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!

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

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!

In addition to simply having the desire to do a Halloween self-portrait, I had another task to do for a fellow vendor. Ashley Obena, of Dress My Cupcake, sent me several of her adorable, Halloween themed cupcake wrappers to photograph. So, I started thinking, how can I combine these two projects into one? My solution was to be a baking witch! As soon as the image came to mind, I just had to do it!

I had a lot of problems to overcome with this series of shots, but I still just had to do it. I know that if I have a strong desire and set my mind to do something creative, then I can do it. What I didn’t know is that this gets me into trouble with limited time and resources! So, with a couple of days to do this, I prepared by collecting my props and baking the cupcakes.

I didn’t know where else I could do this, but at my house. It’s just easier when you have everything at hand, when your boyfriend is gone, and you can temporarily destroy the house without him ever witnessing the disaster. The hardest part of the shoot, was making part of my house look like a witch’s house. I probably didn’t succeed, but I blame that on the time and resources issue. Lighting was tough too, since I had a lot of black (hindsight is 20/20). I also wanted to make it look kind of dark and witchy, but with enough light to show off the cupcakes and wrappers well. My solution was something in between, although I’m not sure how well I like it.

Despite desparetely wanting to do this, I think it was a tad too elaborate for me to handle on my own. The only help I had for this shoot was from my dad. He came all the way down from Snohomish just to deliver the costume! My hero!

Anyway, enjoy the photos! Oh, and check out the awesome fake nose that I stuck to my face! Yes, I used a little Photoshop magic to make it look attached.

Be sure to check out these Dress My Cupcake wrappers at : http://www.dressmycupcake.com/shop/28-shop-by-holiday/75-halloween-cupcake-wrappers.html !

We started out at the UW Botanic Gardens for some outdoor photos and then moved into their apartment for the more intimate shots. I’m only sharing a few here, so I hope you like them!

The toughest part about this shoot was probably figuring out when I could do it. I had some car maintenance to take care of, a river float adventure to participate in, a Highland Games event to attend, and a last minute baby sitting favor to volunteer for. So, finally, I was able to get this shoot done last night.

It wasn’t too difficult, once I got everything set up. I made a hat, even if it was a bit tall for the photo. I put on a wide angle lens for an intentionally, slightly distorted look. I plugged in one shop light (make that 2, after the first one fell down and broke), aimed it at a reflector for a little fill light. Then I was ready to go, once I lit the candle. Then it was easy-cheesy. And if you’ve been reading my blog for even a short time, you know that the cheesy is almost always present in these self-portraits.

Anyway, enough about the shoot. Here is the final result…

After my vendor collaboration shoot, I was inspired by details, and I wanted to include a bunch in this scene. I already had the perfect blanket for a picnic, and what a background it was for some of those details! One such detail, and really the star of the show, was Dave’s apple pie!  I knew he was capable of making a beautiful pie (from scratch!), and he was up for the task.

Dave was kind enough to transport me and my stuff to Woodland Park for the shoot. He also helped out by letting me focus on him, so that I could get into the same spot and be in focus (one of the major inconveniences of taking self-portraits). And, while it seems at first that this is a picnic for one, I had company at my pretend picnic towards the end.

While the final result of my actual self-portrait is pretty goofy (not to mention the ones of me and Dave), I thought I would include an even sillier one along with it. I really didn’t know what to do with myself in these shots, so what can I say?

I had such a blast with this shoot!!! And thanks, Dave, for a yummy and beautiful pie!

The first ones are from the recent trip to Eastern WA. We stopped for lunch in Roslyn and I got a creepy building shot. I also included a few photos from an Aviary in Walla Walla. People seem to be liking the bird photos, so I thought I’d share those here.

Dave and I rented a canoe and rowed out to the Arboretum  recently. So here are a few more bird shots for you, and even a few turtles!

The Fremont Solstice Fair was another recent leisure activity that I documented, so I’ll lump those in here too.