i think it would be safe to say that i am ~in no uncertain terms~ addicted to my iphone camera and a few favorite apps. why? because it’s always with me and i use it more than i’ve ever used another camera. why? because it’s small, unobtrusive and i can quickly and simply record what i see~immediately. this week’s theme has snuck up on me…and a few others, it seams;) i knew i could look through my iphone photos and find more than enough images that would honestly portray {a day in my life}. so as i look through the folders, i am smiling because i am truly blessed.
i had intended on posting a small collage of {a day in my life}, but true to life, things ‘happen’ on their own terms and their own time. tonight, out of the blue, sophia asked me to comb out her dreads. yes, out. of. the. blue. considering the 6 months+ of pleading, notes, pictures, bribes and power points on the subject~and my finally agreeing. tonight, she has decided she is over them. we are starting slow as this will be a painful process for both of us. a half hour, a half a bottle of conditioner and a very sore scalp. enough for tonight. this, my friends, is just another moment of just another day in my life….and i am blessed.
 
be sure to go through our circle. from here, see what the always uber creative kara of kara may photography has done.
our theme this time ~ ‘dream, dream dream.’ so many ways to go with this. images of gauzy, dreamlike figures immediately came to mind ~ i’ve actually had sketches in my ‘idea notebook’ with a similar feel for far too long. how wonderful that this project has come along to take them off the page and bring them to life. i felt that the real challenge was to make it my own as i’ve seen so many interpretations of this concept over the years. the only element i knew i wanted was some kind of sheer, gauzy material. though i did have the few sketches/preconceived ideas, in the end, i did what i almost always do…i let the subject take the lead and just went with the natural flow, circumstances, surroundings and evolution of the session which, in turn, completely inspires me. in my opinion, this is one way to guarantee a genuine outcome ~ every. single. time.
only after i started laying the images out, i thought of adding poetry but since the images were already shot, i wasn’t sure i would find something that would fit. and then i found edgar allen poe. one of my favorites…and his words fit perfectly.
i find that it’s getting harder and harder to get my girlies in front of my camera…sad face;( but i assured sophia that this would be different and i would be fast. in true fashion, the whole shoot lasted maybe 20 minutes and that was still far too long for her! still, sophia, thank you for wearing that pink dress (again) and letting mom{my} throw a sheer fabric over you. thank you for sitting and dancing in the street (where people could see you.) thank you for walking through thick, tall grasses to one of my secret places so i could wrap honeysuckle vines around you while you watched out for slithering things on the ground. mostly, thank you for adding your own beautiful, unique, individual, artistic personality to this shoot which turned out to be so much more than i ever could have envisioned or sketched out in a notebook.
and remember…i’ll always be in the big old oak tree in dreamland…forever. xo, mommy.
i am honored to be a part of an artist’s exchange project between cincinnati and our sister city in kharkiv called ‘reart/world garden.’
it consists of 6 artists from our city and 6 artists from kharkiv with each artist producing one piece of art and then ‘re-done, re-worked, re-arted’ by each artist from the companion city.
the entire process was both freeing and frightening as we each had complete freedom to change and alter another artists work. I found it initially difficult to get past the thought of worrying about what each artist might think of my changes to their art. As i separated myself away from those initial worries, I was able to use the original piece as a starting point and let my own imagination spring and produce new art from that point, as was the intention. From there, the experience was rewarding and in the end, i feel that inevitably, the themes or ‘feels’ to each new piece were not too far from the beliefs and predisposition (artistically) of my own ‘eyes.’
The opening is tonight, Friday, May 11, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, at the Krohn Conservatory in Eden Park.
it’s been a little while since i’ve shot model portfolios…2 minutes into this session reminded me of how much i love shooting them. isabelle just signed with heyman talent here in cincinnati and these are her first set of images that will make up her online portfolio for clients to see. this is really important as her images need to convey a range of looks, emotions and feel. also, since these are her first set of photos, they also need to be ‘clean.’ what do i mean by that. somewhere in the initial discussions i have with either the model/talent themselves, or their moms, i talk about the importance of how their images need to market them for ‘this/our’ market~cincinnati. the midwest. it’s tricky because most (young) models want to jump right into higher fashion looks, which is fabulous and trust me, i love styling and shooting those too, but the reality is that our ‘market’ is made up more of p&g, banks, hospitals, etc. not that we don’t have fashion, but the bread and butter of our market for working models and actors is much more mainstream and i know this too well myself, as i’ve been a working stylist in our market for 25 years. so as an art director, director, photographer, producer or client is quickly looking through the multitude of head shots and portfolios through the talent agencies online galleries, they don’t want to work too hard in ‘seeing’ that ‘talent’ in their spot, ad, representing their company or product, etc. so, it makes complete sense to give them what they are looking for and help market the model/actor so that they can get work. which, is, of course, the goal. as models/actors start booking jobs, they will add those new images to their portfolios as well as continuously testing with photographers for updated looks/spreads. testings are the most fun. photographer+stylist+model=creative freedom. now that isabelle’s first set of photos are done, i’ve already started thinking of the next shoot with her because she also inspired me. it’s a two way street. i, as an artist/photographer, am equally inspired by the person i am making images of. that happens when both people make a connection, have fun and push themselves. isabelle is undoubtedly beautiful, but it goes deeper than that. she was not only ready to go on the first click, but she also never stopped giving. i was immediately struck by the variety of looks she could give…which is so much harder than it seams. it’s also one of the goals when i shoot these sessions, as they are short and need to be as diverse as possible in respects to poses, angles, looks, emotions. she took directions on a dime, took control when i asked her to, and experimented freely. that happens when there is trust…on both ends. thank you so much isabelle for such a fun and fulfilling little session yesterday. i look forward to our shoot for 513{eats} later on in the month…which, of course, will be anything but ‘safe’ and ‘clean.’
isabelle
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by gina weathersby
Kara May - Oh Gina, I love this post!!! The iPhone ROCKS with photos. I love your compilation. So perfect for this week. Your daughter is a doll and it cracks me up that she begged for dreads and now is done. Okay, so it’s not so funny now, but she’ll laugh soon that she changed her mind so quickly. She carries them amazingly what a cool mom to let her experiment with her creativity. Awesome post!!