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Coeur d'Alene Photographer

Favorite 100 Portraits of 2016

A difficult but rewarding task

It is that time of the year where I have a fun but almost overwhelming task.  It is the time that I go through all of my finished images of the last 365 days and narrow them down to my favorite 100. This starts out feeling like a daunting task and I experience sorrow as I have to eliminate images that I love.  Sorrow, however, is always overcome by joy as I get to be reminded again of some of the fun moments spent with my clients.  I relive the excitement of being able to show an athlete the back of the camera when we nailed the perfect sports action portrait.  I have the opportunity to experience again the awe of one of those amazing inland northwest sunsets.

Yes, it is a big and difficult job but it is always worth it!  I will say a bit more about the past year further on, but for those of you that are just here to see the photos I won’t keep you any longer!

Partnership with Interfit Photographic

One of the big changes in 2016 was a new partnership with Interfit Photographic. As a sponsored pro I made the switch to using the new S1 strobe and have been very pleased with it’s performance.  A large majority of the images that you see in the above video were taken using these lights.  I hope you would agree that these tools did their job well. One of the best parts of working with Interfit is that I am able to offer the photographers that follow my page a 10% discount on all their products.  If you want to know more about this check out this page: http://www.jasonduchowphotography.com/interfit-sponsored-pro-interfit-s1-discount-code/

Past Favorite 100 entries

This favorite 100 portraits post is something I have done at the end/beginning of each year for the last couple of years. For those interested in seeing my favorite portraits of years past you can check out those entries here:

2015 100 Favorites Portraits

2014 100 Favorite Portraits

Having such great clients is what makes all of these images possible.  I want to once again thank all of my clients!

 

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.   Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work.  Jason is also a Sponsored Pro for Interfit Photographic (http://interfitphotographic.com/)

2016 Sandpoint High School Graduation

This last weekend I was honored to once again have the opportunity to be the official photographer for the Sandpoint High School Graduation Ceremony.  I have had the pleasure of getting to know quite a few of these graduates.  For many I had the pleasure of capturing their style and personality for their senior portraits.  For many of those clients and others I have been able to be there on the sidelines of their sporting events, capturing images of them breaking records, winning championships as well as holding back my own tears as they endure the pain of defeat.  I have a lot of memories of the class of 2016, way too many to share here. Ultimately my memories is not why I do what I do, it is their memories that I am so very grateful to be able to preserve and capture.  Thank you to the Class of 2016 for a great year of creating memories together. Here are just a handful of photos I captured at your graduation.   These, along with about 1,700 other photos from graduation can be found on my website at this link: http://bit.ly/1UraaXx

2016 Sandpoint Graduation 0152016 Sandpoint Graduation 0162016 Sandpoint Graduation 017 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 001 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 002 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 003

2016 Sandpoint Graduation 018 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 0042016 Sandpoint Graduation 0192016 Sandpoint Graduation 0202016 Sandpoint Graduation 0212016 Sandpoint Graduation 0222016 Sandpoint Graduation 023 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 005 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 006 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 007 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 008 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 009 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 010 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 011 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 012 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 013 2016 Sandpoint Graduation 014

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.   Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work.  Jason is also a Sponsored Pro for Interfit Photographic (http://interfitphotographic.com/)
Sandpoint Photo Booth

2016 Sandpoint Prom Photo Booth

Yesterday I had the pleasure of setting up my photo booth for the 2016 Sandpoint High School Prom.  The event was held at The Hive  in downtown Sandpoint, it was the first time I have been in the music venue since they remodeled and I have to say they did an outstanding job of transforming the building into a pretty amazing place for a live show or event.  I set up my booth in the upper balcony level where they have their VIP seating, it was a tight squeeze but I made it work.   As a gift to the Class of 2016 I am offering any and all of the photos from the booth as a FREE digital download or 4×6 prints for only 0.99 cents.   To download your prom photo booth pictures visit the link below, click the buy button on the photos you want and select the free digital download option.  You can screenshot the photos if you want, but you will get a much higher quality version if you use the built in download features.

I have one favor to ask . . . please use the built in Facebook and Twitter sharing  buttons to let your friends know about the photos!  Below you will find a handful of photos from the evening, the full gallery with over 1,700 photos from the evening can be found at this link.  Enjoy!

Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth Sandpoint Photo Booth

 

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.   Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work.  Jason is also a Sponsored Pro for Interfit Photographic (http://interfitphotographic.com/)
hammer action portrait

Senior Portraits with Joselynn – Central Valley High

I was very excited to work with Central Valley Senior Joselynn for her senior portraits because of something we have in common.  Joseylnn is a stand out Track and Field athlete with a passion for the throwing events (Shot Put, Discus and the Hammer).  When I was a freshman in High School I was introduced to the throwing events and fell in love with them so when Joseylnn applied to be a Senior Model and shared her interests with me I knew I had to work with her!    We started out with a studio session where the main focus was to get some images highlighting the throwing events, especially her favorite event the Hammer.

Hammer Thrower Senior PortraitHammer Thrower Senior Portrait discus thrower senior portrait Track and Field senior portrait Track and Field senior portrait

During out outdoor session we started out at the Central Valley Track and Field complex with our main goal being to get a great action portrait of Joselynn throwing the hammer.   Yes, it did make me a little nervous having that 8 pound ball flung around near my lights and camera but mostly I put my faith and trust in Joselynn’s skill and abilities and she did not disappoint!

Hammer Thrower action portrait track and field senior portrait

Joselynn has seen a photo I did of a past senior in a tunnel with some dramatic lighting and wanted to get a similar photo in that location with her Letterman Jacket, I was happy to oblige.  This tunnel is very narrow, this makes the lighting very tricky but without the lights this tunnel would not be a very interesting location so it is well worth the contortions that we have to do to make it work.

athlete senior portrait in a tunnel

For the rest of our session we headed off to Farragut State Park and the Marina in Hope, Idaho.

senior portrait with the lake in the distance senior portrait senior portrait with her dog senior portrait at the hope marina senior portrait at the hope marina natural light senior portrait senior portrait with dramatic light along a rock wall naturla light senior portrait senior portrait at the lake sunset senior portrait with her dog sunset silhouette portrait with her dog

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.   Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work.  Jason is also a Sponsored Pro for Interfit Photographic (http://interfitphotographic.com/)

Senior Portraits with Cody

Cody was one of my Class of 2016 Senior Models from Sandpoint High School, she is an extremely talented softball player.  One of the things that always stood out to me was Cody’s dimples, but as we started working together I realized she does not have dimples . . . . she has a single dimple on her right cheek.  We worked together on three different occasions, first we had a studio session which was followed a couple of days later by a fun road trip session.  We worked together a third time when I needed to test out some equipment that I received from Interfit Photoraphic, those photos will be posted on the blog later.  To start out, here are a few from our studio session.

studio senior portrait Softball studio senior portrait Softball studio senior portrait

To start off our outdoor session we were at the Sandpoint High School Softball Field.

Softball senior portrait softball senior portrait

After the softball field we loaded up in the car and took a road trip to Montana.  The final destination was the Ross Creek Cedars and along the way we kept our eye out for some interesting spots.  We found a great spot along side the highway with a nice patch of lupines.

senior portrait among the lupins

A little further down the road we found a great spot along side the river.  There was a thunderstorm moving in quickly so we hustled to get the light set up and it was certainly worth it, the look of the rain falling in the distance made one of my favorite landscape portraits of the 2015 portrait season.

senior portrait with dramatic clouds and rain in the distance

The rain came down very hard, but thankfully it did not last long.  We continued down the road and endured some light sprinkles to get some photos at this location.

road trip senior portrait in Montana

When we got to the Ross Creek Cedars it had started to rain again.  We covered my strobe with some plastic to protect it from the water and thankfully the thick trees helped with the light rainfall.  With the overcast conditions the area was fairly dark but we were still able to manage to get a handful of good shots.

Senior Portrait taken at Ross Creek Cedars  Portrait taken at Ross Creek Cedars  Portrait taken at Ross Creek Cedars

As we left the Cedars the combination of the sun peeking through the overcast sky and some low level clouds in the distance made for a very cool scene.  The only angle we could get at it included a guard rail along the road, but we made use of it and captured the scene.

 Portrait taken near Ross Creek Cedars Portrait taken near Ross Creek Cedars

We debated about where to go to try to capture the sunset, in the end we decided to back track the same way we came and as luck would have it the best spot we found was the same spot on the Clark Fork River that we had been when we had the thunderstorm roll in.

Sunset Senior Portrait taken along the Clark Fork River in Montana

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.   Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work.  Jason is also a Sponsored Pro for Interfit Photographic (http://interfitphotographic.com/)
Sunset senior portrait

Senior Portraits with Andra

Andra was my Class of 2016 Senior Model from Post Falls High School.  For her portrait session we started out with some time in the Studio, she is a setter for the Post Falls Volleyball team so we spend a lot of our studio time working on some sports themed photos for her.

