Tracie Howe Photography – Seattle Wedding Photographer | Seattle elopement photographer | Destination wedding and elopement photographer | Pacific Northwest wedding and elopement photographer | Family and lifestyle photographer | Travel photographer based in Seattle. » Seattle destination wedding and travel photographer. Specializing in documentary and candid photography for adventurous souls wanting a destination wedding or elopement. I love working with mountain-climbing, sea-loving, travel-wanderlusting free-spirits, and I hope you will contact me for your next adventure!

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Okay, so this might only be interesting to my fellow photographers as it’s a photography magazine, but I still think it’s pretty cool!

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Cover of the wedding issue of Rangefinder. You can click the image to search for the entire February 2011 issue in the archives... I discovered my little entry one issue too late!

Recently, SnapKnot, a great wedding photography directory, asked me and some other photographers to submit a write up about how we use social media for marketing. I jumped at the chance when I saw that Rangefinder would be including the chosen submissions in an article.  It’s not that big of a deal, especially since pretty much only photographers will be looking through Rangefinder. Although, it is the annual wedding photography edition!

Anyway, I briefly describe my intermingling of Facebook with other social media tools. I really have my Facebook fans to thank for the opportunity, because without a loyal and active following, I wouldn’t have anything to talk about! So thanks guys! If you don’t already Like Tracie Howe Photography, then take this opportunity to check out my Facebook Page. You fans help out more than you know!

Find a direct link to the article in pdf form by clicking here or even visit the SnapKnot blog that mentions the article. My entry is there on the last page.

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I made this difficult to read because you should check out the article itself. I'm so bad! 😉

So, make sure to read the pdf! Even better, grab a printed issue if you can still find one… then grab one for me since I found out about this too late and will probably have trouble finding one for myself! 🙂

Filed in:About Photography | What's been going on
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Chantale Montgomery’s wedding blog, La Belle Bride, “the stylish guide for the swanky bride” , has featured one of my weddings! It’s such an honor to be featured!

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This couldn’t have happened without my friend, Natasha Ali, who invited me to shoot alongside her  for this wedding. I also want to thank the bride, Renee, for providing the information for the rest of the vendors, which can be found on La Belle Bride under the featured wedding. I’m glad they have been acknowledged as well!

The wedding took place at Strathcona Lodge on Vancouver Island. The gorgeous setting along with the beautiful bride made for some great photographic opportunities! Make sure to check out the post which includes photos from both Natasha and me.

You can see them here at La Belle Bride!

Filed in:Weddings | What's been going on
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Okay, time for the reveal of my next self-portrait!

I wasn’t too happy about doing the idea for this month, but at least I didn’t have to buy anything! I also wanted to make my mom and step-mom, Teresa, happy. They both suggested Kirsten Dunst because they think I look like her. I’ve had many people tell me this, and I have to agree, but I only wish I had her body… and her tan!

The photo I tried to match is from this “Wimbledon” movie poster:

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Anyway, since I was planning a visit with my dad and Teresa, I decided to do the photo shoot there too. They have a big white wall in a room that my dad sometimes uses as a photo studio. I knew I would need a bunch of lights coming from different directions, and a bright white background.

It turned out that this was much harder than I had anticipated! The sometimes photo studio is also a sometimes game/ excercise/ storage room, so I ran into some obstacles when trying to position lights around the room. I added as many lights as I had to fill in shadows and highlight as many edges as I could. The lights were all pretty close to how I wanted them, but there always seemed to be some pesky shadow making my life miserable.

When I finally got everything set up well enough, I started posing. I checked the results and realized that I had forgotten about the worst shadows of all! The strings from the tennis racket!  This is when I called in my good ol’ pa for some assistance. I had him pose with the tennis racket so I could adjust some more things. If only I could post those photos without embarrassing him! Anyway, we found a way around the string shadows by moving the racket off center. If positioned just so, it gave the illusion of being centered while casting no shadows.

Since I had to mimic the position of Kirsten in the original photo, I needed some more help. This proved to be challenging, but my dad has had me model for his paintings and illustrations since I was a kid, so we were old pros at this game! I figured I could stretch the rules of this “self-portrait” since it had to be as accurate as possible. Plus, I needed help eliminating those darn string shadows!

He coached me well and I got a few winners, but since they all look pretty much the same (no extra goofy faces this time, sorry!), I will only show one as the final pick. The one that most looked like Kirsten Dunst in that photo, happened to be one with the string shadows. I decided to just retouch them out, since there were some other unusual shadows I wanted to eliminate as well. You can call it cheating, but I figure the original photo was super edited too! Besides I make the rules for my photo projects, so why not? Dad pressed the shutter and helped me pose, so I was already cheating anyway. 🙂 I also decided to lower the resolution on my own photo to match the original screenshot that I snagged online.

