Seattle Photography by Matt McDonald
Oct 17
by Matt in News, Seattle 0 comments

Washington Wildfire Smoke Takes over Seattle

I started noticing wildfire smoke in the skyline in Bellingham in 2011. It was just a little bit of haze at that point from a massive wildfire in Siberia. Over the years the wildfire smoke has gotten worse from fires in British Columbia and California. By 2016, nearly every summer had pretty bad wildfire smoke for a week or two. In 2022, the wildfire smoke is due to a fire on this side of the mountains the Bolt Creek Fire, and Seattle has been covered in smoke for over a month. On October 16th, 2022 it was nearly 80 degrees in Seattle and the smoke was so thick you could see shadows from it under the Aurora Bridge, which was a first. As a former photojournalist who still enjoys documenting the world around me I have been capturing photos each smoke season in Seattle and you can see some of them below. I am not happy about this new normal on the west coast and really hope somehow this trend gets reversed, but that might be reckless optimism on my behalf.
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Aug 28
by Matt in Music, News 0 comments

THING Music Festival 2022 Photos

I have had Port Towsend on my mind for the past couple of months and I got to see all the hard work pay off last weekend at @THINGnw. I helped promote the festival via @Do206, built the THING website, and even ran socials for the festival for a bit.   Excited to see what @stgpresents has in store next. AND I also launched the new The Swan Hotel Port Townsend website Tuesday. Here are some photos looking back at last weekend in Port Townsend. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Do206.com (@do206)
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May 05
by Matt in Macro, News 0 comments

May The Fourth Be With You photography

I started making May the Fourth be with you content for fun a few years back and now I am creating small marketing campaigns for Star Wars Day each year. It’s a fun way to get creative, to say the least. My first creation was making an animation of the Space Needle using one of my time lapses. From there I have created all kinds of content like Yoda enjoying pizza and beer to celebrate and unraveling a mandarin orange using the force. And the past two years I have created fun photos with Grogu with my dogs and created a little story to go around it on the Toy Photographers website. The Seattle burger joint Dicks even featured one of my photos. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dick's Drive-In Restaurants (@dicksdrivein) The Seattle Times featured my Amazon Death Star photo even. I have really enjoyed this process of working with toys to create organic marketing photos that spread through social media to help promote a product, movie, or TV show. If you are interested in finding a unique way to promote your business don’t hesitate to reach out.
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Dec 31
by Matt in News, Seattle 0 comments

2021 Seattle Snow Storms

It started snowing in Seattle the day after Christmas and the snow did not clear for over a week. Since I am living on the border of Wallingford and Fremont each day I took a walk through the neighborhoods with my camera and my trusty photo assistance Charlie. Since I didn’t do a blog post from the Feb snow storm in Seattle I also included some of those photos below. Take a look at the photos of Seattle covered in the snow below and enjoy!
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Oct 17
by Matt in News, Seattle, Video 0 comments

Seattle Made Week Photos and Videos

I love working with the people at Seattle Made. I help them with their website, they are an advertiser at Do206.com, I capture photos at their events and create videos about their community. For Seattle Made Week 2021 I captured several videos of their community for a production series you can see below. Seattle Made Production Video Series Seattle Made Tour Photos I also captured photos of the Seattle Made Tour and tasting at the Rooftop Brewing / Ladro Roasting facility and at Fast Penny in Seattle. You can see some of those photos below.
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Jan 18
by Matt in News, Seattle 0 comments

Seattle MLK Murals

I love murals and public art. I love it so much I even created a guide of all the public art I capture photos of in Seattle you can view over at Do206.com HERE. Recently King County Metro reached out to me to see if they could use my photos for their Martin Luther King Jr Day posters and I said yes. What seperated my photos from others is I took the time to remove vents from on the walls and signs in front of the murals, so the eyes will focus on the work of the artists. You can view both the murals below and what King County Metro created.
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Oct 20
by Matt in News, Portraits 0 comments

Seattle Family Fall Photoshoot

It’s always fun to capture photos of families as they grow. I captured photos of Molly and Chris’s wedding six years ago and had the please of capturing photos of their family at Sam Smith Park in Seattle. It was a quick photoshoot to get some photos to show their new baby and you can view a couple below.
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Aug 16
by Matt in Macro, News 0 comments

Getting Creative With Toy Photography To Get Through COVID

The COVID-19 Pandemic has been devastating on multiple levels. Death, sickness, people losing their businesses, out of work and more. I luckily have been gainfully employed still and busier than ever building websites for people. If I am not creative with my camera I kinda lose my mind and have started to lean into toy photography to keep the me creative. It’s been a lot of fun and I have leaned a lot about photography in the process. Take a look at some of the photos I have been capturing below. You can also view more of my toy photos at ToyPhotographes.com and Macrotoy.photos.  
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Jun 28
by Matt in News, Seattle 0 comments

Black Lives Matter: Seattle Protest Coverage

I used to cover protests as a photojournalist for The Bellingham Herald and have always captured photos of local marches for causes I believe in. The video of the death of George Floyd brought me to tears and it made sense for me to put my skillset to use even though I don’t work for a publication anymore. Below are photos from the cleanup efforts in downtown Seattle after the first night of protests that turned into riots. Photos from that evening were used for weeks to portray Seattle in a negative light in certain media outlets. That is what motivated me to do more personal coverage of the protests. People needed to see what was really happening. After that for over 10 days protestors and the Seattle Police clashed in front of the East Precinct. The City of Seattle decided to abandon the precinct and protesters were able to freely walk up the street. Below is the first walk up Pine Street in Capitol Hill after the Police blockade went away on June 8th. I had to run so hard to get ahead of the march I nearly got sick, but this photo was worth it. After I captured […]
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Feb 24
by Matt in Long Exposures, News, Seattle 0 comments

The Classic Pink Elephant Car Wash In Seattle Photos

The classic pink Elephant Car Wash sign along Denny Way is still there. Although it is not spinning as of late. This sign is still one of the most photographed icons in Seattle, this neon rotating pink elephant has been making Seattle nights brighter since 1956, six years earlier than the neighboring Space Needle was built.
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