Northwest Women's Show

Last Saturday I went to the Northwest Women's Show at Safeco Field to visit Marianne Scholl the publisher of Seattle Woman Magazine at their booth. She made this photo of me helping a little by giving out magazines. A lot of women came in who knew already our publication and were often enthusiastic about it.

It's a wonderful magazine, full of articles about amazing women. I love to contribute to it with my photography.

And, off course, it's also satisfying to see many of the covers I did all in one place.

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Diana Garcia-Snyder

Diana is a dancer. I was spending some time with her one day to work out how I would do the filming for a movie she is creating with her dance company. I had my Nikon, as always, and took a few reference shots of the dance studio to get the feel of the place and test the lighting. She was standing in a spotlight here, and I like the drama of the moment, the sense of presence.

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Peacock Presenting

This peacock was wandering around a farm I visited yesterday. I was there to do the photos for a story on local organic farming in Seattle Woman Magazine. Will be out in May.

Something about the standing stone in the background gives it an archaic and symbolic feeling.

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Seattle Woman Magazine Cover Shot: At the Spa

Here is my latest Seattle Woman cover. It's out now:



Always a little (positive) shock for me to discover the new issue, when it has my cover on it. It's exiting to see how the picture turned out in printing, after I looked at it for such a long time on my computer and worked to bringing out the best in it.

I think it came out really beautiful. A little lighter than expected, but that adds to the atmosphere of being in the spa, as if a little mist. And her skin looks radiant and glowing.

We did the photo shoot at Olympus Spa in Lynnwood on a Sunday, when the spa is closed to the public. Having the whole place by ourselves was such a luxury. (Thanks you again, Sun!) I wish I could have jumped just into the water.

When I went some days before the shoot, just to check out the location, I was very touched, walking through and seeing all the woman. There was something beautiful about seeing all the women, having space for themselves, being "good” to themselves. Nearly like a secret society.

Of course, the place is not a secret. A good friend of mine, Patty, is a big fan of this spa. Recently I met her and I commented on her beautiful face and relaxed expression. She smiled at me and said, like a little secret she would share "I spend a day at the Olympus Spa." I definitely have to go there just for myself, maybe with a girl friend.

The shoot went smooth. Erin Skipley, the make up artist, did a great job with what needed to be a natural make up look. It's just very nice to work with her and she does everything to bring out the features in the best way.

Michelle Marshal from the Seattle Model Guild was our model. It was great to work with her, and it's not just about the beautiful face. We all know that, I think, but it so much easier when there is a dialog and a cooperation and the model brings in variations of moods and expressions, gestures and postures. When we looked at many pictures and model cards, we decided for her, because of her warm eyes and connecting smile. It really came out in the photos.

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You can also download the whole March issue here, but only for a while. It’s available in print form at many locations around Seattle, of course.

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Smith Tower

ETA: 2/22/07: By coincidence, Smith Tower on the front page the day after I made this post: Seattle Times writes that it may be turned into condominiums.
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I was speaking about the Smith Tower in my last post. This is the view out of my studio window.







Once, I covered an event on the very top floor, in the tall pyramid-shaped part. That was fun.

When the building was opened in 1914, it was the forth tallest in the world. One hundred and fifty-nine meters. It's only been washed once I read as, for some reason, it stays exceptionally clean by itself. There is a room on the 35th floor called The Chinese Room. The furniture and many of the fittings and carvings were gifts from the Empress of China. You can take a Virtual Reality tour here.

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I did this photo some month's ago. The light was very special. Warm afternoon light with a certain glow, at the same time dark clouds and some blue sky. There was some magic in the air, a kind of a stronger presence of things, as if the objects reach out to you, not just being there in the gray, passively waiting for us to see them.

The blue little globe or ball on top of the tower was lighting up. I never registered that before. Probably catching the light from the sun.

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Studio Upgrade and Shawna Locey

Spend several hours yesterday together with my husband Frank doing some improvements on my studio. My husband is the technical talent, and it is very satisfying to work together with him on that. We got a lot done. Now the couch can move, with wheels. It feel as if it can fly.

The studio is in the 619 Western building downtown, full of artists. It's a great space, but is what you could call 'shabby chic.' Great windows with the view on the Smith tower. The big studio room actually reminds me of my Berlin apartment where I lived for some years.

The building is very old, has it's own charm. The Studio is developing. I enjoyed working on it so much, I wanted to look at it again and again.





Here are some more photos I just did recently with the singer Shawna Locey, a beautiful young woman with a powerful voice. You can listen to her songs here.
Looks like some of my photos are on her MySpace now.

We spent several hours together, working with different outfits and settings. (By the way, her make up was done by Erin Skipley, a make up artist I work with.). In the end I asked Shawna to sing. (Why did I not think of that before??)





It was great to hear this strong voice. In her dress she reminded me of a mixture out of Julie Delpy and Rita Hayworth. I don't know if these comparisons do any good, but it's inspiring to see these pictures pop up in your head. In any case, it's beautiful if somebody can sing this way, raise the voice for herself. Breathing deep and being proud, standing there.

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Darcy Burner

I did this photo of Darcy Burner for last October's issue of Seattle Woman Magazine. She ran for congress as a Democrat in the state of Washington last year against Dave Reichert, a Republican, in the 8th district. As they were all hard at work on the campaign that day, I only had a few minutes, so this one comes out fairly casual.

The 8th had voted Republican for this office the last six times, so it was surprising to some that Burner came so close to winning. Will hear more from her in the future, I feel. You can still read the article. It is in archive with other past stories here.

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BeadsforLife Cover for Seattle Woman Magazine

Devin Hibbard of BeadsForLife

My first entry...

A cover I shot recently for Seattle Woman Magazine. This is Devin Hibbard of BeadsForLife, a nonprofit organization that helps women in the Third World help themselves. You can download the entire copy of this print magazine from here. It changes every month, of course, but I often do the covers and some inside work.

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ETA on Sept 2, 2007: The issue with the story on Devin Hibbard and BeadsForLife is still available directly from this unposted link, but I don't know for how long.

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Another photo from inside the same issue: this one I made of Angela Blackburn for an article on daughters who take care of their parents.

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