Amanda

It's pretty rare that all the elements come together for a outdoor boudoir session.  Weather, timing, a willing subject, and of course finding a secluded enough location to take the photos.  But Amanda and I set out on a beautiful warm fall day for a beautiful boudoir adventure.

Boudoir sessions are close to my heart.  They require a lot of trust, vulnerability, and openness.  When a subject relaxes during a boudoir session, it is a huge compliment.  But the main reason they are so close to my heart is that they are an amazing opportunity to show someone's true beauty, the kind that very few of us show to others.

So Amanda and I headed out on a hike, with a few outfits and a flower crown to make some magic happen.  Amanda is so beautiful and I think these images did a great job of capturing her.

My favorite images of the day however, are the ones that we took in the lake.  That's right you heard me.  This girl got in a lake, in Fall (with maybe a little persuasion from yours truly).

There is something about water that is just magical to me.  The first half of my life I grew up near the water and it still has a huge calling for me.  Lately, I have been very influenced by Michelle Gardella.  I love her work and think her River Stories series is absolutely stunning.

A tremendous thank you to Amanda for trusting me during our shoot.  For going with my crazy whims and being up for anything...even freezing cold lakes.  Especially lakes that are pretty gross at the bottom.  It was a great adventure and you are such a beautiful woman.  I hope the world can now see what I see.

I know Magic

Levitation pictures can be really fun, or creepy, or elegant, or whatever floats your boat.  And if you have photoshop or another editing system, they are surprisingly easy to recreate. First you want to start off with two pictures: *side note you will definitely want to use a tripod for this.

Picture number one should just be a picture of your background, whatever that may be.  Now here is the super important part.  Once you decide on a background, angle, etc that you like, do not move your tripod, or you're going to make life a lot harder on yourself.

Picture numero 2:  A picture of whatever you wish to be levitating in the foreground on a stool, of some kind.  You ideally want something that isn't too elaborate.  It's hard to tell in this picture because the bench I used was very similar in color to the background, but the subject is laying on a bench.

Next in photoshop you are going to open those two photos and pull the foreground photo on top of the background photo and line them up so they are exactly on top of each other.  If you're having some problem doing this you can lower the opacity of the top layer so you can see the one beneath.

Next, create a layer mask on the foreground layer (you can do this by clicking on the icon of the square with a circle in it at the bottom of your layers menu) and using your brush start to paint over the stool, or bench.  You can see here that I went a little too far so I'm losing some of the subject's leg, that's no biggie!  Just switch your brush color back to white so you are adding back to the layer mask.  Work with it until you no longer can see the support feature.

Do a little tweaking with colors, etc to make the picture as eerie as you would like, I mean we are getting close to Halloween after all.  I think they are a lot of fun, and I hope you will try these out as well!

The Twin

Two weekends ago, I went home for a busy weekend away.  While I was there I teamed up with my wonderful friend The Twin.  She wanted some lovely portraits done, so we headed to the river and had a grand ole time.  I even stepped in for a couple cameo shots with my best bud.  The Twin and I have been friends for a long time, so it really meant a lot to me to be able to do some portraits for her.  And here is the end result.  Happy viewing!

Life

About a year ago on Valentine's Day, my Dad got me this photo book: "Life: The Classic Collection."  He thought it would help inspire me on my photographic journey, and boy has it ever.  The photographs in this book are iconic.  And I say photographs because that's what they are.  They aren't "pics" or "photos," these are PHOTOGRAPHS.  These photographs are so awe inspiring not only because they capture some of the most traumatic and meaningful times in history, but because of the art, timing, and skill that each photographer illustrates in each photograph.  When I see these photographs, I realize how far I have to go and how much determination I need.  It's a great kick in the pants as well.  AND one of the great details about the classic collection, is that it comes with 25 removable photographs, that you can frame and put around your house, which I will do as soon as I get frames.

Many of these photographs are very recognizable.  We've grown up seeing them in magazines and highlighted on television.  They are timeless.  One of the most famous photographs is the classic Times Square Kiss by Life photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Everyone knows this photograph, and it's one of my favorites.  I really didn't know much about the photograph however.  I knew that it was taken on V-J day in Times Square.  I knew that the couple was anonymous for a long time.  I knew that they didn't know each other.  But that was about it, until today when I ran across this article.  On June 23, 2010 Edith Shain (the Nurse) died at age 91.  Apparently she didn't contact Life until the '70s, and the identity of the sailor is still unknown.  According to the photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, he was in Times Square trying to get some shots, when he saw the sailor going around kissing any woman he could find.  Eisenstaedt saw the nurse, and focused on her hoping that the sailor would kiss her, so he was ready when it happened.  According to the sliberstudios.tv article, Shain spent the last half of her life educating others on the events of World War II.  When interviewed about the spontaneity of the kiss, Shain said this, "This guy grabbed me and we kissed, and then I turned one way and he turned the other. There was no way to know who he was, but I didn’t mind because he was someone who had fought for me.”  She also said, "As for the picture it says so many things — hope, love, peace and tomorrow. The end of the war was a wonderful experience, and that photo represents all those feelings.”

I love how passionate the kiss is, how taken surprise the nurse seems, the ladies in the background giggling, and how it is framed as a snap shot.  You feel the passion and absolute joy of V-J day.  And as Edith Shain says, you experience the hope, love, peace and tomorrow.  This photograph represents something we all hope for, not only as photographers, but for our lives...to experience absolute joy and (especially so close to the 4th of July)  the end to wars.

Morning Portrait

My lovely friend Ms. Holly is in town this week and staying with me while Speed Racer is in NORWAY...that's right I said Norway.  But more on that later.  So Ms. Holly was a good sport and let me take some lovely pictures of her this morning, we went out and had a good time.  And here are the results!