Fall Portraits: Pioneer Square with Kerstin Huang!

I hadn’t taken portraits in forever so I planned a little Pioneer Square photoshoot with my friend Kerstin. Unlike in Los Angeles, I don’t have many content creator friends back home in Bellevue. Thankfully, Kerstin is a friend from high school who is also a blogger and a doer of all things! I always have a fabulous time hanging out and shooting with her! She currently works full-time as a senior UX researcher at Highspot, so if you’re ever curious about that field, hit her up after reading her blog post!

In planning this shoot in Pioneer Square, I made the mistake of not checking the sports schedules. Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park are right in this area, so if the Mariners, Sounders, or Seahawks are playing, traffic and parking can be kind of a nightmare. We got to Pioneer Square just after the start of the Sounders game, and parking in most garages and lots was $30. The few street parking spots were taken, so we ended up in Butler Garage which was $20 for the day, which had really narrow lanes. Most of the spots were reserved, so we ended up parking on the 7th floor. I’d really recommend taking the bus for $3.25 if you’re coming from Bellevue/the Eastside!

Our first destination of the day was lunch at a little cafe in Pioneer Square, The London Plane. It was only a couple of blocks from Butler Garage, so it was an easy walk. The restaurant has a very Insta-worthy aesthetic and also has flowers and baked goods for sale. We were able to walk in on a Saturday at 12:45pm and were seated immediately at the bar. If you have a bigger group or really want to sit at a table, I recommend making a reservation.

It was my first time eating at the London Plane, but the food and prices were similar to the trendy cafes in Los Angeles with a limited farm-to-table type of menu with soups, salads, and sandwiches. Kerstin and I shared the Breakfast Sandwich and the Grain Bowl. The service was a little slow, but the food did not disappoint!

After, we took photos around Pioneer Square. Kerstin started in a more dressy outfit then changed into black jeans and a sweater. I loved the storefront of Glasshouse-Studio with all the different colored glass! The leaves were colorful and orange and I loved the lights on the trees.

We grabbed chai lattes at a local coffee chain, Caffe Umbria, before trying to go up Smith Tower. It has an observation deck and a cool bar at the top, and the website said you had to buy tickets at the door. Unfortunately, it was booked for a private event, so no one could go up. Determined to get some sort of city view, we decided to head to the top of our parking garage to see if there was an open rooftop floor where we could get the buildings in the back. I think we were on the 12th floor and Smith Tower was right next to us.

Lastly, we drove 2 miles over to Dr. Jose Rizal Park to get photos on the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Bridge. We parked at the park, which has always been a tad sketchy, but I’ve never had any issues. I had only ever really been to the bridge to photograph the sunset and get long exposures of the traffic, so it was cool to see it with the fall colors during the day. Kerstin’s last outfit was more casual with blue jeans with fun details and a cozy white sweater.