Senior Session- 1 amazing teen with 6 different personalities

A senior session with diamonds and guns, mud and dresses.

   It makes me happy when I meet a girl who can push boundaries but not be afraid to give back. A girl who can wear diamonds well, but doesn’t freak out when she falls in mud. A girl who can look like a lady in an evening gown but can out shoot the boys in the woods.
   That’s Tiffany- exactly.
   Not to make me sound old, but she’s a reminder to me that there’s still girls out there that are going to grow up and lead this world and make it a better place. There’s still girls out there that people can be proud of.
   Her shoot took us 2 different days to complete due to the fact we went from spinning in circles in a brand new prom dress in front of a handmade backdrop I had made, to grabbing guns and boots and hiking down the muddiest hill I’ve ever seen! We also grabbed amazing coffee in Croswell and climbed around some old buildings in Goodells. We were literally all over the place!    I LOVE shoots like these. Because shoots like these aren’t really shoots. They turn in to fun days of exploring with new friends.
   Check out what we did on our little adventures together:

(OH! And scroll down to the bottom to see what everything thing looks like behind the scenes on BOTH days of our shoot!)

There are so many looks to this session if you love the glamorous prom dress outfit check out Janelle's Senior Photoshoot!

For a more outdoor country feel check out Tayler's senior session!

Check out our full Senior Gallery

Check out our behind the Scenes video too of BOTH days we shot!

Naked on the Back Roads of Vegas

creating vulnerable fine art

How Jena Malone and Brooke Shaden taught me to strip my life down and be free.

   A few months ago I picked up the oversized As If magazine with Jena Malone on the cover. The photograph was extremely intriguing. That was the only reason why I really cared. Sure… Jena's character on the Hunger Games was kinda interesting, but not enough for me to really want to learn about her as a person.
   And then I read her interview.
   And then I was wrong.
   In it she talked about how horrible Hollywood can be and sometimes you just need to take your top off.
   I thought to myself… isn’t that kind of a typical Hollywood answer though? Let’s all just get naked!
   Then I kept reading.
   She herself was interested in photography, nature, exploring… actually being a very intriguing character herself. And then it got me thinking.
   What would it be like to roll around in the dirt naked? Or take a walk outside, naked.
   Because you’re presently all living in 2016 and the world is totally corrupt and overly sexualizes everything, I can see how you might think, as I did, that this is a bit much. Then I thought about it more as an instinctual thing, more caveman like, more natural, and then I realized. I got her point. Sometimes you just have to strip it all away away and be simple.

   Fast forward a few months after that when I attended WPPI in Las Vegas. Sin City. Ironic? I think not.
   I took a class with the amazing and inspirational Brooke Shaden. The class was on making vulnerable art.
   Now, we learned a lot in the class, but the main point was- what is it in your life or at that moment that makes you feel vulnerable? Embrace that, show that, share that, and you may just get someone in return opening up and living vulnerably.

   Vulnerable is defined as: susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm.

   How many times do we open our selves up for attack?
   I’ve always been a pretty honest and open person, especially with my art, so I feel like I may actually do it more than most. Not because I want to be attacked but because I have a NEED to express myself. And because my mom always taught me to be proud of who I am and take nothing from anyone, vulnerability wasn’t always a bad thing.
   But… I did realize there’s one thing that makes me vulnerable both emotionally and physically and that’s nudity.
   Clothes physically protect us from harm. Clothes emotionally protect us from harm. Yet I find myself, when wanting to make RAW art , that clothes get in the way. They cover us up and give us a completely different view of people.
   Think about it- don’t we judge people on their clothes and hair right away? Not in a bad way, it’s just a way that allows us to communicate to the world who we are. Imagine if clothes were gone and all I had to judge YOU on was… you. ONLY who you are in your own skin. Pure emotion and truth.
   Feeling vulnerable yet? Yeah… I am.

   So… My husband and I rented a car, drove miles and miles in to the deserted mountains of Nevada, and I became vulnerable and free.
 

   Envisioned and Edited by me. Shot and perfected by my husband.

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View all my Self Portraits

If you like this one check out my self Portrait Shedding Layers & The Revolution

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Check out this short video of us behind the scenes on our adventure!

Seeing the Beauty of Birth through a Fine Art Maternity Session

A Fine Art Maternity Session

The Beauty and Magic of The Baby Bump

   4 years ago I did a shoot at Paul Mitchell Great Lakes. There was an extremely talented young woman there who had brought her sister in to model her hair cut and color. It was one of my favorites I had captured all day.
   Less than a year later we got to work with each other again. She was entering a contest and had me photograph two more models for her, showing off her talented and unique work.
   And now here we are. Creating beauty together again like you wouldn’t believe!
   Now a proud mama of a beautiful baby girl, Larisha sent me a message a few months back asking about a maternity session for her and her boyfriend, and showed me some examples of what she liked.
   Dark, moody, raw.
   If that doesn't’ just explain everything I love.
   It’s amazing what you can do with two people, 1 backdrop, the right lighting, and a vision.
   The way I see it- this is Fine Art. This is Beauty, elevated. This is real life, made to look as magical as it feels.

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View Our full Family Gallery

For more of a spring look, check out Claudia's Maternity Photoshoot!

For a beautiful Winter Maternity Shoot Check out Syme's Session!

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Port Huron, Michigan Maternity Photographer

Pink Lipstick and Green Duct Tape- a lesson on inner beauty

Day 346
"Pink Lipstick"

(A flash back to my 365 project done in 2010/2011)

   That's where this whole thing started- with pink lipstick. As I was getting ready I grabbed the tube full of waxy beautification and thought once I applied it, "Does this make me look cheap?" Which lead me to my next thought of what my mom always use to tell me, "It's all in how you present yourself."
   As I grew up I understood this and really tried to live by it. I tried to present myself as what I really was. I didn't act like a stupid blonde girl, bc I wasn't stupid. I didn't drink to fit in, because maybe I didn't want to fit in there. Then as I got older that phrase started to slightly bother me, bc I started to look at it a different way.
   If I tried to act classy, did that automatically make me a 'better' person? Or what if one day I decided to take everything completely unserious? Would that make people think I was immature and unfocused? Bc if that's what they thought- it wasn't true. So if they thought that, too bad for them, which, in my moms defense, was another thing she also lived by, "It doesn't matter what people think." 
   Some days I think, who cares how I present myself!? I am who I am inside. I know who I am! "It's all in how I present myself." What- am I like a package? A Christmas gift? Do you pick the one with the beautiful flowing ribbon, or do you settle for the one shoved in the plastic grocery bag? You have no idea what's inside!
   Yet- other days, I do realize, my packaging does count. At quick glance people get a sense of me, who I am, and where I fit into in this life. I express myself through my clothes, my hair, the music I listen to, and the art I create. 
   I think there's a fine line between caring what people think of you and caring what people assume of you- and that's probably what my mom meant all along. 
   So, at the end of the day, if they assume I'm cheap bc of my pink lipstick, let them, bc they are of no use to me then. And if they think I'm weird for packaging myself up in green tape to prove a point, then even better, bc I would never want to be labeled as normal anyways!

Port Huron, Michigan Artistic Body Photographer