Heroes

Speaking of Heroes... (as I was talking about in my previous post), I'm going to briefly build on this.

As I was talking about photographic heroes in that post, this song by David Bowie kept playing in my mind while writing about it, so now I will elaborate on that... and FINALLY! I'll add some recent pictures I shot, too. Yup! I really AM a photographer! ("I'm a real boy, Gepetto!")

Though nothing, will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?

We can be heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day

So, this is what I wanted to do, to be a hero for that one day. With the pictures below, I didn't want my images to look like everybody else's. I belong to some groups on Facebook, one of which is the LA-based "Shoot This!" run by Joelle Leder. On Sunday, November 15th, 2009, a group of 30+ photogs from LA, Riverside and Orange Counties got together at Jody Domingue's studio on Melrose for a New Year's Eve-theme/high-glam/fashion shoot. We had makeup artists, hair stylists, da works, bay-bee!

But, I was frustrated, because despite multiple models and locations, a large chunk of us were shooting the same models at the same time, and ending up with the same images with essentially the same lighting and the same expressions. I was starting to feel suffocated, and while almost all of my colleagues were amazing in respecting the space they were occupying, one or two were not. Don't they say it can only take one chef to ruin the soup?

So I decided it was time to make some new soup using my own recipe.

In becoming my own Hero, I wanted to shoot something different. I'm not a cookie-cutter type, never have been. So, about 5 friends and I asked one of the models if she'd like to walk across the street on Melrose to the car-cover shop and then into the graffiti-painted alleyway behind it. And suddenly... I was happy. I could have freedom to move, freedom to direct (and share the time with my fellow photogs and learn from them as well!)... our soup was gonna be GOOD!

I love shooting high-fashion/editorial style, but not every wedding will allow me to do that, obviously! So this is a chance to spread my wings a little.

And, of the images below taken in-studio, were the few precious moments I was able to make these completely my own. Please enjoy! (... and click on each image to see a larger version)

Megan looking high-fashion fab on the streets of Melrose in Hollywood, along with the Peter Pan shadow that looks like it's about to walk away and separate from her owner... newfound love of shoe-shopping on Melrose, maybe? Love!

Another fave of Megan... crawling the alleyway, looking vulnerable and fearless all at the same time. Roooaawar!

Chelsea in studio, so amazing up close and personal...

Chelsea in studio again, just a moment later and still ethereal and soft, despite stunning smoky eyes...

Back to Megan out on the street, animal instincts taking over... I totally see this as a 2-page spread in Glamour, Cosmo or Allure right? Can't you see the headline: "When animal prints attack!" or some equally silly (but way more clever than mine) title? A short paragraph could follow talking about what's in style right now... and then my photographic byline! I'm totally going to mock this up... but being that it's 2:30 a.m. as I write this and I have to be up in about 4.5 hours for a plane back home... I'll whip that up for another night. ;-)

Last but not least... back to Chelsea with David in-studio...

Lastly, I'm adding credits. If you'd like more information on contacting the models, please email me!

Location: Jody Domingue Studios

Leads: Doug McNamee(also teaches a tilt n' shift class)
Leads: Chris Diset

Makeup by: Kimberly Bragalone
Hair by: Shannon Ely

Sponsor: FolioMojo - Web Marketing Mojo for your online portfolio

Models:
Megan Bibbo
Chelsea Ravitch
David Liggett
(All 3 may be found on Facebook)

Beautiful

There are two songs called "Beautiful" and I love them both for different reasons. The more popular and undoubtedly the most well-known of the two is the version by Christina Aguilera. But for the purpose of this posting and so I can reach into my bag o'tricks if I'm'a stumped in the future at some point, I'm saving the C-tina version for a another day.

The version I'm quoting today is by a Canadian group (eh?) called Joydrop. I think I heard this originally on the "Catch of the Day" by Jed the Fish on KROQ radio (based in SoCal), many years ago (late 90s, to be precise). The lead singer's voice starts singing so sweetly like a little girl's, yet is soulful at the same time, and the message is profound in its simplicity:

If I was beautiful like you
I would never be at fault
I'd walk in the rain between the raindrops
Bringing traffic to a halt

But that would never be
No that will never, never be
'Cause I'm not beautiful like you
I'm beautiful like me.

The music turns electronic and the lead singer's voice turns hard-edged, as if these are life lessons that have been hard-earned, well-deserved, but with acceptance that is steely and full of resolve.

I've struggled with this same concept, both personally and professionally, for many years. Personally... I've found growing up in SoCal (Orange County) looking unique as I do, a challenge. Being young in the 80s I was surrounded by girls bleaching their hair with Sun-In (don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!) and laying out getting browner by the day.

I couldn't do that. I'm fair -- half-English & half-Russian/Estonian/Latvian/something-Slavic. I'm fairly white... maybe even blue-white! I have red hair & freckles. ("Oh, mass of freckles on my arms and legs: when will you join together to just create a tan?? Today? No? Well, how about we try again tomorrow, then!? Hmm?") I remember a boy teasing me in my single-digit years for having hair that was "on fire" (ahh, the inventiveness of an 8-year old... who, oddly, also himself had red hair. Hello? Physician? Heal thyself, please). In my teen years, I entered an awkward phase that lasted around 25 years or so. You may laugh, but in my eyes, I'm not kidding! Oh wait. I'm only 29. Again. (my birthday is a week from today as I write this. I'll be... ummm... 29! Yes, that's it! 29! I like it. Would you buy that for a dollar?) Sooo, let's say this awkward phase lasted something more like 20 years. Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket!

But learning to embrace individuality is a tough road. When you're young, it's easier to go with the flow, be one of the pack, for fear of being teased (and I was always one of those ultra-sensitive types, and still am, really). We're not really rewarded for celebrating or showcasing our individuality until college, and by then, you hope your spirit's not already been quashed. For fear it has, hopefully it's not hard to regain it, or to find your way all over again.

I'm in Phoenix, AZ, for the Thanksgiving holiday right now. My parents have another place out here in central PHX. I have a couple of close friends from high school out here. Earlier this year, I even had a boyfriend out here. So, it's a place that I'm familiar with, but is just different enough from home to help encourage the landscape of my mind to chart unfamiliar territory. On the plane on the way out, I was reading my book "Fast-Track Photographer" by Dane Sanders (bought it from him at a local event he's set up in Newport Beach; fortunately, that's just a hop, skip and a jump away from my home in Irvine. Have I mentioned how fabulously LUCKY I am to live among some of the biggest photogs in the wedding industry, all based right here out of OC? It's so easy to go to SmugMug meetings, etc and meet them in person!).

So, I came to page 58 where Dane was talking about his experience as a new photographer to the wedding industry. He wanted to emulate and be just like his photographic heroes, those "celebrities" who inspired him. As he stated, that was a terrible mistake and a total disservice to himself. He essentially said (and I'm paraphrasing) that to be a success, you should really try hard not to be a carbon copy of your heroes... that they are successes because they approach the market in a very specific way that they have found which works for them personally.

I read this and totally found at that moment, 30,000-some-feet off the ground (yes, I was a'flyin HIGH!), that was the reiteration I needed for a thought that had been swirling around my head, but had never really coalesced into a finite, tangible truth: I don't need to be exactly like my heroes. Learn from what they have to offer, via experiences and business modules, but I can be free to be me. Shoot my images from the heart my own way, not with WWJD (What Would Jasmine Do?) lurking in my mind. Like my mom has been saying forever to me: "Don't reinvent the wheel... someone else has already done it, why would you want to, too?" So, I've had to take from my photographic heroes all of these tips and tricks that they share, and more: the biggest of those including drive and inspiration. But, I've had to also remind myself to really BE myself, and not to be what I think someone else wants me to be. I don't want my brain to be a crutch, relying on the aforementioned "WWJD do in this situation?" I was given a brain and the knowledge how to use it... so... use it! (I give myself all those visualization exercises so I can hopefully be prepared for any situation, and I try to listen to other photogs' horror stories so I can learn from their experiences too). And I can't be like someone else and be a success, because that's what they perfected, and it fits with them and their own uniqueness. It's okay to embrace me, flaws and strengths and all... right?

