Amber and Andrew came in for two portraiture shoots: one with just themselves (well, almost...), and one with their new daughter. Here's the after shoot. We had a great time in the studio. Their daughter really was captivated by the shutter noise of the D3, which made my job a little easier. Love those tiny feet!

Bird Rock Hotel is the most stylish of hotels in Friday Harbor. Laura Saccio is the both the owner, and the interior designer for the hotel. She did an amazing job of turning the hotel around from what it used to be. Laura commissioned me to take interior shots for the hotel's website, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. I didn't have a lot of time between guests departing, the rooms being remade, and the next set of guests. Made for a busy shoot.

Earth Box Motel, owned by Laura Saccio, who also owns Bird Rock Hotel, bought this motel when it was part of the Best Western chain. It was a classic motel, in the sense it was not a hotel, and slightly dingy. Since Laura got her hands on it, the motel has transformed into something else. On her website she says: "Yup: retro motor inn is who we are." Have a look at this gallery and I think you'll agree it's worth staying there.

As an Islander, I ride the ferries all the time, and so have spent a lot of hours looking out the ferry windows, wandering around the decks, reading the Little Nickel, browsing the rack-cards, in fact everything that one can do on the ferry. It wasn't till recently I took my camera with me and started to shoot some of the things we see but don't really see, every time we travel. (Of course, these days with heightened security I did find myself being question by the crew fairly quickly; too many detail shots of the ship got people's attention.)

For 2010 I wanted to sell more retail items in the gallery, so I decided to shoot some of the islands and create a series of postcards that would appeal to tourists. There would be absolutely no shots of Orcas Breaching and nothing of sunsets at Lime Kiln Lighthouse; I wanted to stay far away from the cliched tourist postcards that are already plentiful in every gift shop on the island. So this is what I ended up with: a collection of photographs that capture the essence of the islands without repeating of subjects that were familiar and overused.

Jewelry is one photographic subject that is trickier than most to get right. The quality and direction of light is so important in picking out the facets and color of the jewels without rendering it flat and lifeless. Then you have to worry about reflections. And how to eliminate the stand that holds everything in place? It's technically challenging but very rewarding when you bring a piece 'to life'. Here are some of my favorite jewelry pieces i photographed for clients in 2010:

I was commission by Anna Howden at D+A Studios to photograph their showcase project: The San Juan Channel House. It was selected as one of the 10 projects for the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild’s annual 10x10x10 Green Building Slam. These photographs have been featured in Builder/Architect, Seattle and At Home Magazines.

Rae was given a photo shoot as a birthday present for her 40th. She brought some props of her own, the scarf and hats proved excellent tools to make this a fun shoot for all. I used a couple of different studio lighting set-ups, one large 4'x3' softbox and then switched to a single spot with a 20 deg honeycomb.

I shot Dominic using a black seamless background with a single spot and 30 deg honeycomb. In post-production I darkened the images even further to focus primarily on his face and torso. The cowboy hat was a prop he brought along and we used it to create a classic cowboy feeling. With TJ's second shoot I wanted to continue the same free-flowing shooting that we did when Brianna was on the set. No real direction, just let TJ do his thing which resulted in some great leather jacket and shades shots, that I desaturated and tinted in post. I call that series "Drug Store Cowboy." I guess he reminds me of Matt Dillon.

The original plan for this shoot was for Brianna to be made-up in the style of a glammed up rock-chick; Jane Alexandra did the make-up, Joshua Reedy did the hair, and it was exactly as we planned. And what does every rock-chick have? Adoring fans/stalkers in the background. Here's where TJ came in. As a last minute prop he was thrown into the shoot, and shone. I pulled down some shocking red background paper that I had bought on impulse the previous Christmas (what WAS I thinking?), plugged TJs iPod into the studio sound system, turned up the music LOUD, then TJ and I went to work. Gotta love spontaneous photography. :)

There is no formulae, at least I don't use one, for family shoots. Dynamics of a family shoot usually sort themselves out without my help. A few good props, or some cool music helps to keep things moving. I don't want people to stand in a formal pose; nothing could be so unnatural, but it's the starting point for those who have never been in a photography studio before. Although I would say that my studio is not the norm... at least I hope so! 

There is no formulae, at least I don't use one, for family shoots. Dynamics of a family shoot usually sort themselves out without my help. A few good props, or some cool music helps to keep things moving. I don't want people to stand in a formal pose; nothing could be so unnatural, but it's the starting point for those who have never been in a photography studio before. Although I would say that my studio is not the norm... at least I hope so!

