Natalie Newberry

I took these of Whitley's sister, Natalie, as part of Whitley's portrait session. When Natalie graduates, I plan on photographing her as well! Also included another fave of mine of Whitley...

Whitley Newberry Senior Portraits

I have known Whitley since she was 10 months old - it is so great to see her grow into such a beautiful, intelligent, kind and wonderful young woman. I promised her I would take her senior portraits, and even after I moved to Seattle I told her I was still going to be her photographer. So over Labor Day weekend I drove up to Kalispell and photographed her.

Whiteaker Family, Bellevue WA in August

I donated a family portrait session to each of my cousins' schools, and this is one of the lucky families who bought it! The Whiteaker family met me at Downtown Bellevue Park in the evening. We had beautiful light and the girls were a blast :)

Sara and Matt 06.03.2011 Part II

Sara and Matt's wedding from June in Billings! I loved photographing at the Billings Depot. such fun architecture to work with :) Congrats you two!

Sara and Matt 06.03.2011

Lindsey and Kyle 05.28.2011 Part 2

Lindsey and Kyle got married this past May in Kalispell, Montana over Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, as per tradition, it ALWAYS rains in Kalispell over that weekend- so I photographed my first rainy wedding. Everything (minus the lens malfunction the next week) went smoothly after the initial shock of downpour. Lindsey did a lot of work preparing the wedding- she created the colorful lanterns and printed out templates for everyone who attended so they could "sketch the bride and groom". Congratulations you guys!

Lindsey and Kyle 05.28.2011

Food Photography Since the Seattle Move

A little snippet of the food photography I have done since our move to Seattle in March. I hope to photograph more, I just don't always remember to make the extra effort. Having a job means I don't cook as often which means I don't automatically think to grab my camera. So I have taken to photographing when I eat out and making a list of things I want to cook/photograph: Yellow Curry, Strawberry Pie, Grill Pizza, Watermelon/picnic, etc. Happy Summer

Long Shot Photo Marathon, this Friday and Saturday!

In March of this year, after I had moved to Seattle to pursue more photography opportunities, I started volunteering at the local photography center, The Photographic Center Northwest. PCNW is an amazing community with equipment available to the public, including a color darkroom (which sadly is going away soon), a black and white darkroom, digital lab and a multitude of classes and workshops that are offered throughout the year.

This Friday/Saturday PCNW is hosting a 24 hour photo marathon. What does this mean? Anyone can participate, even out of state photographers who are eager to enter images in a show and help out the photography community. You can photograph for up to 24 hours (by no means do you have to do ALL 24, but some people do...) submit up to 10 of your favorite images from this event to PCNW, one of those images will be displayed in the gallery on July 23rd and if your image sells, all proceeds go to PCNW. Check out the website for more details, it rocks.

If anything, this will challenge you as an artist, in a good way. Pick up that camera, tackle those projects and subjects you've been wanting to conquer, get creative, get together with fellow friends and photographers (make it fun for everyone), spread the love of photography!!!!

Fremont Market

Today, while exploring the Fremont Market, I decided to practice my portrait skills. Things I needed to work on: Asking if I can take some one's portrait and using my 50 mm lens more frequently. So I forced myself to only bring one lens. These portraits are my two favorites from the day. People were surprisingly friendly and okay with having me take their picture. All of this is in preparation for future portrait adventures, including but not limited to, sitting outside of Sakura Con and photographing the amazing costumes that will be going in and out of that convention.

1, 2, 3 Jalapeno!

Today I made 1, 2, 3 Jalapeno Poppers/Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Filled Jalapenos! I am calling them that because there is basically only three ingredients (cream cheese, jalapenos, bacon) and it only takes three steps (seed jalapenos, fill with cream cheese, bake...then eat...OK that's 4). They are amazing. And I actually got the recipe off of the Pioneer Woman website which I have not had the privilege of perusing as of yet (although I aspire to one of these days). They are amazing. And they definitely have solved my problem of jalapeno excess after buying the package at Trader Joe's. So everyone must try it! Follow the link!

Flickr

To prevent an overflow of images, I have created a Flickr account. This will also have some of the experimental, personal and fun images that I choose not to post here. So, if you REALLY want a glance into my creative psyche, http://www.flickr.com/people/tessaroche/ is where you want to go. I think.

Holga Fashion Images

Photos from the Holga Fashion experiment from this past summer. More to come once the rest of the film is developed and scanned...

Patrick Portrait

Patrick asked me to take his photo for professional purposes. If the light would have been better today we would have done inside shots, but alas, in Seattle you can't always ask for that. Here is my favorite.

Website Bio Revised

OK all, so after listening to your extremely helpful advice on writing my bio for my website, I have revised it and am much happier with the result. This is the bio I will be posting for now, although if revisions need to be made we can fix those as well. Let me know what you think and if I should use the black and white photo I posted earlier or the one that is up on my site now. Thanks for your help!

I am a commercial and fine art photographer who recently was transplanted in Seattle in order to follow her dreams. I grew up in Northwest Montana surrounded by family and friends who encouraged my creativity and passion of the arts. As a recent graduate of the Film and Photography Program at Montana State University in Bozeman, I am on a quest driven by obsession and…well, employment.

I love photographing people: portraits, nudes, fashion, weddings and children. Capturing moments full of emotion and life is what inspires me in my work. My photography tells a story: the beauty of humanity in all of its complexity.

My dream is to travel to different countries, learn to cook the local favorites and photograph everything along my journeys. Culture fascinates me. I am always looking for opportunities to increase my knowledge – reading books, organizing photo walks, entering art shows, meeting other artists, and experimenting with various photographic techniques and skills.

Inquiries? Musings? Advice? I look forward to hearing from you.

Pi Day

On Monday, March 14, we celebrated Pi Day (3.14). In years past Patrick and I have forgotten Pi Day until weeks later when we would randomly exclaim "Pi Day was 3 weeks ago!". So this year we made a concentrated effort to make a pie - we decided on Mango Blackberry. Sounds odd, but really, it was the only fruit worth getting at Costco when we went. Originally our plan was to be eating our pie at 1:59 (3.14159) but it was still baking, so we ate later. Turned out great and we look forward to another wacky pie recipe for next year's Pi Day.

Julia - Angel Child

One of the things I will miss most being away from Bozeman - Julia :) She's so adorable and my perfect baby model. This was the shoot a few weeks before I moved to Seattle. Hugs Julia!