Found this while wandering through Fisherman’s Terminal this afternoon.

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Since I’ve started this blog I’ve been running it on super economy mode – hosted through wordpress.com, which is actually very good for many things, and a great service for anyone looking to start a blog. I’ve gotten to the point where I need more functionality for what I want to do online and to support my business, so I’m migrating the site over the next week or so. Basically, I’m moving from free hosting to for-pay hosting, still staying on the wordpress platform but upgrading from the free blog that’s available from wordpress.com to the for-pay version from wordpress.org – with client software rather than a web interface, much greater customization, and a hosting provider (in my case this will be godaddy.com). none of this is free of course but I’m at the point where it’s really important for what I want to do with the site. One other big change that I’ll be implementing is the integration of a full-service photo archive at Photoshelter.com that I will be using for my back end for client work and fulfillment, so if you’ve been wondering about why the archive on the current site doesn’t seem to reflect my current projects, you’ll see a ton a change.

I’m really excited to grow the site and improve what I can show and do online. If it all goes off without a hiccup, I will be somewhat amazed, but I’ll do my best to make the transition seamless. Best case is that you all will see a new look and feel to the site in the coming days with a lot more functionality and depth. Keep your fingers crossed.

Magnuson Park Shoot

October 20, 2009

Last week I put together a photo shoot for me and my friend and fellow photographer Brent. I found a great location in a local park and lined up a model for the shoot, just to build our portfolios and make some interesting images. The weather turned out to be poor, but we improvised a bit and worked mainly under the awning of a loading dock of an abandoned building and it turned out well. Here are some of the best shots.

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I had the chance to shoot a fashion event over the weekend – the Luly Yang couture show. This was a totally different experience for me because I’ve never shot any fashion of any kind, so it was all very exciting as a photographer. It was a difficult shooting environment – I could not use flash, so everything you see here is shot using ambient light at up to ISO 1600.  Luckily as I was heading out the door a friend gave me the good advice to bring my monopod which was a life-saver as the shutter speeds on most of these shots is between 1/30 and 1/125 of a second using a 70-200mm lens. Technical challenges aside, I had a great time and the experience made me really want to shoot more fashion and get better at it.

Following our wedding in Cortona, we packed our bags and waved goodbye to Tuscany and headed by train down to Positano on the Amalfi Coast, south of Naples. Totally different people, food, and atmosphere from Cortona – we loved them both. Here are some shots from our time in Positano.

Our first week in Italy was in Tuscany – first in Florence to file the paperwork for the wedding, then on to Cortona where we were married. The day before the wedding we spent in Montepulciano exploring the town and doing some wine tasting at a wonderful winery called Tenuta Valdipiatta. Here are some of the shots from the week.

A Wedding in Italy

October 2, 2009

A quick update because I’ve been offline for almost 3 weeks – I’ve been In Italy, first in Tuscany and then the Amalfi coast for my wedding and honeymoon. When Kelley and I got engaged we decided that we wanted to do a destination wedding, and we picked Italy just because it’s a beautiful, romantic place to get married. It was perfect and we had a fantastic time – and for pretty much every day except the wedding day, I had a camera in hand. Thankfully, Kelley is patient with me…Lots more to come, as soon as I get all the editing done.

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Hiking Mt Pilchuk

September 12, 2009

I had a chance to hike Mt Pilchuk recently – one of the classic hikes of the north Cascades, and the views on the way up and from the old fire lookout at the top are spectacular. On this day, the low clouds added great texture and shadows to the mountains, and Mt Rainier to the southeast and Mt Baker to the north came in and out of view as the clouds ebbed and flowed through the valley and around the shoulder of the mountain. Here are some of the images from the day.

Blue Heron

September 9, 2009

I went out and shot in the rain on Monday afternoon hoping to get some interesting landscapes. I didn’t get anything remarkable other than finding a spot that I want to go reshoot at another time, but did spend some time with this beautiful heron. The sky was perfectly overcast and the angle of the reflection on the (absolutely still) water gave a perfect gray background. Off-camera flash to the left to give the colors some pop and put a catchlight in his eye. And yes, he only has one leg – didn’t seem to bother him one bit.

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This is a shot I made a couple of years ago, that I recently brought back up from my archives and did some additional cleanup editing. It was shot about 45 minutes before sunrise, with the early light just starting to hit the hills, and the moon setting overhead. It’s both a stitch of two shots to create the panorama and an HDR image, as I double processed the RAW images to bring the exposure on the sky way down – in the end I had to comp in the moon because the original was too blown out. One of my favorite landscape shots, so I thought I’d share it.

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