Behind the Photo #3 - Mukilteo Night Light

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise at this point that I enjoy writing.

Writing, like my Midnight Photo Shoots, has always given me a indescribable sense of comfort. I can hammer out what I want, take breaks when I want, and come back to it when I want to. I don’t have to worry about how I look, what my voice sounds like, or if I screw up the pronunciation of a word, as long as I can convey what it is I’m trying to say to others, My Midnight Photo Shoots are almost identical in it’s process, I don’t have to worry about people looking at me in a strange way, I have very few interactions causing me to converse with others, and I don’t have to worry about “screwing up” anything. It’s not something I’m getting paid for, it’s just something I enjoy, and I can do it all by myself or with friends. I’m definitely my most free, and truest self, when I go out with my camera into the inky blackness of the night.

Just before we get into the Behind the Photo section, I want to talk about the moment I was looking over the image of the “Mukilteo Night Light”. It made me think of my grandfather that past away a few years back. The lighthouse isn’t the biggest lighthouse in the world, and even though the light is just for show now, it still cuts through the fog and night sky with a powerful guiding light. My grandfather was the same way, he wasn’t the biggest man in the world, he made plenty of mistakes throughout his life, but I could always count on him to be a light through the darkest parts of my life growing up. I loved him, and miss him so much. But I’m happy I now have another reason to love this image so much too. On to the Behind the Photo.

“Mukilteo Night Light”

Shot on January 8th 2022, while out on the fourth Midnight Photo Shoot, this time with my friends Chelsea and Krissy (our first outing together). It was bitter cold that night, and I was still learning how to really use my camera, not to mention basic composition and fundamentals. We had only been down at the Mukilteo beach area for a short period of time, when I spotted this view of the lighthouse. The shot is actually South West of where the front of the lighthouse sits, and I couldn’t remember ever seeing it from this angle before. I pulled out my tripod, set up my camera for a super slow shutter speed (15sec at f/1.8 ISO200, which you can actually see was too slow, from the stars moving in the background), I hit the shutter button and waited. What I saw on the back of the little screen was “ok”, but definitely wasn’t anything to write home about (little did I know at the time, that was because I was seeing the RAW image, which is always flat/muted compared to what it could be after editing).

We finished up our night at the train station across from the ferry terminal, and concluded our first night out together as friends and photographers, having a blast. It wasn’t until I’d gotten back to the house, uploaded all the photos into Lightroom, and started chipping away at the editing, that I realized what potential this photo had. This image has become a corner stone in my learning how to edit, allowing me to try out different styles and adjustments. It’s always given great “feedback” to how certain sliders effect an image, up until I landed on this final edit, which is now saved as a B&W preset I use to start out every B&W photo I do. It wasn’t until recently that I realized Why I was so drawn to this photo as well, other than using it as a great editing resource. Which is, like mentioned above, that this image reminds me so much of my grandfather. Stoic, powerful, purposeful, and the best guide someone (or better yet, a shy kid with ADD that doesn’t know how to deal with his own emotions) could ask for.

I may still be learning how to be the best version of myself, but I hope that one day my own grand kids see me in the same light I saw my grandpa.

As always, I hope you’re enjoying these posts and the photos I attach to them. If you’d like to continue this, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk with you and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Behind the Photo #2 - Midnight Post / Downhill Distraction

Before I get straight into talking about the two photos in today’s “Behind the Photo” story, I want to share the exciting update’s that have been happening, and how mind blowing it is that one event can trigger a ripple effect of great proportions.

On Monday April 3rd 2023, I had known that the magazine I was going to be featured in (True Northwest Magazine), was dropping their Spring Issue. What I didn’t know, was how many of my photos were going to be used, and that it would span across four pages. Finally seeing my images in a magazine hit me hard, but in the best way, to the point of feeling in aw and pretty damn surreal. I was so happy to have achieved a goal in such a short amount of time, and I almost can’t think of what should come next.

