Photo Of The Day: Alissa

I recently approached Alissa about doing a portrait. This was my favorite from the quick session using the last bit of light. I'm loving the crisp fall weather, but not the lack of natural light in a day.

Telekinesis for Merge Records

Had the pleasure of shooting Telekinesis promos for one of my favorite music labels; MERGE. Michael Benjamin Lener and I met last year when we shot for an article in City Arts Magazine. I have kept in touch with him since and was excited to be asked to work with him for his new promo shots. Here is two sneek peeks including one of his new live band which includes Cody Votalto (of Blood Brothers fame) & Jason Narducy.

Keep It Light Family Portrait

Patrick Richardson Wright's Crown Graphic 4x5 Polaroid of our Keep It Light Collective. We are having our first show as a group coming up in December at Ghost Gallery. We decided to devote a weekend at Mt. Ranier to shoot the images we will use in the show. Patrick tagged allong to capture a group shot of us near this waterful. There were a few options but this bw is my favorite. Click the portrait to view LARGE.

Power Couple

I love creative couples. Its definitly a topic that has been explored before but it never ceases to make me happy. Watching people not only be in a romantic relationship but to inspire eachother to create in their own fields. My recent shoot of the Rowena Sartin F/W 2010 Line allowed me to meet the designer Kristin Dickson & her husband Shin Okuda. Shin is a designer/prop stylist. Together, they own the LA botique IKO IKO. This was a quick portrait of them after our shoot but I love the simplicity and that it incorporates both their work inside their store.

Das Racist

Had the pleasure of shooting the infamous Das Racist crew this weekend. If you haven't already download that free Sit Down Man mixtape. NOW
Also-thanks for the love Suri. Check his blog HERE

Levi Mandel

This portrait is of my good friend Levi Mandel. Levi moved to NYC a few years back and its been great keeping in touch and both seeing eachother progressing as photographers. I took this same image on my last trip to NYC but the film somehow was exposed and i lost the entire roll. I re-did as best possible this week while he was in Seattle. He recently had the amazing oppurtunity to shoot one of my biggest inspirations: Ryan McGinley.

Here is that photo and several others of his I particuarily love. Levi has a style that is truly his own. Capturing moments and life in a way that is hard to do. Finding magic in some of the strangest things & shooting almost entirely on 35mm film.

Anna Ryon

Had a chance to shoot my friend/Photographer Anna Ryon before she jet's off next week moving to London. I'm excited to see the images she will start shooting & people she will meet in the UK.
Styling: Elvia Carreon
Makeup: JJ Cariaso

Stranger Cover/Approaching a Portrait

Very excited to receive this week's Stranger Cover with my film portrait of Stan Rumbaugh. I'm really happy with the results & wanted to reflect on the assignment a bit on my blog. I think most photographers agree you never want to attempt "the same" shot twice; nor can you. My portrait of now Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn during last years election time worked out really well. It was the right combination of photo/pose/personality. When asked to do something similar last week for Stan I immediately got a bit worried. Obviously he is different than Mike and I didn't want the shots to look exactly the same with editing, although the crop would also be a head shot. In the end I'm glad I tried something a bit different and I think it worked to show Stan as a positive approachable guy. Not just a cheesy Politician's head shot. Vote Rumbaugh!

Photo Of The Day: Ryan

Taken of my friend Ryan Furbush at a recent Keep It Light meeting this July.

Assisting Autumn de Wilde

Had the opportunity to assist one of my biggest inspirations over the years, Autumn de Wilde. I initially found her work via the Elliot Smith photos she became so well known for. Since then she has shot many of Music's best (Beck, Wilco, Spoon, Jack White, Miranda July, etc..). She works exclusively with film; primarily on her Hasselblad. The above photo was a Polaroid test of me from the day we worked with The Decemberists out on a small farm near Portland, OR. The shoot was a long one but fun. Of anything I took from assisting, I was most excited to watch her interaction with the band. It takes a truly special photographer to keep a band excited, happy, and willing to shoot a 10-12 hour portrait session. She is patient and willing to wait for the shot she knows she wants. I look forward to seeing the final photos. Till then enjoy a few of my favorite Autumn de Wilde images from over the years.

Photo Of The Day

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week. Less blogging means a busier shooting Kyle. So a good thing in the long run. Enjoy this shot of Jay.

Meet Chick..

This is Chick. I've known him for awhile now. Many people have probably seen him roaming around Seattle. Hard to miss an over 6ft 5" tall dude with an eye patch and amazing vintage outfits. As intimidating as he looks hes, more of a gentle giant that loves comic books and movies.

