Glam the Dress

I think this Trash the Dress trend is atrocious. Have you heard of it? The idea is that a bride will wear her gown one more time after the wedding in a more relaxed, sometimes purposefully dirty environment, and be photographed "trashing" it to various degrees. Don't get me wrong, is not the idea I take issue with. After all, weddings can be anxiety-building and the bride's enjoyment of the gown that took her months to find and most times quite a bit of money to buy can easily get lost in the mountain of preparations and last minute crisis. So why not giving the dress one more wear in a totally different environment? But it is the name (and what the name implies) that doesn't sit well with me. I am not trashy. I don't want to trash anything, least a gown that represents to the bride one of the most special days in her life. Why not wear it again with a different mindset?

I am part of the Glam the Dress movement. I want to photograph you in your wedding dress one more time, after the roller coaster of your wedding is over, but this time make it fun, and chill, and all about you. You don't have to think of yourself as particularly glamorous. I reframe the word; it is not about an uncomfortable hat with a feather and pearls, it can be a denim jacket on top of your tulle dress and flowers in your hair paired with your lace gown. The idea is to elevate the dress instead of trashing it. To give you the rare opportunity of getting photos of yourself, in your most special garment, enjoying the moment and remembering The Big Day. Specially if you didn't budget for the big photographer for that day, you can still have professional photos to treasure forever.

Head to my website for a consultation and to discuss how you want to glam YOUR wedding dress.

  

 

 

 

Models: Dominique Giroux and Hawk McLoud
Gowns by Mountain Valley Bridal
Hair & Make up by Katie Smith for Visions and Angel Graves for T.O.C.S.S.

Out of the "office"

In three days I'll be embarking on a 6-week trip to (attempt to) witness my first niece's birth. I will be doing some photo sessions over there as well, starting with my sister's maternity shoot. I will still be booking with US clients through email and my website to start shooting March 15th. Otherwise, I'll read you all upon arrival. I know, I'll be missing Valentine's Day on February 14th and International Women's Day on March 8th. But I'll be gaining amazing food, fun times with family, warm weather, being an aunt, and shooting on location some of the most beautiful women on earth. I'll take it. In the meantime, don't have too much fun without me!

(Not) Being Young

I remember being a senior in high school. But not really. I remember what it felt like, but what part I played, who I was, what separated me from the rest, I have no clue. May be nothing. Being a senior is, in my mind, an amorphous mass of hormone vessels conquering the summit. Every summit. Without much of an individual identity, full of life, unstoppable. The power and total lack of it of the teenage years.

Where I come from, senior year is the year you embark on a wild snow trip away from home for ten days of unsupervised fun. The USA traditional senior photo is not among our traditions. During the adventure, which is mined with bad decisions and regrettable actions, we take silly photos of each other and some posed ones of the group. Not much worth saving. Not much one can identify as self. I remember seeing my cousin's group photos from when they went on their senior trips, hanging sadly on the walls of their rooms. I remember trying to spot them in the group of blurry, triumphant expressions of youth in colorful eighties puffy jackets.

In days like today; when my best friend from high school announces some random event in her adult life, I wish I remembered who we were. I wish I had photos of us as BFFs that I deemed worthy of saving and having. And that is why I am slightly nostalgic, but also incredibly excited that Lifgtfolly now offers senior photography to that not-yet-woman-and-no-longer-girl, who twenty years from now will embrace her portraits of a time when all summits were conquered and wrinkles were for somebody else.

Models: Gina and Cassidy
HMUA: Robin McIntyre

Why a Printed Portrait

A couple of nights ago, my husband unearthed two boxes of old photos. He slowly went through the contents amidst laughter and tears and little snippy comments. I had to join in. There is something magical about old printed photographs that gives me goosebumps and fills me with giddy joy.

I poured two glasses of wine. As he went through the images, stories rolled out of his mouth like if from a book. Adventures I didn't know he'd lived, family members whose faces I hadn't seen before, characters neither of us knew. The smell of old paper. The blurry eyes. The artistic frames and edges. All neatly stacked inside two boxes.

There were two things about this discovery that I want to share with you, both of which help illustrate the answer to that FAQ "why would I want my portrait taken?". The first one was my husband's comment on how more than half of the photos of his mother on those boxes showed her laying down and in some unflattering position. And he went on to mention that he has no "good photos" of his parents. By good photos, I imagine, he means ones in which the quality and the image are worth of hanging on a wall for our children to look at everyday. Sadly, people do not invest in getting their portrait taken anymore, like they used to. And this brings me to the second thing that stuck with me. Mixed in with all the 70's-90's photos, we found two older posed portraits of unknown (to me) women. One is of a young woman with a manicured hairdo and pearls around her neck. The other one is of a girl with curls and flowers in her hands. The kind of portraits I want to take of all of you out there for somebody to find in a box one day. Imagine if these photos had been on floppy disks? How would I have ever had the privilege of seeing them, unable to reproduce them with today's technology?

I am now embarking on a second adventure: finding out who these women are/were. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, come get your portrait taken. Exist in photos. Print a gorgeous one of yourself. Put it up on a wall. And don't forget to write your name and date on the back! Somebody will find it years down the line, smile over a glass of Malbec and go get hers taken for future generations.

Family Times

Erin & Christopher live in bright and snowy Loveland, CO, with their five children: Ruby, Jonathan, Gabriel, Pearl, and baby Daniel. Ruby's rabbit, Freckles, also has a special spot in the house, right next to her bed.

Erin contacted me to photograph her family a couple of months ago, and I was delighted with the prospects and challenge of such a troupe to capture. As you may have read, I prefer to photograph children and families in their element; take candid photos of them doing what they do rather than posing in a studio. And I was excited to hear that Erin was open to trying anything that would show her family naturally and relaxed.

We took photos in their lovely home, on an overcast day too chilli for outdoor adventures. The kids played and the adults snuggled on the couch. It was calmed and fun and warm, no stress or speedy directions or snappy comments. And later on, when they all sat down and shared a Curious George story by the bay window, I am sure Amelia was there in spirit, attentively listening, and joining the circle.