That same day, I was told that the photos for El Mariachi (the local restaurant my photos will be displayed at in May) were read to be picked up from the printers, moving the preparations for the Featured Artist wall along nicely. To top off the whole day, one of the coordinators for Going All City (the graffiti group I shot for last year) contacted me, telling me that the City of Everett finally purchased “The Lost Mural”, a print I donated to raise money for the second event (the print I donated was also the largest one I’ve made to date, 62” x 23”), and will be hung up in the Everett Library when finished getting framed. My emotions right now are pulverized, I’m at such a state of being happy, I don’t think there’s a good enough word to described it.

So now I need to go back just a little bit, because thinking on it, I’ve realized that a lot of the opportunities I’ve been given can be traced back to singular events. Although I could talk about all of them, I’ll save most of them for another time, and just talk about the most prevalent one to this story.

It really should start out with a question, “how did I get into being featured in a magazine, AND at a restaurant?” Which is pretty easy (a bit long to write out, but easy) to answer.

August 6th 2022 I went to go meet up with a buddy of mine for a beer at a local taproom. Unfortunately for him, he hit some traffic and was going to be late. Fortunately for me, I spotted a graffiti mural being worked on, and so I told my buddy “No worries man, I’m going to go check something out, and I’ll see you when you get here”. That was the rock hitting the water, causing a ripple effect that is still happening today.

Since that day, I’ve met countless graffiti artist, met the coordinators of Going All City, shot “The Lost Mural”, was asked to be the event photographer for Going All City, shot multiple events, networked with Local Magazine Creators and shop owners at those events, shot “The Vicious Return”, printed and donated my work to the coordinators and artists, started following and talking with the magazine creator, Asked If I Could Be A Part Of The Magazine, and ended (so far) with making it into said magazine. Ripple, upon ripple, upon ripple.

Now how does the restaurant fit in to those ripples? That’s a pretty simple answer as well, but has more to do with coincidence. El Mariachi just so happened to be a food truck that would frequent my work, and quickly became my favorite place to eat. It also happens to be a favorite of the magazine creator, and we both follow them on Instagram. To save from an even longer story, the magazine creator posted about El Mariachi having a Featured Artist wall, I asked El Mariachi if I could be a part of it, and because they’ve been following me as well on Instagram, they said they’d love to hang my work up. NONE of which would have happened if I hadn’t met the magazine creator at the second graffiti event, that I wouldn’t have been a part of if my buddy hadn’t been late, causing me to go check out that first graffiti mural.

There should also be a lesson in there, ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CAMERA WHEN YOU CAN, because you never know what one small event can do. Now, let’s get into the Behind the Photo section shall we?

“Midnight Post / Downhill Distraction”

Two photos taken on the same night (December 29th 2022), within a few feet from each other (directly across the street, and next to Pike Place Market in Seattle), and what I love most about them is their differences.

Midnight Post was taken a little over 15 minutes before Downhill Distraction, and I love how calm (almost eerie) the whole image feels. Empty street, in the middle of the night, but so full of life from the sign lights giving off their warm glow. Then there’s Downhill Distraction, more of an open feel, more light throughout the image (making it feel more bright than the last), with a subject to give the viewer something to settle their eyes on (even though the subject is distracted and solo, they still make the image feel more comforting and alive). Like I said, I love both of these images for how different they are, and it’s an awesome example of the multitudes of things you can capture without having to go very far. But, these images almost didn’t happen at all, that whole night almost didn’t happen.

Earlier that day, I’d felt in a funk, as I normally do when I’m over stressed. It was my other half that suggested I get my ass out of the house, and go shoot to clear my head. So I said sure, what the hell, and even came up with the idea of asking my two favorite photographer friends to go out with me (something we hadn’t done since the beginning of 2022). At first they were a little apprehensive, but eventually said the same thing I did “what the hell, why not”.

We made our way down to Seattle, walked around Pike Place, and came back with a ton of great shots, but most importantly we had a blast just being together like we normally do. Now I’m not saying that if it weren’t for my friends going with me I wouldn’t have gotten these shots, or something similar. But I do feel like the best photos I’ve ever come away with, always seem to be when I try NOT to capture something, when I just let fate happen and let the ripples roll from there. Nothing but fun came from that night, and if fun is all that ever comes from that night, then I succeeded beyond measure. I can’t thank my friends enough for helping me along the way (if they’re aware of it or not), Brandon, Chelsea, and Krissy I appreciate your parts in this photography journey, more than you’ll ever know.

As always, I hope you’re enjoying these posts and the photos I attach to them. If you’d like to continue this, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk with you and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

If you like to watch any of the videos related to my photography journey, check out my YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@grimlockmedia

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Behind the Photo #1 - Natural Chaos

Recently I’ve had a string of really cool things happen, I was showcased in a local magazine for their Spring 2023 issue, I’ll be hanging up my work for all to see at a local restaurant in May, and I took 50+ of my photos to be voted down to 10 by friends and family (which would be displayed at the restaurant). All are awesome, and all contributed to something else that I realized I love doing, talking about my photos.

This will be the start of a series I’ll be calling “Behind the Photo”, where I’ll start out talking about the 10 photos to be displayed on the Featured Artist wall at El Mariachi, and if it’s well received I’ll continue writing about other photos as well. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably already seen and read where I’ll be going with this endeavor. For those of you that don’t follow me though, don’t worry, I’ll be taking what I wrote over on Instagram and elaborating on it even more so. So let’s kick it off with #1 of Behind the Photo, shall we?

“Natural Chaos”

Taken at the top of Wallace Falls, located in Gold Bar, on April 30th 2022.

This photo has a special meaning to me, more so than just an amazing image depicting the chaos of nature, or the fact that it was taken shortly after my birthday. This photo marks a starting off point for Grimlock Media. After hiking to the top of Wallace Falls with my step dad and my best friend, we recorded a video for my YouTube channel, where I broke the news that not only was I changing The Brew Log (the name of my old YouTube channel) into Grimlock Media, but that I had officially started my own business as a photographer. It’s fitting that the image I chose to mark the start of my business adventure be titled “Natural Chaos”, as getting a business up and started is chaotic, scary, overwhelming, and at the same time exciting.

After sharing a beer with my dad and my friend, enjoying the beauty that the Pacific North West has to offer, and settling into my feelings about the unknown path of owning a business. We set back down the trail, and finished out our hike. If you’d like to see more photos from that day, and hear what I had to say about the adventure back then, follow the link below to watch the YouTube episode.

Let Nature Be Your Teacher - https://youtu.be/coJArJUfyLA

As always, I hope you enjoy the photo I’ve attached to the blog post this week, and if you’d like to continue this or any other conversation, I’d love to talk with you and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle

Digital Dumpster Fire

I have a major issue with digital photography. Don’t get me wrong, I love the convenience of it, but hate how little longevity there is to it. We’ve become a collection of short term gratification, move on to the next thing to get our endorphin rush, constantly searching for hollow happiness society, that it’s kind of sucked a lot of the enjoyment out of photography for more than just myself.

With applications like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and even my beloved YouTube, we’ve gravitated towards an unhealthy consumption of “content”. 2020 being the year that put the “final nail in the coffin”, so to speak. I truly feel like today, media addiction should be a massive concern and more openly addressed. I’ve even been subject to over consumption of “content”, watching YouTube for hours on end instead of being productive in any way, and even fallen into the recent pitfall of “YouTube photography” (doing photography JUST to put it out on the internet), which is ok to do occasionally, as long as it’s not the only reason you’re going out to take photos.

One of the hardest parts for me to get past, is that I have always enjoyed tangible photos. Receiving photos from family members, collecting band posters when I was a kid, scrolling through coffee table books and magazines of all different kinds, consuming images “the old fashion way”. When I started down the road of photography (late 2021), my first thoughts were of printing my own images and maybe creating images worthy enough to sell to others one day. Assessing where I’m at today, I’ve “kind of” reached that goal, I’ve sold a few prints here and there to friends and family, and even fewer to strangers. But my biggest heartbreak came from realizing that there are so few that care about physical/tangible prints, and are more concerned about getting “likes” and “views”.

