Thank you Seattlish for featuring my photography and the work of Animal Talk on your blog!! http://tmblr.co/ZHQJas19N0J6A
Hopefully the whole city will see it!
You can find our ‘less-adoptable’ cats here: Adopt Less-Adoptable Cats (even though they are supremely adoptable!!!)
Just a couple of cute reasons to keep taking photos at the rescue…
Copyright K.A.Moore Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Do not copy, download, alter.
from K.A.Moore Photography http://ift.tt/1liqeat
via IFTTT
Photos save lives! Several people I know sent this link to me, thinking of the rescue photography that I do. There’s a whole community of amazing photogs also doing what they can to save the lives of shelter animals. It’s great to see the press is spreading the word!
http://ift.tt/OjJERG
from K.A.Moore Photography http://ift.tt/OjJERG
via IFTTT
So it’s about a week into Fall/Autumn and I’m at the tail end of the worst cold I’ve had in months and months, and it is seriously dumping buckets here in Seattle. Definitely a new season. Most people wouldn’t be surprised by that, given my location, but we just had one of the most consistently warm summers here on record (the grass was uncharacteristically brown everywhere) and it has been a shock to the system. Within a week here you can go from wearing flip-flops to wearing boots, and not be completely surprised.
And it’s just typical because today was the annual Clickinmoms photowalk and the scheduled route was along the waterfront, which is where you’d probably find the worst winds off the Puget Sound and probably a lot of wet tourists. Naturally they’ll all think this was the expected weather for here and every Seattlite will quickly tell them they just missed a glorious summer, and ‘no it’s not always like this.’
I’m not a complete wimp when it comes to the rain and cold, and yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all the ‘you must be used to it; it’s just like England’ remarks! Being from the South of England, I’d also say the same as the above about Seattle with regards to the weather. Even if you’re used to the rain and expect it, doesn’t mean you particularly like it or even own rain boots (although I don’t know why I don’t at this point!).
Given me being ill for several days and a storm hanging overhead, it’s probably unwise to walk around in the rain taking photos, so myself and another photog joined the girls at the end for food and drink. It is a reminder of the far fewer dry locations we have as photographers here in the Northwest, from about October to maybe May, so we have to get inventive. And of course, a bit wet. Finding locales with partial cover, great indoor window light, and carrying an umbrella for who I may be photographing, are some solutions. I have yet to work out how to attach an umbrella for myself onto a camera bag for hands-free snapping! The overcast sky here acts as a beautiful diffuser, giving even light, and we rarely get super frigid-cold weather here. I’m always happy and interested to hear of others’ suggestions for shooting locations here for any other time than the summer (anyone have something to share?).
I’m excited about taking photos when the leaves fall and around Halloween (my favorite holiday!) and am currently working on producing a video for the Nine Lives Gala coming up next weekend for Animal Talk Rescue. And I think I’ll be getting in some holiday sessions soon, and getting some cats decked out for Christmas pictures! Just because the sun is going to hide away for a while doesn’t mean we will stop the photography; as Ansel Adams once said –
“Bad weather makes for good photography.”
xo ~ K
The Seattle Wheel from outside and the sun out.
Roman’s view tonight, from the inside, looking out to a very rainy ferris wheel…
This was a fun session!
Copyright K.A.Moore Photography
Having worked for years in film and video production, I constantly heard ‘never work with children or animals’ (not that crew really have control over that bit) and I have to say, there is good reasoning behind that warning! But luckily when you’re behind a stills camera, you can work with tiny slices of time and there are lots of stories you can tell with those little moments…minus the forgotten lines and cues, SAG limitations, and someone desperately needing a nap on set (and I didn’t necessarily mean the crew).
But after putting aside the scripts and call sheets, I’ve found that I can actually handle the crazy Labrador running toward me and my camera at top speed, tongue hanging out, and trying to jump on me. And I can also handle cats both scared and angry, and even climbing all over me in a tiny room while I try to take photos. I am a big animal freak after all. And those kids? It turns out a lot of them actually do like their photo taken, and their spontaneity and imagination make every session interesting (and that’s not necessarily the word you want to use on a film set to describe how things are going…).
That said, this little session was lovely to capture; beautiful evening light, beautiful kids who obviously love each other, and a delightfully goofy chocolate Lab. No cajoling or bribing necessary. Not even the dog…
“When I look through the lens, I see life.” ~ Ali Edwards
xo ~ K
Copyright K.A.Moore Photography
Some weeks ago, I photographed a session of a mom with her two adult daughters, who are now living away from home and are in cities miles away. This was a new kind of family session for me including ‘children’; many families want professional photos taken when their children are in infancy through preschool, and then at a multitude times for milestones like birthdays, graduations and so forth. They are all life passages we expect to capture on camera, memories we won’t likely forget, but ones we want to memorialize with photos and artwork in our homes. But then once the ‘kids’ are grown up and move away, we have less and less chances to have family photos done, especially professionally. There may be the wedding or a baby christening, but there are fewer opportunities for photos, for example, portraits of a mom and adult daughter(s).
With this particular session, I had the mom fill out my super fun and informative questionnaire (as I do before all sessions) that 
lets me know more about who I’m photographing, and to understand the value of my doing the portraits. In this case, the last time this mama had had formal photos of her daughters was at their high school graduations, and not even at their college graduations. She also described her favorite photos of her children as being ones of them together as kids, their closeness and bond, and wanted to have that reflected in photos of them today.
Another important thing that was mentioned was how important a particular photo of her mother is to her; her mother had passed away last year and so having her photo to ‘say hi’ to when the mood strikes, is invaluable: “For me pictures are a wonderful way to stay connected.” That’s it, precisely there in that statement. Photographs represent connections: connections to the people and things in them, and to the precise moments that they happened. This also resonates with me, since I am a continent and an ocean away from my family in England, and I can’t help but think of all the occasions I have missed by being over here all these years. I want to encapsulate the times that I do get to go back home to the UK, and as I get older, to have photos of myself with my parents. The photos that I send them of their grandchild/my son are a way for them to stay connected to us too.
I would now love to do more family photography sessions of families with adult children; they are no less important to have done than photos taken at a child’s birthday or at the start of kindergarten. What I found refreshing by photographing adults, was that the now ‘older children’ have a more defined sense of self and know how they want to be seen and portrayed. I didn’t even need to bribe them with candy! We shot at Gasworks Park here in Seattle, with the backdrop of Lake Union, with the Space Needle in the distance, and it was a glorious evening. So now that I’ve shared this, would you consider having professional portraits done as an adult with your parents/family? Is this something we overlook in photography, in this baby and toddler-focused view of parenthood?
Here are some photos from that session: lots of color, beautiful smiles, and sun! ‘Til next time…
xo ~ K
PS. Don’t forget to find me over on K.A.Moore Photography on Facebook
Mom & Daughters
Portrait, Sisters
Beautiful Mama!
K.A.Moore Photography 