SISTERS & GIRLFRIENDS - Elena and Chiara

Today is International Women's Day. I am thinking of how important women's friendships are with their girlfriends and their sisters. I am so grateful for the long lasting friendships I have with my girlfriends in Germany and the newer ones here in America.

I met these two young women some years ago while I was riding a bus from Capital Hill to downtown.  Sitting in the back of the bus I saw them stepping in at the front and talking to the driver. The sun was shining into the window and made the yellow leggins glow. It was as if they were surrounded by an aura. They walked through the bus and sat down several seats behind me.

They talked quietly to each other. I could not hear the words but I somehow knew that they were not from Seattle or even american. I can not put it into words but I somehow felt that they had a special relationship and that they knew each other really well and had a way of being grounded and in synch while being with each other.

It took me a little courage to talk to them, when we all stepped out of the bus downtown. I invited them to call me and possibly doing a shoot at my studio. It turned out they were from Italy and here on a visit. I was very happy that it worked out to meet with them at my studio some days later.

Mother - Daughter Session at my Studio

Lovely Jillian and Emily...

Branding Photo Session - Libby Wagner Poet

A new shoot with the sparkling Libby Wagner. We had worked  together already several times over the years with more business orientated shoots. This time it was to create images with a new branding for Libby's poetry website "The Poetry of Persuasion".

In our talks to plan for the shoot and to create a vision, it was clear that the images should look different from the pure business look, as the ones created in my studio before. More colorful, and as I felt they should reflect and connect to the energy on Libby's Poetry.

A feeling of air and light - and possibly rain...

A feeling of exuberance, exploration and connection to the "real world". 

I found beautiful spots around my studio in Ballard. It felt like going on a little trip, just three minutes by foot from my studio on NW Market Street. 

In the end we arrived at a nice bar with outside chairs. It hadn' quite opened yet, but they were very welcoming and played along serving Libby a glass of wine anyway.  All for the inspiration....

It was wonderful working together, creating a vision together and then going with the flow. Thank you Libby and Phillip! 

Check out how beautiful the images are implemented on Libby's website:   http://libbywagner.com 

Queen Underwood, now at the 2012 Olypics

Cover photo for Seattle Woman Magazine of two-time lightweight US champion Quanitta "Queen" Underwood. I did this for the June 2011 edition. Queen, a Seattle native, is now in London and will be competing in the Olympics. Good luck, Queen!

My site.

Business Portrait - Light and Color

So much fun to work with the delightful and sparkling Lea Denmark. Lea's passion is color and it's energies. She helps her clients with color communication in their personal and professional branding.

In planning the shoot we wanted to bring the importance that color has for Lea into the images.  It seems the light is emanating from her and the air is pulsating with color around her.

My site.

Wisdom, Visibility and Influence of Women in Business: WBE

The Women's Business Exchange -  WBE - is an organization that is close to my heart. I can say it changed my life. I still remember the very first time I went to a monthly breakfast about eight years ago. Early at 7am in the morning I was standing in the door to the big room on the third floor at the WAC and was stunned: Between the big round tables covered with white table clothes, dozens of women were mingling, talking to each other, laughing, connecting. There was something in the air, a fresh energy, that woke me up.

Each time I go there, it happens again. Even if I sometimes have my doubts why I should drag myself out of the house at 6am, as soon as I arrive the energy that is created in the room lifts me up. When I leave after the breakfast I always feel recharged and ready to face the challenges of my business with new energy.

The WBE recently went through a rebranding process. I am proud and honored that I can contribute to the beautiful new design of the website with my images. What I experienced that very first morning - that sparkle in the air -  is something that inspires me to document with my camera again and again.

Check out the website of the WBE. You might want to try out the next breakfast for yourself.  (The breakfast is on the second Thursday of the month from 7am to 9am at the new location of the Women's University Club )

My site.

Being Seen - Oprah

For many years the element of "being seen" in art, photography, literature and personal life was - and is - very close to my heart.   It is also at the base of my work as a photographer. In the time I spend with somebody during a photo session I want to create this space where the person in front of my camera feels "seen". It is a process that can not be forced. It has to do with awareness and arriving in the present moment for everybody involved.


