I apologize for not being around a whole lot - school has pretty much eaten me. However, I am still shooting, and I have a TON of new work to be posted (thank goodness for Christmas break!) and if I have the time, I'd like to see if I can do a few features. I always find some of the greatest art - but I don't have time to share it with anyone else. :/ Hopefully that will change.
back in October to answer some of these questions, so now that I have a minute to spare, I thought I'd get to answering.
I actually have not given much thought to exhibits, mostly because school eats my time up - but I would love to have an exhibit in Paris. I think that would be magical.
Yes. Music has been a very large part of my life, ever since I was a little girl, so I draw a lot of my inspiration from various forms of music, artists and bands. I listen to a very wide range of genres, so I don't really have a favorite genre, but I do have plenty of favorite songs.
Celion Dion, Frank Sinatra, Jem, Alex Boyé, Annie Lennox, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyke, Birdy, and Darrell Scott.
Within Temptation, Pentatonix, Celtic Women, Hailstorm, The Pretty Reckless, Maroon 5 and Ahmir.
Ooo, this is my favorite question so far. Let's see:
Silver Linings
Back at the tail-end of 2009, I came across
Unbearable-Lightness's work - when I first joined DeviantArt. I was actually "introduced" to her work through an unfortunate report; some people had been leaving a series of unnecessary racism comments on one of her pieces, of which someone had forwarded to me to view back when I was a group's gallery moderator. Anyways, it sparked a conversation - which turned into monthly to weekly emails -which eventually turned into one of the greatest friendships I could ever ask for. I met
Unbearable-Lightness in real life in January 2012 and have worked with her several times since then. This image came from our first shoot. It's one of my favorites because this was a time when I was still exploring with nude/fine art work and I was still deciding if that was a path I wanted to adventure with. The beauty of this whole shoot,
Unbearable-Lightness's beauty, the winter sunlight, the radiance that is her house - all of just highlighted what "Art"
should look like. Since then I have really had a serious love affair with photography. This shoot was the hook, line and sinker. I haven't been able to put a camera down since.
NeverlandThis is one of my favorites too, because this was the first ever nude photo I shot. The model, Sitara, was an absolute trooper. My friend Shelby and I flew out to Michigan in 2011 to meet up with a fellow photographer (and high school friend), Sara Jennifer Panza - we (with small group of people) adventured out in 100 degree weather to get some beautiful shots in the woods of Novi, MI. Later on, when I was going through the photos - I realized that Sitara had quite the fairy-like quality about her; from her hair to her style and her spirit. I then forwarded this photo to
iNeedChemicalX to ask her help in fairytale retouching. This was the photo that Felicia sent back and it, to this day, is probably one of the most beautiful pieces in my collection.
EscapeThis was one of the very first fashion shoots that I did outside of a workshop, with the helpful coordination from
Unbearable-Lightness and her photographer friend, Steve Brown. Of all the photos taken at the studio that day, this one is my favorite. So much emotion, elegance, and beauty portrayed in a way that we don't always see. While I do not endorse smoking in the slightest, I have to say that this shot truly captured everything about the 1950-1960's glamour.
Destiny Awaits
therealalyshanett is probably one of the most sought-after internet models since she broke out on Tumblr several years ago. I had been fascinated by her work (and her ink) for several years prior to shooting with her. When I finally got to do so, this image not only became on of my most viewed pieces (and has definitely made it's circulation across the internet), but it was a reminder to me that you really can achieve all that you put your mind too. This particular day was a super rainy one, and up on the 15th floor of a Baltimore hotel, with only some lingerie and window light, we made magic.
PorcelainI actually met
TMarieWinters via DeviantArt (one of the few [lasting] friendships that this site has given me), way back when I was starting out on this site - she was still experimenting with emotive photography and I don't know quite what I was doing with my life, but I was here. It wasn't until after my fifth workshop, however, that I met
TMarieWinters in person. While we shot quite a lot of photos that day, my favorite came from an accidental "Snow White" themed shoot - the theme which came only upon editing. While emotive photography is very much out of my usually genre, we were able to combine emotive with fashion and create a different take on a fairytale classic. This is also one of my favorite portrait pieces too.
My Shoot with Tila TequilaWhile this is obviously more of a "selfie" than fashion/portrait work, this image is definitely a recent favorite. I grew up a very sheltered child and even though I had had some amazing life experiences by the time I went off to high school I hadn't really discovered who I really was yet, nor did I really have the guts to. As some of you might recall, Tila was MTV's
A Shot of Love With Tila Tequila....as the bisexual bachelorette who had contestants "compete" for her "love." (I'm pretty sure ever girl in my high school is guilty of watching that...oops, busted!) Well, her show taught me a lot about staying true to who you are, learning to love yourself, to just accept life as it comes at you, and how not to give a fuck about what other people think of you or your career - to do what makes you happy. So, say whatever you want about her...but I definitely credit a lot of my personal growth through the things that I learned from her TV show and her Myspace. This past July I got to fly down to Texas to shoot some of her beautiful maternity photos and that was definitely a milestone in my little photographic journey. This photo is a favorite because it shows me how far I've come and reminds me how much further I want to go. Even if you got to spend only a hour with her one day in the future - you'll learn that her positivity and her motivational drive, are absolutely contagious.
