Last year's string of photo shoots ended on a high note when the Seattle cult band BRAD, including Seattle legend Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, came to ULS to be photographed by the amazing Daniel Zetterstrom.  Check out his work here. Below is a behind the scenes shot of the photo shoot by David Eader, check out his work here.

BRAD has released a total of 4 albums between 1993 and 2005.  Their 5th album is due to be released in early 2012, this should be very exciting news to those hard core followers out there since you have been waiting 7 years!
The band is comprised of Shawn Smith (vocalist), Jeremy Toback (bassist), Regan Hagar (drummer) and last but certainly not least, Stone Gossard (guitarist).  These guys are seriously the nicest group of guys and incredibly cool.  As they moved through the rooms at ULS in front of Daniel's camera, they listened to the likes of Hendrix, Floyd and Zeppelin and expressed their love for these bands and chatted about music pretty much the whole time.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of their new album and support not only a local legend, but a solid, music-loving group of dudes:)

You've got to check out this awesome music video for Seattle hip hop group Juga Hill.  Directed by Angel Colmenares of Unaluz Films, they shot really creatively all over the studio - even we had to watch twice to figure out some of the settings.  Our fav is the confessional usage of the China Room doors.  Super pro crew and great artists to work with - well done all around.

We had the pleasure of welcoming Seattle super band Fleet Foxes on Monday for a photo shoot for two upcoming issues of Q magazine (including a cover!), Britain’s largest music publication.

The shoot was masterfully conducted by renowned Danish photographer Soren Starbird with the assistance of ULS staff – he was truly a pleasure to work with.  Soren flew in from Copenhagen for the day and has photographed the likes of U2, Led Zepplin, Oasis and The Killers – check out his work at starbird.dk .

While we can’t give away spoilers (or share photos), we can say that ULS regulars will definitely recognize many settings in the photos.   Big thanks to the entire band for being so cool to work with, as well as their manager Aja and Darion from Q.  And be sure to pick up the new Fleet Foxes album coming out May 3.

Did you know that Heart Disease is the number one killer of women? We recently had the pleasure of hosting a photo shoot for the American Heart Association’s  “Go Red For Women” campaign.  The models were a combination of survivors and awareness advocates.  To boot, the one and only Jean Enerson of King-5 News was featured in the shoot!   These lovely ladies were all gussied up in their finest RED to promote awareness for the campaign.  You can read more about your local Go Red For Women campaign here:  www.heart.org/pugetsound

Kelly Engel and Matthys Van Leeuwen of Dutch Dog Design joined us last week for a photo shoot featuring 7 well behaved pooches and the coolest dog beds you'll ever see.  Dutch Dog Design (www.dutchdogdesign.com) has put a modern twist on the dog bed and the models seemed to love them!  The doggies and their beds were photographed by Tyler Macleod of Mac Arts Design (www.macartsdesign.com).  They utilized the main level of the studio and lots of our modern furniture to create their ideal setting to compliment their modern dog beds.  Big thanks to Kelly and Matthys for thinking of us, we enjoyed having you! [..]

ULS is proud to host the Seattle Professional Photographers Association holiday party coming up on Dec 7.  Dozens of local photographers will be joining us for a shoot around in our different studios along with refreshments and industry networking.   For tickets and more information visit thinksppa.org

We've had the privilege of hosting video shoots for 4 of Seattle's most famous companies (we're under gag order) in recent weeks and their productions had one thing in common: no video camera.  

Video crews are increasingly choosing to use new generation DSLRs (still cameras) like the Canon 5D Mark II instead of traditional film/video cameras.   These mini high tech marvels offer gorgeous quality HD video and the ability to use all of the high quality lenses used for still photography, while being no larger than Uncle Wally's Olympus film SLR from back in the 70s.  

This offers the exciting potential of high powered HD in every photographer's bag with cameras that cost only a couple thousand, instead of 10s or 100s of thousands.  Major Hollywood movies are even using them as "disposable" cameras for stunt cars and explosions - the quality is that good.  And for event applications, this offers the ability to have one photographer shooting both stills and video with the same camera, sure to open lots of possibilities. [..]

