Finally!!!

I have been a good girl all year, very patient with my eMac (384 MB RAM and 700 MHz, dude!) even after starting to shoot 90% digital! And it is finally paying off cause I bought this guy!!


I finally have the time to buy the computer I want and get everything transferred and up and running on it...
Well, okay, almost have time.
I ordered it yesterday at noon and it arrived TODAY at 10am! I was a little shocked and pretty unprepared - my office is still getting organized and cleaned up.

So the pretty new (20" monitor!) computer is out of its box, staring at me, waiting ever so patiently...

Man, this blog has been like a big commercial lately! I swear I will have many many many more photos up soon... as soon as I get more of that "spare time" thing.

Soon! That's what winter's for!

Beauty part 2

A few days after posting that last entry, I went with a friend to a midnight showing of the new movie "Marie Antoinette". While I really liked it, and enjoy Sofia Coppola's movies in general, there really wasn't much substance to it - fluff, candy, colors, champagne, flowers, jewels, dresses, young prettiness - that was about it. It's a really interesting approach for a movie (especially one based on an historical figure), because there is no heavy hitting moral, no deep insight into someone's life, no inner character monologue. The movie feels more like a series of fun party tableaux, and a great excuse to film inside the real Versailles (I've been there!!).
But it was also a bit like overloading on sugar, or putting on too much makeup, or looking at too many fashion magazines.


It also got me to rethink my last blog a bit. I still stand by it, but I do think beauty and youth for beauty and youth's sake alone sometimes has a place in the world. Just think of all the paintings and poems and operas written for beautiful young muses! It's just sad and hard to see it being glorified to such an unnatural extent in the modern world that even at 28 I feel pressure to use eye creams, have Botox ads geared at me, see models and actresses half my size being showered with work and money and glamour, and constantly witness the media pushing an unrealistic p.o.v. of what a woman of any age should look like.

Like so many things, it's a tricky balance.

And like so many things, it's hard not to be a hypocrite sometimes!

Because although I normally hardly ever wear makeup or worry about my hair, a day after seeing that jewels and candy visual feast, I sort of figured, "if I can't drink champagne in expensive silk clothes and diamond brooches all day, and snack on the finest pastries in all of France, then maybe I can have a little girly fun anyway!". So I slapped my hair into some extreme hairdos (boy I need to get it cut!), slathered on stage makeup, and took a bunch of self portraits.

They were lots of fun and very, very silly... too much for my "about me" website page, but I figured I could share them here.









Anyway. See "Marie Antoinette" instead of having dessert one night! I didn't even mention how it's all to a rad 1980's soundtrack! With the most delicious and vibrant colors!

Beauty

A colleague posted this link on a photographers' forum; very interesting. It got me thinknig about how sometimes being a woman is hard.

I always try very hard to honor each person/ couple/ family's natural beauty and personality. You may have noticed that my work is not high fashion, or even typically shot in a studio - I am a firm believer in focusing on and magnifying the existing beauty in nature and humans, which also usually involves natural light and relaxed poses. I really see beauty in each of my clients, and I love how it is echoed in the photos in each individuals' ways - some are shy and subtle, others over the top and hamming it up - some solemn and serious, others joyful and giggly - I truly love it all!

I find that this is the best way to capture real emotions, moments, and personas. I am a pretty intuitive person, and I think that this is one of the few professions which uses that skill.

Anyway, I think all of us (women and men, but us ladies are the ones typically bombarded with all kinds of crazy media messages) need to try to remember to love how we look and value all the stuff inside more. I am totally guilty of reading all the tabloid mags at the gym, and getting sucked into the ridiculous size 0 models and actresses who are probably miserable and still don't feel good about themselves.

I'm not into free advertising for Dove, but at the same time... please check this out.