Allyson: "I'm not a model".

          Today's shoot comes to us from Allyson. She is another girl that I met at Wild Walls climbing gym. And that is what she told me before we started shooting." I'm not a model". Well, I'd have to disagree. She is a classic beauty.

 

















                                                                       

            She was a ballerina for years, but when

injuries forced her to quit, she needed to find

something else to keep her busy and in shape. So

 she start rock climbing and fell in love.











               

   

   
  
      She also loves photography and teaches piano. This shoot was one of the easiest shoots I've had in a long time. Allyson was very easy to pose because she had great body awareness from her years of ballet. She's also just a really cool chick who is easy to get along with The day of the shoot was the first day that people could pick up their race packets for "Bloomsday", which is a huge road race here I Spokane, Washington. So there was thousands of people in the park. I was worried that this would distract her. But, it bothered me more than her!













     I'd like to thank my "model" Allyson for all of her hard work and as you all can see, it really paid off. The photos are great! And we'll see you at Wild Walls!

                                  

Joni Elizabeth

      The only thing warmer than Joni's smile is her personality. OK, so that sounded pretty cheesy, I know, but it's true. I didn't know her at all until our short little sit down meeting before the shoot. She had some ideas for what she wanted the photos to look like and it was a look I had never tried before.

        It has a technique of photography where you shoot somewhat into the sun to get a somewhat washed out look with solar flares. I was so worried about the exposure, that I felt my interaction and posing of Joni was distracted. But, no excuses, I still think I got some good photos.

        Joni is a very talented in the performing arts. She is an actress, director, dancer, model and singer. I was very lucky to have worked with her. As we were shooting, a lady walked by with this little dog. This dog was barking at us furiously. Joni said "Oh, he probably doesn't like my hat". She bent down and pet the dog.She was wrong, it wasn't her hat. The dog didn't like the photographer.

     Since Joni is an actress, I wanted to see how many "faces" she could make, because I had an idea for a photo that I thought would be fun. I've done a photograph like it before and it worked well. And Joni was able to make so many awesome faces that I was able to make two images, each with different faces.

        In closing, I'd first like to thank Joni for trusting me and making time for a shoot with me in her busy schedule. Second, I'd like to thank you, the person reading this and viewing my work. It means a more to me than you could possible know, Thanks.

" I'm an adventouer first, then a model! "

   

    

    

  I met Genevieve while photographing at Wild Walls climbing gym. We got to talking and she asked if I wanted to photograph her climbing outdoors sometime. I think she wanted to know if I was brave enough! Well, I jumped at the chance, of course!

         



             It took about an hour for her to get set up, which was not a problem. Safety first. Really didn't want her falling to her death. But talking with her was very cool. She is a strong willed, free-spirted individual who loves to live life to the fullest. As soon as she was ready, I found my view point to photograph from. I little tree growing out of the edge of the rock. If it broke, These would be my last photographs. Looking back on it, I would do this again without my own safety rope.

            When we finished the day day, she told me of this photo concept that she wanted to shoot said it involved throwing money off a train trestle, and if I'd be interested in photographing it. Again, I never turn down a chance to photograph something awesome.

 
                 She defiantly had a concept. She wanted her and her friend Zach to climb to the top cement base of a railroad trestle and throw money off it. It was to represent anti-materialism. She really liked the finial photo.                  

                                      "Only when you lose everything, will you do anything." ~Genevieve~


             After we shot that, I photographed her on the metal underneath the trestle. These shots turned out great. I'd love to go back and photograph her there again, but that will have to wait. She is in Brazil right now on a new adventure.

        ...and this post wouldn't be complete if I didn't thank Genevieve's friend Zach, who help out with the concept shot. He is a brave soul to climb up there with her. And thanks for helping out with the other photos, as well. And, of course, thanks to my stunt model, Genevieve. Can't wait to photograph when you get back!

