Design - for Journalists.

I took some family portraits just outside of Philly last week. It was a beautiful day - a barefoot in the grass kind of day. I've missed those so much.

Right now I'm working on a new business card and web design for a solar paneling company. Definitely different from my usual work but it's nice to use my Multimedia training! What do you know, I'm grateful to have taken Design for Journalists, after-all.

Every day I wake up in love with our beautiful little home. It's got its quirks but it is the most inspiring, lovely place I have ever lived. We have an incredible life!

Belly Beauty

            Growing up, I had some really interesting and enriching experiences that helped shape the work I do today. For many years, I would take the bus to East Oak Lane and study fine art in the home of a family from church.

            I loved my art teacher. I argued with her all the time but I learned a lot. When I was in high school, I got there early and cleaned in exchange for lessons. Walking through that perpetually cold and dark house, where every surface had a permanent fine dust and every breath was filtered through a haze of charcoal, I felt like I was in a magical haven. I loved being there early, steam-cleaning floors, vacuuming up debris from the walls that were falling into disrepair. My teacher was eccentric and strange and reclusive but her love for art, her students and teaching was undeniable.

            I remember the day she showed us a documentary on the work of a famous artist who painted nude women during the Renaissance. Again, a member of our church, our teacher had to proceed with trepidation. I feel I owe a great deal of thanks to her for the way she honored the beauty of God's creation in the human body and taught us to do so as well.

            In many ways, that is what appeals to me about mother-centric photography. Pregnancy, birth, motherhood are all part of a celebration of feminine beauty. Our culture is pervaded with an overly-sexualized image of femininity. We've forgotten how to honor bodies as God's beautiful creations without treating them with a measure of shame or perversion.

            It's a question I've had long discussions about. When we admire the great works of DaVinci or Michelangelo, surely we know that they weren't painting from their imaginations. There is a debate of ends justifying means and honestly, I don't know who is right. I know that I am not offended when I look at those paintings. To me, they are beautiful. And that leads me to believe that it is not wrong to use photography to capture that same innate graceful beauty.

            Becoming a mother has made me appreciate this so much more. How our bodies are designed to carry, develop, deliver and sustain life. We are these incredible works of art at every stage. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. And I believe that that is worth celebrating.

Macro Lens!

How could I forget about my beautiful macro lens? My parents bought this lens as a Christmas gift for me several years ago. I wasn't doing much portraiture at the time and never really used it, so it hasn't seen much use. This is a FANTASTIC portrait lens!!! (Neither of these photos have been touched up at all - ok, I lied, I took out some acne in one. But other than that...)

It took me a while to know what about photography I was specifically drawn to. There are so many genres and possibilities. But the one consistency in every career dream I've ever had was a connection to people, a desire to meet and connect with real, honest people.

I'm not interested in fashion, glamour, beauty, although I have seen incredibly well-done and beautiful examples of all. Of course sometimes it's fun to play around with this, but it's not what drives me.

So whatever I am photographing - pregnancy, babies being born, new mothers, portraits, weddings, whatever it is - I am there because I want to connect to people, I want my photography to tell a story for and of them. And if I can accomplish this, I will have fulfilled my goal - to use photography as a means to help people, to capture real moments in their lives and preserve them for years to come.

Not your stereotypical portrait.

I want to tell your story.

20 Weeks.

It's taken long enough, but a photo gallery is finally in the works. It's kind of funny to me that my passion was so firmly rooted in pregnancy and birth photography before I ever became pregnant. These last several months have been a really amazing affirmation that this is what I want to be doing. I love our baby - I love this 'mommy' feeling that's growing and developing with this little person inside of me. It's such a surreal, truly incredible experience. This photo was taken today - I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant. Five months, how did that happen???

Stay tuned for details on this gallery! Every penny will be going towards the cost of a natural home birth, which is not covered by insurance. Incidentally, all compensation for my photography services currently is being allocated for this purpose as well. So if you have an event coming up - a wedding, a birthday party, an award ceremony, anything - or if you'd just like some up-to-date family photos, be sure to let me know!

All you need is love!

Sorry there haven't been many updates in recent days.  Life has been so busy.  My fiancé and I visited the location for our reception on Thursday - it is truly like something out of a fairy tale.  You drive down a long, winding road in the middle of the woods until it dead ends in a valley by a creek and right there, where the road stops, is the most beautiful little inn on earth.  It's perfect.


Yesterday we looked at an apartment that we both really love and that fits our budget beautifully... and it's right across the street from where I am now!  Whew, but a long move that'll be. =P  We're so happy - everything is really coming together.


Today, we found out that some friends from church are getting married next week and the congregation is invited... which means I can see what an Orthodox wedding looks like!  How amazing!  What layers of blessings we are receiving - I'm so grateful.


I can't wait for August!!!

Choose your own adventure.

It's kind of interesting to see how people react to photos - the stories they make up to go along, the ways they justify them so they make sense in their line of reasoning.  Always be nervous when someone decides to tell you what your pictures mean.


I don't know what my pictures "mean", per se.  I know what they are.  I know what I wanted to capture, what I wanted to highlight, discover, reveal.  But what does that mean?  I guess it's up for interpretation - or anyway, I can't stop people from forming their own theories.  But I don't usually like hearing them.


In class a few weeks ago our teacher spent several minutes speaking about the person in one of my photos.  I couldn't help but be insulted, because while it was an educated and sympathetic guess, it really wasn't anywhere close to the truth.  The events that led up to this person being in this state when I took that picture were nothing like what was surmised.  But it was anyone's guess, I suppose.  Photos are like those choose your own ending stories, only there is a real ending, somewhere out there.  I guess people would rather use their imagination than know the truth.


