All photography and content are © Mary Ann Dawkins

My passion is portraits. I love to capture people's fleeting expressions and I find that portraits say a lot about a person that words cannot. My portraits are very candid, it's rare i can bring myself to ask someone to pose....it makes me very uncomfortable!!

My photography is also somewhat of a documentary style. I'm a truth-teller, and I enjoy projects as simple as documenting my day, a family outing, a group gathering, or a trip.

I also take a ton of landscape photography. I love the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, even on the dark dreary rainy days that we get so often. I so often hear people complaining about the weather being depressing and I like to try and capture beautiful moments and scenes. I think the darkness can be beautiful and I hope that my love for the beauty of SW Washington and NW Oregon can be depicted through my photographs.

Photography is truly therapy for me. Due to health issues it's easy for me to see what's wrong in life, and photography can be proof of what's good about my day/week/year. Often when I cannot function because of pain or other health conditions I can at least take a photo and work on it. It keeps me going!

If you decide to make me a contact I hope you will enjoy looking at my photos regularly as a glimpse into my roller-coaster ride called LIFE....

I reserve all rights on my photos. Please ask for permission before you blog, save or download any of my images. Thanks!

I have two events I'd like to annnounce.

First, I will be having a gallery showing of my photographs @ Studio R in Seattle, WA. It will coincide with the Fremont First Friday Artwalk which is July 1, 2011 from 6-9pm. Studio R is located @ 315 N. 36th Street, Suite 201 Seattle, WA, 98103

The artwork will remain on display at StudioR from July 1-July 24, 2011. A google map may be found here:

StudioR business hours are Monday - Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Studio R is the home of the Black Rapid camera strap company. To learn more about their gallery check out this link:

www.studiornews.com

To learn more about Fremont's Art walks check out this link:

www.fremontfirstfriday.com

My second big announcement is that in Jan/Feb 2012 I will be returning to Thailand with my husband and youngest child Sam (he's 10). My local library has a gallery, it is the Longview Public Library Koth Gallery. They have invited me to have a gallery show of my Thailand photos from August 16-Sept 5th 2012. The library is located @ 1600 Louisiana Street, Longview Washington 98632-2993. Their phone # is (360)442-5300. Library/Gallery Hours:

Mon - Thurs 10 AM to 8 PM

Fri 10 AM to 6 PM

Sat 10 AM to 5 PM

Sunday Closed

More information on the Koth Gallery is found here: www.longviewlibrary.org/koth.php

I would love to meet up with some Pacific NW flickr pals at either one of my gallery shows so contact me if you want to check it out!!!