Embrace it. Love it. Learn to love my freckles. Connect the dots. Love my hair. (Turns out, lots of people love my hair and freckles. Why did everyone tease me then about being different when I was little?) And, I've found what draws people to me, and me to them: connecting. Like I've mentioned before, this world is all about making connections, and I can do that not only through photography, but through really getting to know others, and getting the pictures that are very specifically capturing their essence. If you're like me, you will constantly love to learn, and you will strive to be more than you are not only today, but to become more of that well-rounded person everyday. And by meeting and being genuinely interested in others, I think this follows: other people love to share, and I get to learn!

So professionally, this wild ride I'm on, because I had heroes, I was trying to be like them. I want their success, personally and professionally, so very badly. But you can't make those things come to you in quite such an obvious way. It sidles up from the side in a more obtuse way. I guess professional success may be like what they say about love: It will come to you when you're least expecting it. So I've finally decided to be real, work hard (but smart), love completely and the hardest part: have faith in myself. If everything is genuine and true and I work hard for it (and I work smarter, not harder), it will come in due time. Faith in myself is something that's never come easy for me, because everything came so easily & so naturally to me when I was little, that when I left the nest and flew out into the competitive world, where people put me down to elevate themselves, I was shell-shocked. Private school gave me a massive head-start intellectually and professionally, but I think it may have cut me off at the knees because of the insulation from the "real world" and the emotionally hard-hitting tactics people have used more than once -- and I allowed them to -- cut me down.

So, it was hard for me because I was always told how much cuter I was than the other kids when I was little (I'll have to post my headshots someday from when I was 5, 6 and 7 and auditioning for commercials). I was smarter than the other kids (my parents both have PhDs and are Mensa members... no pressure there! I always scored 99%tile in all standardized tests). I was more talented than the other kids (I excelled in art and dance from a very early age). Then I left my sheltered life for public school at 13, then college, then the **ahem** real world. And... Reality. Hit. Hard. And I've found that sometimes people I thought were friends put down my talent or personality to my face, yet when they exhibited the same personality traits, they thought it was normal or even superior, and that behavior never failed to floor me (I have very specific stories, but I'm going to refrain from sharing those for now). They made me feel ugly, inside and out, which I didn't like. I'm naturally sunny by disposition, so it put me in a bad place. But eventually, if anything, it made me work harder to be an even better person, more successful personally and professionally. Living well is the best revenge, my friends repeat to me (over and over). Then I guess I should try to live it!

If I was beautiful like you
Oh the things I would do
Those not so blessed would be crying out murder
And I'd just laugh and get away with it too
Like you do 

But that would never be
Never, never, never be
Cause I'm not beautiful like you
I'm beautiful like me, beautiful like me

And I don't have to be beautiful like you, my heroes... because I'm beautiful like me.

The Power of Love

Oh Huey Lewis, how I still love thee. The end of the 80s did not stop you. You even played the Orange County Fair this year, a mere 24 years after Back to the Future and Marty McFly transported us all back to the year 1955, and oh, I SO wanted to go see you play! I asked friends to join me, but no one seemed to want to go. (and yet, one friend ended up going... with her new boy. Such is life! :-) This is why I often end up doing things on my own! If I wait for everyone else, life is gonna pass me right on by... and I don't want to live life with regrets. And I regret not seeing the supporting star of "Duets" this summer when I had the chance!).

The Power of Love
Is a Curious Thing
Make One Man Weep
Make Another Man Sing

How much do I LOVE this song? If I'm ever in a funk or a bad mood with need of a pick-me-up (or even if I'm just in a peppy mood with a need for a ditty that reiterates my joyous state), I keep this song in my car on a custom CD I've created. It's instantaneous joy, sunshine, pure and simple. It's happiness incarnate (to me, at least!).