I showed this picture yesterday in class, receiving reactions of discomfort, disbelief, disgust.  And then I told them it was my own neck.  I'm not ashamed or bothered by my scar - in fact, I kind of like it.  But these things don't matter when you see the picture.  You'll make your own decisions about how the subject feels, about why they did one thing instead of another, about what happened thirty seconds before or two seconds after the shutter clicked.  And I can't stop you.  And I think I'll stop trying.

Ethereal Mommy

My sister's due date isn't entirely certain.  They're guessing it's this Sunday.  That means any day now we'll be meeting a beautiful new boy or girl and welcoming them into the family!  I'm so excited, I can hardly wait.


We got together on Monday to take some pregnant mommy shots.  She really wanted to do a henna tattoo on her belly but couldn't find a kit so she drew one on with brown marker (and it looks very convincing!  My sister is so amazing).  We had so much fun and the shots turned out really well.


We had the advantage of a nice, cloudy day, so this first photo was shot out on the deck.  I'm choosing not to share some of the belly shots since although she looked phenomenal, there wasn't much in the way of clothing going on.  The diffused light from the clouds was great, though.  It really brought out all the vibrant colors going on and diminished harsh shadow.

The second photo was taken by a window across from a line of row-homes, but since I was exposing for her, they're completely washed out and there's just a really nice, soft, white light.  (Photog-experts, this is common sense, but I like explaining a bit of how things come together for my friends and family)

I can't wait to meet (and photograph) the new baby!  How exciting!!!

We'll do it live!

So, I've been shooting a lot of portraits recently and I have yet to use a single professional light.  I actually have a lot of fun figuring out simple, natural ways to get the lighting I need.


This photo, for example, was taken against a small piece of black foam core propped up against a wall and perpendicular to a window on a cloudy day.  Not a single light-bulb.  I like how it turned out.  It feels like finally, after years of shooting, I'm finally starting to get an idea of what my 'style' is!


In the next few weeks I have several Mommy-Baby shoots lined up.  I'm really excited!  There are so many little people about to be born!


Anyway, I just wanted to share one of my favorite portraits from the past few days.  I hope you enjoy!

Mommy!

I never get tired of photographing my nieces.  Not only are they adorable, brilliant, wonderful little kids, it's so incredible to go back and look over these photos and see how big they've grown.


Taking this photo I asked if Grace could look at Mommy - she was so good for the camera.  We've got a model in the family!


I'm so excited for next month (is it really that soon???) when my sister is due to give birth to their third.  It's so hard to believe that he or she is that close to being here.  843,934,234 photos to come, believe me.


Anyway, I just wanted to share this one tonight with you all.  (By the way, if you're looking for easy, free silhouette lighting, sit in front of a window on a cloudy day.  Boom!)

And now...

Ladies and gentlemen, a photo of the man I love... with the truck he loves.

Chiaroscuro

My old art teacher, Mrs. Okulski taught us about chiaroscuro and it always stuck with me as one of my favorite styles.  In my photo classes my teachers warned me away from too much contrast and losing detail but I've always been sort of drawn to dramatic lighting.  It is important not to lose too much detail, but I like the idea of keeping what's most important and letting everything else fade a little.

I'm still trying to figure out what my style really is (and whether there's a market for it- ha!).  I feel like I think more in paintings.  I'm terrible at portraiture- I'm always looking for the moment that feels like a secret instead of the one that necessarily frames the model the best.  This is a good example.  I really like this picture but you can't see the model's face very well at all.  There's no eye contact.  The model isn't facing the camera.

But I like the detail in the hand- the fingers, and even the fact that you can't see the face so well, that it's hidden by the hair.  I feel like it's more a photo of the inside of someone's head than the outside.

Candid

My life has been undergoing this incredible transformation in the past few weeks.  I don't know if I fully recognize myself anymore.  Or maybe I'm recognizing who I used to be.  I don't know.  I know that I am happy.

Just a candid moment, today.  Nothing much to say, other than I love this picture.  And this person.

Take Two

Sorry guys, just couldn't resist posting another shot from yesterday with Grace.  I can't help it, I just love the way these pictures turned out!

It's always nice working with someone who has a natural affinity for the camera.  I felt like we were working together on this- like we were both interested in creating something.  A good model understands that they are there to be a part of the creation of art.  I mean yeah, you can just stand there and I can move you until you look the way I want, but it's nice when you understand how to just... be part of the picture.  She was really wonderful to shoot with.

That's all for now.  =)

Alex

My good friend, Alex DiFiori is one of my greatest photographic inspirations.  When all else fails, I can always count on him to kick my butt into gear and get me shooting again.  What I admire most about him is that he's constantly experimenting- new mediums, new subjects, just constantly challenging himself as a photographer.  And his work is amazing because of it.

It's important to keep skills sharpened.  No matter how much talent you've got, you've still got to go out and use it or it just gets dusty.  I try to shoot pretty often, but Alex has me beat.  His goal is to shoot one really good photo every day for a year.  To me, this is way more challenging than shooting a hundred pictures on your digital camera and assuming one or two of them came out well.  Really forcing yourself to try and take the best shot you can get is an excellent way to get better.

In that sense, film has an advantage over digital.  I think digital gives the excuse of laziness, but I tell ya, when you're paying for film out of your back pocket and your back pocket isn't exactly overflowing with cash, you definitely want those pictures to come out perfect.

I try to keep that ideal in mind while shooting digital- I try to wait for the moment and capture it when it happens instead of shooting in rapid succession and hoping something comes out salvageable.  I'm no Alex DiFiori, but I'm getting better!