it off! How about you?

Check out the close-ups of these guys! Hehehe!

Happy Holidays!!!

These photos are from 3 different newborn shoots. I figured I would combine them all into one post, since I’m a bit behind. I hope you like them!

Shoot #1: Mr. Ace

Shoot #2: Mr. Oliver

Shoot #3: Ms. Autumn

On to the photos… I call this first one, “how you doin’?”

As a ship engineer, Rini felt right at home amongst the industrial pumps and pipes. So, of course, we had to play around with that a bit.

This bell kick jumping shot was totally their idea. They used to do this in a lot of their travel photos. I think they’ve perfected it, don’t you?

I’ve recently met a couple of guys that had fun mustaches, AND Movember was a theme suggested by a friend, so I felt inspired. Since I am unable to grow my own mustache (cross your fingers that this will always be the case!), I went out to my favorite prop supply store, Archie Mcphee’s. Of course, they had a variety of mustaches to choose from, so I picked the biggest, most obvious one.

The Movember theme was a last minute decision, since I had already decided on another theme suggestion. However, I figured that “holding onto fall” as a theme would work nicely, paired with “Movember”. So, given the abundance of beautiful fallen leaves, I was able to tackle this month’s theme(s) with a little more ease than in the past. And here are the results!

These drama students at Ingraham High School, had characters to inspire all of their unique expressions. Their drama teacher, Heidi Ovelson, asked me to photograph each character from the play, “Rumors”, by Neil Simon, so that she could tile together all of the faces on the poster advertising the production. Of course, I’m a huge fan of great expressions, so I was thrilled to take her up on the opportunity.

It was a fun and unique job, but it was also a chance to donate some money to a good cause. I figured the school could get a little publicity for their play in exchange for donating $100 to Get Hitched, Give Hope, a wonderful organization dedicated to providing wishes for terminally ill patients. The kids even pitched in to reach the $100 goal!

Keep in mind, these are two different casts. I was sent the poster for each cast, designed by Zachary Christensen, a student at Seattle Pacific University. He did a great job!

And don’t forget to show your support by attending this play! Lots of dates are available!