Seattle Photographer

I was out at the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park over the weekend. I love the view of the Olympics across the Puget Sound in winter with lots of snow covering the tops and interesting cloud formations.

All photographs on this website are by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan © 2012. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using.

OMG We better get Bruce Willis ready for another mission. I have just been looking at some never before seen images of a giant asteroid and they are amazing pictures. Although it is not set to come crashing into earth it is still pretty amazing. Here is some information about it. Follow the links below to see  and read some more.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft photographed the giant asteroid Vesta from orbit on July 24, 2011. I have been following with great interest this NASA mission since it launched back in September 2007. Dawn was captured by Vesta’s weak gravity and went into orbit on July 15th.

Dawn will stay in orbit around Vesta for about a year before moving on to the dwarf planet Ceres, arriving in February 2015.    ”Vesta is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth. Vesta and its new NASA neighbor, Dawn, are currently approximately 117 million miles (188 million kilometers) away from Earth. The Dawn team will begin gathering science data in August. Observations will provide unprecedented data to help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system.

The data also will help pave the way for future human space missions. The Dawn science team is working to determine the significance of the distinct features in this image, which include large grooves or ridges extending for great distances around Vesta.”
“Vesta is 330 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter and the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. Ground- and space-based telescopes have obtained images of Vesta for about two centuries, but they have not been able to see much detail on its surface.

“We are beginning the study of arguably the oldest extant primordial surface in the solar system,” said Dawn principal investigator Christopher Russell from the University of California, Los Angeles. “This region of space has been ignored for far too long. So far, the images received to date reveal a complex surface that seems to have preserved some of the earliest events in Vesta’s history, as well as logging the onslaught that Vesta has suffered in the intervening eons.”
“Dawn’s initial orbit around Vesta carries it over the asteroid’s poles at an altitude of roughly 1,700 miles. The orbit’s orientation keeps the spacecraft and its huge solar panels in direct sunlight to provide power for its instruments and its propulsion system. Traveling from north to south, Dawn will complete one orbit every three Earth days.

Because Vesta completes one rotation or “day,” every five hours and 20 minutes, Dawn will be able to observe the asteroid’s entire illuminated surface every orbit. During south-to-north passes above Vesta’s night side, Dawn will transmit stored images and other data back to Earth.” Continue reading more and see more photographs: on NASA’s site here. and on CNN here.

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.

Recently I was asked if I had any aerial photographs of Mt Rainier and it happened that I did once do some on an Alaskan Airways jet to San Diego . I was on assignment for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on my way to photograph them meeting Oprah Winfrey and touring some high schools there. As I was was passing Mt Rainier I pulled out my panorama camera and added a red filter and shot a few rolls of black and white film. The aisle I was sitting in, near the back of the aircraft, was empty except for me so I had free rein to shoot on either side of the aircraft and made a few images that I was happy with. There was a lot of cloud cover around the mountain but the summit itself was sticking out of its shroud. This is not the normal view of the mountain one usually sees, but made from about 30,000 feet, it is a view I like to enjoy.
Mount Rainier is a large active stratovolcano about 50 miles southeast of Seattle. It towers over the Cascade Range as the most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States at 14,411 feet, and the highest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range.
The mountain and the surrounding area are protected within Mount Rainier National Park. With 26 major glaciers and 36 square miles of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters, each over 1,000 feet in diameter with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world’s largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters. A small crater lake about 130 by 30 feet in size and 16 feet deep, the highest in North America with a surface elevation of 14,203 feet, occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than 100 feet of ice and is accessible only via the caves. Photograph by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations.

I am often called upon to make large group portraits an it is always a challenge to make them look great with everybody in the picture looking good with their eyes open and a good expression. It is a challenge just arranging every body and then getting their attention. Since I try to do one everytime I shoot a wedding, I have developed a skill at large group portraits. I usually have a lot of fun and the people do too. And then everyone gets a great picture with all of their co workers or friends or family. This was a san Francisco Wedding at a restaurant and we moved some tables and chairs and got everyone in the photo. Photograph by wedding photographers Daniel Sheehan, a Seattle photographer who specializes in people and portraits and travels everywhere to shoot weddings in a photojournalist style that is real, straightforward, subtle and unobtrusive. Daniel was named among the best Seattle wedding photographers by the Wedding Photojournalists Association.

All photographs on this website are by Daniel Sheehan © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for per

Tim Narby and family in the winery of Nota Bene Cellars, Seattle.

It is the time of year when I get asked a lot to come and make family portraits for business and personal use. Here is Tim Narby’s family photo for the winery to send out to friends and clients. Tim makes some really great wine in the bordeaux style, blending the traditional varieties into a new world version of a classic bordeaux. Tim is the owner and winemaker at Nota Bene Cellars making some of the finest wine to come out of the best vineyards of Eastern Washington.

Just a note about this picture. I usually do not go into technical talk but I have been working with an old Hassleblad and black and white film and I really like the look of film. It has been a while since I worked with a film camera every day and I am getting the hang of it again. Last time I worked with the Hasselblad was more than 15 years ago. I gave them up and moved on to a Mamiya RZ 67 when I became tired of the square format. Lately I have been missing it so I got myself a new old camera, the lens was made in 1975 and the body in 1980. The lens is a beautiful 110 f/2 Planar. and it looks tack sharp even after all these years. I will be using it for as many kinds of assignments as I see fit from now on. It is back to the future with film. Family portrait by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan an  editorial photographer who creates portraits for publications and corporations.