I’m going to bring it back from the “sad” state of things, and talk about how I’ve tried my best to counter act the mentality of “digital only” photography consumption. At the beginning of the year (2023), I made a set of “Photography Resolutions”, which range from small things like shooting more photos each month compared to last year, and some bigger ticket resolutions like seeing if I can’t find a magazine to publish some of my work. Well I’m happy to announce that in the Spring 2023 issue of True Northwest magazine, I will be able to check off one resolution, and I’m over the moon about it. On top of that, I found out that a local restaurant I frequent has a “featured artist” wall, I asked if I could get on the list and they said they’d love to hang my work up on the wall in May. So bonus resolution I hadn’t even thought of, getting more physical prints out to the public to enjoy.

I know that these two events won’t change the way the mass majority views photography, no one will see these things and convert to only consuming printed images, and really that’s ok because I don’t want that to happen. I’m probably going to contradict myself in some way, but I don’t want digital photography to go away completely, as it’s still a killer way to get your photography out to so many more than a small group of people in your city or that just go to a single restaurant and see it. I do hope however that more photographers shoot with an intent to at least print some of their images, if it only be for ones self or to share/sell to others. Don’t just be an Instagram/TikTok photographer, or if you do want to share your work digitally, try your hand at YouTube or building your own website where you can choose how You want it to be Best Displayed digitally.

I have no doubt that at some point in the future, I’ll be investing in my own professional printer, building my own custom frames, and learning the art of Photography Archiving. Even if I only end up doing it for my own enjoyment. I may never become a world renown photographer, someone who’s known by name and whose work is sought after to hang on strangers walls. But I know that the work I produce (and the work of others I admire) will eventually be hung up all over my own home walls.

As always, I hope you enjoy the photos I’ve attached to the blog post (a combination of lunch break photos, and a few I used in the magazine and at the restaurant). If you’d like to continue this, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk with you and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

I Need You Forever

I’ve never titled myself as a portrait photographer, just like I’ve never titled myself as a set genre photographer. I typically think of myself as a story teller photographer, and People are my subject of choice, always.

I think that it’s natural for almost everyone to gravitate towards taking photos of people when they start out, I know it was for me. The first thing I did when I found my Canon camera again, after forgetting that I had it for years, was to take it to a birthday party and take photos with it. After getting my next camera, the Sony A7iii, the first thing I did was go down to a local park to test out how it worked, and asked a group of girls having a picnic if I could take their photos. Of course it shouldn’t come as a surprise, when I got my Sony A7iv, the camera that I’ve used for the past year plus, I’ve taken 100’s or even 1000’s of photos of people as well.

What did surprise me though, was what has been happening just recently. Again, I’ve never considered myself much of a portrait photographer, but have been asked to take photos of announcement photos, gender reveals, senior portraits, family photos, and more. This warms my heart greatly, as I love taking photos of people (pretty obvious with 217 photos attached to this blog post). But what started to surprise me, was the fact that I absolutely suck at posed or “manipulated” portrait photography. I’ve been feeling lately like I’m struggling to find images that I really like, and honestly haven’t found all that many that I’ve fallen head over heels in love with either. This in no way is because of the subjects I’ve been shooting, it’s 100% me getting in my own way.

This has really only been a recent thing, and very well could be just a bump in the road of my photography, since I’ve shot other similar events last year that I didn’t seem to have any issues with. I have no doubt that, like every event I come across within photography, I’ll learn from “mistakes” made at each event, and become a stronger photographer from it.

It’s been great looking back at all the photos I’ve taken, all the memories I’ve captured, remembering all the time’s I heard “thank you” from people, and realizing how many people became new friends because of my journey through photography. I really do love the people I photograph, and I know I’ll get over whatever it is that’s causing me to second guess my talent of capturing people in multiple ways (posed or not).

