This time of year homes and gardens sparkle with millions of shining lights. Maybe you go all-out decorating your home. Perhaps you make an annual pilgrimage to a favorite public holiday light display. Either way, here are nine tips and tricks for getting great photos of the lights. Continue reading
I got a call from the owner of a local photo lab recently asking whether one of my customers had permission for them to make 50 prints of one of my photographs to enclose in their holiday cards. In this case the answer was “No.” As part of the package they’d purchased they received a low-resolution digital file to share with friends and family by e-mail or on social networking sites like Facebook. The file had my visible watermark across the bottom. This customer had not exercised their option to purchase a high-res file with printing rights. Continue reading
Dark and rainy days during the winter months aren’t anybody’s first choice to have a family portrait created in a favorite outdoor location. It’s a big challenge to find a day when the weather cooperates at the same time everyone is available.
But the winter holidays are a time when many families are together and thinking about both fond memories of their time together and giving special gifts. Continue reading
Fall is a favorite time of year to enjoy the outdoors. These photos were made October 23-25 around Leavenworth, Washington while I was in the area for the Professional Photographers of Washington Fall Conference. Continue reading
Saturday, October 30 we’ll be photographing kids and families in their Halloween costumes during the Downtown Bellingham trick-or-treat. Find us inside the Public Market at the corner of Cornwall and Flora between 2 and 6 pm. Packages start at just $20 and a portion of the price goes to the Bellingham Food Bank “Milk Money” program. Get dressed up, put your vampire or joker grillz in and come on down for some scary fun for everyone!
Last year we photographed about 150 kids and groups of kids in costume when we were set up on the sidewalk on Cornwall. This year we’re inside so it should be a lot more comfortable and we won’t have to worry about rain and wind.
The Public Market is having a costume contest that begins at 5 pm so if you’ve got a great costume be sure to enter.
Fall is an ideal time for a family portrait by Mark Turner. The holiday season is just around the corner and few gifts are appreciated as much as portraits of family members.
If you’ve been thinking this is the year to have a professional family portrait created then now is the time to act. Your session can be in your home, your garden, a favorite park, or almost anywhere you can imagine.
Of all the gifts you give your children — iPods, cars, designer clothes, cell phones — all will be replaced and forgotten; but long after you are gone and your children have grandchildren of their own, family portraits will be the things they treasure the most. The portraits you create today are not just for you, they’re for your entire posterity. What legacy will you leave for them?
Call 360-671-6851 today to schedule your portrait consultation and session.
If you’re like me, you’re craving a new small digital camera to carry around with you most of the time. I love my big, heavy, rugged digital SLR that I use for all my professional work. But there are times when I just don’t want to carry over 5 pounds of camera with me and it would be nice to have a quality camera in my pocket. I’ve got a little Canon S70 I bought in 2005 before I went to India but it’s showing its age and I’d like to replace it.
We’re getting a good response to our Pet Model Search after the nice write-up in the Bellingham Herald on October 2. Only a few more sessions are available.
Here’s the deal. If you think your dog or cat has the look and disposition to be a model for Purebred Pet Portraits give me a call at 360-671-6851. We’ll arrange a time to meet and if I agree that your furry companion has what it takes then we’ll schedule a pet portrait session at no cost to you. After you view the wonderful images I create you choose one for a complimentary 8×10 gift portrait. You can of course choose to purchase additional portraits, with a 10% discount. But there’s no obligation. In return, I’ll use the portraits of your pet in my promotions.
Some pet sessions will be in my studio and others on location, depending on the animal. Let me know which you think would be most appropriate for your best friend.
These sessions are a lot of fun for your pet, for you, and for me. You’re going to be delighted when you come to the studio and see your dog on our big screen.
Small maples, and in particular Japanese maples, are wildly popular plants in northwest gardens. There’s an almost endless variety of foliage shape and color. They provide year-round interest with intricate winter structure, soft hues of unfurling foliage in early spring accompanied by delicate flowers, rustling leaves in summer’s breezes, and brilliant autumn color.
Our native westside vine maple, Acer circinatum, also makes a good garden specimen and shares many of the desirable characteristics of its cousins from across the Pacific. Continue reading
Digital photography is a little like sex. It’s a lot of fun, you can do it often, there are almost endless variations, and if you’re not careful there can be unintended consequences.
One of my pocket camera workshop students at North Cascades Institute this summer suffered one of those unintended digital consequences when all of her photos from the day disappeared when she thought she was copying them from memory card to computer. I’m not sure exactly what Alice (I’ve changed her name to protect her dignity) did because I wasn’t looking over her shoulder, but I have a good idea what happened. And I have a strong suggestion for a better procedure that protects you from losing your precious photos. That protection is your digital condom.
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