Portrait Playdate by Shannon Johnson

Psst. Hey there. Hi. I have news. After a season of cocooning, the new PortraitPlaydate.com is officially live. And this moment feels bigger than a website launch. Because it’s not just the culmination of the years I’ve spent developing my craft, building a studio, creating a portfolio, and refining my offerings. It’s the culmination of the years I’ve spent rebuilding myself from the inside out — healing my relationship with visibility, untangling limiting beliefs, and learning how to belong to myself first. The new website and these new self-portraits are a reflection of that inner, invisible work. The kind that happens in the dark, not in rainbow eyeshadow. From where I stand now, I can finally see the distance I’ve traveled. I see resilience alchemized into radiance. And that sense of clarity and congruence is exactly what Portrait Playdate is meant to offer you, too. Every person I photograph reminds me how much beauty lives in our individuality. That’s what we honor here. Portrait Playdate is a space to explore, document, and rewrite the relationship you have with yourself. A space where you’re not just a subject, but a collaborator and co-author of your visual narrative. A space where we don’t just create pretty pictures — we create evidence of your becoming. A space where you can reconnect with your spark, shed identities that no longer fit, and step into the frame on your own terms. If this speaks to you, explore more through the link in my bio. And if you’ve never loved a photo of yourself, or the ones you’ve got don’t feel like you anymore, let’s change that together. HMUA: @velvetandvenusbeauty Set textiles: @anarutbre via @society6

R Y A N 🎨 H E N R Y 🎨 W A R D This is Henry! He’s painted ~600 murals all over Seattle and beyond, so even if you don’t know who he is and you live in the PNW, you’ve probably stumbled upon his work. That was the case for me until I saw @henry_beyond_museums speak at @cm_seattle about his artist’s journey. I took a photo of him, captioned it with “Henry is a cool dude,” posted it to my IG story and went about my day. He replied later on and that’s how I found out that he hadn’t done public speaking in 25 years (🤯) and this talk was the first time he shared about the dark, heavy, and hard with a crowd full of strangers. When you see his cheery, colorful characters on food trucks and elementary schools, your brain doesn’t exactly make an association with someone who’s *really* struggled — i.g. suffered an injury that led to addiction, homelessness, and a couple close calls with death. Unfiltered stories like these are so necessary to hear and I loved it. Once he told me he wanted to do more speaking and eventually write a book, we started entertaining the idea of getting him some headshots. We tossed around some concepts over coffee and donuts and landed on a Bob Ross inspired game plan. Maybe swap Bob’s paintbrush for a can of spray paint or something. Henry was gonna bring paint and stuff and we were gonna sort it out. And then he showed up at the studio with none of these things. 🤣 No paint. No props. No supplies. Just paint splatters on his pants and under his finger nails. Which I also loved. This was also after we made it over the hurdle of him getting cold feet and wanting to cancel. An upbringing that conditions you to be modest will do that. (Cont’d in comments)

T H E P L A Y P A L A C E My Belltown portrait studio, which I’ve affectionately dubbed the Play Palace™, is an industrial-chic sanctuary for authentic expression and creativity. It’s where I dote on my clients 1-on-1 and where we play with professional hair and makeup (included with custom shoots aka Portrait Playdates), styling, posing, lighting, and props to capture a variety of images that accentuate their individuality and showcase them in their best light. Just a stone’s throw away from Elliot Bay and the Olympic Sculpture Park (for those who prefer nature as their backdrop), it features: 🧦 gorgeous floors ideal for twirling around in your socks, but also for standing 🧱 exposed brick 🛖 13-foot soaring ceilings 🪟 3 large windows for flattering natural light 🌈 10 seamless backdrops in various colors 💡 professional lighting equipment & modifiers for endless creative possibilities 🪑 posing stools, apple boxes & chairs 👓 fabrics, props, & accessories to create captivating portraits of all kinds 👗 a private dressing room for outfit changes 👘 a makeup chair and a snazzy silky robe to wear while you’re getting all done up 🔊 a Bluetooth speaker so you can play DJ while we shoot 🍾 a fridge stocked with bubbly beverages 🙋🏻‍♀️ 1 professional photographer and hype girl (me) While you’re here, you’re in the director’s chair of your visual narrative, and it’s my job to bring it to life. COME PLAY

Coming 🔜🔜🔜 Portrait Playdate is glowing up. Pretty soon you’ll be able to transform your favorite images into framed fine art for your walls or custom-designed, coffee table-worthy keepsakes you’ll want to flip through foreverrrrrr. Museum-grade materials. Heirloom quality. Designed to be seen, touched, and treasured with all the options to make yours one-of-a-kind. Yeeeehawww. I’m stoked!!! Let’s make art and put it on DISPLAY, baby! More info + website launch coming soon! 🤘🏻💋

