The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Adam and McKenna are engaged? Didn’t see that one coming. Actually—that’s a lie. From the minute these two met, they’ve had one of those relationships that seem to be hotter than first season of Gossip Girl. After months of disgustingly cute Facebook PDA-ing, Adam proposed to make things official in March of this year. If these two look familiar, it’s because they are. This isn’t their first go-round on the Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 (see Movember). Adam, a fellow blogger himself, also has endeared himself to this photographer because he actually leaves comments on my posts! For these reasons and many more, I was delighted to make a few photos of these two.
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Nick Kartje asked me if I would photograph him and his brother Pete. They wanted to make some prints to give to their parents as a Christmas present. Since I happen to think this is an excellent idea, I was more than happy to help out with the shooting portion of their gift. In true Explosion 5000 fashion, I hauled out a truckload of lighting equipment and recruited a trusty assistant (Gus) to capture the Brothers Kartje.

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Chase Jarvis is the man. Not only is he one of the most highly regarded commercial photographers in the world, he lives in Seattle and is a pretty friendly chap. On Monday night he hosted a photo session that I was lucky enough to secure an invitation to. About thirty of us met up at his studio and walked over to Inner Space, an indoor skate park in Seattle. Chase and his crew had rented the park for the night, hired models (read ‘skateboarders ready to shred’) and outfitted the space with six Broncolor lighting setups. After doing a quick demo where Chase shot a Nikon D3 tethered into a MacBook Pro and 30” Cinema Display, he turned us loose with PocketWizards, 3200 w/s packs, and all the kick flips and mute grabs we could shoot. Having gotten my start in photography 10 years ago by shooting aggressive inline skating, I was stoked to ‘get back to my roots.’
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Gas Works Park. Seattle, WA. July 4th, 2008.
Nikon D300. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens @ 11mm.
Manual. 6.9 sec @ f/7.1. ISO 200.

Like everywhere else in the world, yesterday was the 4th of July in Seattle, Washington. To celebrate the birthday of the greatest nation known to God; Jon, The Intern and I staged a party. Friends and coworkers descended on 4411 Bagley for one last gathering before we move out of the legendary pad in August (turns out a lease is only a lease, just ask the British about Hong Kong). The party also served as a sendoff for Jon as he prepares to move to Chicago next week. Forever new frontiers, right Jonny?

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Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 120mm.
Program Exposure. 1/13 sec @ f/5.3. ISO 200.

On a Saturday night in early May Jon, Ryan and I walked down 45th Street to Musashi’s for sushi. This place is ALWAYS packed; I brought along the D300 to keep me occupied while we waited for a table. If you have not been to Musashi’s, you’re missing out on inexpensive and excellent Japanese food. Musashi’s is just another part of the equation that makes Wallingford the best Seattle neighborhood. That might be slightly biased since I do live in the aforementioned ‘hood. I live near 45th street on Bagley and enjoy being able to walk to anything (grocery store, bars, breakfast places, movie theater, pizza, bank, StarbucksTullysEspressoStandTeaRoom, hardware, left-wing propaganda bumper sticker store—you know, all the Seattle-ite essentials).

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I try to get out of the house around sunset if the sky looks interesting. Living in Seattle provides endless opportunities to explore new vistas. The city nestled between the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and surrounded by water conveniently has hundreds of municipal parks that stay open after dark. The view from each park has its own striking combination of water, mountains, buildings, roads, structures, trees and sky. Couple those elements with Seattle’s interesting weather and finding a good photo is not that hard. (continue reading…)