Holiday Ships 2011

It is that time of year again. The Christmas Ship Parade through the waterways around Seattle. I remember a few years ago when we had a big snowstorm for the event. Other years were pretty cold. But last night was one of the warmest I can remember, being around 45 degrees. It feels too warm and dry here in Seattle for it to be Christmas.

Here are a few photos of what seemed like hundreds of boats all decked out in holiday lights. I saw Santa Claus on a motorcycle, a few snowmen, reindeer, and lots of people have a grand time. The mild weather really brought out the crowds.

As usual, the Seattle Girls Choir was out on the lead Argosy ship and I have to really hand it to the technical crew. The sound this year was really great. In past years the sound system on the ship was extremely shrill and did no justice to what I assumed were wonderful voices. This year everything turned around. The voices sounded great through the speakers. Good job!!

If you want to see more, please check out this photo gallery.

Thanks for a great year. It isn't quite over yet, but it has been wonderful and I expect to close out in the same fashion.

Be well!

John

Recapping 2011

I can't believe it is that time of year again. It sounds cliche, but time really does fly as you get older and more busy.

In addition to a lot of photography sessions, I also did a lot of work with creativeLIVE this past year. Bambi Cantrell, Vincent Laforet, Zack Arias, Penny De Los Santos, Gale Tattersall, Mike and (Unknown Photographer) Andy from Lighten Up & Shoot, Mark Wallace, Rick Sammon, and Matthew Jordan Smith rounded out the crew of photographers and videographers I worked with at creativeLIVE. And creativeLIVE is currently running a bunch of sales on these recorded classrooms, check them out. Can't wait to see what 2012 brings. January is already filling up with iphoneography with Jack Hollingsworth and weddings with Zach and Jody Gray. And I'm presenting my own class on working in a home studio.

But enough of that. It is time for me to gather some of my favorite images from the past year.

Click for a web page of images

It was quite a varied year with The Bobs, burlesque, circuses, portraits, nudes, zombies, underwater, head shots, iphone images, and more.

I hope to see you through my lens in 2012. Until then, enjoy the holiday season!

John

QR Business Cards?

Its all about the relationship.

Kim recently told me that she met someone who was pushing to have QR codes replace headshot photos on business cards for their company. Ack!!! Even if I wasn't a photographer, I don't think I could go for that.

Its all about the relationship.

When I first saw a sample card my reaction was, "my, you're looking a bit pixelated these days..." Kim's reaction was "I think she looked better before the facelift."

Well, what do you think? Here are some sample business cards that feature a QR code and a head shot. Which one is going to leave a better impression on you? Which one do you think you will remember? Who do you want to do business with?

  
Remember, its all about the relationship.

Put a QR code on your business card? Sure! But put it on the back. Then contact me for the head shot to put on the front. See my headshot samples on Google+.

Thanks!

John

creativeLIVE home studio class

For those wondering, the purple item under my arm in the promo photo for my free class at creativeLIVE coming up on January 10, 2012 is not a flotation device from a swimming pool. It is a roll of purple seamless paper. Yes, someone did ask...

It is interesting, sometimes challenging, to work in a home studio. Many years ago (around 1982-85 or so) I had a studio in New York City on 29th Street, between 7th and 8th Ave. Last September (2010) I got a chance to go back and visit that studio. Paul Gelsobello, who I shared the space with back then, is still there. And it pretty much looks the same as when I was there, except for new windows and a white floor (it was gray back then). Here is a photo of Kim and I from that trip.

Good memories!

But now it is time to look at the future. Check out the forum at creativeLIVE set up to talk about the class and ask some questions that we might get to during the class.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

John

Little Bird Therapies

Last weekend I got to work with Joe Kelly and Jessica Chung of Little Bird Therapy structural medicine photographing images for a new website. I've known Jessica for some time as an aerial performer and I've also known her as a physical therapist. We had been talking for a while about creating these images and our schedules finally coincided.

Here are some of the photos that were created on location in their office on Roosevelt Ave in Seattle. For these images I went to my "go to" light modifier, the 60" Photek Softlighter II. For most images, including the head shots, this was the only light. For a few image I also added a bare-head flash in the corner of the room to provide a (very) little fill. The lights were Speedotron 202 heads powered by a Speedotron 805 power pack.

Special thanks to Ryan Mather and Nadia Losonsky for modeling for the photo session.

Please keep me in mind if you need new promotional photography for your business advertising, websites, etc. Thanks!!