We welcomed Colcorado based photographer David Tejada as our featured speaker for the first ULS Photographer Networking Evening last week.  There was a great turnout of Seattle photographers (and some from Canada) who had a chance to talk shop with colleagues, as well as learn from David.  His presentation focused on his extensive use of off camera speedlights for location photography.  David shared all sorts of tricks and techniques with the crowd, and then hosted a following day workshop where 10 photographers were able to work 1 on 1 with him.  We're pleased to have David as a friend of ULS and look forward to welcoming him back in the future.

We had a great response to our Photographer Networking Evening and will look to get another one scheduled soon, so stay tuned.  Feel free to email us if you would like to be included on our invite list. [..]

We are pleased to welcome David Tejada as the featured speaker in the first in a series of Photographer Networking Socials at ULS, Aug 18 at 7p.  David is a highly regarded Denver based commercial photographer well known within the national photographic community for his "Small Strobes, Big Results" website and workshop series.  He will give a slide show presentation of his work and discuss his transition to using small strobes for all assignment work.  Stick around afterward for refreshments and a chance to network with other photographers and explore our studio.

This event is free, tickets are available on a first come, first serve basis.  Please email info@urbanlightstudios.com for tickets.   Some spaces may also be available in David's day workshop at our studio on Aug 19, see davidtejada.com for details. [..]

We enjoyed a great 50s flashback photo shoot here today, thanks to the creativity of Nicole Laye and Heather Lynn.  Nicole has created a line of amazing one of a kind airbrush painted kitchen mixers, reminiscent of finely detailed automotive art.   Working with photographer Heather, they perfectly utilized our retro-modern studio kitchen to create a surreally stunnning look - we all felt like we were walking around in "Leave it to Beaver" all day.  Check out Nicole's mixer artwork at un-amore.com and Heather's photography at heatherlynnphotographie.com [..]

Our newest theme room - "The Library"- has opened.  Designed as a modern take on Grandpa's study, it serves as a cool retro-modern space in the heart of our upstairs.  We carefully selected a variety of rad lounge furniture pieces that look great in The Library, but are also versatile for creating a custom lounge anywhere in the studio for photo shoots or events.   The crowning piece is a light-up globe - a replica of one from our studio owner's Great-Grandma's house.  Be sure to "check out" (ha, witty) The Library on your next visit to ULS.
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We've been pleased to get to know and enjoy the work of Jan Klier during several recent shoots at Urban Light Studios.  He specailizes in fashion work and has captured some great images in our studio.  Jan is meticulous about his lighting and his backgrounds, always varying the many different textures in our studio to create striking images. 

We look forward to working more with Jan on future shoots at ULS.  You can check out his blog at photos.janklier.com . [..]

Excited to see the images we just received from a really cool phoot shoot at our studio a couple weeks ago.  We had the pleasure of hosting Aniela Sidorska of Elan Digital in San Fran working with Seattle photographer Nicole Raine
(nicoleraine.com) and their great team of models and hair/mu/stylists. 

They really utiilized the versatility of our studios, shooting in just about every inch of each studio and had some amazing wardrobe and hair/ mu looks that came out great.   It was a lot of fun having them shooting here, lots of creative positive energy everywhere.  Retouching is being handled by Elan Digital and we will post the final images in a couple months. [..]

Our fabulous log cabin green room is almost complete.  We started with the walls (from the set of Northern Exposure), and have been searching high and low for the perfect complmentary cabin decor.  A couple sets of antlers for the wall, a wooden mallard, and some great timber furniture to go with our yellow velvet loungers have done the job nicely.  The latest arrival, our overhead elkhorn chandalier, has taken its place as one of the finishing touches.  It's a cool environment for getting ready for photo shoots or weddings or as a nice little escape during evening events. [..]