Climbing with Chelsea

        "Climbing is dangerous" says a sign posted all over the place at Wild Walls, Inc, Spokane's best climbing gym. I love photographing in there, even though you are dealing with low light and a mix of about 3 or 4 different light sources.






















      Somedays I go in and the place will be packed. Other days I go in and the place is empty. I when in the other day and there was a few people climbing. A lot of talking between climbs. But over in the bouldering corner there was 1 girl bouldering. Bouldering is a form of climb with no rope, because it is low enough to the ground that a fall will not kill you. It normally includes short, difficult, powerful moves to complete a bouldering route.

  I photographed her for awhile, and realized she was very good. She knew what she was doing and was performing some awesome and powerful acrobatic moves. Great for beautiful photographs. During one of her brief resting moments I went over and introduced myself and made sure she didn't mind being photographed, and showed her some of the images I had taken. She didn't mind...as long as I made her look good. Her name was Chelsea, and she worked at Wild Walls. She also said that she wasn't climbing that well today. "Yeah, Right?", I thought to my self. Looks pretty good to me.

         Why black and white? There are a couple of reasons why I made these photos B/W. One was the lighting. Without some kind of flash, it is very dark in there. I was shooting at around 4000iso. Which made the images very grainy. I thought that the black and white made it grittier and therefore more intense and had more impact. Also, with all the different light sources, you had a lot of weird greens and yellow cast on the skin and the wall. It's just a lot easier to deal with in true monochrome.

        In closing, I'd just like to say that Wild Walls is one of my favorite places to photograph in town. It is just a laid back, relaxing place. I've never met a grumpy person there. Everybody just has a good time. I'd also like to thanks Chelsea for allowing me to photograph her.

Camping trip : summer 2013

      This August I got to go on a short trip with a couple of fellow photography students. I don't get to go on many photo trips to the woods like this, so I was pretty excited. I began to try and think of the type of photos that I would be looking for. The above photo is an example of "flowing water". I wanted to try and take some long shutter speed to make the water look, I don't know how to say it, but, "misty"? I succeeded a little, but I feel I needed a filter to cut some of the light to get the shutter speed I want. In short, it was to bright out. I wanted to try these water shoots to try and visably make time slow down. It seems our lives are moving so quickly that we forget to stop and see the beauty around us and how beautiful thing are when you slow down.


   







 Well, I know what your saying, "This isn't nature!" Maybe not in
the typical sense, but, This is an old water turbine, placed out in front
of a dam we stopped at. This is one of man's ways of controlling
nature (for a time) for his own purpose. That's sort of nature like...
besides, their pretty cool

     "Out of Place" We all feel like that in our own life's sometimes. I know I do. Sometime I feel like this little dried out leave. But sometimes I forget that like this leave, I have a lot of other leaves supporting me. And I am lucky, very lucky to have my support group. My family, and the people I work with, all who I think of as my friends.





    "Light from Above"  Biblical refrance, maybe. Teacher refrance, maybe. work refrance, maybe. Just remember, light coming from above, for the most part, lights your way. Try not to block it.

JULIA

 
    If you've been following my blog, you'll recognize Julia. Here are some more from our latest shoot. I would like to congratulate her on her recent promotion at work. It is well deserved and she will do great! Thanks Julia! (once again)

Ehea and Theresa. Love = Love

     So a few weeks ago, I had the chance to photograph Ehea, who is a girl that I worked with at the Olive Garden. She is a beautiful girl, with a unique look Short, spikey hair, awesome tattoos and pretty buff. But she also has a very pretty face and a great smile. She also just has a graceful attitude and is just fun to be around...I can see why her girlfriend fell in love with her.

      Yes, Ehea is a lesbian and she is my friend. When she agreed to a photo shoot, I said bring Theresa and we'll take some couple photos. And I got some great photos of them. And now, as I edit these photos, I don't see a lesbian couple, I just see two people that love each other and really enjoy each other's company...and I'm proud to have had the chance to capture that.