Shot of the Day, June 28 2021

June 28, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Wow, two of these posts this year! What’s up with that you ask? Not sure, but perhaps this post has more to do with the outside conditions around there than anything else.

We are in the middle of a record breaking heat wave across the Pacific Northwest these last few days. It is not normal for temperatures to reach 100 degrees and for the last few days we have been well above that. In fact, the forecast today is for Puyallup to reach 115. Unheard of.

So what are people doing to stay cool? Of course, if you have air conditioning it is normal to stay indoors next to the cooler, but for the rest of us we need to get close to the water. Whether that is Puget Sound or a lake somewhere, we flock to the edge of the water in an effort to stay cool.

Yesterday, we were at a graduation party at a house on Lake Tapps, Washington, and of course I had to bring the drone along and see if I could get a few shots. I was mostly just showing friends the flight abilities of this machine, but when I could I took some video and tried to compose something photographically. The bright sunshine and super washed-out highlights of taking photographs on days like this make it challenging (underlining the need for me to get some ND filters for this drone), but it’s always worth an effort to get what you can.

So this is a photo of Mt. Rainier in the background against the eastern edge of the lake and Snag Island bridge (and a private airfield also in the foreground I believe).

Anyway, enjoy the photograph and as always blessings to you. And stay cool!

Chris

Posted in Drone Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography, Shot of the Day Tagged , , , , , , , |

Drone Photography Now Available for Business and Personal Use

June 26, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello friends,

I am pleased to announce that I have passed my FAA Part 107 exam and am now a licensed commercial drone pilot with capability for drone aerial photography and/or video.

What does that mean for you? Well, drone photography offers a perspective that ground photography just cannot provide. In real estate, aerial photography is the perfect way to show off the surrounding environment of your property. Why? Because location is everything. And for many industries, location sells.  For others, the use of aerial photographs or video can be included in digital marketing (and print with photo) on your website, social media posts, and email campaigns. It really doesn’t matter what your business does or where your business is located, by adding stunning visuals it will truly complement your marketing and creative efforts on getting your message out. And finally, keep your employees and crew safe and out of danger by using my drone services for various inspections and assessment of hard-to-reach or potentially treacherous places and situations.

Our aerial photography and video services are not only just for business, but also for every individual. Consider a personal portrait session and wedding photographs that can now have a new perspective for a truly unique image. We are only limited by your imagination and what is legal and limited by FAA regulations.

Please give a call and let’s talk about how we can help you achieve your goals.

Blessings,

Chris.

BTW-don’t forget to visit our Instagram page.

Posted in Architectural, Drone Photography, Engagement Photography, Event Photography, General, Landscape and Nature Photography, Photography Tips & Techniques, Real Estate Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

My Cool Pics of the Florida Keys 2021

June 23, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello again friends,

This May, we were once again supposed to be in the Bahamas. But for the 2nd year in a row Covid kept us out. So we were left wondering what do to. Do we take our chances traveling to Mexico? What about going back to Hawaii? How about giving Iceland a try? Turns out Covid played a part in keeping those destinations out of reasonable reach for us so we decided to stay in the lower 48 and go to the Florida Keys. I have never been there before and since the diving was supposed to be great the destination made absolute sense.

We packed the bags and our equipment and off we went. We flew into Fort Lauderdale, rented a car, drove across the State of Florida and stayed the night in Cape Coral. Cape Coral is a city that we have considered moving to and we wanted to check out the scene. You know…housing, community, and of course the dive scene. It checked all the boxes except one: the local diving wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. But that’s ok…after spending some time there and meeting and talking with some local people I believe that if we could find good jobs there we would make the move.

After, we drove down through Naples and hit the northern part of the Everglades before crossing the bridge and arriving in the Florida Keys. We ended up in Marathon, which is right in the approximate middle of the chain between Key Largo and Key West (link below). It was a good place to base out of and we were happy to be there. And I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures of these areas before getting off the mainland, but if you ever driven the highway we were on you’d know there isn’t much to photograph along that route.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t exactly cooperate with us the entire time we were there. The wind never stopped blowing and it got worse with each passing day. The result was that the water was so rough and churned up that half our diving was canceled out (an no chance to get in and snorkel and swim off the beaches). It was so rough that I even got seasick at one point. Yuck. But of those times that I did get out to dive I managed to get a few photographs that I’ll post separately.

The wind didn’t really stop us from getting out and doing a little exploring, however. We got to Key West and the southernmost point in the contiguous United States, the 7-Mile Bridge, some of No Name Key, Deer Key, Islamorada, The Bahia Honda Bridge (before and during sunset), and Crane Point Hammock.

Below are some of the non-diving pictures I took (those will be in another post). I hope that you enjoy them. As always, please don’t hesitate to comment.

Blessing,

Chris.

Link to Marathon in Maps

Posted in General, Landscape and Nature Photography, Travel Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Real Estate Photography Now Available

June 8, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hi Friends,

I’m not sure how many of you know this, but we are also available for real estate photography. Whether you are a real estate agent getting listing photographs or a home owner wanting to document how beautiful your home is, we can help. And coming soon we’ll also be able to offer you drone shots of your property too.