I think I mentioned Blondie in the canine section already, but this Golden Retriever was amazing! I swear he was posing for each shot, looking directly at the camera. The shoot was planned for just the children, but Blondie was obviously such an important part of the family that it seems silly to exclude him from the shoot, especially when he was so well behaved.

I typically shoot a lot of portraiture in the studio. It's a clean classic look that people know me for. No distractions, just people on a simple white background. But there are times and places where the great outdoors makes for a pleasing background. A family picnic in an old island orchard is a great location for some family portraits.

My lighting setup for portraiture are very simple. Usually just a big softbox mounted as high up as I can, or if I want something with more defined shadows and perhaps a little dramatic silhouette, I'll use a single spot with a 30 deg honeycomb. I have gotten into three light setups, but the time it takes getting everything right, I'd rather be shooting and experimenting with what I've got at hand. 

Catlyn did great for her first time in a professional studio. It can be quite intimidating standing on the white background, having the huge flash go off every few seconds, remembering to keep changing to different positions, all the while trying to look "beautiful", AND listen to what the photographer is asking you to do. I know what it feels like. I've had to stand there while the principal photographer on a fashion shoot used me as a test subject while waiting for the models to get out of make-up and hair. I suddenly become a stone statue, every muscle I moved was forced and unnatural. So my hat goes off to professional models who have to do that every day. Not easy!

What would think if I told you that this shoot took 32 seconds from beginning to end? From the first frame to the last, I didn't give Tom a lot of time to do anything of much, aside from stand there and look handsome. I think he did pretty good job, don't you? There's nothing like grabbing your camera and heading outside for some spontaneous portraiture. Tres cool.

I'm always looking for interesting people to shoot in Friday Harbor, the opportunity to bring models in from the mainland is limited and expensive. So when Kayla's mother approached me about shooting her daughter, I was naturally interested. Strikingly beautiful, (and amazingly only 15 when these shots were taken) she maintained a wonderful air of mystery in her first studio session.

Yes, it helps to have a stunningly beautiful model to shoot, but sometimes the right props just make a shoot magical. Kaitlin brought this jacket with the awesome faux fur collar and cool Jackie Onassis shades with her to this next shoot (you can see her first here). The results were awesome, and after some work in post-production I felt I never would shoot anything as good again. (Of course that passed, but the excitement of the final product was pretty high at the time.)

I was so lucky to have Maddie walk into my studio ask me if I wanted to shoot her. As aspiring model, this would be the first of many shoots and the beginnings of a great friendship. Maddie is easy to shoot. She knows how to model, and that makes my life that little bit easier, allowing me extra time to focus on the shot instead of directing. As any digital photographer will tell you these days (if they are being honest), 50% of digital photography is taking the shot, the other 50% is working in post with LightRoom and Photoshop, or their equivalents. As you can see I took these photos to a different level than the usual color finals.

As with a small community like San Juan Island, news travels pretty fast. While I was in my local dentist with my daughter, the receptionist had heard of the studio I was opening (at this point I hadn't even signed the lease yet!) and asked if I'd be interested in shooting her? So here you have the results. There's beauty all around us, you just have to look with open eyes. (and have a studio, a great eye, and cool post-production techniques.)

I shot this dress rehearsal at Island Stage Left's Henry V at their outdoor theatre on Wold Road. It's always a great place to shoot as I can get down low in front of the elevated stage and have a clear background of the sky to shoot against. No distractions of scenery.

I usually shoot dress rehearsals of Island Stage Left's productions but sometimes that's not possible, so we bring everyone into the studio and stage a shoot. What we lose in capturing the moment's of the play can be made up by arranging everyone into something that really represents the play. The Clean House was particularly suited to the studio as we wanted a very white (clean) shoot.

Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, written by Tom Mula, is a recurring favorite at Island Stage Left. This was the first year I shot the play at Roche Harbor's Pavilion. There is no set, just a simple black cloth background, and all the actors have minimal costumes. This makes for some intense photography, especially focusing on the actors expressions through the transitions of Marley's ghosts.

Island Stage Left's As You Like It was shot at their outdoor theatre at Wold Road. It's particularly challenging shooting theatre as you want to capture the expression of the actors during the play, but that can only be done between sentences. There are very few actors that look good with their mouths open in various stages of enunciation, so timing is everything with theatre photography.

The Tempest was the first production that Island Stage Left performed in 1999, so ten years later it was fitting to create the magic all over again in 2009. A great cast, involving both local and off-island actors, made this a delight to photograph. In fact I entered one of the shots into the County Fair Photography Competition and won first prize. 

One of the aspects of Island Stage Left's productions is the unique interpretation of Shakespeare's work. Who would have thought to set a Comedy of Errors in the Wild West? So to continue in that theme I created a post-production preset that was similar to the style of photographs from that period: dark sepia tones and subtle vignettes.

