Red + Green

Yes, it has been seven months since my last post...The summer has come and gone, and now I stare September in the face. Sadly, I was only able to do this one shoot over the summer. Wedding season and life just got in the way of "pleasure shooting," but al least I got out once right?!

    I'll let the photos "speak for themselves".

I had an idea I had been thinking about for a long time, I actually wanted to do it this past winter. 

But the concept changed as the weather did, leading me down a different path that resulted in this! 

I made the dress the night before from my old curtains, it didn't come out exactly as planned. But then again, I didn't have a plan or pattern so maybe it did turn out as planned. 

This little whipper snapper wasn't even part of my plan until we walked out the door! I quickly whipped together something for her to wear, and she willingly trudged along in the bug infested woods. She was covered in bites by the time we were done, but she was just picture perfect. 

I love these ones! The mood, colors, lighting, subjects, all of them work so nicely together. Probably obvious by now, nothing sweeter than a mother and her daughter. 

My Show

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything, and that's because I haven't been doing as much shooting as I should be. However, I am currently working on perhaps my greatest idea yet, so be sure to keep checking for that post!

In the mean time, I wanted to share the work from my show back in December. Going through everything again I am unsatisfied with some of the work. I've learned so much since I origonally created these, but I believe it's good to show your work no matter what. It's part of the growing process, and it makes us better.

There were three different parts to the show; printmaking, tintypes, and photographs. My degree is in printmaking, so one part of my show was a lino print portfolio. I haven't taken any photos of the prints yet so I'm not showing them with this post, but I will soon. The second, was a series of tintypes (digital of course) and I think these were my favorite. The third part of the show was photographs of one of my regular and favorite models, my sister.

Okay enough with the boring talk, here's the work! First off, tintypes.

       

 This one is my favorite. There is so much to read into, I could have used this image all on it's  own.

   These two are more traditional in appearance, however can you spot the things that go against the traditions of this time frame?

This is another favorite, the eyes say it all. 

                                This last one completes the set, the turning of the head closes the
                                      communication between the model and the viewers.

I'm actually pleased with theses still, they looked really great printed on the metal. When they printed, they were a little more green than I originally wanted, but that added to the oxidation look that I was going for so I kept it.

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These next few were seen together, and titled Pseudo.

Pseudo means fake or artificial, so after working on these photos I though this title fit well. Obvious to the viewer, the colors are extreme and fantastical creating a mythical airy feeling. I have plenty of reasons why I created the images like this, however it's the job of the viewer to "read" the image, so you tell me-What are you reading?

                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                      

These final images were inspired by light and shadows. I saw an opportunity to play around with sun light that was coming through my window, and this was the finished result. Subconsciously these images are also inspired by one of my all-time favorite photographers, Ansel Adams. I love black and white photos, and I enjoyed creating this unique BnW/sepia filter to complete these photos.

So there you have it, almost all my work from the show.

Getting ready for the show was a LOT of work, the hardest part was creating all my prints. It was very time consuming and tedious work! For those who don't know what printmaking is, send me a message and i'll explain!

Photographing was the fun part, I never really feel stressed or overwhelmed when photographing. It comes very naturally and I absolutely love it.  However, I couldn't have done it without the help and support of my wonderful husband, he has taught me so much over the years and I wouldn't be where I am today with out him!

I also had many great professors encouraging and pushing me to give it my all, as well as the support of my many talented friends and fellow classmates. Liz, Amanda, Bethany, and Meghan you guys are the greatest, thank you for all your critques and encouragement!

Thanks for taking a look! I'd love to hear from you!

Painting with a lens

My original idea for this session was to use my little sister as a model. She has been pretty sick with the flu and I had the idea of capturing the feel of The Black Plague. However, my sister has a mind of her own and that didn't fly to well!

So after the session I decided to go after the art of editing. In this first image I wanted to get rid of all small details and create the illusion of painting. 

I love the way this turned out, So I thought i'd show how I got from the raw file to this finished piece. 

This image was actually really difficult to work with because I had to use the JPEG file instead of RAW. Thankfully I won't have to do that anymore!

-So first I changed the colors. I always just eye this, I don't have any secret formulas I just change tones until I like what I see.

-Next I did all my retouching and airbrushing to color correct the face. 

-The final (and hardest) part was removing the detail from her hair and coat. It took me a really long time but it was worth it to me, and the smudge tool and I became friends really quick!

So here it is side by side-

These next two I edited much later. They both have an old vintage feel to them while maintaining their own individuality.

This last one somewhat depicts my original idea.

Over all I am pleased with the way these images came out, and while they all share a similar style, they could also stand alone.

What one is your favorite?!

Metal

In preparation for this shoot, I kept thinking of metal and how light reflects off it.  

 From there my mind wandered to things made of from metal, and I went straight to armor. The creative juices started flowing and I conjured up the idea of making a mask that mimicked armor. 

So that's where I started!

I used an assortment of different makeup to get the armored look. I found the most success with shimmery eye shadow, it created the metal illusion I was going for. 

 I didn't want anything to distract from the face and mask, so I kept the costume simple. I knew in the editing process I would  mute the colors, so the costume didn't play a major roll in this set. 

These last two images are edited differently, but I really liked the way they came out especially the last one.

And again, a little behind the scenes for you.

Back to it...

This was my first "post graduation" shoot. I was feeling the need to keep myself in the student mode so I set my own assignments and dead lines. This shoot didn't start out with a particular purpose, but I knew the look I wanted for my model so I started there. 

First I started with makeup.

Makeup consisted of a TON of foundation, then I covered the models face with a white shimmery powder. This created a flatter surface drawing attention to the eyes. Mascara for the lashes and then we were set. 

Then I moved to hair.

My models hair was pretty much perfect already, that's why I chose her! After slight straightening I teased the areas I wanted to be fuller, and cemented the hair down with some Kenra spray.

Next comes costume.

Nothing too spectacular here, sometimes the simplest things work. White leggings and a blue wraparound work perfectly. I knew I could change the color of the wrap later in photoshop, so I didn't worry about it too much. 

This first set of images are influenced by the new Hobbit film. Although I had actually edited them before I saw the film, I made a few changes after. The editing is probably my favorite part, it's when everything comes together and I begin to see what I imagined while shooting.

This second group of images are more open-ended. I could write what they mean and what I intended when shooting and editing, but that leaves you the viewer out.  So, how about you tell me what you think.

And a little behind the scenes action thanks to my sister Faith! 

Thanks to Becca for being my model! She always does a good job and never complains, even though it was freezing out!