evidence of life photography

Pardon my, 'nerding-out' and changing the lyrics to Tom Petty (sacrilege!), but I'm all excited to share another one of our creative photography techniques.  Participating in the Photography Awesomesauce Winter Photo Challenge has inspired me to write about some of the techniques we use to create imaginative art when we photograph with you. Some of the techniques are newer to us like prisming while others, like freelensing, we've been doing for awhile. Freelensing is a technique where you shoot photos with your lens detached from the camera and twist and turn and bend it in different ways for creative focus and light leaks. I won't bore you with a how-to (that's what Google's for), but I will say that I think I've most enjoyed using this technique to capture creative imagery of flowers and candy buffets at weddings. For the sake of shooting something new for the challenge, here are some free-lens shots from this week. ( Mood Music ) ...

Oh, Silver Bells , one of my very favorite holiday carols and just so apropos of our little night on the town. Reminds me of the days when my grandma took me to the Bon Marche and Frederick & Nelson's to see the gorgeous decorations and buy Frangos for the family (a little reference for the other old school Seattle-ites). Today, it's snow in Pacific Place and the Westlake Carousel with the niece and nephews, but Bing Crosby's voice is still the same one crooning in my head (even if I have to go to Macy's to get my Frangos)  "...strings of street lights even stop lights blink a bright red and green as the shoppers rush home with their treasures..."

Practicing our light-painting techniques for the holiday. Oh, the things you can do with just a camera and light never cease to amaze me. Sure you can fake it in Photoshop, but it's not the same as standing outside in the cold, dressed in all black with your shutterspeed set to 20 seconds and writing in the air. The old fashioned way. The only thing that would make it truly old school is if I wrote it with a sparkler instead of the flashlight on my droid.

... the holidays cometh.

The latest piece of equipment to be added to my camera bag is a 6 inch prism. Yep, of the Pollyanna variety. I just love the reflections, light leaks and rainbows created by shooting through a prism. So here we are, week 4 of the photography challenge. Prism photography. I have to confess I'm now watching Pollyanna (the whole movie ) while I edit my sessions. I haven't seen this movie since I was a child. Ok, so who wants to play the glad game with me?  :)

Photos for this week's photographer challenge. I'm not terribly great at the whole "selfie" thing.

 I am participating in a photographer's challenge as part of my ongoing commitment to improving my skills and trying new things.  This week's challenge was to capture a golden hour landscape. As a photographer who focuses on capturing human expression and emotion, landscape photography doesn't quite come naturally to me. On top of that, the short days and the constant thick cloud cover were not exactly making a 'golden' landscape any easier. Then on Saturday morning, on our way through the mountain passes to Ellensburg for an engagement shoot, this happened. Just a smidge of a break in the clouds to allow for some of that golden glow and a glimpse of snow-capped mountain peak. Just lovely.

A little costumed fun just in time for Halloween... Inspired?  Send us a  session inquiry  or check out our  Session Planning Guides .