Cherry Blossoms

Hi there!  It's technically spring, and in Seattle that means lots of rain and storms.  But, one of the best things about spring time here is the cherry blossoms.  They are all over, but the University of Washington campus has a row of beautiful cherry blossom trees.  I look forward to the blooms every year.  I would highly recommend that you go and check them out before they start to fall and go away.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures that I snapped two years ago of the amazing trees:

Walking onto "the quad" from north campus

These are magnolias, but too beautiful not to photograph

Hope you enjoyed them!  They are even more wonderful in person.

First Photoshoot: Theresa's Maternity

So, right around the time that I was thinking about starting a photography business, my cousin's wife Theresa asked me if I would take some maternity pictures of her.  I was super excited and a little nervous because I had never really had a "real" photo shoot before.  So, I looked at lots of maternity pictures for inspiration, did a lot of practicing, and refreshing my memory on aperture, iso, white balance, and all that.  We decided to shoot at Greenlake in Seattle, since that is where I was living and also, it is a wonderful place to take pictures.  I had recently shot some fall pictures there and they turned out nicely.  I started shooting, and was nervous at first, but Theresa and my cousin Chris were so great and easy to work with, and fun, that they calmed my nerves right away.  In fact, the shoot took twice as long as usual because we were having so much fun.  At least, I was, hopefully they were enjoying it, too.  We also snuck in some family pictures with their little cutie, their first son.  From that shoot, I gained a little more confidence, with shooting, and posing but also with photo editing software.  And my cousins were really happy with the pictures, which is always the best outcome.  Here are some of my favorites from that shoot:

I love the lighting in this photo, and T's face, it is all so natural.

How cute is this?  In reality, my cousin was whispering some pretty crazy stuff in T's ear to make her laugh. 

Sweet family pic.

T was a sport as far as bare belly pics and I had seen a version of this before, with mama's belly and baby's feet, so was itching to try it.  I love it!

I like how moody this one is, the muted grays and desaturated color, and T just chilling. 

I wanted the fall leaves on the ground in this one so my cousin grabbed a bunch and sprinkled them on the grass for me.

I'm a big fan of the very candid, natural shots, and this one is that.  T was just doing one of those things you do when you have a pregnant belly, tapping it, and I just snapped the picture.  I love the serene, content look on her face.

This is a very accurate picture of my cousin, he is cheesing it up to be funny, he does not smile that cheesily in real life.  He is hilarious.

Sweet little Topher and his super blue eyes.

So, that's it for this post.  It's fun to go back and reminisce.  I'm so glad I had such an easy time for my first actual photo shoot, and Chris and Theresa were very encouraging.

First Post with Words

Well hello!  I started this blog probably about 2 years ago when I started my little photography business.  I added some pictures and that was pretty much it.  I just recently spent some time re-organizing everything on this blog so that it makes more sense and so that I can actually start to use it as a blog! Huh, how about that?  So, welcome to my first post and thank you for checking it out!  I am going to be honest and put it all out there in a minute.  This is scary for me, and I am intimidated by all of the amazing photographers that we have in the Seattle area already.  But, my heart is on my sleeve right now, and here goes.  I want to be YOUR photographer!  I know that there are about 217,000 others out there that you can choose from, and that makes you a lucky consumer.  But, after building my portfolio and gaining experience, I am ready to put myself out there.  A little backstory; I have always loved taking photos, ever since high school days when I would actually take my film into the dark room and process it with my own hands.  Things have changed since then thanks to technology, but I think I love taking photos even more.  Especially when people let me into the special moments in their lives; a wedding, a new baby, a celebration of family.  I wanted to start this photography business so that I could take beautiful pictures that were affordable.  I was motivated to do this after I checked out rates for my own wedding, and after having discussions with friends about finding good photography at reasonable prices.  So, this is my goal.  I want to take beautiful pictures of your wedding, your pregnancy, family, or special events at a price that is comfortable for both parties.  I can usually work within your budget.  And, after the shoot is done and the keepers are all edited, I give you a DVD of the edited photos.  You can print them, you can post them on your social media, you can give them as gifts.  I will not charge you a highly inflated price for prints in this digital age.  I don't want you to have to choose just 3 shots because of the cost of purchasing prints from me.  So, there you have it.  A nice, awkward proclamation and bid for your business.  Please keep me in mind, and pass along my info to others that you know that may be looking for a photographer.  And stay tuned for my next post, in which I will be going back in time to my very first official photo shoot.

Oh, and feel free to visit my pages up top, the "about the photographer" introduction, or email me with any questions.

And, just to leave you with an image of how I usually look (and because who likes to read a blog post without looking at some pictures?)---with a camera stuck to my head:

and with strangers looking at me like I am crazy...

sometimes you gotta get down to get the picture

I have no idea why I squinch up my face like that when taking photos

I promise there will be no photos of me in the upcoming posts.   Hehe.