Senior Portraits Photography Promo Video 2013 — "A Letter to My Future Self"

This summer, I made a promo video for my photography business targeted at high school girls (and their moms). I wanted to show the significance capturing this moment in a girl's life and offer girls an alternative, more glamorous, type of senior portraits. So I invited my beautiful neighbor & summertime intern, Madi, to be my model/actress. I asked Madi to write a letter to her future self - typed on her sweet vintage type writer. On the way to post the letter (into the future), Madi enjoys the delights and simple pleasures of being young — riding her bike through the woods, stopping to have a picnic of tea and cookies, reading novels under the trees, blowing dandelions, and daydreaming about skipping through the fields in a flowing dress. During her daydream sequence, Madi has a photo shoot with me. She later includes these photos inside her letter and drops the envelop into a mail box. In her letter she writes, "Be excited for the future....I hope these pictures showcase who I am now...." 

Thank you sooo much Camera Woman #2: Cheryl Ford Photography

& Behind the Scenes support from: Rick + Anna Photography

& Madi for giving us an entire day of her summer break for this project

& Madi's mom for letting us storm into her house with photography equipment ;)

Get Your Photography on the Cover of a Magazine

Ready to achieve greatness in your photography business? Ready to get your work on the cover of a magazine? Apparently, you have to create something different that inspires conversation!

I've turned my daily commute (driving all around the island of Maui to shoot weddings) into story-time. This week, my Kindle's sexy robotic female voice has been filling my car with the words of wise Laura Vanderkam from her book "168 Hours: You Have More TimeThan You Think". Last Saturday, as I was driving to the Wailuku Cemetery { to photograph Daysha }, something Laura said made me think about how the people who appear on the cover of magazines aren't there because they imitate others (really well). To make it to the cover of a magazine, top of the Billboards, or onto the Best Sellers list, you have got to do something totally different from what others are doing and most importantly, it has to be intriguing enough that it inspires conversation — you've got to do something that people want to talk about. 

Up until the beginning of 2013, I was aspiring to create portraits that looked just like Sue Bryce's work. She was my main inspiration in addition to the lovely Christa Meola, Jasmine Star & Lara Jade (basically the whole creativeLIVE posse).  A few months ago I stopped looking at their work in an attempt to find refreshing inspiration elsewhere and to start thinking for myself, creating portraits that were a bit more "original" and less copy-cat. 

So on my drive to Wailuku, I was brainstorming ways I could take portraits that were really different. .. like really different. What poses have I never seen before? What angle should I have the model tilt her head (it doesn't always have to be 'chin forward & down', ya know.) Of course, when I was standing there knee deep in dry grass, looking at Daysha through my camera, my mind went completely blank and I resorted to my tried-and-true poses, my comfort zone. Oh well. I suppose it was a bit ambitious to assume that I could revolutionize the world of photography in 20 minutes. haha

But seriously now, I've done my first shoot in Hawaii and the ice has been broken. I'm now officially on the hunt to figure out how I'm going to push the envelop a little and venture forth to creative lands where no twenty-four year old with a camera has gone before! ;) But for today, please allow me to share with you these pretty portraits of Dasha that may not be the most original images in the world, but they are very pretty, and we like pretty :D

Maui Portrait Photography with Daysha in the Wailuku Cemetery

I chose a rather unexpected location for my first photo shoot in Maui. I'd imagined myself shooting on the beach but no...there I was in Wailuku Cementery. I chose the cemetery because it was quiet and secluded and it had beautiful long yellow grasses and a really cool dusty dirt pathway that reminded me of the red Australian Outback. I was afraid my model wouldn't show up because of this potentially 'creepy' location but obviously I underestimated her bravery (hooray!). Daysha turned 18 this year and graduated high school. She's currently working at a hot-dog shop and searching for a second job before she heads off to college. I asked her why she wanted me to photograph her and she said she's always wanted to try modeling. But as I was doing her make up, she was sitting on the stone wall smiling (this girl is a SMILER) and telling me about her big dreams to become a veterinarian. She wants to be an expert in all of the animals so people will call her from around the world, asking her to travel to exotic places to save their unusual animals. It was beautiful watching her talk about this idea. I've spent so much time recently with twenty-somethings stressing out about finding a job, forty-something looking for new adventures and eighty-somethings who feel like they've 'done it all'. It was refreshing to spend time with a young woman who's on the brink of her life, still full of hope and enthusiasm. No hint of disillusionment, discouragement or despair. Just beautiful beautiful dreams for a future full of possibilities. 

And of course, a Before & After! I loved all of Daysha's images where she had a big happy smile or a special little twinkle in her eye (she's so friendly and sweet) but I chose these two images for her 'afters' because they really showed off her beautiful lips, thick long Hawaiian hair and feminine curves. Plus, I love creating before & afters that really showcase the different sides of someone's personality and appearance. Her smiley photos celebrate her youthful happiness and these after photos capture a maturity and womanly-ness I saw emerging in her towards the end of our photo shoot.  

*I wish I could say that Hanna Mazur did the hair & makeup for this shoot but she's in Seattle and I'm here in Hawaii alone with my little plastic bag of bare-minimum make up supplies and a few handy make up 101 survival tips up my sleeve (which Hanna taught me) — the most valuable of which has been "BLEND the hell out of the eyeshadow!" Miss you Hanna.