Q4. What is more important to you? The commercial success of your works or their artistic value? Is having both at the same time utopian? A: Their artistic value, definitely. While I do get paid to do some of the work that I do, my most fulfilling pieces, and the one's that I am the happiest to edit, are the ones that I end up being the most proud of. I create a lot of my art "just for me". I choose to share it with the world - but I don't have to. Creating it is the fun process. However, I think every artist, deep down, wants to be recognized and/or at least appreciated for their style of art at one point or another, so having commercial success - complete with [personal] artistic value would definitely be utopian. If I could spend my days meeting and working with some of the most fascinating people, while shooting for magazines like:
Vogue, Vanity Fair and Hunger, I would satisfied with life. Truly.
Q5. Would you like to have a superpower? Which one?
A: As a child I would have jumped for joy at the idea of obtaining a superpower...now, I'm a bit more reluctant. There are so many bad things that happen to those that want to do good in the world - so just with any type of power, would come some danger. That being said, I think I would like the ability to freeze time but yet, exist in it. I would want to slow down the hours of certain nights or days to spend time doing what I needed to do, or spend time with the people I love and want to be around. If I couldn't have that one, I think I'd want to be a mindreader. People think of some of the most fascinating things...also, it would end up saving me a lot time with those that only want to be apart of my life because I'm "useful" to them. Haha
Q6. What artistic endeavor have you not achieved yet?
A: Oh my. So many. There are so many stylistic like shoots that I want to do, and neither have the money to travel, or the money to put together the team it would require. I would absolutely love to spend at least a year working with/for the
National Geographic. I'd love to shoot for
Playboy for the experience and I'd love to be able to raise enough money to tour around the world, working with at least 5 models in every country as a part of a personal project. Also, to shoot for
Vanity Fair and
Vogue would be a dream come true.
Q7. What is your favorite season?
A: Spring. Everything begins again, new life, new chances, new opportunities - everything fresh happens in the Spring.
Q8. Which side of the camera do you prefer to be on?
A: BEHIND IT. Haha - I don't think I would ever be a model - but I love taking pictures of beautiful and fascinating people and I love creating. I do that best when I can hide behind a lens.
Q9. What are your thoughts about nudity?
A: Ha! In what context? I'm definitely comfortable with nudity - if my portfolio doesn't tell you that. XD I think America has become a little bit too stuck up for it's own good. I think that things that ought not to be censored, are being censored, and I think we have an unrealistic beauty/pressure standard which gets confused with fine art, nudity, real-life and individual creative freedoms.
I believe that the human form can be very beautiful - and that you don't need to "exploit" women OR men in order to obtain the beauty in artwork. I believe that we, as a society, forget that we we all born naked. Q10. What inspired you to pursue your art?
A: High school wasn't a good time for me - I was bullied and beat up a lot - particularly during freshman year and that had a lasting affect on me all throughout my high school years. At the end of my junior year, someone I considered a mother, passed away and I just felt so completely helpless and lost. A teacher wanted to give me something to do, to help keep my mind occupied, so she handed me a little point and shoot camera and sent me out on "missions". It wasn't long before I had my own little wall to display these photos on and when I graduated and moved on into college I had a fascination with landscape photography. After one of my prints sold, someone suggested that I work with people. I had been using this site as a means of networking for landscape work, but agreed that maybe I could "try" it. The first person I reached out too, in means of retouching and fashion photography was none other than
JaimeIbarra. He taught me a lot about how to look at images and how to play off of emotions to obtain certain colors and effects. From there it just sort of avalanched. I traveled to different states to attend a various number of workshops and just fell in love with making art. I had found an outlet, which had been encouraged by my teacher, and began my exploration down a new path.
I was tagged by phydeau in a 10 questions Journal....now it's your turn.
Here are some rules:
1. You must posts these rules
2. Each person has to share 10 things about them
3. Answer the 10 questions asked to you and invent 10 questions the people you tag will have to answer
4. Choose 10 people and put their icons on your journal
5. Go to their page to inform them they are tagged (we have mentions now, using that)
6. Not something like " you are tagged if you read that"
7. You have to legitimately tag 10 people
8. No tag-backs
9. You can't say that you don't do tags
10. You MUST MAKE A JOURNAL ENTRY
(I don't have 10 people to tag...so I think 6 is good enough. Haha)
Here are my questions:
1. What makes you an artist?
2. Of all your artistic achievements, what are you the most proud of?
3. What's your favorite feature about yourself (physical trait or quality)?
4. Is Art your first choice career, something you do as a second job, or a hobby?
5. Have you created art that you love but you won't post anywhere? If so, why?
6. Who/What gives you inspiration?
7. What is the most powerful thing anyone has ever said to you?
8.
Have you ever done something artist that you regret?
9. If you could have one job in the world that would cover all your needs and give you the life you wanted, what would that job be?
10. What do you believe is your purpose in life?
My tags:
