The flawless pin up

Pin Up girls. Poster girls. When you think of them you think- the ultimate woman, perfect, adorable, sexy but classy. Flawless.I can picture the posters lined up over the soldier's bed and the girls with their cute expressions and their adorable outfits. Most were hand drawn based off real photos from back in the day. Because they were drawn though, it was easy to be flawless, you just sketch it in!
It’s not every day that a real girl walks in to my studio and is literally flawless, but I think Alyssa just might be.
Photoshop is nowhere near responsible for this beautiful skin you see, and yes these really are photographs. Yes, she has makeup on, but it still doesn’t matter. And the outfits! Look how adorable she is. They just reinstate I’m right. She’s flawless. Ok, so maybe she did have a few little scratches from her new baby kitty we had to get rid of, but that was just bad timing! 
Don’t hate her for it though! You HAVE to see how AMAZING she did when she came to our Retro Truck Pin Up event!
We hooked all the girls up with professional hair and makeup that morning too, so cat eyes, a red lip, and victory rolls were a must- which I LOVE. It’s such a gorgeous look. It’s fun, it’s out of the box, and it forces you to rely on yourself and your personality to be sexy instead of your body.
But… if you have a fabulous body as well, then… aren’t you just lucky. Again- flawless, right?
Take a look!

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Check out the full beauty gallery here!

If you're dying to see more sassy pin ups and trucks you're in luck.
Here's a secret garage girl shoot we did for a hubby who's a mechanic
And another with a mom who dropped her baby weight and celebrated with a timeless, flawless retro shoot!

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2015 recap

Two Thousand Fifteen. 
Where do I begin?

All these beautiful, unique, life changing squares before me. 

My gosh. Every single one holds a face that has made me in to the artist, photographer, and person I am at this very moment, after another full long year of connecting with people through squares and rectangles that define who they are in just 1 moment of time.

   The beginning of 2015 started out with snow, love, pin ups, and models. I got to photograph people in the first few months of this year that would become friends of mine, have babies, get married, go on to be successful in their careers, win awards… Every person in those first squares are so much more than faces to me when I look back.

   At the very beginning of March my husband, Jake, and I went to Las Vegas for the biggest Photo Expo in, possibly, the world, WPPI. On the plain ride home I exploded a small notebook with ideas, inspiration, things I wanted to change, and ideas I wanted to create. That’s when The Revolution was born.

   Around May I took about 1 1/2 months off of work. I go through phases with my art, like we all do in life, but at that point I had realized that, if I didn’t make a change NOW I wasn’t going to be able to make that HUGE jump in to the art that I've always been drawn to, that really makes me happy and keeps me feeling alive. I had to make a cut in the timeline, so I disappeared for a bit. 

   You will see a lot of little squares that are of me this year. It’s not because I love myself that much but I find that inverting inwards helps me understand situations better. Sometimes I find messages to myself in my work before I’m even fully aware there’s a message to be found. Through my self-portraits I pushed past what I was comfortable with, what I thought I knew, and started over. I let go of what was holding me back and pushed towards what made me happy. I found myself outside more, exploring more, and having a better understand of what actually made me happy when it came to creating for others. 

   From that time The Pillow and The Pond and Floating through the Veil was born, as was another piece I am still waiting to release. 

   After that the squares starts to shift back to everyone else. The people who keep my art alive- you.
We did so many gorgeous seniors, hot bridal boudoir, families, even a few babes! We got to experience being with hundreds of people for weddings, big commercial shoots, I even climbed 100 feet up in to a giant Michigan Sequoia to get some shots of climbers. You rolled around in leaves, climbed up and down hills with us, got sassy with an old retro truck, sun gazed, and threw around flour. You laid in ponds, jumped on trampolines in sweaty haunted buildings, and stuck antlers in your hair.

   You made 2015 beautiful, truly, unremarkably beautiful. And I thank you for that. Over and over and over again.

   Here’s to another years of beauty, stories, and fairytales brought to life.

Tomboy crosses over in to a fairytale at sunset- St. Clair High School Senior photo shoot

   Jordan has an eye for seeing beauty in the things many other people might not, like rusted out jeeps, overgrown greenhouses, tall grass, and crumbling tree forts.
   I photographed her brother 2 years ago, so I was really, really excited when her mom (who is just a little, bubbly, hysterical ball of sunshine in a petite package) called me to say she was coming back to me with her daughter!
   When we met in the studio to talk over what she was envisioning she told me her boyfriend’s family has a ton of property with a TON of stuff on it, and then proceeded to draw a little map for us. Let the treasure hunt begin. Oh, and horses, they have horses!
   This gorgeous tomboy had decided on jeans and flannel, what you can usually find her in while riding, a couple of cute tops, and then, a dress, because, why not!? This was my first clue she was hiding something under those t-shirts and yoga pants.
   My assistant and I pulled up and hopped on the deck, which towered over everything we had been told about, and more. It was a rusted out playground for us. I’ll take rust, rot, and chipping paint any day over perfection, it’s totally over rated.
   Jordan can definitely keep up with the boys, which I dig, but… this rough and tough girl gets in front of my lens and I just watch these layers of what I thought I knew about her melt away. Once hair and makeup was done we dove in, hopped on top of the Jeep, and started to shoot with the sun pouring in from behind. Her eyes told me she secretly wasn’t afraid. She knew how to move, she knew what I would be looking for before I even said it. I’m certain in that exact moment, a model was born, or had been hiding and waiting for this exact moment to bust out. Sometimes we just need an excuse to release a different side of us.
   Next we headed back towards a tiny cabin in the woods. You want to know what a true life fairytale looks like? Drive a few miles back in to the woods with a pretty girl, put her on a golden horse, and watch as the sun sets behind the trees off in the distance. There came a point where Taylor and I had to physically peel ourselves away from everything so we could pack up and go. I could have photographed Jordan for hours.
   Cant’ you see why?

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Check Out Our Full Senior Gallery!

For Some More Country Outdoor Style Check Out Delaney's Session!

For More Beauties With Their Horses Check Out Madison's Photoshoot!

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Fashion Photo-shoot with Algonac High School Senior

1 beautiful Senior girl, 8 rockin' outfits, 2 photo-shoots, and a HUGE collection of gorgeous shots that make your jaw drop. 
Meet Zoe. I met her Mom last year when I was photographing at a womne's retreat. She mentioned maybe we would be able to work together for her daughter's Senior pictures, and she kept that promise. Thank god! I can't imagine missing out on ALL this! 
We had a blast. The first day we met to plan everything we knew we were going to have to break the shoot up in to 2 different projects because she came with 8 outfits, none of which we could part with. 
Normally, most people can only pull off a certain look but Zoe could pull it all off. A baggy sweatshirt, and oversized cardigan, a sassy dress, crop tops, boots, heels... Man! 
So we started our adventures in the Summer, on a crazy day with down pouring rain, and vicious winds. But it made for the best sunset, and her hair dancing literally made me, my assistant, and her mom yell and jump up and down at how amazing everything was coming together.  
Imagine being on a cliffside, waves crashing, the deep blue water crystal clear for as far as your eye can see, your model just working her beauty, and the wind comes up on set, blows her dress, whips her hair and you get the shot. If it sounds perfect, that's because it was perfect. 
See for yourself. 

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Check Out Our Full Senior Gallery!

For more Downtown Beauty Check Out Marissa's Photoshoot!

If You Like The Studio Look Check out Logan's Fun Senior Session!

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