Smaragd's Photos

Miss Cat is your patriotic beauty! She's a member of the Northwest Pinups for Troops.

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Revisiting my favorite shot from the September 2007 shoot with Emma Lee at Fort Casey and the Admiralty Lighthouse. Better tones this time, and now in color.

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Miss Cat is a member of the Northwest Pinups for Troops.

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Sarah at Hovander Homestead Park.

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Aleah's first studio shoot. Aleah is a new model right here in Bellingham, a classic blonde beauty with a sparkling smile. This was the first shoot in which I've experimented with using a "hair light," and I think the results are great. We did a lot of straightforward portrait shots, and I think we hit gold. The photography here is less adventurous or experimental, and more about just capturing the beauty that is already there. And I really wanted to make sure she had some great headshots to act as a starting point and foundation for her modeling portfolio. I'm sure we'll do more shoots in the near future.

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Sarah and I did our second photo shoot on Monday afternoon. It's a big step up from the previous shoot a couple months ago.

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Photo shoot with Sarah in Fairhaven, the southwestern portion of Bellingham, Washington.

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The moon. Experimental photograph shooting through my old mid-1980s, 4.5-inch diameter Seikanon reflector telescope.

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Yesterday was a little landmark in my pursuit of photography as a career; I did my first "senior portrait" shoot. A couple months ago Gretchen contacted me to ask me to take her senior portraits. She wanted something different from the run-of-the-mill senior portraits that every other photographer does. This particular shot was my own favorite from the shoot. She will make her own selections, but I just love this one, myself. (And thank you to Gretchen for permission to post some of her photos.)

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In the coming days I will be posting photos from my first shoot with Mariya. This is a "teaser" to start us out. We started out in my studio, then went to a church just down the road to shoot in front of their heavy wooden doors, and finally went across town to end the shoot in our local cemetery. Mariya is a strong collaborator in that she had a good idea of what she wanted from the shoot. But she was also receptive to my own ideas and input. I really believe working with a model should, ideally, be an equal creative partnership. This shoot was a perfect example of that -- an even combination of her ideas and mine, the synergy of two creative streams coming together.

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I had just stopped at a red light when there's a big, scary WHACK! behind me and my car lunched forward, hitting the bumper of another vehicle in front of me. Everything that was on the seats was all over the floor -- my CDs, jacket, a couple of cupcakes I'd brought home from work.... The driver right behind me hadn't been attentive. He didn't even see that traffic was stopped for a light, and had slammed straight into the back of my beautiful little car at a full 35-40 mph. Nobody was hurt, but the rear of my car is crumpled like a tin can.

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My first shoot with new model Erin Maiden, and her first studio shoot. Erin is genuine metal, and is into all the bands that my friends were into in high school in the mid-80s: Iron Maiden, Slayer, Megadeath, etc. The shoot was fun, and also more inventive and experimental than a first-shoot with a new model usually is.

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Bitty Boo has a new, blue friend.

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Jessika at the local cemetery.

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John Pflug had a dream of building a lovely German-style home for his growing family. He began building in the summer of 1908. Money was scarce for all early homesteaders, so he hired no help and did all the work himself. He hauled all the materials from a sawmill about ten miles away with only a team and wagon. He never finished his dream house, but the family lived for several years in a part of the house that was finished. The house has been vacant since 1921.

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My first shoot with new model Erin Maiden, and her first studio shoot. Erin is genuine metal, and is into all the bands that my friends were into in high school in the mid-80s: Iron Maiden, Slayer, Megadeath, etc. The shoot was fun, and also more inventive and experimental than a first-shoot with a new model usually is. Shot in darkness using only a repeating strobe-light for illumination.

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Larissa Vanity is a rising model in Northwest Washington. She has strong presence, an equally strong personality, and is both a total knockout and a true professional. Although I've been aware of her for well over a year, this was my first shoot with her. Although it was raining — a downpour at times — she never balked, and even embraced the rain with enthusiasm.

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