Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan

Graphic artist and designer Michael Strassburger co-founder of Seattle Design Studio Modern Dog needed a new head shot and I was tapped for the task. How do you impress a modern dog designer? Not sure but he liked this look made 100% of natural light. It was a little intimidating since Strassburger is one of the powerhouse designers behind Seattle based Modern Dog. “Their heady mix of intuitive design, cheeky humor and punk rock aesthetics has made them unique among design firms, and a hell of a lot of fun. Their work is often seen in the rock poster arena, but they cover a much larger social terrain and their clients include K2 Snowboards, Blue Q, Coca-Cola, Swatch and Nordstrom.

Portrait Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan creating portraits for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.

It has been a while since I made a portrait of Ema and she looks quite different from the last time. We were out on a boat in Lake Union and I made some like the one below, of Ema with her sister Claire and friend Yasmina visiting from Europe. Then Ema went down below to the cabin and I shot this one of her in the shade.

They grow up so fast. I should be shooting them more often.

Portrait Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan creating portraits for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.

I photographed Bill Frisell and Petra Hayden for an album they recorded together a few years back and tried using my tilt shift lens for a different look. This was the frame I really like best. The music they made together was a wonderful album I still listen to from time to time to hear Petra who has a smooth silky voice on top of Bill’s dreamy guitar licks.

Portrait Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan creating portraits for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.

Brand strategist and writer Victoria Medgyesi needed a creative portrait for a new publication and called me last week. We went out and found some good light and location near her office building. I like the black and white version the best. The choice of image is hers but I like is too.
Corporate Portrait Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan who creates portraits for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.

While backing up some folders I came across this picture of Jessica Lurie. I photographed Jessica Lurie in an alley in Pioneer Square here in Seattle, a few years ago just before she packed up and moved to Brooklyn, New York. I had previously photographed her with her group Living Daylights and I have been following her since then. She seems to be playing everywhere from Europe to back here on occasion.

Her next gig looks like it will be Sat May 15 8:00 PM I wish I could be in NY for this one.
Kolot Chayeinu in Brooklyn, NY – * MARC RIBOT * JESSICA LURIE * MARTY EHRLICH * ROY NATHANSON * GREG COHEN PRACTICING A concert and conversation moderated by Professor Tamar Barzel Five world-class musicians.

Composer/improvisers with wide interests and adventuresome ideas. Where do their creative selves and their Jewish selves meet? Do they meet at all? On Saturday, May 15 at 8 pm, Marc, Jessica, Marty, Roy, and Greg will join Professor Barzel for an evening of words and music in which they’ll explore the (possible) role of things Jewish in their own not-obviously-Jewish creative work. Solos, duos, trios, quartets. The evening is open to possibility. Come, listen in on the conversation, consider these questions with us, and enjoy a performance of original music and creative improvisation by these sensational artists.

Guitarist Marc Ribot has “a stunningly original guitar style that channels the primal power of blues, jazz and early rock while exploding the conventions of each style” (Guitar Player). “A little rock, a little bebop, a little free improvisation, and a good dose of Eastern European melody and harmony: these are the sources for saxophonist Jessica Lurie’s unique creative voice” (Le Monde). Clarinetist Marty Ehrlich is “one of his time’s most original thinkers [with] a rare and wonderful talent” (The Nation). “In a world of useless shouting things,” saxophonist/composer Roy Nathanson’s project Sotto Voce “is sane, funny, beautiful and intimate” (Elvis Costello). “Contemporary jazz does not get any better than this” (Birmingham Post) if it involves bassist Greg Cohen, who has performed and recorded in innumerable styles with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithfull, John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Laurie Anderson, Ornette Coleman, and the Rolling Stones. Tamar Barzel is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Wellesley College whose research is situated at the intersection between New York City’s downtown music scene and Jewish cultural studies.

Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan covering jazz performances, creating portrait photography for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.

Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations.

