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I like a lot of different kinds of photographs and for a lot of different reasons. This one I like because, for me, this is about love. It doesn't even have to be good for me to like it. You know what I mean? This is my wife back when we started our lives together, fall of 1977.  Maybe it was the luck of the light that the pictures looked good. A background in image-making with paint set me up to fall in love again, this time with photography. I lost my painting studio in the transition. But I could still make images, this time with a camera.      

The camera was a $10. Kodak instamatic. But this one was special because it came equipped with someone who would actually send in the negatives to be processed.

Right from the start I could see the possibilities. The following Spring we moved out to Rocking Chair Ranch in Northeastern Oregon and I had to have a camera, a real camera. But at the time I knew what it meant. I was going to get hooked, obsessed is the word. Well it took a while to learn to see through the contraption, that is, to accept its limits and cherish its possibilities. It took even longer to find the direction to go. Because of my background I started out trying to make art. Of course, I took candids of whatever was happening around me. In the fall of 1980 we moved to the Olympic Peninsula between Port Townsend and Sequim. Gradually I decided to do photography for other people -- images for publication as well as the gallery work, and occasionally I'd get talked into a wedding. All my weddings were photojournalistic back then. That's all I could do. Most of the time I was doing nature photography. That had me gone away on photographic trips a lot. Too much.

Then I got roped into teaching photography at the local college, as well as mountain photography for North Cascades Institute and wildflower photography for Olympic Park Institute, never having taken an actual course in photography. But the college course broadened my view of photography. Students wanted to learn more about photographing people. I got obsessed again.

Of course, that meant different cameras. The 35 mm's and the 4 x 5 of nature photography started gathering dust the day the first Hasselblad came into my life. Wonderful camera, the fine art of engineering, big and strong, with a viewfinder you can actually see people's expressions through. Clarity was a possibility. I fell in love again. Then came digital. This changes everything, and for the better.  I used to do 24 exposures in a portrait session. Now I don't count exposures, but I'm averaging 75. Bottom line is our final results are better, way better.   

I like a lot of different kinds of portrait photography. But mostly I like the expressive potential. I like images that communicate. I like to know who I'm talking to and how I should communicate so that the message comes across. I like to match the style to the purpose. Form follows function -- the basic law of commercial art.

I like photographs that are about something. I like bringing out the beauty in people. I like how an image can reveal insight. I like the joy of the toddler in in the forget-me-nots. I like the sexy playfulness of the couple about-to-be-wed, and the elegance of Charlene on the staircase. Given beautiful light and a beautiful mood we are all beautiful. That's what I love about photography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sica designed the dress. Check out her site. www.sicacouture.com

 

 

 

 

 

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                                                        This is Art at work. No, it's his day off & he's in his sister's hospital room. She just had a baby. Not this one.

                                                        This is his. And Charlene's. And even though it's his day off he's on the phone checking in with work

                                                        and plugging in the numbers and ...   Isn't that the way life is supposed to be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                            Emma's 1st

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                

                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                

 

 

 

                                       

 

 

 

 

                                

I had my photography class out on the street in Port Townsend doing street photography. This guy figured us out. He rode right up and said, "Take my picture for a buck?"  He struck a pose and earned his buck. He hit on nearly everyone in the class and got $7.50 from us. One student got him free. He presented himself with confidence and pride. I wish my paying clients were that self confident.

A photograph freezes us in a tiny slice of time. A few years have passed, but I think of him as if he were still just like this. Who knows, he's probably made and lost a fortune in the dot com world since then. Confidence pays. 

 

 

 

 

                                                                     

                                                    

I never know how important a photograph will be when I push the button. But I push it anyway because every once in a while it matters.

About 16 years after I made this image Diane passed away. I found this old negative in the forgotten file, made an archival Black & White print of it, hand colored it and sent it to Celeste. That's Celeste in the sunbonnet.

 

                                                                                                 

 

 

 

                                                                             

 

 

 

                              

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                      

 

                                           

 

 

My portrait sessions are conversations in which some photographs are made. They are collaborations. Most of our portraiture is done on location. And most of it is outdoors. A cloudy sky provides the best light for portraiture. Bright sunshine is the worst, although that last little bit of sunshine squeezing over the horizon can do some wonderful things. Generally if the sun is shining we work in open shade -- that is, in the shade with open sky on one side. And nearly always, if the subject is in the shade the background must be also. Midday sun provides a very short shade so most of our outdoor sessions are in the late afternoon or evening.

 

                                      

 

                                           

 

 

We do a lot of anniversary portrait sessions, many of them the 50th. These do tend to be in studio and more formal. Often I am asked to style the portrait to match their earlier portraits. I meet the most interesting people in these sessions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            Ray got his arm twisted into doing a portrait. Hadn't done that since way back when.

                                                            Of course he was nervous. But what worked was having him give me the old Viagra smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

I love doing family photography. These are usually casual outdoor sessions. They pick the place. I don't like these sessions to be over-posed. I'd much rather get them relaxed and comfortable and get relaxed expressions. Hey, it's hard enough getting your picture "took", but to have to fuss with detailed "pose-by-the-numbers" without looking phony, that's too much to ask. Some of our families have portrait sessions done every year at the same time.

                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                              

                                          Look at her

                                          soaking up the sun

                                          proud to be pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                        

 

Most of our reunion sessions are outside, in parks or back yards. These two were inside because it was winter. In these sessions we photograph the whole group and the primary families. The larger the group the more exposures I make so that you have choices when the proofs come back. These session don't take long if everyone is ready on time. Occasionally a child can take an opportunity to get attention by not cooperating. I can work an image over digitally to combine the best expressions into one photograph.

 

 

 

      

 

 

    

 

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