I love shooting real estate. Even bare, empty studio apartments. Yeah those photos aren't very interesting but I still love doing it! Fortunately for me (and for you reading this) I went to some places that were more fun than that last year and I'd like to share a few of them with you!
Sunset on Summer Solstice -
I was hired to take twilight photos at this beautiful house overlooking Semiahmoo Bay with views across the water into Canada. It was amazing and wonderful. It was also the longest day of the year. I think I pulled up to the house around 8:50pm.
Of course we only had minimal time to get the shots we wanted as the sun set, but I ended up hanging out there, taking in the view, and chatting with the agents until almost 11pm!
A Case of the Mondays -
One beautiful summer morning in June I drove out to Chet Kenoyer's place and we took his boat out on Lake Whatcom. We filmed some for-fun video footage of us just boating around the lake. It was a lot of fun and equally terrifying flying the drone over the water like that. I think it was worth it though.
We knew the wind was going to start picking up around noon so we were out there early in the morning to get some good footage and have a safe flight. All in all, not a bad way to start the work week!
My Childhood Home -
One day I drove past the old house I grew up in Ferndale just to pass some time between shoots and I noticed that it was for sale by owner. Part of me wanted to knock on the door and ask if they needed photos, just because I wanted to go in and check it out.
Well it turned out I didn't need to knock because I was randomly hired to go do the shoot a couple weeks later! We book our photo shoots in 2 hour blocks by default and I spent the full amount of time plus some extra just remembering old times spent in this place. I think I lived there from early elementary school to around 10th grade. It was weird, and cool, and I'm glad I got to go back in and see the place again. Here's a photo I took standing in the downstairs living room.
And this is a group photo taking in the same living room from, I'm guessing 1993.
Car Accidents, Angry Dogs, and more...
Driving south down I5 on a shoot last summer with fellow photographer and friend Naomi a huge cloud of dirt covers the entire freeway in front of us and we couldn't see through it. We pull over to the left behind a truck, still halfway in the lane, and wait for the dust to clear. Having no idea what is going on and seeing cars full speed coming towards us in the rear view, it was pretty scary and confusing.
The dust finally cleared and in the northbound median a car had completely flipped upside down and we were right next to it. It was a terrifying sight. Mostly in shock, I moved from the left of the freeway and pulled back over on the right side. Naomi and I both looked at each other thinking, what do we do? I looked out the back window and saw people running to the crash to help so we decided it would be safer for us to get off the side of the road. We watched the news and luckily no one was hurt in the crash. We also realized that we were two photographers who were 20 feet away from a crash and didn't take any photos.
On another shoot in Skagit County I pulled up to the house only to be greeted through the front window by huge, angry, barking dogs. The owners were not home and we were entering with a key code. I am not a dog person, so this was not entirely inviting! But we did go in, did the shoot, and made it out alive!
This past year I've also gotten creative. You always want to keep your photos looking fresh right? And just because I'm not shooting with a drone doesn't mean I can't get the angle a drone can! I jumped up onto my car to get a good angle more than a few times last year.
There are many more little stories from 2017 that I could bore you with, but I think I'll leave it at that. I had fun shooting real estate last year and I'm excited for whatever adventures I find myself coming across in 2018. I'll end with a couple more fun photos. Bye!
My little assistant is always in a good mood!
This is when you know it's time to leave the shoot, as fast as possible
Having fun on shoot with Naomi!
Going overboard with light painting
The view from the Semiahmoo home overlooking the bay during the day