As always, I hope you enjoy the photos I’ve attached to the blog post. If you’d like to continue this, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk with you and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Until next time, I’ll catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Naturally Comfortable in an Environment

I had a funny moment not long ago, where I was standing in the middle of a field while rally cars were flying by, and I wasn’t paying attention to a single one of them. Instead I was pointing my camera at a tiny lone “naked” tree, that almost looked like it was longingly admiring a background of much bigger evergreens. It wasn’t until after I got the shot of this “scene”, that I realized that I do this a lot, and honestly I think it’s kind of cool. I could be in the middle of a big city, hustle and bustle surrounding me from all angles, and I’d be focusing on a flower, a bird, or some other animal. I’ve also yet to make it work, but on many occasions I’ve tried to compose a scene where city and landscape meet, living in Washington state you’d think I’d have found a way to accomplish that by now.

I’m not going to say I’m the type of person that’s “one with nature”, or craves time away from less concrete and glass. I like my city adventures, just as much as I enjoy getting outside the hustle and bustle to explore landscapes, flowers, and animals. I’m also not going to say I’m any good at Nature and Animal photography, because I haven’t done much practice in the way of that style to be called any good at it yet.

I will say though that growing up camping, hiking, being outdoors, connecting with animals all my life, and having a love of gardening, it doesn’t come as a surprise that I’ll randomly stop to take a picture of a flower, a bird up in a tree, a mountain range that is lit up, or snap a quick shot of my dogs or someone else’s. I have no doubt that I point my camera in the direction of what I’ve grown up finding comfort in, and I also have no doubt that in the future when I’m ready to grow even more as a photographer, it’ll be much harder to photograph things I have very little to no comfort with.

I’m going to end this blog with a quick explanation. These writings are just thoughts and feelings that bounce around my ADD riddled brain, sometimes they’ll be greatly formed, other times they’ll seem to skip around disconnected, and I could continue to blabber on and on about this topic I’m sure. But I think this is a good enough stopping point, before I get too far off topic. So I hope you enjoyed reading this shorter blog today, and I hope you’ll enjoy the photos that I’ve added as well.

If you’d like to continue the conversation, were I’d love to talk and take inspiration for future writings, feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Until next time, I’ll catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

You Blew Me Away

I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve never lived in another state, and in the 35 years I’ve been around I’ve done very little traveling. The most I knew of other places around the world was from TV, movies, books, and from friends & family that lived or traveled elsewhere. It’s actually kind of funny (at least I think it is), that the only thing I knew about Chicago growing up came from watching the Blues Brothers movies.

Granted, I knew it was called “The Windy City” and that the pizza was the thickest pizza you could imagine, I’d heard about Chinatown and how cool it was to see Asian inspired architecture mixed with modern buildings, and I’d also seen the famous “Chicago” theater sign multiple times in YouTube videos I’ve watched. But aside from those few things, and hearing a couple friends talk about it, I really had no clue what Chicago was like.

So when a long time friend hit me up and said I should come out to Chicago to see him, I thought, “Perfect! I can hit multiple birds with one stone!” You see, not only did I get to go see my friend, but I got to go experience Chicago, AND I could check off a Photography Goal that I’d set for myself (trying my hand at being a travel photographer).

Ever since I picked up my first camera, I instantly had a thought of how amazing it would be to travel the world, shoot photography, and then write or talk about my experiences. So after spending countless days trying to figure out what to pack, and ending up packing WAY more than I needed, I hopped on a plane and away I went. It wasn’t until I landed, and met up with my buddy to drive me to where he lived, that I realized that he didn’t live IN Chicago, but in a suburb of Chicago (Schaumburg). Luckily I inherited my moms ability to adjust plans on the fly, and after a quick dinner and conversation with my friend, we made plans to actually go tour Chicago a few days later.

As soon as we got to the outskirts of Chicago, I was blown away. Everything looked exactly like I’d seen it, but not so much in a visual way, more the feeling that came while looking at everything. I know that sounds strange, but there’s something about Chicago that once you’re in and around the immediate area, you can feel the grit and swagger that surrounds the city. I don’t know if it’s because Chicago is one of those cities that has an old history to it, I don’t know if it’s because the people have a style to them all their own, hell it may just be that it’s so vastly different from Seattle and the cities I know that I couldn’t see past my excitement of being in a new place. Any way I put it, I was in love, and in that very moment I was living a dream life. Visiting with my best friend, seeing a new place, and getting the opportunity to do what I love so much. I can’t put to words the best way to describe it, other than it was absolutely amazing.

