Elf on a shelf? How about dogs wearing clogs? It's holiday photo time!

December 19, 2019 by Guest User

This year’s post Thanksgiving holiday rush has felt really fast - and it’s no wonder; the Sunday following Thanksgiving was already December 1st, and for us was planning out a fairly involved holiday road trip from Seattle to Phoenix, then a flight to and from St. Louis before returning to Arizona for the New Years. Oh, and of course we’d be driving back up to Seattle after that. Not to mention that we have been apartment hunting leading up to now.

We’re leaving for our big trip tomorrow, but we did manage to sneak in a holiday photo session with our friends and their dog, Ella.

Now, the dogs were none too pleased to be wearing their sweaters at first, especially with antlers on. But in short order, Ella would go full derp mode, while Gob relaxed into his typical somewhat apprehensive self.

The evening was shot through a Nikon AF 85mm f1.4D mounted to a Nikon D300S. Flash was a Nikon SB-910 with incandescent filter bounced up and forwards. Post process would be a pain dealing with doggie red-eye but I was happy with the results.

I plopped myself into the corner of the apartment with the scene lightly backlit. Shooting on an APS-C sensor with an 85mm proved a little tight, but it was a conscious choice to keep a bit of working distance from the dogs, and I was intent on making it work. The dog moms went to work distracting the dogs which worked wonderfully.

I suppose Ella could only smile so hard for so long.

And of course, I had to sneak into the action at the end as well. Happy holidays!

Alex trying to warm up Gob Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T — Alex trying to warm up Gob
Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T

We went camping in the cold and the wet

November 30, 2019 by Guest User

The cover photo is easily my favorite frame from this adventure. Gob happily jumped into his mama’s lap wearing his ridiculous reindeer sweater, and while we were all a bit soggy and weary at that point, we were happily making the best of the conditions, and I felt that this shot captured that feeling for me.

“It looks like it’s going to be wet all weekend.”

We didn’t heed the forecast; and even though it was going to be absolutely beautiful out the weekend after, we already had other adventures planned. So onwards we went. The destination was the Sol Duc Campground (complete with hot springs!) nestled in Olympic National Park.

Gob being unimpressed with the trip from the get-go. iPhone Xs Max — Gob being unimpressed with the trip from the get-go.
iPhone Xs Max

Being separated by a ferry ride out from Seattle, it feels like you’re going out on a big expedition out into the wild, even though the campsite overall was only three to four hours away. When we finally hit Lake Crescent it felt like things really opened up - all that weather turned out some majestic views. I braved the wind and raindrops for a few shots.

Lake Crescent Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T — Lake Crescent
Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T

We lucked out when we got to the campsite; there was a bit of a let-up in the rain that allowed us to setup shop and take some photos. On this trip, I had brought a Rollei 35T loaded with Portra 400, and my D300S with Sigma Art 18-35mm f1.8.

The other frame accompanying the cover photo Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T — The other frame accompanying the cover photo
Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T

The light, though challenging, proved to be very moody through the smoke and mist that hung about.

Unfortunately, on the whole, we didn’t really have much of an opportunity for photography. Staying warm and dry was enough of a challenge. When the evening fire started tailing off and Alex and Gob headed to bed, I decided to try a little bit of astrophotography. I haven’t really gotten into it but it was fun to dabble. Unfortunately the cloud cover was non-cooperative, and I went to bed without really anything to get too excited about.

The night proved to be frigid. Gob jammed his snoot into the hoodie portion of Alex’s sleeping bag, and when that didn’t quite work out, he dove head first into her bag and army crawled in. I contemplated doing the same into my own sleeping bag.

When morning arrived, we were in quick agreement to just pack up and get going. No lazy morning dilly dallying over coffee and breakfast, we were chilled to the bone and ready to go home.

Happy to head out a little early Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T — Happy to head out a little early
Kodak Portra 400; Rollei 35T

Raccoons!

A much more welcome alternative to bears..

The journey home was a whole ‘nother adventure, with a stop in Forks and peek-a-boo views of the ocean and stuff. We also made a stop in Port Townsend and caught an old-timey sailboat-pirate-ship looking thing waiting out some weather in town on its way out to Aberdeen.

And if this weren’t enough adventure, realizing that we had probably near 2 hours of a wait to get onto the ferry, we decided to drive the long way down to the ferry further south on Bainbridge Island. It turned out to be a great move - coming in on the ferry, we were also treated to impressive views of downtown Seattle shrouded in a hazy mist.

It felt so good to be home.

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme..

Pike Place Market

November 25, 2019 by Guest User

It may feel like bobsleddin time out here in Seattle already, but I’m gonna throw it back to summer. It’s been so hard to go out shootin after work these days with light fading before 4pm.

It’s a different town here in the summer with seemingly something going on every weekend and around every corner - Seattle summers are certainly hard to beat. Everyone is out and about, and the streets buzz with life.

I took this photo on my way to meet a couple of friends in town from Portland.

After taking this photo, the dude in the background waved me down afterwards and left me his info to get the photo - turns out he’s a local musician too. And in that moment, I kind of felt like while I wasn’t actively creating or playing music anymore, I got a taste of that human connection that I used to get from music through photography, and that felt really good.

Nikon D300S with Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD.

A night out with friends

Mikkeller Portland

November 22, 2019 by Guest User

Throwing it back to this summer when we met up with friends in Portland for dinner and beer. We went to Mikkeller Portland and hung out on the patio when I peeled away from the group to capture this moment.

Nikon F100 with Nikon AF 85mm f1.8D on Ilford Delta 400.

Waiting for brunch

Broder Cafe

November 18, 2019 by Guest User

I borrowed a frame on Alex’s Canonet for this shot. We were waiting for a friend to join up for brunch but also waiting out a fairly long line at Broder Cafe in Portland, Oregon. Sadly, we were not patient enough to make it through the waitlist, but happily compromised for the-always-amazing waffles at Off The Waffle.

Nom nom nom nom nom.

Canon Canonet QL17 GIII on Ilford HP5.