Daniel, Senior Portraits in Seattle's International District
This was fun for me, as we went places I'd never been before :) Exploring Seattle is one of Daniel's favorite pastimes, and of the options for exploration, the Chinatown - International District is THE favorite! The food, the sights, the International Model Toys shop, the grocery store, the murals & graffiti; everything about it. I was interested ~ I'd always enjoyed my bus ride through the area, past huge dragons twisting around light poles ~ so it was perfect for me to have my own tour guide in Daniel :)
We started at my favorite spot for mens' haircuts / styles: Gene Juarez Men at The Bravern in Bellevue.
D'Angelo, in his canvas barber's apron with leather & metal accents, with all the tools, in conversation about Daniel's favorite books as he trims & shaves:
Heading West, Daniel's first location choice was this lovely crumbly brick alley that I had stumbled upon once before, and never could find my way back to it ~ In the evening, it has hanging glass globes light the night, and if you take a little staircase up the side of a building, you might find yourself overlooking the Seattle waterfront. It has long black iron fire escapes, and interesting carve-outs for loading & unloading to business back doors:
Next, we met at the bold mint & red pavilion in Hing Hay Park. The sun started peeking out, and we returned friendly smiles of the ping-pong players and their audiences ~ so fun! The large park is made up of a series of smaller more intimate areas on various levels, with stairsteps and small tables & chairs and sculptures (& ping pong tables!) & trees providing separation of conversational areas, and making the winding walk interesting ~ Hing Hay was designed by the same architects who designed Freeway Park, which similarly seems to bring people together.
In this area, central Chinatown - International District, the shop windows were still covered with plywood. And PAINT!
I'd love to include names of mural / graffiti artists if any of you know the info!
Seattle's Chinatown - International District (The CID) had A LOT of ups and downs in 2020 ~ there is a fantastic 7-minute documentary from Northwest Asian Weekly relating this roller coaster, I hope you see it! A strong upside was a grassroots call for artists, who came and transformed a shuttered CID with vibrant color, fun forms, and beautiful testimonies & honor to fallen Americans!
Daniel's favorite model shop partook... with an uncomfortably close... (Zaku??!!?)
Daniel & I both gravitated toward the whimsical for his Senior Portraits :D I'd love the names of these artists !
This one will appear in his Tesla STEM High School 2020-21 yearbook :)
A crisp day in Autumn, and venturing out, we were all masked up, we were pleased with the amount of care others gave us as well, wearing their masks on sidewalks. Daniel always had his on when he was not actually on camera, and let me take a shot of the bandido look:
We also experimented with a variety of expressions, and laughed quite a bit when looking at the back of my camera, because when Daniel gets his serious expression on, and he can look... SCARY! Intimidating!! hahaha!
But then, as he brings a tiny smile to the corners of his mouth... with intensity in his dark eyes...
a little petite woman passing on the sidewalk at that moment suggested:
"YOU LOOK LIKE JAMES BOND!"
Daniel busted out laughing and his face was so red, it was my favorite moment of our shoot ;)
And we ended up with a good strong headshot for any occasion :)
Thank you, Daniel & family!!! This was so fun for me, and I look forward to visiting & supporting our Chinatown - International District again soon!!
