At our heart we’re curious storytellers that are fully in love with Puget Sound (note: Puget Sound is commonly referred to as a region, but we’re all about Puget Sound, the actual body of water).

We started OWPS to focus in locally and tell stories about all the ways we’re connected to these wild waters, from the companies that rely on it to sustain their livelihoods to the organizations working every day to protect it to the ecosystem sustained by the entire Puget Sound watershed to the issues + policy impacting it to the artists inspired by it, to the families and individuals that dedicate their free time to recreating on it and on and on.

We do this in a few ways:

Our Journal: Our journal acts as our own little publication where we get to highlight stories related to the Sound. Some of those stories are commissioned, some are original stories produced by us to satiate our curiosity about specific Puget Sound-related topics + issues and, because there are millions of Puget Sound stories to tell, some stories are shared on our journal after being created originally by other incredible writers + publications. On our journal we also build guides to help people make the most of the Salish Sea.

Advocate + Amplifier: Some initiatives are already fully created and just need help being rolled out. We love partnering at this stage to help grow awareness for specific issues, initiatives, legislation, etc related to the Puget Sound watershed.

Our Shop: Through our shop and the 1% for the Planet initiative we donate a minimum of 5% of our gross sales (gross, not net!) to local organizations that are working hard to protect Puget Sound for generations to come. We love getting to celebrate all of the things that we love most about the Sound with practical, tangible, sustainable goods while also being able to give back to the community that keeps our local environment protected.

Custom Photo Shoots: Our founder has been a photographer for 20 years and visual storytelling is at the heart of what we do. What we love most is partnering with you to tell your story in an approachable way that really connects with people.

Stock Photo Licensing + Sourcing: Sometimes you just need a quick photo in a pinch and don’t have the time/resources/budget to commission an entire custom shoot. We have an ongoing archive of existing imagery available for license that we update every day and we can also help you source assets from other incredible creators to fill out your needs.

OWPS was started by Seattle-based photographer, printmaker, nature-lover, and etc-er, Sara Montour Lewis. She runs the day-to-day show, but also pulls in other brilliant local minds + talents to round out the team whenever the project we’re working on calls for it.

Yes, yes! Please view more information and submit pitches here. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to reach out, we would love to chat!

Our very favorite thing is working with you to figure out how to best tell your story and how to make imagery work for you, so let’s chat!

We offer countless custom solutions so you can make the most out of your time, resources, budget and goals. Sometimes one photo shoot does the trick to fill a specific need, other times we set up a series of ongoing shoots to help you build a continuous library for your day to day needs.

We can also help you source existing imagery to licensing. Sometimes this is from our extensive archive, from other stock libraries, or by tracking down other creators that might have imagery that will work for your need.

We also strategize about other visual assets, placement, possible community engagement options, fundraising, PR opportunities and all the facets that go into making this imagery work for you.

Think of us as another member of the brainstorming team that’s invested in helping you get the most value out of your available resources.

Nope! This is the watershed where we all live, work and play and we all have a vested interest in protecting it, so we would love to work with you!

While we keep close tabs on initiatives and issues affecting Puget Sound, and a lot of that centers around legislation and action through NGOs/GOs, we firmly believe that it’s important to celebrate, highlight, and consider every single community member and organization that has a connection to the Sound, so you can book a photo shoot with us to highlight your very specific Puget Sound-related project, or you can book a shoot with us simply because you love our work and you love that we donate* a portion of your photo shoot fee to orgs working every day to protect Puget Sound.

*Our donations are triple-checked and verified by 1% for the Planet!

There’s an online archive over here with a growing collection of images related to Puget Sound.

There are existing galleries of photos there that work well together, or tell specific stories, but if you have a project in mind that you need imagery for, or if you’re looking for specific subjects/animals/activities/etc., please feel free to reach out and Sara would be happy to answer any questions or create a custom collection for you, pulling from the entire archive.

There are thousands + thousands of photos (+ videos) available and those galleries are just the very tip of the iceberg, so don’t be shy about reaching out if you’d like help finding anything at all.

(Local photographers! We like to use local imagery whenever possible to fill out our stories on our journal, so if you have any online archive please send them our way so we can license your amazing work!)

Absolutely! Head over to our shop to purchase prints and other fun items.

If you fell in love with an image that hasn’t been added to our shop yet, or if you’re curious about printing a photo in a different way, reach out and we can brainstorm all of the possibilities.

We’re all ears! Reach out on the contact page and let’s see how we can make that story come to life!

You can sign up for our newsletter for the latest updates, follow our RSS feed for the latest journal posts and connect with us on social media!

Instagram + Facebook + Threads + Twitter + iNaturalist

No worries at all! Just reach out and we would be happy to help!