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Summer is a season that, admittedly, tends to overstay its welcome with me. The harsh midday sun, lingering for what seems like hours longer than usual, is the kind of thing that makes me grateful for the cloud cover that hangs over the PNW for much of the year.

 

Still, I love that every berry is in season and the wildflowers are in full bloom. This summer, I floated down rivers with friends, ate perfectly ripe peaches with my head out the car window between shoots, scanned dark ripples of water at midnight for bioluminescence, watched a shadow slide across the moon, and even asked Bill Gates to “scooch his booty” while directing a pose (he unblinkingly obliged). I wrote a grant proposal, applied for a 2027 residency, and plotted community events. I even had time to drown my drone in a tidal mudflat (see the invasive crab story below). I’ve also been continuing work on a top-secret marine story that I’m so excited to share this fall.

 

Cheesemongers, a billionaire, a psychologist couple, marine biologists, singers, an attorney, a teenage guitar prodigy—you name it, I photographed it this summer. Some of my favorite moments were purely inspirational: a Labor Day weekend in the San Juans with friends and all the dogs, and four days in NYC with one of my best friends, revisiting old haunts like the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Abraço, and McNally Jackson. The best thing I ate all summer (and maybe all year) was the brown butter corn cake at Radio Bakery. Yewande Komolafe recently adapted the recipe for NYT, which is a true gift.

 

Another highlight: Numa, one of my favorite coffee shops, graciously hosted Seattle Photo Book Club in August. We have some fun things in store for the rest of 2026, including a meetup on September 24 at Columbia City Gallery, 6–8:30 p.m., in partnership with Chum News for Seattle’s Arts + Culture Week. If you're in Seattle, I hope to see you there!

 

It's during high-pressure shoots, when I'm crunched for time and faced with an undeniable Pandora's box of variables, that I look back to my early days as a music photographer, living by the first-three-songs-no-flash rule. Focus is key. The job? Get 2–3 options of Bill Gates at his office in five minutes. I'm glad no one said anything when I slapped on the macro lens and went in a little closer.

 

I travelled to Portland, OR, to photograph pioneers of couples therapy, the renowned husband-and-wife team John and Julie Gottman, for Kinfolk. With no assistant and just one hour of studio time booked, I spent the three-hour journey from Seattle thinking about Picasso's abstract faces. I’m grateful to the Gottmans for their trust and good spirit on set.

 

I spent three days in August making visuals (video, aerials, stills) for this story about the Sisyphean task of managing the highly invasive European green crab population across Willapa Bay along Washington's coast. It was a delight trudging through the mud with writer Becca Dzombak. Here's a gift link to read the story.

 

I got a couple of minutes earlier this summer with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy for Fortune’s summer issue. We had a nice chat about our shared musical tastes and Temple of the Dog, the supergroup featuring members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Turns out we were both lucky enough to catch them live. Thanks to Mia Diehl for the call!

For a story on the future of AI for Fast Company, I busted out the gels for this quick shoot with Amazon Web Services VP Swami Sivasubramanian. Thanks to Sandra Riaño for the call!

 

An angel gets its wings every time a subject says, “I trust you,” and asks no questions. That’s why I love collaborating with Noah. After our studio shoot, I photographed his incredibly talented musical family recording Christmas songs. It's like they always say, the family that pops their booty together stays together.

I visited Laura Comenote at home for the new issue of Seattle Met. Laura shared a deeply personal story shaped by substance use and incarceration, and I hope the piece invites empathy and understanding. I’m grateful to have been trusted with it, and I love how the layout turned out.

 

I visited my local cheesemonger for Pete Wells' story on the state of cheesemongering. Thanks to Gabriel Sanchez for the fun assignment.

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For Barron's: Q&A with a Top Merill Advisor

 

 

🎬 There are so many movies coming out that I'm excited to see! The History of Concrete, You Can See Everything, Primetime, The Social Reckoning, Diggers… what a time to be alive!

 

🎧 Is it 2006 or 2026? I've been blasting Interpol's new record, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, and Nine Inch Noize on long drives to shoots. I'm also excited for the new Julia Jacklin record.

 

📖 I read Camus' The Stranger for the first time. Mind blown.

 

🎭  I caught Oh, Mary!, starring Meg Stalter, in August and loved it.

 

🎮 I just played through Mother 3, the finale in a trilogy of games by Shigesato Itoi. It was originally released for the Game Boy Advance after a bungled attempt at a release on a failed peripheral for the Nintendo 64 called the 64DD. The game was never localized for the U.S.—which is to say, it was never adapted from the Japanese original for play in other regions. Luckily, some fans made a patch, making it possible to enjoy as an English speaker. It is a really fun and delightfully weird game that tackles heavy subject matter like grief and societal decay.