April Bridges Photography: Modern, elegant, fashion-inspired photography

Photo Challenge: By the Book

April Bridges — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:46:37 +0000

This week’s I Heart Faces photo challenge theme is “By the Book” and must contain a book somewhere in the photo. This photo is from my shoot yesterday with awesome hair stylist, Jennifer Mercier of Diva Studio here in Las Vegas. Jennifer wanted a new headshot that wasn’t your standard business style photo… so we decided to have a little fun! We laid out a huge stack of American Salon magazines as a backdrop and had Jennifer lay on top of them with her shears. I haven’t even had the chance to go through all of the photos yet, but thought this would be a great one to post for this challenge. Isn’t she stunning!

Photo Challenge: Best Face Photo from 2011

April Bridges — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:54:30 +0000

I had recently taken a break from my photography to deal with some personal matters, but have decided to try to at least get back into the I Heart Faces photography challenges. With that said, here is my entry for the first photo challenge of 2012… Best Face Photo from 2011. I had a really hard time choosing just one, but this has been one of my favorites since the day I took it.

Fix-it-Friday #101

April Bridges — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:21:27 +0000

It has been awhile since I posted a Fix-it-Friday entry here on the blog. I Heart Faces changed it a little while ago to have us post them in their forum instead of on our blogs, but this time, I thought it would be fun to post here for everyone to see. Basically, Fix-it-Friday allows us to test our editing skills and possibly learn a little something from other photographers and how they chose to edit the same “problem photo”. This photo was taken by Angie Arthur Photography and edited by me.

Before:

After: (edited by me)

Photo Challenge: Best Face Photo from May 2011

April Bridges — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:40:34 +0000

Here is my entry for this week’s photo challenge over at I Heart Faces, “Best Face Photo from May 2011″. This lovely lady is Veronica, and this is from my most recent shoot that I am currently editing. So, consider this a little sneak preview of what is to come! This week is a “People’s Choice” photo challenge, so be sure to head over to I Heart Faces and vote for my entry on Thursday!

*Update: Well, this week I Heart Faces decided to narrow down all of the entries to around the top 100 to help voters pick the top 10, and I actually made the top 100! That in itself is enough of an accomplishment for me, but I would love it if you all would go vote for me (#77).

Photo Challenge: Motherhood

April Bridges — Sun, 08 May 2011 21:09:15 +0000

With today being Mother’s Day, this week’s I Heart Faces photo challenge is all about motherhood. My entry is of a very beautiful mommy-to-be, Heather. This was my very first maternity shoot, and I was so excited!

Photo Challenge: Sun Flare

April Bridges — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:04:46 +0000

This week’s challenge at I Heart Faces is “Sun Flare.” I really think if done properly, this technique can bring a real artistic flair to an image. The below photo is of beautiful Roxelle at Lone Mountain in Las Vegas and was actually one of the first times I have ever really experimented with sun flair. I did, however, revisit the photo and changed up the post processing for this challenge, as I have actually been having a lot of fun lately trying out some new editing techniques. The day of this shoot started out rather warm for the season, but about an hour into it the wind picked up, and we were FREEZING! Roxelle worked it out though for a few last photos which actually ended up being some of my favorite.

Be sure to check out the other entries over at I Heart Faces:

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes… Anything But A Face!

April Bridges — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:53:55 +0000

I have to admit, I was a little hesitant about my concept for this week’s I Heart Faces photo challenge, “Head, Shoulders, Kees & Toes… Anything But A Face”. When I was 15, I had spinal fusion surgery to correct scoliosis. This left me with a scar about three-quarters of the length of my spine and another smaller one on my right hip from a bone graft. I can honestly say I was lucky to have had this surgery when I was too young to fully understand the complexity. There are times now, almost 13 years later, that I still have pain… mostly in my lower back where it is not fused. If I sit or stand for too long, the pain that would normally disperse throughout my back builds up at the base of my spine.

Most days I don’t think much of it. Being that the scar is on my back, I don’t see it very often. However, there is a certain self-consciousness that comes along with a scar that large, which is part of the reason I wasn’t sure I wanted to go through with attempting to photograph it. Having to face an area of your body that you are uncomfortable with can be hard, but I truly believe that a great photo can really improve your self-image and confidence.

Self portrait: Scoliosis Scar

Joy of Love: 04 What They Wear

April Bridges — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:59:10 +0000

Well, not much explanation has to go into this photo… What They Wear: Matching Shoes

Joy of Love: 03 Then and Now

April Bridges — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 23:07:45 +0000

I know I am only 3 days into Joy of Love, but this is my favorite assignment so far. When trying to decide what photo to use as inspiration for my “Then”, I thought about using a photo of Noah when he was a baby and showing just how much he has changed over the last 3.5 years. As I was going through my old pictures, I came across this one from February 10, 2008, almost exactly 3 years ago. Noah was almost 7 months old. The photo was taken by my mother-in-law, Shana, when we went out to WA to visit. This has always been one of my favorite pictures because it is so candid and sweet. So, I decided to take my assignment one step further and recreate that moment. Don’t laugh, but yes, I still have that exact outfit I was wearing. So, I dressed Noah in a similar outfit to the original photo (obviously there is no way he would ever fit in that little outfit again!) and convinced him to take some photos with me. Three years later he has grown into his cheeks, but he is still my little cuddle bear.

Joy of Love: 02 How They Look

April Bridges — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:11:43 +0000

Today’s Joy of Love assignment is “How They Look”. The description is: Capture your loved one at their best (or at their worst). Or both. What you’re trying to capture is the TRUE essence/expression/attitude/posture that SCREAMS your loved one!

I chose to use Noah as my subject again… Christopher is just lucky that he’s always at work during the day, and I refuse to wake up as early as him to catch him before he leaves. Noah is at the age now that he is pretty self sufficient. He likes to get ready himself, including doing his own hair. This means he always wants “CRAZY HAIR” as he calls it. He even has his own Spiderman hair gel. If we aren’t leaving the house, crazy hair is fine, but most days I make him brush it down. Well, today I even let him go out to the store with me with his crazy hair. And some older woman actually stopped to ask if I did that to him! HAHAHA No, that was definitely all his doing. And here is the proof… Noah doing his hair. Handsome, no matter what his hair looks like!