Discovering Port Angeles

Beyond business, my interest in photography has always been about art. I love to both find and create beautiful things. Photography allows me to bring these interests together. As a photographer, you use things you find to create beautiful images. I enjoy the time spent looking for things to photograph as well as the time spent curating what I’ve found and making the image that came from my camera into something more.

My partner and I moved to Port Angeles in the fall of 2020. It was a time of upheaval, especially for my photography business. However, the first year of the pandemic allowed me to take a lot more time to work on art projects as many of my business projects evaporated.

Being a Port Angeles Photographer

The most exciting thing about being a photographer in Port Angeles was the sudden access to a completely new environment loaded with potential images. In some ways, Port Angeles looks a lot like the rest of western Washington — or did, once. The isolation of the northern end of the Olympic Peninsula, so far from Interstate 5 and the economy of the Seattle metro area, has allowed it to remain in an earlier era of development. It was an interesting change to move here from Bellingham which has seen huge amounts of development in the last ten years — eliminating a lot of classic architecture and history.

A night photo of an older home in Port Angeles.
An older home on the west side of Port Angeles.

I like that Port Angeles shows its age. While places like Ballard and Bellingham are getting rebuilt from the ground up, in Port Angeles people are making due with what they already have. Walking and biking around this city you can see that the original logging boom town is still visible. The homes have many different designs, styles and levels of maintenance. There is a lot of personality here.

What’s Next in Port Angeles

As the pandemic becomes endemic, I’m looking forward to participating in the art and business community of Port Angeles. These photos of Port Angeles at night are just the start. Next up will be shooting some headshots and product photography and getting to know more people in the community!

A photo of the backyard of a home on the west side of Port Angeles.
An overgrown yard in the snow in one of Port Angeles’ neighborhoods.

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