Rhianna Franklin is a going to be a star. If not, then something is seriously wrong with the music industry. She is a talented musician and totally beautiful. I shot these photographs during a workshop I was presenting on studio photography. There wasn't a lot of preparation involved, but we got a great series of photographs out of it.

I hadn't really intended to shoot this evening. I was in Seattle attending an ASMP meeting, and knew that Be Careful were performing in Cafe Racer, a cool bar in the University District. But I had my camera in the car, so it became another opportunity to shot in a low light situation and see what the results could be. I really don't like using a flash in any situation. There are times and places where you just have to use it. Fortunately this wasn't one of them.

Like most professional photographers, I never really go anywhere without my camera. So when I started to see great light and interesting photo opportunities at an annual solstice party, I broke out the big guns. It's hard to be subtle when you have the 70-200mm lens on a full-frame dSLR body, but I tried to capture everyone as naturally as possible.

Tony Floreno is a Friday Harbor based musician, who has a great voice and a long repertoire of covers. These were shot at a local restaurant on my birthday. No flash, just my 50mm lens on the D3, and lots of light coming in from a big window to the left. I put the camera away after my second GnT. :)

There are so many talented people on San Juan Island. From musicians to artists to writers, such a creative hotbed of people in an amazingly small community, there is literally something going on all the time. One Saturday morning at Churchhill Coffee House I found Ian Cooper Thomas playing. Here are a few images from his set.

Whilst wandering around as John Steed looking for my Emma Peel (Our costumes based on the British cult TV show of the seventies, The Avengers) during Halloween 2009, I stumbled upon the local middle school band playing at the grange. One single colored spot in the corner was the extent of their lighting setup, but that made for an interesting and dramatic series of shots.

My first meeting with local band Be Careful was in the upstairs of the local bar (now defunct), Friday Harbor Ale House. A tiny venue with event lighting that consisted of a few tracks of tungsten spots on dimmers, it was an interestingly dark shoot. That, and it was also the night before Halloween, so there were a few unusual make-up jobs.

A collection of random canines that I have photographed over the years.

This portraiture shoot was primarily to give the parent of these two children something to hang over the mantlepiece. Blondie, the family dog, was along for the ride but turned out the be the best behaved dogs I've ever had in the studio. I swear he was posing for the shots.

Jasper was my first dog, even though he wasn't really mine. I would dog & house-sit for my friends John & Elizabeth while they went on vacation, starting back in 1999. So Jasper and I had a long history of time together. We both wore black, and it was a good match. So when he passed away last year it was a very traumatic event, made worse by the fact that John & Elizabeth were away so that myself and another friend were left to bury Jasper. In some senses I was glad I got to say a personal and private goodbye by taking care of his funeral. He will be missed.

Roxie was the most amazing labrador retriever, belonging to my good friend Laura. I would dog-sit Roxie, and she'd lie at my feet while I worked in the gallery, occasionally defending me from some customers, but for the most part sleeping the day away. It was a horrible shock when she got hit by a car and passed away. 2009 was a bad year for losing doggy friends.

Leslie & Casey came in for a portraiture shoot. This ten month old Mastiff was already 150lbs, and still growing. I think the biggest problem was his constant dripping saliva, probably made all the worse by the doggy treats we were using to lure him into the right position for photographs... this is not a dog you push around! But a little time in photoshop and it was all taken care of.

I swear that dogs and their owners are sometimes way too similar. Both Jenn and Kai were reluctant to have their photos taken, but in some sense this made for great portraiture. You can almost see the discomfort and anxiety in both their postures. This to-date is my most favorite session of human/canine photography.

Not only is Jaime an amazing artist, but she has an enormous love for dogs, such that she has rescued an awful lot of them. At the time of this shoot she was mother to six canines, all with very different personalities and backgrounds. The goal was to have them all line up in a row for a group shot. Obviously this was not going to happen. Maybe with a few months clicker training we could have got the shot, but it was so much easier to shoot them individually and compose all of the together after the fact in Photoshop.

Dez took Storm in for a photo session that would be on one of his last remaining days. He was close to fourteen years old and working very hard to maintain his dogness. He still had a lot of play in him, and was pretty savvy about turning away from the camera all the time. I think I captured the essence of who he was so that he can continued to be remembered by all.

I will admit to the fact that shooting canines is one of the more freeform types of studio photography. Depending on the levels of training the subject has, it can be very much a session of shooting a thousand images and hoping for the best. Treats only go so far, and the somewhat unfamiliar environment of the studio doesn't lend itself when to a relaxed subject. 