Give us a call and let’s see what we can do together.

Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Architectural, Real Estate Photography Tagged , , , , , , |

SmugMug Galleries Now Online

April 26, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Good evening friends,

Well after years of struggling to find a decent and cost effective way to host and sell some of my photographs (trust me I’ve tried a number of them and they were all worthless to both my and my customers), I am happy to announce that I have started a page on SmugMug.

SmugMug has been around for a number of years, but I have never thought about giving in much of a try until now. They will be able to offer my friends a number of options for photographs and various photo gifts-all at a reasonable price.

I hope that you will stop by and take a look. Follow the link below.

Blessings to you,

Chris.

http://chrismckenna.smugmug.com

Posted in Uncategorized

Photographs of Maui in 2017

April 15, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Ok, ok, ok. Before you start, I know already. 2017, you say? Yes, 2017. I was looking through my draft blog posts today and I saw one buried deep in there-this one. So I’m going to post it now regardless of the fact that the year is now 2021.

So we visited Maui, Hawaii again in 2017. This was our 2nd visit to the island, and it was no less disappointing than the first visit. In some ways, it was better. You see, it was February and that means whale season and we had arrived smack dab right in the middle of it (last time we went the whale season was over).

So in this gallery you will see a variety of pictures that I took over the week that we were there. It starts with some sunset photographs overlooking Molokini from South Maui, other sunsets from Lahaina, sunrise at Haleakala (the dormant volcano) including a startrail photo I took, surfing, whales, island landscapes, and ending with a variety of Hawaiian flowers that can be found on Maui.

I hope that you enjoy the photographs as much as I love taking them. BTW Maui is one of my most favorite places in all the work and I really look forward to getting back there in 2022.

Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Landscape and Nature Photography, Travel Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Bald Eagles of Seabeck 2020

April 12, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello friends,

I just realized that I had never posted anything about one of my highlights from last summers lockdowns.

I managed to sneak away from work for a couple of hours and drove to Seabeck, Washington to check out what I was hearing about the eagles that show up every year. Well I was a little bit late in my timing of a visit, but not to disappoint there were still a few of them hanging around. There were a couple of mature eagles in the area and a few of juvenile ones flying around. And I managed to get a few photographs before they moved on!

I even was able to capture a couple of photographs of a raccoon that decided to swing by and give us a show. There is also a few other photos in this gallery from some of the scenery as I continued to drive around that day. You know, waterfalls, mountains, Hood Canal, and hummingbirds.

Enjoy the photographs.

Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Landscape and Nature Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Love at Last – Mike & Terrie

April 10, 2021 by admin | 3 Comments

Early last year, our good friend, Mike, invited us out to dinner with he and his fiance, Terrie. It was a lovely evening at one of our favorite local restaurants. Over dinner, Mike and Terrie asked us to be their photographers for their wedding in April. Of course we said yes, not knowing that the world was on the edge of extinction.

Covid then hit and and everything on planet Earth was canceled. Well, almost everything. Love was not canceled, just delayed. Mike and Terrie’s wedding would have to wait. And so it did. Two more scheduled wedding dates came and went.

That was until last weekend, when the big day finally arrived and nothing was going to stop their wedding…this time. And so, nothing did.

This wonderful couple was married at the Pioneer Park Pavilion in downtown Puyallup, witnessed by their many friends and relatives. It was incredible for us to see how many people were able share in this special day.

A great big congratulations and best wishes for many happy years together go out to you, Mike and Terrie. And thank you for having us be your photographer and join in your special day.

Love and blessings to you both,

Chris and Lynette.

Posted in Wedding Photography Tagged , , , , , |

Oahu 2021

April 10, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Greetings friends.

Well after a year of lockdowns and quarantine for me (seriously a year), we managed to get away from the house and work for a few days last month and visit Oahu. We’ve only been one other time, so being the least restrictive of all the islands in terms of travel from across the Pacific we decided to go back and chill for a bit. So negative tests in hand, masks on the face, off we went.

We met Lynette’s cousin and his wife there for a week of fun and relaxation. We got in a few a sunsets, toured the island a bit, managed a few dives, and just turned off the brain for a bit.

And of course, I drug my cameras with me and snapped some photographs., both above the water and below. Landscapes, shipwrecks, mountains, sunsets, fish, and of course Diamondhead. Couldn’t ask for a better time.

I hope that you enjoy the photographs as much as I did taking them.

Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Landscape and Nature Photography, Travel Photography, Underwater Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |

Missing you George

April 9, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

I’ve been spending a good portion of this week restoring my tools (fixing this blog and transferring photo’s to a new computer) and I have been running across a lot of pictures of my friend George.

George was another business owner that crossed our path many years ago in a networking group. He was a DJ by trade and great friend by nature. We ended up working a lot of weddings and other events with him over the following years. George even DJ’d at my 40th birthday-an 80’s music festival in my backyard with other friends and family .

Anyway, George unexpectedly passed away a few years back. I miss talking with him on the phone as we always did. We never did connect for that beer, but I know that he’s keeping the stool warm for me in heaven.

Rest in peace, George. We miss you.

Chris

Posted in Event Photography, Portraits, Shot of the Day, Wedding Photography Tagged , , |