Alyssa's Awesome Photo Shoot!

My youngest daughter turned fourteen this month...though she had me fooled, I thought she was fourteen months ago! As is our tradition, I took her out on a photo shoot to commemorate her birthday. This time, we chose a new location...an awesome spot in Seattle under the Pike's Place Market called Post Alley. I can't believe it took me 20 years of living in the Seattle region to find this place. It's perfect for taking portraits because of the incredible soft, natural light that wraps around the subject from all directions. The final results look like the images were created in a studio, but hey, now you know the truth!

We shot here for nearly an hour when I looked up and realized the restaurant that backs up to the alley had opened for business and turned on their lights. I love the red glow that illuminates the window in the background.

Not wanting my oldest daughter to be left out, I took some shots of her as well to update our family photographs in the home. As I took this image of the girls together, a passerby asked if they were twins (they're hearing that a lot these days). The girls responded that they were just sisters, and he responded, "But you're the same age, right?" Say what? (They're actually 20 months apart in age).

We continued on our way to take more pictures, and I stopped at the Victoria Clipper terminal because I had noticed a cool glass wall that I thought would make a good backdrop for more pictures. It worked.

Thank goodness for older sisters to provide a touch of humor and fun to loosen up the photo shoot, so that I could capture these beautiful smiles.

We ended our day on the steps of Key Arena at the Seattle Center. It's so fun to find locations that in the past I would have breezed right by...now I can't resist stairs in the shade. These are some of Alyssa's favorite images from the day. Cheers!