@portraitplaydate absolutely smashed these 📸 included in the @nightclubber_ro feature

Sometimes simplicity does it. I made these with my nifty 50mm and one light positioned above, feathered in front of me (not directly above my head). I practice on myself so I can perfect thangs fo you! Also! Wanna know a secret? The tip of my elbow was cut off in the original composition of the 6th photo, so I Photoshopped myself a new one. 😌 What does this mean for you? It means we optimize for good lighting and authentic expression when we shoot together — real smiles, flattering poses, and believable body language. Composition, blemishes, flyaway hairs, clothing wrinkles, and nearly everything else can be fixed in post to create balance and remove distractions — even if that means creating pixels that didn’t exist before to fix accidentally cropped elbows or fingers. 👍🏼 Obviously the goal is to get everything right in-camera from the get-go, but that’s not how things always pan out. Often times it is in the in-between moments when we’re just conversing vs. composing the next shot that something really, really real transpires. I’m paying attention and I’m snapping quick. Maybe we get the winning smile, but maybe we lose a finger nail in the process. The good news is that it’s no big deal. 🤘🏻

J Y O T I ⚡️ J A N I Proud doesn’t even begin to cover it. This powerhouse @jyotibfly —now an author—just launched: 📖 Creating Culture: Empowered Leadership for Systems Change (5 years in the making!) 👸🏽 A bold new personal brand (Jyoti Jani) 👩🏽‍💻 A stunning new website (JyotiJani.co) 🎊 An immersive book launch at @mopopseattle And I had the absolute joy of arming her with new professional portraits to support this moment (swipe to see a sample). Seeing my work up on the big screen at her launch party was cool. But seeing her step into this chapter—owning her voice, presence, and impact—was infinitely cooler. I FRIGGIN’ LOVE TO SEE IT!!! I met @jyotibfly before this book was a fully-baked idea and I’ve photographed her once before in its early stages. What I witnessed at her launch party, and what I see in her new portraits, is a woman committed to upgrading her beliefs about what she’s capable and deserving of—and showing up with tenacious grit to make it real. And that shit is contagious AF. We need more people stepping into their light and refusing to gatekeep their gifts. Jyoti did just that, then handed us Creating Culture—both a labor of love and a roadmap for rethinking leadership, power, and collaboration to build workplaces where people truly belong and thrive. If that’s a mission you’re about, check out @jyotibfly ’s work and grab Creating Culture at jyotijani.co/book. What resonates most for me? The entire section about Creating a Powerful Self. Before we change the world around us, we have to believe we’re worthy and capable of doing so. Owning our agency and overcoming internalized inferiority isn’t just key to leadership—it’s key to a more embodied and empowered life. And that’s where our missions align. If you’re ready to explore your own power through the art of photography—whether professionally or personally—don’t hesitate to get in touch. Granting yourself permission to be seen is a darn good way to start changing the way you see yourself. 💋 — 💄 HMU: @ariannascottmakeup 👗 Styling: @lotusmalana #ProfessionalPortraits #BookLaunch #CreatingCulture #Leadership #WomenWhoLead #PortraitPlaydate #PersonalBranding

E M I L Y, T H E O N E & O N L Y Happy birthday to this multifaceted creatrix and my treasured soul sista, @emilygriffingrrl . She’s always uplifting others. She’s a friggin’ vibe. My life is better with her in it. End of story. Here’s some photos we’ve made & some moments we’ve shared. XO 💋

R A C H E L Honored to help @racheljhaas level up her LinkedIn profile with her first professional headshots. We added just a touch of breeze in her hair with my Beyoncé fan in the first one. 💁🏼‍♀️ VIOLÀ!!! 🤗

C U T I E 😍 C L A I R E Swipe to see this lovely in B&W and a lil’ behind the scenes. 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

LOVE DAY IS EVERY DANG DAY (Also not gonna lie — I’m pretty proud of these 🤣🤣🤣) Special thanks to @lp_frenchies for the Valentine’s flowers and giving me a week with this chunk. He’s my favorite prop in the universe. 🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

👑 E M P R E S S J U L I E 👑 This lovely lady @snarkyquilts came to me for branding photos to help her launch her new consultancy to help organizations best serve those with food allergies + to market another fun side hustle she’s been chipping away at outside her 9-5. We accomplished all that in her first few looks and saved this just-for-Julie look for last. Her outfit was already on point, but she did also tell me she wanted to feel regal in her pre-Playdate questionnaire, and I did already have these 2 gold crowns I bought for a future shoot … I pulled one out for her last few shots and she just effortlessly fell into these poses. Magiiiiic!!!!!! These are now going up on her wall. 🥰 HMU by @ariannascottmakeup