Sea Kayaking for OutdoorProject.com

This fall I was approached by the Outdoor Project and TRAK Kayaks to do 25 trip reports throughout the Puget Sound area in a 2 month period.  Up until this point I had only been on a handful of kayaking trips, one in the San Juans, where I promptly stabbed myself in the hand trying to remove a pit from an avocado and one around Vashon Island.  With years of whitewater kayaking under my belt, the prospect of doing all of these presented the familiar challenges of dealing with the unpredictability of the water, weather, and logistics, but also unfamiliar challenges.  Being from the middle of the country, I'd have to learn how to deal with the tricky tides and currents of the Puget Sound, as well as the navigational, technical, and psychological challenges of paddling through fog, through busy shipping lanes, and rough stretches of open water in all sorts of weather conditions.  With the weather turning worse and worse every week I decided to spend 7 days kayaking over 80 miles in the San Juan Islands by myself in mid  October and knock out the rest of the trips in either single day adventures or overnight trips exploring the South Sound and Seattle/Tacoma areas.  The challenge for many of these trips was that would be traveling by myself so I had to get creative with a little bit of self portraiture.

 James Island, San Juan Islands

 Posey Island, San Juan Islands

 Clark Island, San Juan Islands

 Clark Island, San Juan Islands

  James Island, San Juan Islands

 Turn Island, San Juan Islands

 Clark Island, San Juan Islands

Blind Island, San Juan Islands

 Jones Island, San Juan Islands

  Turn Island, San Juan Islands

 Stuart Island, San Juan Islands

 Jones Island, San Juan Islands

  James Island, San Juan Islands

 Hope Island, South Puget Sound

 Hammersly Inlet, South Puget Sound

  Hope Island, South Puget Sound

  Burrows Island, San Juan Islands

  Clark Island, San Juan Islands

 Golden Gardens to Bainbridge Island

 Golden Gardens to Discovery Park

North Lake Washington Loop

 Hope Island, South Puget Sound

Jetty Island, Puget Sound

  Hope Island, South Puget Sound

Duwamish Waterway, Puget Sound

 Shaw Island Circumnavigation, San Juan Islands

  Jetty Island, Puget Sound

 Anacortes to Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands

  Anacortes to Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands

   Hope Island, South Puget Sound

  Hammersly Inlet, South Puget Sound

  Clark Island, San Juan Islands

   Jones Island, San Juan Islands

  Clark Island, San Juan Islands

  Clark Island, San Juan Islands

 Clark Island, San Juan Islands

Marysville-Pilchuck High School Shooting

It's never fun to get a call to photograph tragic events especially in communities so close to home.  Here are some of the moments I was able to capture during this sensitive and unthinkable day.

Marijuana for The Wall Street Journal

Last month I shot a story of for The Wall Street Journal about the legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington.  Here are a couple of outtakes from the shoot.

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