Escaping the Studio: Finding Creative Inspiration in Downtown Olympia
I love being a photographer. The trap of building a photography business, though, is that you are usually busy taking photos for others. Don’t get me wrong—I love doing this. My ultimate goal is to uplift local businesses, help people reach their audience, and drive their success.
This isn’t a ‘woe is me’ moment. This is about slowing down and taking the time to discover the world right outside our doors. There are endless things to point a camera at here in the Pacific Northwest, and endless ways to do it.
The Living Room Studio Frustration
Shooting straight down into the waters of Budd Inlet. The 300mm lens paired with the 1.4x extender compressed the scene, turning this massive school of fish into a living, moving canvas of light and shadow.
Sunday morning, I started setting up lighting and flat lays in my living room. I needed some texture backgrounds for a new page on my site, so I gathered the supplies, dialed in the lights, and started shooting.
Once I uploaded the files to Lightroom, I was instantly bummed at how boring they were. The result was far from what I had anticipated, and I was annoyed. As I started to pack it all up, my wife stepped in and said, “Tell me what you are doing, I’ll help you.”
I decided to step back. “Let me take a break,” I told her. “I won't tear it all down.”
A Much-Needed Shift to Downtown Olympia
Escaping the studio means finding rhythm and movement in the wild. Watching the synchronized flow of marine life right off the boardwalk was exactly the creative reset I needed for the day.
While sitting on the couch, I checked the weather. It was going to be breezy and cold outside, but the skies were starting to clear and the sun was finally emerging from our classic Washington blanket of gray. At that moment, I decided I would head into downtown Olympia to just take some photos for myself.
It turned into a trip for the whole house—minus one of the teenagers who was out visiting Westport for the day. I grabbed a lightweight setup: my Canon 5D Mark III paired with a Canon 300mm f/4.0 and a Canon 1.4x Extender (giving me 420mm at f/5.6). I removed the battery grip to keep things agile, which still gave me the reach to get tight shots of distant objects without hauling heavy gear around town.
From the Olympia Boardwalk to the Capitol Campus
A solitary find on the rocky shores of the South Sound. Forcing yourself to slow down and observe the smaller, overlooked details often yields the most striking scenes.
Our trip started at the Olympia Boardwalk, following the edge of the water down to the end of Percival Landing. The tide was out—the lowest I’ve ever seen it here in the South Sound. This gave me a rare opportunity to capture the mussels and barnacles clinging to the exposed pilings. It was fascinating to see the hidden ecosystem under a dock that is usually sitting at water height.
The extreme low tide at Percival Landing revealed a hidden ecosystem clinging to the pilings. This is the kind of organic, high-contrast texture study you just can't manufacture in a living room studio.
After finishing up at the waterfront, we drove through the heart of downtown Olympia. Unfortunately, the sun was on the wrong side of the buildings, and the harsh, dark shadows were going to give me fits with an f/5.6 lens.
Instead of fighting the light, I drove us up to the Washington State Capitol Campus. It was practically empty. We walked around the grounds, admired the historic architecture, sat, and just talked. It was an easy, low-pressure day.
The Takeaway
When you find yourself annoyed with your creative process, put the camera down and change your scenery. My impromptu walk around Olympia yielded a ton of shots that I absolutely love—results that were infinitely better than my frustrating living room photoshoot.
