Bald Head Island Portraits

I love North Carolina. I suppose I'm a little partial having grown up there, but there's no denying that it is a beautiful place. On our last trip back, the Deterding family invited my parents, Airika, and I to stay out at Bald Head Island. It's a small community off the coast of NC which can only be accessed by boat... and the only vehicles on the island are bicycles and golf carts! They have an amazing house right on the water, and we had a great time just relaxing, fishing, exploring this beautiful community, and of course, photographing Liz, Jim & Kenneth's portrait session! We are already planning our next trip back, but until then, enjoy these photos of a beautiful family in one of our new favorite east coast destinations!

Thank you to our PUG for an awesome 2009!

Well, it's been an awesome year for our Pictage User Group (PUG), and do you know why? Honestly, it's because we have such an amazing group! Pictage is keenly aware of the great community we have up here in the Northwest, and we have worked hard with them (thank you Emily & Jim!) to make sure that some of the best speakers in the country get a chance to experience our group first hand.

As the year comes to a close, we wanted to make sure that we took the time to say thanks to all of the amazing speakers who came out, and especially to all of you who join us each month and are an integral part of this community of photographers. We are thrilled that we have had the opportunity to lead and learn along with you, and we look forward to growing together as we enter a new decade!

For those of you who may not have been at all the meetings, here are a few highlights from 2009...

This week we got to hear Gary Fong...
Before that it was Jeff and Erin Youngren, Jim Collins, Joe Buissink, Sarah & Chris Rhoads, and Dane Sanders (photo coutesy Paula Thomas).


If you've never been to one of the PUG meetings, you should come join us--whether you're a newer photographer or a seasoned pro, I guarantee that you will have opportunities to give and opportunities to grow and hopefully you will come to value this community as much as we do. You can find more information and RSVP to future PUG meetings on the Tacoma PUG blog. Have a wonderful Christmas and we'll see you in 2010!

~Gerald & Airika


p.s. This past week, our PUG group also brought in over 125 pounds of food to donate to a local food bank as well!

Lanie's Infant Session

Some of you may remember the very first baby portraits we ever did, for a sweet little girl named Alexis. Well, Alexis is now two years old, and big sister to 3 month old Lanie. Coming back to her home for a few portraits of little Lanie was a special treat for us--when we arrived, we were so excited and honored to see our photographs gracing her family's walls and coffee tables. It really made our day!

It's amazing how different two sisters can be--they looked so different at this age, and we could already see the differences in their personalities. Alexis still loves the camera as much as ever, while Lanie prefers more of a photojournalistic approach. :) We really had a great time with their beautiful family, and we can't wait to return in a few months for more!

Allison and Tyler

We met Allison last year when she was the maid of honor at Kristin and Justin's wedding, and we couldn't be more excited to be shooting her and Tyler's wedding in January. These two are so much fun! Their smiles are genuine, their laughter is contagious, and the joy in their hearts is plain to see.

For their engagement session, we braved a little light rain as we played with their dog Dag in the backyard, and then headed out to the Arboretum in Seattle. We'd been eying this photo location for a couple of months and were so excited that Allison & Tyler wanted to shoot here.

Allsion & Tyler, we love how with a single glance, you make each other laugh and encourage the best in each other. Thank you for choosing us to capture your wedding memories.

There are a lot of overpasses and bridges in this part of the Arboretum, which make it a great place to shoot on a cloudy day. The natural shadows cast by the bridges can be used to turn the soft, flat light we tend to get on cloudy days, into soft directional light that sculpts your subjects and gives them depth.