Vashon Island | The Myers

I really love capturing the spirit of a place. It’s exciting to find magical nooks and crannies, docks and porches, lighthouses and beaches that characterize a town. Naturally, magical places make for picturesque backgrounds, and lucky for me, Vashon Island has them all.

Vashon brought me home in 2017. After one short year in Seattle, I decided the ambulances and drunken hotel-goers of First Hill were just too much for my small-town heart. So, I set my sights on something that felt like Skagway. If you’re new here, Skagway is a tiny town in Southeast Alaska I called home for four years. I moved to Seattle to further my photography career in the outdoor industry, and found myself looking for something more. Vashon called my name.

As often happens when one moves to a new place, it’s taken time to find my bearings. It’s a process for a community to know you and welcome your skill. After three years, it is happening, and I’m making friends and growing closer to many an islander. But ironically, my favorite Vashon shoot to date is with one of my favorite Skagway families : the Myers.

I’ve shot the Myers’ family photos for years, and up until now, they’ve all been taken in Skagway : once along the Skagway River, and again in the municipality’s historical downtown. When they asked me if I had any ideas for photos in Washington, I immediately thought of Vashon. I moved to this seaside town because of its similarities to Skagway. It’s small, the community is extremely tight-knit, its roots run deep and most importantly, its beauty is vast and wandering.

I thought I’d have to do some convincing to get this family of six onto a ferry for a day of shooting, but the promise of sight-seeing and fresh air had them hooked. And they sure got the grand tour.

We visited the Vashon Coffee Roasterie and the Vashon Country Store. We scoured shorelines along Jensen Point in the charming town of Burton. We cruised along the water in my neighborhood Dockton Park, and then journeyed through the park’s wooded trails. We even managed a trip to the Point Robinson Lighthouse for one final hurrah before they rushed off for their ferry and on to SeaTac.

It was a Vashon whirlwind.

This day of adventure opened my eyes – I saw the island through those of a visitor. I remembered the details that captured my heart when I first arrived, wide-eyed and full of possibility. The red light on the front porch of the roasterie and the screen door slamming with the arrival of new patrons; the creaky floorboards of the Country Store, combined with that musty, woodsy smell that transports you to a different time; the windswept beaches, decorated with tufts of seaweed and dried-up jellyfish; and the smell of salt water that drifts through the towering evergreens who’ve been observing for centuries.

A breath of fresh air on this beautiful island that I call home.

There’s something special about sharing your home with friends; taking them to your favorite haunts is like opening the front door with a warm cup of coffee and plate of cookies. It’s comforting, an opening of your heart with people you hold dear.

I’m thrilled that they’re able to take the beauty of this Pacific Northwest day back to Skagway and remember it for years to come. I’m so grateful I was able to capture their love in a place that I love, doing the thing that I love most.

So, when are you coming to Vashon? 🙂