Author Topic: Stock Photography in Seattle (Read 2083 times)

pixel8 · « **on:** March 26, 2015, 11:44 »

Just curious if anyone lives and does stock photography in and around Seattle WA. If so what kind of challenges do you face with weather or other things a fellow stock photographer would want to be aware of in the area such as drive time, parking, or whatever? I am looking for large cities in the USA to move to and I am considering Seattle.

Thanks

No Free Lunch · « **Reply #1 on:** March 26, 2015, 11:49 »

Seattle is great place! July through mid October is great outdoor weather to be outdoors. Too many parks to list.

Some tips- you may include the space needle in a city landscape but not as the primary object (Trade Mark). Pike's market for editorial only images. I am only a small fish compared to some of the other folks that live in Seattle so listen to the more.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #2 on:** March 26, 2015, 12:42 »

I'm not in downtown Seattle, but on the Eastside.

I do my very best not to drive around morning and evening rush as traffic is an issue - but I can't think of a major city where that isn't the case.

The weather here isn't half as bad as its reputation would have you believe, and generally the humidity is very low (meaning lovely blue skies, today being a lovely example of that).

Spring is amazingly pretty (on sunny days) and you have lots of great backdrops in the mountains, Elliot Bay, San Juan Islands, Puget Sound, Cascades, Olympics and so on. If you're an outdoor person, there's so much in this area for you. We're close to Vancouver BC and relatively close to Hawaii and Alaska.

We had an unusually warm and sunny winter this year, but generally the gray and the short days lead us to go somewhere sunny for the kids' Spring break week.

Housing's not cheap. There are no great extremes of weather but we are on a fault line (Pacific subduction zone) so if you're looking to avoid earthquakes or tsunamis, this may not be your spot. If you're a red-state person at heart, you'll feel lost here (but you could go east of the Cascades to feel more at ease)

tickstock · « **Reply #3 on:** March 26, 2015, 12:55 »

You really should look at what you need and then go from there. Buying more equipment, renting a studio, and moving to a new location might make sense or you might just be spending a whole lot of money for no reason. The best thing to do is evaluate your needs and then decide what makes sense. So far you haven't really said what you want or why you want it. Where do you live now that doesn't have people, locations, garages or studios? Why are you trying to figure out what size studio you should get without figuring out what shots you want first? Why do you think you need to move in the first place, what do you expect to get out of being in Seattle, Charlotte, or Atlanta that you don't already have? You can spend a ton of money on these things first and then figure out how to use it later but I think you'll end up losing a lot of money.

pixel8 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 26, 2015, 13:07 »

Quote from: tickstock on March 26, 2015, 12:55

You really should look at what you need and then go from there. Buying more equipment, renting a studio, and moving to a new location might make sense or you might just be spending a whole lot of money for no reason. The best thing to do is evaluate your needs and then decide what makes sense. So far you haven't really said what you want or why you want it. Where do you live now that doesn't have people, locations, garages or studios? Why are you trying to figure out what size studio you should get without figuring out what shots you want first? Why do you think you need to move in the first place, what do you expect to get out of being in Seattle, Charlotte, or Atlanta that you don't already have? You can spend a ton of money on these things first and then figure out how to use it later but I think you'll end up losing a lot of money.

SoCal was to expensive so we have temporally moved to Spokane Wa to live with Family as we seek out a mayor city to live around that we can afford. I feel that a bigger city has more to offer in terms of models, backdrops, other professionals in the industry as well as access to more stuff needed to photograph.

So far I have only done objects in studio however I want to start taking pictures of people in various settings including in a staged studio setting so I need a larger studio then just a room in a house.

cascoly · « **Reply #5 on:** March 26, 2015, 13:13 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on March 26, 2015, 12:42

I'm not in downtown Seattle, but on the Eastside.

I do my very best not to drive around morning and evening rush as traffic is an issue - but I can't think of a major city where that isn't the case.

The weather here isn't half as bad as its reputation would have you believe, and generally the humidity is very low (meaning lovely blue skies, today being a lovely example of that).

Spring is amazingly pretty (on sunny days) and you have lots of great backdrops in the mountains, Elliot Bay, San Juan Islands, Puget Sound, Cascades, Olympics and so on. If you're an outdoor person, there's so much in this area for you. We're close to Vancouver BC and relatively close to Hawaii and Alaska.

We had an unusually warm and sunny winter this year, but generally the gray and the short days lead us to go somewhere sunny for the kids' Spring break week.

Housing's not cheap. There are no great extremes of weather but we are on a fault line (Pacific subduction zone) so if you're looking to avoid earthquakes or tsunamis, this may not be your spot. If you're a red-state person at heart, you'll feel lost here (but you could go east of the Cascades to feel more at ease)

another post like that & you'll lose your Lesser Seattle membership!

seattle times noted yesterday that the city issued over 64,000 new driver's licenses last year, and 2015 is already outperforming that pace

main downside is traffic which is some of the worst in the country, esp'ly since we lack a comprehensive mass transit solution; otherwise it remains high on the most livable & photogenic list for all the reasons above; may kicks off the street festival season, and plenty of other outdoor events

historically the last week of july and 1st of august are best weather, but even then we've awakened to 8" blanket of snow on our tents when backpacking. and even the rainy season offers plenty of nearby hikes; overall we get less total rain than new York, boston & many other US cities

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/04/seattle-doesnt-get-that-much-rain/

in the Olympic mountains there's a town that gets about 15" rain / yr only a short distance from rain forest with 120"

http://cascoly.com/trav/us/best-way-see-seattle.asp

Cascoly = cascades + Olympics - 2 mountain ranges seen from the city

btw, it's Pike Place Market (and Skid Road)

tickstock · « **Reply #6 on:** March 26, 2015, 13:13 »

In that case my advice would be to do some work in Spokane first. There are studios to rent there. Try to do everything you want to do in a bigger city first you'll probably learn a lot about your needs then. You should be able to find more than enough models and locations right there.

trek · « **Reply #7 on:** March 26, 2015, 22:17 »

I love Seattle. The Portland area is beautiful too.

MatHayward · « **Reply #8 on:** March 27, 2015, 13:44 »

I live in the Seattle area and love it! For me (red headed freckle face) the weather is perfect. For the most part the people are nice though you should keep in mind it is a very liberal city and seems to be very closed minded to anyone with a conservative mindset. Traffic does suck in a fairly epic way pretty much all the time so there's that. We do have the greatest football teams (NFL and MLS) in the world to make up for it though.

-Mat