Aug

Chic Critique’s Photography Idol Contest!

Yes I’m entering a contest. I’ll be posting the full preview from this session this week–now that I’m back from vacation.

This is from Annie’s maternity shoot a couple weeks ago. Annie’s an old pal of mine so she gave me permission to totally take over her shoot start to finish–taking inspiration from some words she gave me: ethereal, vintage, boho.

Once I had an idea in mind that I liked I scouted the location over about 2 days, designed and built the swing and designed and sewed the skirt as well as guiding Annie, the model, in hair & mu. (Comments from Annie about my shoddy sewing job will not be approved. It’s my machine…it’s a Kenmore after all. Be kind.)

I was hoping for ‘ethereal’ golden sunlight to backlight my subject most of the time, but instead we got this moody sky and threatening rain–which, of course, in the end was an unexpected bonus.

Isn’t she the most ethereal/vintage/boho mama you’ve ever seen? I loved this shoot so much–can’t wait to show you all the rest! No, for realsies–possibly one of the best sessions of 2012….so far!

This image was posted in response to Chic Critique’s call for submissions for their ‘Photography Idol’ contest. Chic Critique is THE elite resource for women who love photography (yes, they’re biased!). “Our mission: critique | confidence | community. We’re all about our Celebrity Photographers who encourage, inspire, teach, and critique our members…”

Thanks Chic Critique for the fun! All the best to the other entrants.

12 years ago Short URL 5 Comments

Contest/Just For Fun/Maternity

Aug

St. Maria lets loose on James St N :: Hamilton Graduate Photographer :: James St N, Hamilton, ON

I had the distinct pleasure of working with a young lady from our church who I’ve known since my roommate and I had some of the teen girls over for a sleepover a few years ago. We had invited all the 13/14 year olds and even though Maria was 12 at the time she fit in like one of the adults. (Although calling my roommate and I ‘adults’ was a bit of a stretch at the time.)

Even now you wouldn’t guess she was just graduating high school. Yes fellas, relax. High school, not university. (And I’ve already fielded a couple of those questions in person.)

Maria has put her head down and plowed through high school achieving a lot of great things in all areas of acedemia. Clearly she’s an artist–which explains why we used the fantastic Mixed Media store on James N as a prominent back-drop–but she’s also a scholar! Double-threat.

The day we did Maria’s grad shoot was actually the day of her graduation dance! But even though we were on a schedule (that I didn’t really keep–sorry!) Maria was as cool as cucumber marching up and down James N in those killer heels.

A quick pit stop at our favourite little James N cafe, the Mulberry St Coffeehouse, for some refreshment and more photo ops…

Then finally we retreated to a quiet little parking lot behind Mixed Media to set up the last and certainly most epic shot of the session. Actually…two epic shots! I’m a machine.

On my way out the door of the studio I was hit by a flash of inspiration–Maria + artist + paint brushes = holy art. Fortunately I work near a lot of artists who use very intimidating brushes…(thanks again Steph!) So I grabbed a bunch and headed off to the shoot with a vague sense of what I wanted to create for Maria.

The whole scene was strange, I’m sure. A beautiful girl in a sparkly little dress laying in a parking lot on a fur rug with paintings (carefully) strewn about her and paint brushes in her hair. Fortunately there’s comfort in numbers and with the help of Maria’s mom and my assistant/friend we were able to take over the parking lot enough to get some really fabulous shots.

Finally–at the request of Maria and her mom, we created a shot that said ‘I love to litter!’ Hah, no it said ‘Don’t need these anymore–I’m finished school!’