Jen Hinkle

One of the many things I love about being a photographer is getting to meet new and interesting people.  Especially those that don't have the typical 9 to 5.  I met Jen back in February as she was heading down to the 5th Ave Theatre.  I come to find out Jen is a professional trombone player and was not heading down to see "The Music Man" but had been doing 8 shows a week there for the past several weeks in the orchestra pit as one of their trombone players.  It turns out that Jen has been playing bass trombone for almost 19 years and has yet to reach her third decade.  The next day Jen contacted me about doing a photo shoot to update her website.  When I asked Jen to describe herself and wondered if she had any ideas in mind she responded

I think the conductor of the orchestra tonight put it pretty well in a conversation I had not 10 minutes ago backstage: "Jen, you remind me of when you see a badass motorcyclist tearing up a course and then the helmet is removed and there is a cascade of beautiful long hair"

So with that said we headed out a few weeks later and started just before 6am near Marshall Park at the top of Queen Anne.  Little did I know that on this particular morning as the sun began to come up that the clouds would roll in, the temperature would drop to below 32 degrees and it would start snowing!  Gotta love the Seattle weather.  Jen was a trooper though and cold morning gave a mysterious feel to the shoot.  Thanks again Jen!  And thanks to Nate Burgher for assisting on this shoot as well.  Make sure to check out Jen and her website here.

What you'll find out about others on an island.

Since moving to Seattle I've only taken the ferry twice.  I've never really had any reason or interest to look on the other side of the Sound until recently.  My friend Ian informed me of an interesting location a few weeks back located on Bainbridge Island.  There is an abandoned building located in Blakely Harbor Park that apparently used to be part of an old lumber mill some years back.  It has since been tagged from floor to ceiling like some place out of New York City.  That's one thing I love about being a photographer, discovering new places & new things about other people.  I discovered a few new things about my friend Meme that day as well.  Like her enormous collection of fashionable attire & shoes.  What I loved about this day was that it was just another day for her pulling clothes out of her closet but when others saw a few of these pics they were surprised to see the "other side of Meme".  "The other side" has actually probably been Meme's primary side for many in her life yet for some an unseen one.  I love that about photography.  I love brining out things in others that have always been there but for many in this world have not been seen.  Below are a few from that unique day.  Till Next time.

Creative Unrest

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I think about photography 24/7.  Then there are some days that if I don't go out and shoot I feel like that entire is a waste.  It's like a sick feeling in my stomach, like there's a picture out there somewhere hiding from me, taunting me and like a hunter I have to grab my camera and go find that picture before it gets away from me.  Some people believe that photographers are these artsy types that have this gear & know technical stuff like "ooh that should be shot at f8.0 at 1/250th of a sec" when nobody else cares.  The truth is most people don't care and most photographers don't know that.  Yet I found some people are so passionate about there craft that it makes them lose sleep at night and it has nothing to do with the technical aspect of their craft.  They literally don't know what else to do with themselves.  Ironically those tend to be some of the most cared for and admired people in history, weather they be artists, politicians, scientists or teachers.  I don't know if I'll ever be one of "those" people, but this was one of those days where I didn't know what else to do with myself other than make a picture.  Scott Bourne has this great saying, "Don't just take pictures, make pictures."  So I woke up and texted my friend Erika and asked if she was down to help me make a picture.  She of course said yes and we went out on a little 2 hour adventure in Beacon Hill on a cloudy Seattle day.  I don't know if I successfully found "that picture" but I did feel a little more at ease the rest of that day.   

Darius Morrison

I have recently discovered that I know many people who are artist and I have been totally unaware of their artistic talent and abilities for sometimes years.  Darius is a perfect example in my life.  I have known Darius for almost 4 years now.  I knew he was interested in art to some degree.  But I had no idea what type of work he did or that he was even a musician as well!  This recently started me on a journey of photographing artist in their home studio that fly under our daily radar.  I hope to do more of these projects in the future but for now Darius is my first.  He specializes in printmaking, more specifically linocuts.  For those of you who are unsure of exactly what that is or are thinking Gutenberg press click here or here for a better understanding.  To check out more of Darius and some of his artistic companions visit ideaodysseygallery.com.  Below are  a few pics from the shoot.  Till next time.  

Why I love Strobes

I am one of those rare photographers out there that doesn't own photoshop... yet.  I don't have anything against it per say but I didn't pick up a camera just so I could spend hours on a computer photoshopping my pic to make it look better.  To be honest I didn't know if you could get a "good photo" with or without photoshop when I first started shooting.  I just didn't want to spend hours on a computer "fixing" things or compositing one photo into the next.  "A little bit from here, a little bit from there, merge this onto that" so on & so on.  I admire people who have photoshop skills, especially the ones where you can't tell that things have been "photoshopped".  I just had so much to learn about taking photos early on that I didn't want to spend more $$ (or download illegally ;) something that just felt like it was going to make my head explode.  For those of you who have ever opened photoshop before you know what I mean.  The first time you do you feel like that grandma who created an email address for the first time.  You know that there are tons of people out there who know how to do this but for some reason all these buttons & symbols make you feel like a teenager learning to drive stick in a semi truck.  Yet in the back of your head you know that people have been making great images for almost a century before we had photoshop.  Then I remember the first time I saw someone use a flash... off camera that is.  What?  You can take that thing off your camera?  That was weird enough.  But actually controlling the light and shaping it blew my mind.  The crazy thing was that this guy was doing it in minutes and getting crazy dramatic images right out of camera.  No editing required.  That man was Joe McNally.  If you don't know who he is check out his site here.  At that moment I knew I had to get my hands on a flash.  I know there are photographers out there who are only "natural light" photographers, and to a lot of them it fits their style.  But I also believe there are a lot of photographers out there that are just flat out afraid of flash or don't know how to use it.  However there are a lot of photos out there that you simply cannot do with only natural light.  I knew this flash thing was a whole new world but  I needed to plunge in head first.  For example, the other night my roommate Neil came home in this black shirt and black suit jacket.  I was standing outside on our balcony and had this idea for a picture minutes after I saw him walk in.  Now my place isn't very big & it certainly isn't a studio but I new with a small flash and my softbox at the right angle I could get the picture I was looking for.  Neil was tired from a long day at work & it was getting late, but I just needed 10 minutes.  What resulted were the pictures below that I took in our living room that night.  I still use natural light a lot, but there are times, I believe, that a flash (or two) is the right tool for the job.