Tag Archives: Puyallup

And…The Force Was With Them

Wow! What a fun and beautiful wedding day!

It is always such and honor and a blessing for Chris and myself to be asked to photograph a wedding. This one was special…

With a nod to some of our favorite Sci-Fi/fantasy fiction/sit-com series (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Friends, Big Bang Theory), Matt and Susan were “going on an adventure”.

Our happy couple said their vows in Susan’s parents back yard with friends and family there to celebrate with them. It was absolutely beautiful (which you will see in the pics I’ve posted)! And so much fun! There was laughter, dancing, joy and true love throughout the day. What an amazing day! Starting off with the “pre-flight announcements” and concluding with fun and funky dancing-it was the best! Oh, and let’s not forget the incredible dessert table that Susan’s mom and friends put together. Certainly one of the best that we’ve ever seen (and tasted).

Congratulations, Matt & Susan. Thank you for choosing us to help capture your special day and be part of your wedding celebration.

May the Force be with you. ALWAYS!!!

~ Lynette

Posted in Family Portraits, General, Portraits, Wedding Photography, Weddings Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

We Won a 2023 Telly Award!

Hello friends,

We are excited and thrilled to announce that we have won a 2023 Telly Award (winner banner) for our production of “Maui Dawn to Dusk“, a compilation of video that I shot over the course of a day during a trip to Maui last summer. This is my second Telly Award, my first being last year for a video I produced features some locales around Washington State.

The Telly Awards were founded in 1979 to honor excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after. With the recent evolution and rise of digital video (web series, VR, 360 and beyond), the Telly Awards today also reflects and celebrates this exciting new era of the moving image on and offline.

The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work created within television and across video, for all screens. Receiving over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents, Telly Award winners represent work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers from around the world. The Telly Awards recognizes work that has been created on the behalf of a client, for a specific brand and/or company (including your own) or self-directed as a creative endeavor.

To say that I am excited to have received such a prestigious honor is an understatement. However, I am humbled to have been invited to submit and be even considered for such an achievement as there are so many talented individuals and production companies creating and producing so many beautiful and entertaining programs and I would never want to presume that what we do is anything greater or more significant.

I want to thank you all for your support over the years and encouragement to keep going.

Blessings to you all.

Chris.

p.s. you can find the video at this link on YouTube ,on Vimeo , or click the banner below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsbW_Vmy9-I&t=8s

Posted in Drone Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography, Photography Tips & Techniques, Shot of the Day Also tagged , , , , , , , , , |

Cayden’s Senior Photo Session

It’s almost summer!! At least the weather is trying to tell us that…

Last Sunday, after a very wet weekend, Cayden and I met up in downtown Tacoma near the Museum of Glass to snap some senior photos for Cayden’s graduation. It was a fantastic day!! And, I must say, Cayden is a fantastic kid!! He is heading off to boot camp for our honored U.S. Army in July, and his mom just couldn’t let him go without a few good pics

Graduating from Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup, WA, it is obvious that Cayden loves his family. He has so much family support for his future life plans! I love great family stories like this. We need more of it.

Cayden, it has been an honor and a privilege to work with you. You are a quality young man and I am blessed to know you. I can’t wait to get updates from your mom on your military career!!

Have a beautiful weekend, everyone, and please enjoy a few of my favorite Cayden pics…

~Lynette

Posted in Portraits, Senior Portraits Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Paige is Graduating!!!

It was such a privilege to meet up with Paige for her Senior Photo Session. And extra special because Chris and I are friends with her folks. In fact, we shot their wedding a few years ago…and now it’s time for their oldest to graduate!! We were blessed to have had some amazing weather on one of the only dry days these past couple of weeks.

Paige is an amazing young woman who is an honor student and plays water polo for Rogers High School. As you will see from the pics, she LOVES sunflowers!! We had a great time on the waterfront and in downtown Tacoma…and she was awesome!!

Congratulations, Paige! You will do great things!

Blessings,

~Lynette

Posted in Portraits, Senior Portraits Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Peeps of 2021

It’s the end of 2021, and even though this has been a tough year all around, some pretty amazing photography was done at Chris McKenna Photography! These are just a few of my favs from each of my photo shoots this year. I did have to cancel a few due to weather and Covid, but will be rescheduling for sometime this spring. And, I can’t wait to share those with you when they happen!

Please enjoy a few of my pics from this past year. And, Happy New Year to you all!! See you in 2022!!

