Lower Lights Burning are releasing their long-awaited album on Saturday.
Above are a few photos I did with LLB back in the Spring, and I’m very happy
I could collaborate with them. Today they released a beautiful video by our friend
Christian Sorensen Hansen. The show is at the Columbia City Theater at 9pm.

Two dear people.

Kaylee Cole is a dear friend and wonderful musician out of Seattle.
These are some press photos for her upcoming album release.
She’s playing tomorrow (8/31) at the Doug Fir in Portland
as well as here in Seattle at Bumbershoot this weekend!
Here’s a video of Kaylee singing Paranoid Android with the Seattle Rock Orchestra.

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mua – Elisabeth Prehn
hair – Loufel Estayo
wardrobe – Sara Fisher

Olympic Peninsula, Washington State.
How fortunate I am to live nearby these places.

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Laura and Allen invited me to join them on an adventure along the coast,
just west the Olympic Mountains. It’s about a three hour drive from Seattle
to the coast and I decided to take the scenic route (I got lost).

Laura and Allen were so gracious when I arrived after dark, too late to take photos.
They had dinner prepared for me and a bed in their cabin for me to sleep. We talked
until early morning, then woke up at dawn and there was a blanket of fog that made
everything surreal. Sometimes our troubles are blessings in disguise.

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Allen proposed to Laura on their trip two days before we took these photos!
Laura is a photographer living in LA. Check her stuff out!

Dear friends, dear people.

My friend Christian Hansen is a wonderful videographer. In his work there is a
sense of adventure, surrealism and nuance. The first film I saw of his was of
musician Bryan John Appleby (see video below). I really identified with his work
and for the first time I felt like I needed a video camera in my hands (I am still
making use of my 5D Mk1).

Christian is working on a feature film with Bobby, David, and a few others
and had me do their portraits. Take a look at the work he has done recently
for for Kaylee Cole, The Head and The Heart, Campfire Ok, and Cataldo.

Christian Sorensen Hansen’s work can be found at International Filing Systems

These two are so precious. Michele is a good friend from Spokane, WA
and I can’t tell you how many clients she has referred to me. This was the
first day that I met Jonathan. Can you tell how happy they are? I was so
bummed that I couldn’t shoot their wedding. Kristen Marie has their wedding
photos and hopefully she will share :)

This is Adriana Monsalve. She is a documentary photographer out of Washington DC.
A few weeks ago I was staying with her family and she shared some incredible
stories of what she has been photographing. Her stories encouraged me so
much and helped me realize that I have become too comfortable with photography.

I have shared this before on twitter, but I am really inspired by her portraits
and Ethiopia images. She has a sense for the real and grit of life. Take a look.
Adriana Monsalve portfolio | twitter | tumblr

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A while back I watched a film about architectural photographer Julius Shulman
called Visual Acoustics. What I took away from the film was how much he brought
light to other artists. Here in Seattle, this same movement is happening.
Artists are giving! Photographers’ Kyle Johnson Portrait’s of Seattle and
Dylan Priest Artist at Home series. The Le Grand Cru and Sound on the Sound blogs,
just to name a few.

I usually do not write this much, but maybe this post will remind me
how I can use my craft to help others.

TWO MONTHS EARLIER

Portland, OR

This is my former roommate, Mike.
These photos were taken in my living
room around 5:30 in the evening.

No, my wall is not blue, purple, nor green. It’s white.

Senior photos aren’t my specialty, I’ll admit it. But Mikayla was fun to work
with and we had surreal lighting and her family is great (last frame).
This is the third time I’ve worked with them. I documented Mikayla’s
brothers wedding (courtney+josh) as well as Courtney’s brother
and his lady (erin&justin).

And yes, this is at one of Seattle photographers favorite spots +.
The third frame is straight out of the camera.
All of these photos were taken after sunset, mostly at ISO 1600.

I have always been fascinated by the time of day when
artificial and natural light blend together.

Here are some rough edits of some of the Crista staff from this year. Again, the expressions are priceless. I don’t remember everything I said to get them to make some of those faces. However, most radio personality have personality – so maybe it came naturally. You can see the previous 2008 shoot here.

Beacon Hill – Seattle, WA

This is Mitch. He and a friend wanted head shots to take to some connections for commercials. What do you think? Is the smiling one out of place? I almost left it out, but it is such a genuine frame. This dude had some great faces and helped with the laughs.

Thanks Mitch. Glad to meet you again.

Part 4 of a 4 part series.

Part 3 of a 4 part series.

Part 2 of a 4 part series.