Creative Fine Art Photography
“Without the playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.”
-Carl Jung
Do you have a special theme or location or idea? Let’s create something unique!
Sessions
Pool “Dancing” Underwater Photography
More Underwater Pool Photography
We had several models at our conference workshops, and two of them agreed to do an underwater pool session! I borrowed a voluminous red dress and we all jumped in! Again, just magical and SO MUCH FUN. If you have access to a heated pool and would like to do a session,...
Underwater Photography
I attended a photography conference in Arizona earlier this year. They told us there was a pool and mentioned something about underwater photography. Well, that sounded very interesting! So I found the cheapest decent underwater housing that I could, for my little...
Portland Creative Floral Portraits
Cobalt Studio is a fantastic photo studio here in Portland. It's huge, it includes a ton of wardrobe and jewelry, and there are lots of backgrounds including a giant white cyc wall. (They also have a bathtub!) For the last couple years, they hosted special...
Personal Series: Like a Mother
I found a call for entry for a photography show with the theme of “Like a Mother.” I said to myself, Ooh, that’s such a rich topic, ripe for so many possibilities! I didn’t have any existing work that felt like it worked, so I put out a model call in a local Facebook...
Colorful Body Paint Photography
MUA: Emily Models: Zoe, Miranda Location: My garage! A few months after our creative flower portrait session, Emily and Zoe wanted to do a session with colorful body paint! Zoe's friend Miranda joined too. I contributed gels again to make some really cool backgrounds....
Epic Portrait Boudoir Photography: You’ll Find Me in the Stacks
This is part of the Body of Literature series. I loved the idea of playing with curves of the body as well as creating curves with stacks of books. I love how it turned out, just like in my head!
Creative Flowers
I wanted to create some portraits with flowers and petals. Zoe and Emily and I worked together and made some beautiful, colorful images! Model: Zoe Carina Makeup artist: Emily Claire I used three lights: the main light overhead, a hair/rim light with a grid behind and...
Epic Portrait Boudoir Photography: Flower Queen!
I had a vision early in 2021 about a woman in a curtain of flowers. Now, sometimes I let my visions just kind of stay there in my head, but I've been trying to make them happen in real life more often. So I reached out to my brilliant florist friend Alana of Flowers...
Dramatic Guitar Portraits
OBSESSED!! Grace is a musician and models too. I wanted to practice some dramatic rim lighting with the guitar. They came out perfectly--I am always thrilled when the image in my head actually appears in my camera!
Epic Portrait Boudoir Photography: The Black Milk Bath
Black milk bath bathtub, creative fine art photography
Mountains
I'm from the PNW, so a horizon without a mountain in it just feels so empty! I could see Mt Rainier from my childhood window, and now that I live in Portland, I love seeing Mt Hood and how it changes throughout the year. Here's a few images of mountains near and far.
Abstracts & ICM
I started playing with Intentional Camera Movement a couple years ago, but more recently have been practicing more and more. It is so much fun to throw the 'rules' of photography out the window! Every frame is a little bit different, which makes it exciting but...
Trees
I'm Pacific Northwest born and bred; I grew up with a forest at my back door (literally!). I love being among the trees--the way it smells of fresh air and earth and pine sap. The lush ever-greenery is imprinted on me! You can't help but be calm and at peace in the...
Personal Series: Dead Petals/After Life Shapes
Death, life, nature. How do they interact and intersect? What happens after ‘life’ is over? How much a part of nature are we humans? Flowers are lovely, and their blooms and scents are enjoyed by many. Once the petals begin to wither, droop, and drop, however, the...
Personal Project Series: A Body of Literature
A book can shape you, infuriate you, make you laugh, make you think, change your life. Who hasn’t gotten lost in a good book? Who hasn’t wished that they could be engulfed in their favorite novel? Who hasn’t dreamed about forgetting everything else and just reading...
Epic Portrait Boudoir Photography: The Book Bath!
I. Love. This. Photo. It might be one that I'm the most proud of. Yes, because it's beautiful, and because it's a big pile of books. (I love books.) But the thing about this photo is that I really had to fight to create it. I had the idea for it almost three years...
Personal Series: Portland Street Portraits
In late August, I took a class about street portraiture! I love taking classes and workshops, I'm interested in street photography, and of course I always love portraits. I was surprised at how nervous I was, though! I'm plenty used to going out and about with a...
Personal: The Egg!
Earlier this year, Zack Arias announced a new project, dedpxl. It's a series of photographic assignments, with a critique by Zack and his wife at the end of each one. The critiques are really interesting, mostly because Zack is so no-nonsense and doesn't stand for any...
Dramatic Yoga Photography in the Woods
I had some visions for playing in the nearby wooded park with light and dark, and realized that since my mom was coming for a visit, I could use her as a model. She teaches/does yoga, so I figured that would be a great way to use and show the light the way I wanted,...
Ice Day!
So the same weekend of the "big" snowstorm, we had some freezing rain. I did not know what this was--I said to my husband, "Isn't that just...snow?" Apparently not--it's rain but it freezes and coats everything it touches. It was gorgeous but dangerous; the city sent...
Snow Days!
Portland (really, most of the Northwest west of the Cascade range) is a temperate climate, which means that generally, it doesn't get extremely cold or extremely hot. This is a good thing, if you ask me! Especially after eight years of living in New York City, where...
Personal Series: ColorStory
Utata is a photography group. It was the first one I joined on flickr, back in 2005 or so. They host projects constantly--Iron Photographer, Thursday Walk, Weekend Project. A few years ago, they started a Big Project. I was too intimidated to attempt any previous Big...
Lightning!
When the weather goes wild, my instinct is to grab a camera. On Friday night, I resisted the urge for awhile and avoided looking outside. But when I saw the flashes lighting up over the city, I couldn't help it. I brought my camera and tripod up to the roof,...
The Pacific Northwest
A few weeks ago I traveled home to the Seattle area for a weekend to visit family and attend two graduations. It was a fun, relaxing weekend, made even more wonderful by the jaw-dropping scenery. Living in New York City, I tend not to actively think about the...
Personal Series: More of the NYC Subway
Personal Series: The NYC Subway
It's now the fourth week of the photography class. (I have a few previous assignments that I'll post soon.) We have to choose our own project to work on for the next four weeks. The photo above is from the second assignment, though I kind of cheated about the...
Let’s make something amazing together
Ready to start your project? Have questions or ideas you want to discuss?