I was contemplating to make "Being Seen" a regular topic on my blog for quite some time. So when I heard Oprah in her final show speaking about "validation" and the desire to be seen and heard it struck a strong chord with me. 

I am not an Oprah Show "regular" and the few shows I saw I came across only by chance.  But I always was interested in and admired her for her ability to communicate with people.  I was wondering what was at the core of her work and what keeps her going through all these years. I made it a point to see her final show and was impressed and touched how she summed up her last 25 years:

"I've talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show, and all 30,000 had one thing in common: They all wanted validation. If I could reach through this television and sit on your sofa or sit on a stool in your kitchen right now, I would tell you that every single person you will ever meet shares that common desire. They want to know: 'Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you?'

"Understanding that one principle, that everybody wants to be heard, has allowed me to hold the microphone for you all these years with the least amount of judgment. Now I can't say I wasn't judging some days. Some days, I had to judge just a little bit. But it's helped me to stand and to try to do that with an open mind and to do it with an open heart. It has worked for this platform, and I guarantee you it will work for yours. Try it with your children, your husband, your wife, your boss, your friends. Validate them. 'I see you. I hear you. And what you say matters to me.'"

Thank you, Oprah!!

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Oprah-Winfrey-Show-Finale_1/7

My site.

Savoring life and food: Seattle food bloggers

Such a lovely experience to work with these beautiful and savvy women for the Food Blogger story in Seattle Woman Magazine for the April 2011 issue.

We did the covershoot at Jessie Oleson's gallery store CakeSpy on Capital Hill. Jessie swung tirelessly her brush again and again until it expressed just the right amount of ease and boldness. She also provided the delicious drawings of the flying cupcakes. Is that paradise ??  (Of course, the question to ask: Does Jessie ever eat any cupcake herself? As graceful as she is)  

Molly Wizenburg, Shauna Ahern and Keren Brown were photographed at The Landing, a beautiful event space near University Village. Thanks so much to Peter at the Landing for letting us use his space with the beautiful light as a backdrop.

A big Thank You also to Keren Brown of Foodportunity.com for bringing everybody together and organizing the space.

One of the next events that Keren organized will be on June 13th at Tom Douglas Palace Kitchen. It sounds wonderful and I am very tempted to attend that party...Keren will be also part of Kim Rickets Book Events on June 20th at the Palace Ballroom: "What we talk about when we talk about food."

My site. 

Cafe Liebermann

I love museums. Maybe even more I love museums cafe's. - Just kidding.. But seriously, I am not the type of person that visits an exhibition with educational headphones on my ears. I think it is important to learn about art, but I prefer to do that before or after I see the exhibition. Somehow I want to keep my senses open for what I see and what I feel, when standing in front of the painting or the sculpture for the first time. I want to trust my perception and what speaks to me and what touches me.

Because of that I love museums cafes. I feel there is a kind of osmosis happening just by sitting in a cafe that is part of the museum. Even if you don't see the artwork there, you feel the presence of all the art in the surrounding rooms, it speaks and comforts.

There are great museum cafes and not so great ones. I have very fond memories of visits to museums - and the cafes' - in Hannover, Berlin and Hamburg in Germany, where I lived for many years. These visits often happened with girlfriends.

Sometimes I go just by myself. On the last day of my recent trip to Germany, arriving at the Hamburger trainstation and having some free hours before going to my girlfriend's house, I left me suitcases in the station and went to the nearby Hamburger Kunsthalle.

After seeing two great exhibitions in the Gallery of Contemporary Art I arrived at the cafe, Cafe Liebermann just before they closed the counter. I still got a glass wine and sat for an hour in the empty cafe and had the best time. It was like a gift

It felt as if I arrived at myself. There was this protected space that allowed me to just be there, looking back at all my encounters with family and my old firends I had seen in these last three weeks of my trip.  I came to a quiet point in myself.  I wrote a postcard to my friend and notes on the red paper bag from the store that I would later add to my journal.

Cafe's and museums are very important places to be.