Studio portrait by Jason Duchow Photography
Volleyball studio portrait with Jason Duchow Photography Volleyball studio portrait with Jason Duchow Photography Volleyball studio portrait with Jason Duchow Photography Volleyball studio portrait with Jason Duchow Photography

After the studio we explored some areas in Eastern Washington.  At the next location we started out with some natural light portraits and then we pulled out the strobe so we could capture all of the vibrant colors of the spring grass, deep blue sky and the great cloud formations.  You can see by the vibrant colors we are able to capture why I love working with my senior models during the spring, you don’t get these same colors in July and August!

Natural light portrait Spring senior portrait with vibrant colors Spring senior portrait with vibrant colors

After a while we moved on to the greenbluff area just north of Spokane.

Spring senior portrait with vibrant colors Spring senior portrait with vibrant colors Natural light senior portrait senior portrait with a barn in the distance senior portrait with a barn in the disctance

We finished up with some shots around sunset time.

sunset senior portait sunset senior portait sunset senior portait sunset senior portait sunset senior portait

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.   Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work.  Jason is also a Sponsored Pro for Interfit Photographic (http://interfitphotographic.com/)

Favorite 100 Portraits of 2015

Every year at the end of December I have the extremely difficult job of going through all of the photos I have taken for the past 12 months and picking out my favorite 100 portraits.  With such great, talented and creative clients this is a job I mostly look forward to, but with a hind of dread as I know will have to eliminate from contention many portraits that I really love.  I readily admit that I do have an biased connection to some of the photos that I choose as I know the challenges that went into making them.  It may be that someone else might choose a very different top 100 list, but then it would not be MY favorites 100 portraits of the year.  With the number of jobs and clients I have every year narrowing this list down to 100 unfortunately means that not every one of my clients or subjects makes this end of the year video, I wish they all could be here but then I would have to have a top 200 or 300 portraits video and that would double the play time of the video and with attention spans what they are these days keeping things shorter is often sweeter!

One of the photos featured in this video was selected by Senior Style Guide to make their yearly Hot 100 issue featuring the best senior photo artists in the country, I am humbled and honored to have been selected for this honor a second year in a row.  You can check out the winning entry on this blog post.  I think that is enough words, now on with the show!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my video. If you want to see my selections from last year you can check out my Favorite 100 Portraits of 2014 here.

Destination Senior Portraits with Sky

The second of my three Destination Senior Portrait sessions with Class of 2016 Senior Models was with Sky.  My base of operations for my three scheduled days was Seaside Oregon, for Sky’s senior portraits we traveled south to see what we could find.  As can be expected on the Oregon Coast in the spring we had it’s fair share of of rain, but we had enough breaks in the downfall to get some great photos.  The first place we stopped was just past Canon Beach and it featured some great rock formations and a very cool waterfall with a shallow enough stream for some rain boot stomping!

rainy day portrait with a red umbrella and rain bootsstomping in the stream with red rain boots

Next in our exploring we found a great dense forest spot with a lot of moss covered trees and a nice hint of sunlight peaking through for a rim light on some natural light portraits.

natural light portrait in the forest

We continued down the coast and found a great turnout overlooking the ocean, the town of Manzanita and it featured some great dramatic clouds.

portrait overlooking the Oregon coast

Next we did some urban style portraits in the small town of Wheeler, Oregon.

small ocean town urban portrait small ocean town urban portrait

In the Rockaway Beach area we braved a few raindrops to get this portrait.

Rockaway Beach Senior Portrait

The tide was out so we were able to get some fun portraits on some rock formations just before Garibaldi.

oregon coast dramatic sky

We finished up our time in the town of Garibaldi.  There is a great public pier there that I have been dying to do portraits on for years, I tried one time before on a trip with friends but the rain hindered that effort.

Oregon Coast Destination Senior Portraits with Sky009 portrait on an ocean pier

After the pier the plan was to do some photos in another spot for sunset, but it started raining pretty hard so we stuck around Garibaldi to see if the rain would stop.   Thankfully it stopped just long enough for us to catch a little bit of the sunset peaking through the clouds.

ocean sunset senior portrait

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.   Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work.  Jason is also a Sponsored Pro for Interfit Photographic (http://interfitphotographic.com/)