Unfortunately with the ups came the realization of an immediate down, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to experience even the tiniest fraction of Chicago, being that the city is massive. Instead of letting it get me down though I decided I was going to make the absolute most of our short one day adventure. So after spending the day walking around, taking the subway to Chinatown, eating some of the most amazing food I’ve had in my life, and hitting up the hotel room after dinner so my friend could pass out. I went back out into the heart of Chicago, by myself, in the middle of the night. Now I’ve already been told that I’m a little crazy for doing this, especially with a couple thousand dollars worth of camera gear nestled snuggly in my backpack. But I’m known to be obnoxiously stubborn, and it would take an act of God to deter me from doing most things I set my mind to do.

Both during the day and during my late night photo walk I had an absolute blast, seeing all kinds of things with my own eyes, and meeting a ton of new people (some of who looked intimidating as hell, but turned out to be some of the friendliest people around), I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I left Chicago fully satisfied, happy to have been able to visit with my friend, happy to have made so many new friends, happy to have photo memories for the rest of my life, and happy to know that when I go back again there’ll be a whole new section to experience as well.

I can’t wait to go back, but I’m also excited for the next adventure that comes up as well, whatever that may be. As always, I hope you enjoy these photos, and I hope you’ve enjoyed my writings as well. Until next time, happy scrolling, but don’t “Breeze” through too fast.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Click Click VROOOM

If I had to label myself, I’d say I’ve become one fine (up and coming) automotive photographer, even though it was a genre I never thought I’d get into that much. When I think about where I am today though, shooting down on track at Rally cross and Auto cross events, being invited to shoot one of the biggest charity car events in Washington state, being asked if I could capture images at a memorial held for a Giant in the automotive community, and (for my own personal reasons) snapping photos of my grandfathers Morgan to be remembered forever. It still blows my mind, that it all started by going to a random Friday night car meet, with a random person I met on Facebook (thanks for the invite Alex).

But I can’t say that my love for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and pretty much anything that has an engine and can be driven, started at that Friday night meet up. I’ve had a long seeded love for automobiles, even as a young kid. I remember my grandfather talking about his own younger years, racing M/G’s, Morgans, and Triumphs over in Europe. I can pull memories of when I was about 12-14 years old, walking next door to my neighbors house, and not only talking to him about cars, but helping him work on his 1960’s Ford Fairlane 500, 1950’s Chevy 5 window C100, and an old 1969 Mustang he called the “Moss-tang” (as it sat out in a field for about 2 decades). I have so many memories of my own cars as well, one of my first (it was actually my girlfriend’s car at the time) being a 1967 Buick Skylark GS that I restored from pretty much nothing much to look at to a land yacht that people kept asking if they could buy. I also fell in love with my VW Golf R, an all-wheel drive, turbo charged, hatchback monster that confuses the hell out of people when my 6’4” body jumps out of something that looks like it’s made for people a foot shorter than me. Like I said, I have been quite deeply immersed in the automotive world for years, decades at this point.

I’ve never been able to put my finger on what it is exactly that draws so many in to the automotive community, and really I feel like it has to be more than just one thing that draws us all in. Like the countless automobiles that we all love and devote so much time to, there is probably a different reason for every person, a different story as to how or why we got into whatever genre we are drawn to (which is also awesome that there’s so many genres out there for everyone to enjoy).

I said above that if I had to label myself, I would label myself as an automotive photographer, even though I never thought it would be a genre I’d get into that much. But I’m so glad that I’m here, capturing photos of cars flying around a race track or out in the dirt and mud, cars sitting still and looking gorgeous doing so, cars burning rubber, and cars that are waiting to move under their own power once again. Even if I did just happen to stumble across this amazing opportunity, I hope it only keeps getting better and better as time goes by.

Thank you to all those I’ve met in the car community, and to those I’ll met in the future. I hope you enjoy these photos I’ve captured, and until next time. Keep the Rubber Side Down!

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Cart (0)