~Lynette

P.S. you can see more of our senior photos by clicking on this link: https://chrismckennaphotography.com/portfolio/seniors/ and more of our family portraits at this link: https://chrismckennaphotography.com/portfolio/portraits/

And don’t forget to visit us on SmugMug.

Posted in Baby and Children Portraits, Family Portraits, Portraits, Senior Portraits Also tagged , , , , , , , , |

Sunflowers, Sunshine and Family Fun!

What a beautiful family and a beautiful sunny day!

I was blessed to photograph the Welton family last weekend at Maris Farms in Buckley.  I loved watching this family interact with each other as they made their way through the farm. The children were so adorable as they ran through the rows of sunflowers (followed by mom and dad, of course). Chris and Linnea are amazing parents and never missed an opportunity to teach their children about the wonders of nature that surrounded them. Tons of great candids! A fantastic and fun documentation of this time in their lives…one they will cherish forever ?

Please enjoy these pics…

Blessings,

~Lynette

Posted in Baby and Children Portraits, Family Portraits, Portraits Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, August 2 2021

Hello friends. And Happy Monday to you.

I’m not going to belabor the story here but rather keep it short and simple…I took the drone out for a few shots along the Tacoma Waterfront a few weeks back and snapped this photograph of the Port of Tacoma along Commencement Bay. The change in the water color to a carmel/brownish color is the result of glacial runoff from Mt. Rainier that comes down the Puyallup River and empties into the bay. It’s always a various shade or carmel but this time of year it gets particularly noticeable when higher temps melts more snow off the mountain and it picks up more silt as it rolls down. You can see the river about mid way up the picture in the back behind some of the building and steam stacks.

Enjoy the picture.

Chris.

Posted in Drone Photography, Shot of the Day Also tagged , , , , , , , |

My Drone over Pierce County

Hello friends,

I hope that you are well this very fine day. I know that I am!

Today, I though that I would post another video of shots of various places around Pierce County, Washington, where I live. As you know, I recently earned my FAA Part 107 Commercial Drone License so I have been on a tear to shoot video and photographs of places I visit and am able to get the bird in the air.

This video contains some shots of my neighborhood, Bradley Lake Park in Puyallup, Les Davis Pier and Dickman Mill in Tacoma, Alder Lake in rural Pierce County, and Dogwood Park in Eatonville.

There is nothing fancy here. Just some cool shots that I wanted to share.

Enjoy the video and as always..blessings.

Chris.

Posted in Drone Photography Also tagged , , , , , , , , , |

Video over Pierce County, July 4, 2021

Hello friends,

So if any of you follow my Instagram or Facebook pages and posts, you’ll know that I took the drone out for an extended flight on Independence Day last week. I flew over Thea’s Park in Tacoma, some of Commencement Bay, the Puyallup River, and some of the old fields in Puyallup, not to mention over the neighborhood fireworks once the sun set (click on the word “firework” to be taken to that post).

What I hadn’t done until now is post video of those flights. Here is short compilation video (click the play button in the center of the screen to view).

Click on the tile to view that video. I hope that you enjoy some of the footage. And please call me if there is anything we can do to help you with your business or personal project.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my other YouTube videos and follow me on Instagram.

Blessings

Chris.

Posted in Drone Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography Also tagged , , , , , , , |

Interesting Perspective of Fireworks 2021

Hello Friends,

And welcome to your annual post-Indepedence Day hangover. I have to say that having the 4th on a Sunday really makes for a nice, relaxing Monday. Right?

So yesterday I took the drone out to a couple of places I hadn’t been before to check them out and get some shots. I’ll post those later, although I took mostly video. Anyway, when the sun went down and it got dark, of course all the neighborhood crazies came out and turned our quiet, little area into a war zone. Needless to say I had to drug the dog again to get him to calm down, but once he started to relax and I took the drone out again to get a few photographs of the fireworks from the air.

I have never flown the drone at night, but I am perfectly legal and licensed to do it, so I put it up but didn’t move it one-inch from straight up (I really want to be in a more open area for extended night operations). I adjusted the camera settings and started shooting.

This is a real cool perspective-much different that from the ground. But one thing that I noticed was different was with a light breeze having an open shutter on the camera creates a little background out-of-focus blur. That’s ok for these shots as the fireworks themselves turned out good, but of course I would rather have no movement on my camera when the shutter is open.

Nevertheless, I am happy with these photographs. I hope that you enjoy them too. (see more of my fireworks photos at the following link: https://chrismckennaphotography.com/2019/07/fireworks-2019/ )

Blessings,

Chris

Posted in Drone Photography, Event Photography Also tagged , , , , , |