Experienced tutor in Photography in Bellevue, Lisa offers private lessons tailored to your needs.

Lisa is phenomenal teacher. She has so much experience teaching that her materials and lessons are well thought-out and clearly build in a powerful way. Even after only a single lesson we were looking at light and shooting in a new way, with new perspective. I'm also incredibly impressed and inspired by who she is as a person and I appreciate her broad set of skills to help us learn everything from photography to lightroom to making printed items. You wont be disappointed - make this investment!

The first event that I participated in with the Merrill's was a photowalk at the Zoo. The first great thing was that they were prepared and they took care of me. The day before the event my primary lens broke when the carrier I was using failed. They had plenty of lenses available, and I was able to experiment on the walk.
As we walked through the various exhibits they made lots of suggestions about how to take striking photographs, commenting on animal postures, backgrounds, reflections, perspectives, and subjects. They also provided answers to technical questions about my photographic equipment and how to use some of its features. I came away with lots of images, and while the rate of great ones was low, there were many that I would not have gotten without their input.
After the walk they reviewed images with me and other participants, making suggestions about processing and providing instructions using Lightroom functions beyond my previous knowledge.
More recently I participated in a "Jumpstart your photography" series, which again pushed my knowledge of my camera's operation and encouraged me to try interesting new techniques. On top of that they encourage me to share new photographs with them and they make helpful comments on positives, negatives, and opportunities.
I am very glad that I have made a connection with the Merrill's and see them as a way to expand my experience with photography in the future.

I had the opportunity to do a SnoValley photo walk with Lisa and John Merrill and was introduced to ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) I love it! If you have an opportunity to go on one of their excursions it is well worth it. Patient, helpful and hands on with out being obtrusive. A great fit for newbies like myself as well as those who are farther along in their learning curve.
Have a great day!

I had the opportunity this past spring to take a photo tour with Lisa Merrill in Tucson. I was impressed to say the least. Before the trip, Lisa reached out to visit with me about my existing equipment, expectations for the trip, etc. Once we were in the desert, she made sure that each of us had our fair share of her attention, guidance, tips, and insights. It was an unequivocal success. Lisa is not only a genuinely lovely and kind person, but she is smart and savvy, well-traveled and easy going. She has definitely helped me up my “game” with photography which I deeply appreciate. If you have the opportunity to take a trip, an afternoon walkabout in the city or a one-on-one – do it! You won’t regret it. Lisa knows her stuff.
Update 2-2021: I've recently had the opportunity to attend a Lightroom learning tutorial with Lisa and a few others. It was so well organized, complete with handouts and links for further learning (wow - thank you!). I loved that we got the opportunity to send her a few of our pictures ahead of the class so she could demonstrate some edits and adjustments to further enhance them. Again, really thorough and professional but user friendly too. You guys rock! Kathy

It's always fun to go out with John and Lisa. They find wonderful places for photography and do all the research. They offer good ideas on how to improve my photos, including how to take advantage of camera settings I seldom use. In the post-photowalk review they have offered good tips on post-processing and using Adobe software.

I met Lisa and John during a Photography class at Kenmore cameras and since then has been doing multiple Group and 1:1 focused lessons with them over the last year and half .. My photography has immensely improved in terms of thought process, composition sense, technical knowledge and also knowing to distinguish between a good and a bad shot, by simply learning from their experiences, meeting other people along with them and their guidance on the snaps that I take regularly. Lisa reaches out with comments and feedback on my photo posts in different forums regularly eve outside of our class, which is inspirational . Recently, I learnt a lot about how to effectively use Lightroom for post processing, and corrected quite a few things that I was doing wrong to begin with. That had a instant effect on the overall outcome. Overall, I feel myself fortunate to be able to get constant guidance from these two very passionate and approachable individuals who are very good coaches and spends quality time helping an amateur like myself transform into a decent photographer. I would definitely recommend them for both 1:1 and Group setting , and also as good mentors and guides in your photography journey.

“In 2017 I had the pleasure of taking a photo tour to Cuba led by travel photographers Lisa and John Merrill. The way they curated the trip to provide different learning opportunities for us as photographers changed how I look at the world and how I think about what I am photographing.”