Vashon Island Family Session
One of my favourite things about living in Seattle (and specifically, West Seattle) is being so close to the beach. We have so many to choose from: Alki, Lincoln Park, Constellation Park, Lowman Beach, Me-Kwa-Mooks. But when you shoot in a place all the time, it starts to feel a little stale. So I’ve been branching out more, scouting more water-adjacent locations and I’m so excited to share this Vashon Island family session with you all.
I’ve done sessions on Vashon before but the location was… a bit more of a hike than anticipated. Which is fine! but it’s better for older kids and photographers who aren’t carrying 30lbs of equipment on their back. So I scouted around for more beach locations and settled on Port Robinson. It’s a gorgeous little beach with the cutest little lighthouse. It also has all the benefits of being right next to the water with absolutely none of the crowds of the above locations. And all it takes is a 15-minute ferry ride from West Seattle and a 15 minute drive down the islands.
What was extra exciting was this was my first family session on film. I mentioned in part ii of my year in review post that I bought a film camera in September. I’ve been taking it around Seattle and Alaska with me, getting comfortable shooting on film again (it’s been a solid 20 years). In January, I finally felt comfortable and confident enough to incorporate it as part of my full family sessions.
I put out a model call in late January and planned for a few families to come out and join me. And then John Carpenter’s “The Fog” rolled in, followed by a month of rain. So when I saw the forecast in early March called for mostly sunny skies, I called this sweet family and we went for it.
And y’all, I’m so glad we did. I could not imagine a more perfect day that better encapsulates a Vashon Island family session.
There are so many good spots here for sessions that require so much less walking than at parks like Lincoln Park, too! First: this beautiful lighthouse and lovely open field, perfect for lots of running and playing games.
There’s also a little path down to the beach with the best little tree arch.
And that’s all before you get to the incredible beach. On a clear (read: not cloudy day) you can see straight to Mt. Rainier!
The lighthouse makes for the perfect background for more posed shots.
And last, the whole reason I set up this session: film! I wanted to test out how it would perform in conditions I usually shoot in (changing light, lots of saturated colours around) and Y’ALL!
I can’t tell you how excited and just beyond overjoyed I am with how the film images turned out. Adding film as part of my offerings was a risk and not without its own challenges. Getting the settings right takes longer, setting up the shot takes longer, but the results are so worth it. There’s a richness and timelessness with film that absolutely cannot be replicated by digital. It brings with it its own instant nostalgia.
For all my full sessions, I’m offering part of your session on film as an add-on. You’ll get scans of all your images included with your gallery, scanned by my photo lab, Photovision. You can also choose to have prints made of your film (and/or digital!) images, or have your film (and/or digital!) images curated into an album. There’s nothing like having your photos printed, either on the wall or in an album. And there’s nothing better than printed film photos — the kind we used to have growing up.
Book a session now and choose from one of my add-ons (like film!). Reminder that this only applies to full sessions! Mini session families, I offer a discount on a session booked within 12 months of your mini so you can take advantage of my film and print offerings!