Having a professional photographer at the event brings out the best in the kids. When the camera is pointed at them they try hard, jump higher, go faster than they normally would. Some truly spectacular photographs, one of which became the front cover of the Island Rec's summer program guide in 2009. To see ALL the images you can visit the website I created for the skating community: www.sanjuanskate.org

Having a professional photographer at the event brings out the best in the kids. When the camera is pointed at them they try hard, jump higher, go faster than they normally would. Some truly spectacular photographs, one of which became the front cover of the Island Rec's summer program guide in 2009. To see ALL the images you can visit the website I created for the skating community: www.sanjuanskate.org

Having a professional photographer at the event brings out the best in the kids. When the camera is pointed at them they try hard, jump higher, go faster than they normally would. Some truly spectacular photographs, one of which became the front cover of the Island Rec's summer program guide in 2009. To see ALL the images you can visit the website I created for the skating community: www.sanjuanskate.org

I've been working on and off on a personal project that I have nicknamed "CORE". It's an exploration of the female human form, specifically working on a more abstract representation using light, shadows, and different post-production effects in LightRoom. It's definitely a work in progress... more on this later.

Coactus assiduis tuis vocibus, Balbe, cum cotidiana mea recusatio non difficultatis excusationem, sed inertiae videretur deprecationem habere, rem difficillimam suscepi. Caesaris nostri commentarios rerum gestarum Galliae, non comparantibus superioribus atque insequentibus eius scriptis, contexui novissimumque imperfectum ab rebus gestis Alexandriae confeci usque ad exitum non quidem civilis dissensionis

Coactus assiduis tuis vocibus, Balbe, cum cotidiana mea recusatio non difficultatis excusationem, sed inertiae videretur deprecationem habere, rem difficillimam suscepi. Caesaris nostri commentarios rerum gestarum Galliae, non comparantibus superioribus atque insequentibus eius scriptis, contexui novissimumque imperfectum ab rebus gestis Alexandriae confeci usque ad exitum non quidem civilis dissensionis

Diana & Greg's Wedding Day was unusual in that it spanned two islands; Orcas and Friday Harbor. I shot getting ready photographs and formals at Roche Harbor Resort, which included a touching guitar "serenade" with Greg performing a song he had written for Diana. We then jumped on the interisland ferry and headed to the  actual wedding ceremony.

The Victorian Vallery Chapel is this delightfully intimate private chapel located on Orcas Island. The interior is basked with wonderfully soft light, which stream in through the huge stained glass windows. As a photographer I am always concerned about the lighting inside of the structure you are getting married in, as I try as much as possible to shoot without artifical lighting. The beauty scenery of the islands, means that the majority of the weddings are shot outside.

With a weeklong steady barrage of rain, it looked like that Cydni & Adam's plans for a sunny outdoor wedding at Rosario Resort on Orcas would be potentially washed out. And despite everyone crossing their fingers and every other part of their bodies, the rains still refused to relent. Their enthusiasm not detered by the bad weather, the wedding ceremony was hastily moved inside to the historic Music Room of the Rosario Hotel.

Something you should understand is that even though I am your wedding photographer for the day, I am also a second pair of eyes and hands. I've sewn a button back onto the best man's tuxedo, I found missing bouquets, and helped clear up a broken glass or two; all to make sure your day runs smoothly.

This was by far my most favourite wedding of 2010. What you see here is just a fraction of the time I spent with Jenny & Tatum. The previous day Jenny's family and friends from the UK arrived and I documented the meeting of the two families for the first time. There was a wonderful walk and picnic down by the water, and then the rehersal dinner was outside, up on the bluffs; a pod of whales rolled by, breaching and peck slapping as if to say "congratulations!"

The wedding day was blessed with amazing sunshine, and Jenny & Tatum's ceremony was as a beauitful as it was unique. Foregoing the tradtional "kiss the bride" moment, they elected to dance a tango in from of the wedding party. Truly a special moment to witness and capture.

Jeanne & Sam's wedding was fun to shoot. A young couple whose energy and enthuasim for each other shone through from the very begining, it was clear that they wanted a fun wedding to remember. That, and the fact that Sam, and all his Groomsmen, were Australian made for an interesting day's shooting.

For instance, after the wedding ceremony I was setting up tradtional wedding group shots when one of the groomsmen suggested we "stage" a shot of everyone looking over the cliff as if Jeanne had fallen in the water. Certainly I have never been requested to exclude the bride from a photograph before. Well, there's a first time for everything and it certainly made for a funny image. And before I knew it we were doing more unusual wedding photographs: Sam running away, Jeanne reaching for a flask...