Finally got a chance to take a portrait of him. I want to do something more planned out but I'm really happy with the outcome of a chance encounter where I had my camera.

Jenny, Strangers, Personal Projects...

I feel executing ideas you have brewing up in your head is extremely important as a photographer. I visited a friends house in Ballard a few months back and instantly pictured a portrait session in their front yard. I didn't have a person in mind but kept the idea on the back burner. I ended up meeting Jenny at her job. She wasn't a model but I instantly saw the potential (Shes Gorgeous..duh.haha). Approaching people about doing photos you don't know isn't always easy or wont always leave a successful outcome but sometimes it is and that makes it a risk I've become increasingly willing to take. Anyways, I couldn't be happier with the outcome of this idea. The film Frame & its hazy flair could be one my favorite images I've ever taken. Big thanks to Angel Dorr for doing makeup and Osiris for that blue top & of course Jenny for giving me the chance to shoot her.

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Truly a dream come true shooting Charlotte Gainsbourg. So refreshing to meet such an incredible talent (Film/Music/Etc..) who is still so genuine, friendly, and a bit shy. I had a brief portrait opportunity after her in studio performance with KEXP. The top photo was my favorite of the 3 frames I shot. Urghh and did I mention that accent :P haha (sorry katie =) )

Devendra Banhart

Had the extreme pleasure of shooting Mr. Devandra Banhart this afternoon. Ive been a fan of his music for quite awhile and had only briefly met him once before at bumbershoot 2 years ago. I hardly recognized him at first without the beard/hair but that voice could be none other than him. Refreshing meeting someone so humble, funny and polite.

Bad Luck & Shabazz

Sorry for the slight delay in blogging lately..Had a stroke of bad luck losing my house keys and having my Macbooks HD Randomly fail and crash...

Im finally back on my feet and working on the stack of photos I have to edit this week. Also planning a lot of fun shooting in the next few weeks.

Had the pleasure of working with one of my favorite groups of 2009 for this weeks Stranger Lead Music Feature. Featuring Ish from Digable Planets; Shabazz Palaces records were some of the illest hiphop to come out of anywhere in the US last year, let alone seattle. Im stoked for their first live show this friday. These were my favorite two from the shoot. They wished to keep their faces hidden which is why both dont show any face detail.

The Morrison Holiday Portraits

I volunteered to help Katie's Mom with a special Xmas gift for the residents of The Morrison. They offer apartments for around 200 chronically home-less people suffering to overcome addiction, mental disease and financial troubles keeping them on the streets. These people were so excited to have their portraits taken for Xmas gifts to their friends/family.

That first photo is Skip. Although he normally is extremely quiet and doesn't talk much with other residents/volunteers he was soo excited to talk shop about photography. He shot sports for a living years ago. We talked about lens's, films, strobes and everything else. He didnt want a Christmas tree portrait but offered to let me snap a few against this wall.

It felt great knowing how grateful these people were for such a simple Christmas photo. Looking forward to spending more time @ The Morrison and doing more photo projects with the residents.

Thanks to Nas for helping out and assisting all day!
A few of my favorites from the afternoon:

Keep it Light Week 3/4

Our Group (Whose Blog is Finally UP) took a two week Break due to the TurkeyDay Holiday. Our two assignments were:
1. To choose a book you love and create an image out of a paragraph in the book. The book I chose was Always Running By Luis Rodriguez. It is the true account of a man who grew up in the latino gang life in Los Angeles during the 60's and 70's. He explains the book was made in hopes of making sure his own son never went that route. His son Ramiro did end up in the LA Gang Life and is currently serving a large prison sentence because of it. My portrait was supposed to be Ramiro, in a paragraph where Luis talks about how much pain and scars his son hides underneath his skin. He has finally reconciled with his son and they both have found a relationship after all this time.

2. The second part of our assignment was to step out of our "cool camera" comfort zone and use a disposable documenting our Thanksgiving. My camera was definitely hit or miss as I remember about disposables but I ended up getting a few images I really love. I de-saturated the bw images but the rest im posting are as is.

Rose over the years..

Photographers all have their favorite subjects. I met Rose several years ago. She was only 17. She had never really modeled but i knew her face would translate great in a photograph. Upon shooting Rose this last week, I realized her and I have probably shot together more than I've shot any other subject, at least for portraits. I was thrilled at how our most recent shoot went and thought it would be cool to look back at a few of my favorite shots with her over the years. Its fun to see your own work progress along with someone else growing up through photos.