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!
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.
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:
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
This week’s challenge at I Heart Faces is “Innocent Wonder”. My first thought upon hearing the word innocent is always a sweet new baby… and I just happen to have two wonderful friends, Tegan and Dane, that recently had a beautiful baby girl, Reagan. I was so happy when Tegan asked if I would do their newborn photos. I have been wanting to get my hands on a newborn baby for photos for quite some time now (I also happen to have a HUGE soft spot for baby girls). What an experience! Reagan is 4 weeks old and quite the inquisitive one already. Here she is reaching for the camera during our shoot. She wanted nothing to do with sleeping for me! haha Isn’t she just beautiful!
Check out the other “Innocent Wonder” photos over at I Heart Faces:
