Summer is officially in full swing here in the Pacific Northwest signaling not only a mountain of sunshine and good weather but by far the busiest time of year for a food and event photographer. June seems to be prime time for corporate events to take place and restaurants eager to update their menu images, so it proved to be a busy month for photo shoots with one 5-day stretch in particular that had 10 photo shoots crammed in on top of running a half marathon. No travel was done in the month of June, which was totally fine by me considering how much work there was to do.
June 2016 Stats
Monthly Highlights Series
22
Photo shoots completed
*5 more than May
404.5
Business miles driven
*262 less than May
157.07
Hours worked for the month
*48.22 less than May
165.03
Miles walked
*24.98 more than May
38.7
Miles ran
*4.7 more than May
What Went Well
Lots of my favorite kinds of photo shoots
This time last year, I recall feeling pretty disillusioned with photography. For whatever reason, I had lost my passion and motivation to keep shooting. Thankfully, my love for photography has returned following my month-long trip to Asia in April and June was chock full of my favorite types of photo shoots. Starting off the month were a couple of concert shoots of The Kills, one of my absolute favorite indie rock bands to photograph, and Andrea Bocelli, an Italian singer who holds a special place in my heart as he is one of my mom’s top favorite singers.
The rest of the month didn’t see any more concert photography action, but it did bring several corporate events including coverage of Dockercon (which is a pretty insane event in its own right), a special Flag Day naturalization ceremony, and the arrival of Air Force One, documenting President Obama’s last likely visit to Seattle before his term is up.
June 2016 Event Photography
President Obama and Air Force One in Seattle
Food and restaurant-wise, and I was honored to be among the first to see and photograph Huxley Wallace Collective’s brand new dining facilities located in the swanky new Thompson Seattle hotel. Scout PNW is an outdoorsy-chic restaurant on the ground floor with an impressive private dining area, while The Nest offers arguably the best rooftop city views along with ample outdoor patio lounge areas. Local chef Ethan Stowell also opened the second branch of his popular Tavolata Italian Restaurant and I had the chance to tour and photograph its gorgeous interiors. Along the lines of architecture photography, I also had the opportunity to work with Ashley Newbury to photograph the gorgeous interiors of her brand new beauty salon, Winslow Salon, in Kirkland, Washington.
June 2016 Food, Restaurant, and Architecture Photography
Upping efficiency through tethered shooting – “less is more”
Despite June having the most amount of photo shoots compared to any other month this year, I also ended up working the least amount of hours compared to prior months (with the exception of April’s travel bonanza, of course). I’m attributing this to my latest efforts to conduct more tethered photo shoots, meaning my DSLR is hooked up to my laptop so my clients can see exactly what I’m shooting as it is shot. This allows my clients to make instant adjustments, ensuring they are getting the exact shots they’re looking for and thus cutting back on the amount of time I spend photo editing. I have a more in-depth blog post on tethered shooting planned!
More blogging!
While I’m still grossly behind in the personal blogging sphere, I continue monthly blog contributions to Digital Photography School (DPS). These are fun not only to keep my technical writing chops up to par but also to enhance and ingrain photography concepts and make a few extra bucks. Also, my latest DPS posts have been explorations of new gear such as my beloved Sony a6300, so they have been extra fun to write.
Sony a6300 Mirrorless Camera – Thoughts and Field Test
Review: Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless Camera
Brand Name Versus Third-Party Camera Gear: Which is Better?
Ran my 10th half marathon with a near PR
The 2006 Seattle Half Marathon was the very first race of 13.1 miles that I ever ran. Having just ended my collegiate cross country running participation to get ready to study abroad, I remember spending the night at the Westin Seattle with a couple of sorority sisters and eagerly running the race the next day. From that year on, I decided to run at least one half-marathon a year as a way to stay in shape. The running of the Seattle Rock n Roll Half Marathon in mid-June marked my 10th half marathon in 10 years, and it was among my faster race times. Curiously, this also perfectly illustrates the “less is more” idea considering I didn’t do a ton of training for the race.
Finishing my first half marathon in 2006.
Finishing half marathon #10 in 2016.
What Didn’t Go Well
Falling behind in personal blogging and marketing
While June was very active and highly enjoyable with lots of photo shoots and physical activity, I fell even further behind with my personal blogging and marketing efforts. I was hoping to have my April trip photos edited and blogged about by now, but am not even halfway done with that content. This blog also continues to be behind its “one new blog post a week” promise, and I hope to be back to that routine soon.