Recently I was working on my archive and I stumbled upon this executive portrait of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer which I shot on assignment for Yahoo Business Magazine. Although he did not give me a ton of time Ballmer was very gracious with me despite what I had heard from others. Coincidently Mocrosoft today announced that driven by Windows 7 sales, their profits grew 35 percent in the 3rd quarter beating all industry analysts estimates. Microsoft had $4.01 billion in profit, or 45 cents a share, on $14.5 billion in sales in the third quarter, which ended March 31. This was an increase of 6 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago, when the company made a profit of $2.98 billion, or 33 cents a share on $13.65 billion in sales.
Ballmer has a long history with the company and joined Microsoft in 1980 and became Microsoft’s 24th employee, the first business manager hired by Bill Gates and was named CEO in January of 2000. Photograph by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations, and a wedding photographer, with a candid photojournalist style.

The Azadeh Ensemble with guest artist Negar Booban, (standing left).

The Azadeh Ensemble consists of Sahba Motallebi, Laya Etemadi, Sahba Motallebi and Bahareh Moghtadaei.

I had an assignment to photograph a group of wonderful women musicians from Iran last week.

After shooting some pictures during their sound check I made some portraits of them. After a break they went onstage at Town Hall and I photographed them in performance.

The Azadeh Ensemble consists of  four outstanding virtuoso Iranian women musicians who formed in summer, 2009 in response to the political events in Iran, and the prominent role women have played within it, in their Northwest debut on Friday. In Farsi, the language of Iran, Azadeh means liberated. Azadeh Ensemble is one of the few all-female ensembles playing classical Persian music. Their exciting interpretations combine centuries of musical history with modern concerns of individual freedoms and the female voice.


Their vivid repertoire draws from classical Persian music, speaking especially to the concerns of individual freedoms and the female voice. As a women’s group, the Azadeh Ensemble is truly a rarity in Persian music, bringing these traditional forms into a dynamic contemporary context. Heading the ensemble, all of whom were born and trained in Iran but now live in the US, is the remarkable tar (a lutelike instrument) player Sahba Motallebi celebrated for the vigor and clarity of her playing on this stringed instrument, joined by the gifted vocalist Sepideh Raissadat, virtuoso kamanche (a Persian fiddle) and viola player Laya Etemadi, and Bahareh Moghtadaei on the tombak (drum). In the secod portion of their performance they were joined by joined by guest artist Negar Booban, of the Teharan Conservatory of Music, on the oud.


Not being familiar with Persian music it was enchanting and exotic: it was delightful and uplifting and also spiritful. At times I heard strains of the some traditional American blues and at other time their music brought to mind some old Irish folk tunes between the strings and drums. But most of the time it was as graceful and transporting as it was unfamiliar.Knowing their story and how they came to play together was inspiring. It is hard to believe that they can never play in thier home country together like this. I feel sorrow for them and even more for their fellow countrymen. I hope one day they may go and perform such as concert in their homeland.
As Motallebi said before a recent performance, “”[We] will be there as Persian women musicians who suffered a lot for the art and music in Iran. We have so many things to say and feelings to share for our women who want freedom … Our concert will be dedicated to [them].”
Read more about them: Pittsburgh Post Gazette
All photographs on this website are Daniel Sheehan © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission to use.
Photographs by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan who covers music performances, and creates portrait photography for publication and a Seattle Wedding Photographer at A Beautiful Day Photography, wedding photographers with an artistic photojournalist style

Emperor Akihito of Japan

I was going through some old files and I came across some photos I forgot I had taken. In 1994 on a news assignment, I photographed Emperor Akihito of Japan who was on a visit to New York. It was at a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of New York and all of the New York social and political elites came out to meet him. It was an interesting evening to witness. Here the Emperor was applauding a toast New York Governor Mario Coumo has made I believe. Akihito is the current Emperor of Japan, and the 125th Emperor according to Japan’s traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989, and is the 20th most senior monarch or lifelong leader. He is the world’s only reigning monarch whose title is customarily translated into English as “Emperor”.. Photographs on this website by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using. In addition to editorial and corporate assignments, Daniel is also a wedding photographer and was named the best wedding photographers in Seattle by the Wedding Photojournalists Association.