Tacoma is a Sweet Spot for Photos

Mai Hoang

Tacoma Downtown.

Tacoma, WA definitely has a bad rap. The fact that back in the early part of the century, Tacoma used to catch the sewage run off from Seattle does not help.



Nowadays when you walk down A street in downtown, the city shows a lot of historic charm. It has also become a mecca for glass blowers from all over the country due to the fact that Dale Chuhily has called this area home.



The UW Tacoma campus is laced into the city's downtown architecture. The brick work along with well manicured urban gardens provided a great backdrop for the on the fly portraits with Mai.



She's a trooper. I've been working to employ a new style to the photos. To give them extra pop, color, great skin and vibrant eyes.

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The fabled Canon 85mm F1.2 lens & Rebates

More on this to come...



Great time to buy a Canon! Lots of rebates out.

Check out Adorama or BHphoto, they are reputable sellers and have a great supply chain.

http://www.oromoindex.com/technews/2010/03/25/canon-instant-rebates-for-7d-5d-mark-ii-double-rebates-lenses-and-flashes/

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Natalie & Isak Engagement - Shoot Saltwater State Park

Canon 7D
100mm Macro
50mm 1.4

Salt Water State Park
Des Moines, WA



1st day of Spring! 3/20/10 and the weather was a blazing 66 degrees. Warm for Seattle standards. Can't think of anything better than to go out and do a photo shoot down at the beach.



I've been trying a new technique of over exposing the photos a bit and the results are fantastic. It makes the skin look extra soft and I can pull in vibrancy and saturation in post production.

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Ashley Larson Child Photography

Canon 7D
100mm macro

This shoot was very experimental in terms of the lens. I've heard great things about the 100mm Macro as a portrait lens but my poor macro lens sits in its case pretty much all winter.



The lens has a bad reputation for being slow to focus. But for out door shooting the combination of UBER sharp and enough light made it a deadly combination for fantastic photos.

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Make A Wish Gala at the Westin in Seattle

Canon 7D
Canon 24-70
Speedlite 580ex Mii



What an honor to be able to help out such a great organization. From what I can tell it was very well organized and elaborate.



It was a dinner gala, with performances from Teatro Zinzannis, live and silent auction and was attended by the Seattle Sounders.




Next year I will donate a portrait session as well for silent auction.

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Helen & Vu Engagement Shoot

Canon 7D
50mm 1.4
70-200- 2.8
10-22mm
Beauty Dish
monopod
Nikon Sb80DX



A very amazing Saturday Morning, well atleast by Seattle Standards. The sky was a deep rich blue and the temperature hovered around 59 degrees.

Today was Helen and Vu's much awaited engagement shoot 2 months over due. We chose Coulon Park because of the location to their home and also the variety of backdrops the park provides. There's water, piers, bridges, trees, benches galoure, and even a place to eat.



We spent about 3 1/2 hrs at the park and were able to turn out some great photos. I tried a new technique to my shots by purposefully over exposing by 1/3 a stop and lowered the saturation level on the 7D by 2 stops.

I want light but vibrant photos, I'm trying to imitate Jasmine Stars technique.



This is my favorite shot.

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Auburn Family Portraits

Canon 7D
50mm 1.4
2x Nikon Sb80DX




I favor the on location shoots, because for the moment I lack the brick and mortar studio. However, I'm also a person that loves constant change and motion and unpredictability.

Driving deep into Auburn was new photography territory for me. I had a small family to shoot and I already had certain expectations in mind. The idea was to work within the laidout time frame 1hr. About 5-10 poses, momma, poppa, baby, and boom wrap it up.

Upon arrival into the apartment complex, I knew I was going to have some challenges with tight spaces. In a cramped apartment I had brought all of my equipment which when laidout took up about 10% of the living room.

The ability to capture a beautiful photo also means being resourceful and creating a more grandeur illusion vs reality.

I did not have a background with me, but thank you nifty fifty for your shallow DOF and beautiful bokeh.

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Foster High School Twin Tolo Dance Photos (Tukwila, WA)

Faster High School Twin Tolo School Dance Shoot
Canon 7D
Connected to Laptop
Giottos Tripod
3 AB800 lights
2 Shoot through umbrellas
1 AB PLM
2 Vegabonds

This is my 1st highschool dance shoot. Lucky for us, the ASB was nice enough to create the background for the photos. It looked great and was a huge life saver. We must have 80% turnout for the photos which was definitely a nice bonus in addition to the valuable experience that I took from this.



Being that the camera was stationary and also anticipating the potential for large groups I had to set the camera at f11 and pump the AB's to 3/4 power. This solved the issue of shallow depth field and gave very consistent photos which I believe is key to dance photos.

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Tacoma Glass Blower Photos

Tacoma, WA
Canon 7D
Canon 35mm Lens
2 Nikon SB80X flashes
1 Canon 580ex Mii Flash
3 Stands



I was sent on assignment from the Make a Wish foundation to get working shots of glass artists in Tacoma over the weekend and got some great shots of them working on Donated pieces for their Gala on March 13th. I wanted to create photos that represented the look of the studio, capture the heat and grittiness of it all. I think the photos captured my vision.



Make a Wish is a great organization and I'm happy to be associated with them.

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