Anyway, here is the final result alongside the original:

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Now, if I could only get Paul Bettany to pose with me…

Don’t forget to suggest your idea for next month!!!

Filed in:themed self-portraits | What's been going on
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  • February 23, 2011 - 12:02 am

    Teresa Howe - This looks AMAZING! Thanks for doing it. Btw, I think you look better than Kirsten!ReplyCancel

  • February 23, 2011 - 11:05 pm

    Alan - This is great Tracie, turned out super well!ReplyCancel

    • February 24, 2011 - 12:30 am

      traciehowe - Thanks Alan! Good to hear the nice comments here and on Facebook , because I wasn’t sure how I felt about this one. It was a tough one!ReplyCancel

I was recently asked to document an exhibit located at the Odegaard Library of the University of Washington, here in Seattle. This UW (U-dub for anyone that doesn’t know) exhibit was put on by Live Inclusive , a group dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities lead the best lives possible within their communities while also bringing awareness to those communities. Make sure to visit their site: www.liveinclusive.org , because they are a terrific group of people doing wonderful things for others!

“The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic”, is a traveling exhibit that was brought to the UW. It shows a fascinating account of psychiatric patients, and the items they left behind in suitcases, which were found much later in an attic of the abandoned hospital. The exhibit also speaks of the long history of disability and psychiatry around the world. You can see some of my shots of the exhibit here.

pinimageBe sure to check out the exhibit while it’s in town, as my photos won’t totally do it justice. Plus, you can see the unavoidable icky library carpet for yourself!

The exhibit will be up until March 18th at the Odegaard Library on the UW campus.

There is plenty of information you can find about the exhibit online, including the exhibit for the website: www.suitcaseexhibit.org , www.liveinclusive.org , and Live Inclusive’s facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Live-Inclusive/113800772010098?sk=wall . Check them out!

Filed in:Pacific Northwest | What's been going on
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  • February 25, 2011 - 9:22 pm

    Nancy Mueller - Beautiful photographs of a poignant exhibit, Tracie. I grew up in the Finger Lakes area and worked at Willard State Hospital from the time I was 17 years old until I graduated from college. Your photographs bring back many vivid memories of the time I spent there as a psychiatric ward attendant, a very long time ago . . .ReplyCancel

    • February 26, 2011 - 10:00 pm

      traciehowe - Hi Nancy, thanks for your comments. I’m sure the photos don’t do the exhibit justice. Hopefully, you are able to make it to one of the places that the exhibit travels to.ReplyCancel

Valentine’s day is quickly approaching; do you have a date yet? While this post may be a bit overdue, perhaps some of you are still hoping to find that perfect guy to be your Valentine! Well, have I got the perfect guy for you!

pinimageWhat a nice guy!

Okay, I’m not turning this into a dating site, I’m just trying to show off my friend in all of his photogenic glory! He asked me to do some profile shots for Facebook and his dating profile. I gladly accepted, imagining the throngs of single people in his wake wanting new profile pictures, and, of course, wanting to help him out!

We did a loop around my neighborhood, pausing at some landmarks, and taking a surprising number of photos with a graffiti backdrop. It was pretty casual for the most part. At times, it felt a little like a Senior portrait session, but he is thirty-something, and well out of high school! I promise!

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He was an easy subject to photograph! Very natural and photogenic. Of course, we had to do a few funny shots too. He does have a silly side, ya know!

This one I call, “A Casual Jog in Fremont” .

pinimageI think this one was supposed to be Blue Steel, but who knows? Well, I guess Wilky knows. Wilky is what his friends call him, but Dave is his real name, btw.

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Anyway, it was a short and sweet photo shoot, and now I get to put a post up about it! Don’t worry, I have permission 🙂 . In fact, I’ll even direct you single Seattle area girls to his new Facebook profile:

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001952091753 . You can tell him that Tracie sent you!

He calls the ladies, “gals”, by the way. Isn’t that sweet?  Pretty soon you could be the lucky gal joining him on a casual stroll in Fremont! Okay, Fremont is my neighborhood, but wherever you want to go, I’m sure he’ll take you. 🙂

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AND, if anyone out there happens to want a new profile for dating or anything else really, be sure to contact me! Fun times!

Filed in:Pacific Northwest | What's been going on
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