So... if I had to SUBTITLE this post, it would be "Blogging Rights." (Get it? Instead of Bragging Rights? Hello? **cricket, cricket** Is this thing on?)

Blogging Rights

Okay. I've been wanting to make this an official post for something like 2 weeks now! I could make all sorts of excuses and I've written bits and pieces of this in my head over those last 2 weeks, so I hope I remember it all. Better yet, maybe it will come out even better than it sounded in my head! **crossing fingers** Here goes (no more putting it off)!

So, I want to talk about the Power of Love. Here, I'm gonna give a run-down of the Power and its many forms of love wrapped up in social-media goodness:

Twitter
Who knew 140 characters or less could impart such joy, pure and simple? For example, I've posted things just because. Just because I believed in them, whether about the awesome products/service from McKenna Pro or WHCC... or maybe I'd tweet a shout-out to Scott Bourne, Terry White, Trey Ratcliff or Mike Wong (of onOne Software) for their inspirational posts, their ability to change my attitude/way of thinking for the day with a blog post of their own, their reviews/tutorials, etc... these are the people/companies on Twitter who took the time to either retweet me, stop and say THANK YOU for my post/response to something they tweeted (whether publicly or privately in a DM [Direct Message]), or even recommend me for a Follow Friday (FF).

Without a doubt, I of course appreciate the love from my professional and personal friends on Twitter, but when it comes from someone who literally must be receiving tons of @mentions/@replies and DMs, I am honored and touched when they take the 60 seconds (give or take) it took to stop, read, and respond. (Truthfully, I'm honored ANYONE takes time to listen to anything I have to say!) It doesn't matter to me the vehicle/package it comes in, just that someone was thoughtful enough to say "Thank you". (I'm thinking this appreciation comes of my upbringing from my ultra-thoughful and giving mom, who was born and raised in London... the English are famed for their manners, are they not?) To me, that translates to such an odd little bipolar-like lift. Is it crazy to be so honored by "the big people"? ... To be acknowledged by the idols I follow? Maybe I'm TwitterStruck! (you heard it HERE first, folks! Can I coin that phrase??)

I just sometimes feel like my own lowly little self, trying to become a great wedding photographer and "rubbing TwitterShoulders" (Twoulders?) with Da BIG Peeps is something that previously would have been so unattainable. It's like the line in the song from "Cheers": Makin your way in the world today / Takes everythin you've got. Ain't THAT the truth! I love this new era of sharing, not hoarding, information. It's amazing!

And the most incredible thing about Twitter to me is how easy it is to forge these new pathways to new friendships. (Quick story, cause I just thought this was soooo cool: last week, I was at the OC SmugMug, hosted by Jasmine Star, and Jeff Jochum of SmugMug was there as well. I follow him on Twitter, and a couple of days later, he tweeted about being at the Vancouver, BC SmugMug. He retweeted something from Jen Bebb, who retweeted another photographer named Katya Nova. I was curious about the subject of this particular tweet I'd read, so I followed Jen's link to Katya's blog. I LOVED Katya's post and images, and immediately began following both Jen and Katya on Twitter. Katya must have seen me as a new follower, because the next day, I got a DM from her, saying that she loved MY blog and "voice". How freakin honored was I??! Things like that put me on a little high, I swear it does. Maybe I'm too reliant on these little victories, but they're what I live for. I'm so happy when I've made a positive impact on someone ELSE'S day, you know?

And... I wish I could SAY things succinctly like I want to, yet Twitter forces me to. (Have you had to put this blog post down yet and come back to it? MAN, I'm verbose. This is why I need to blog more often, maybe I won't write so darn much in one sitting!) Becker just made a tweet today that his OCD keeps him from posting anything other than the 140 character limit lets him. I'm SO the same way, but only because I write so much that I have to keep editing down til I get back to 140 characters. :-)


Facebook
I can keep this one short, but I don't want to ignore it... FB has been an AMAZING resource for me, and a way for free marketing and a way to promote my shoots, my work, etc. (Although, HELLO, Facebook: Get a CLUE! Get rid of the Live Feed/News Feed thing, put back the recent links on the right-hand column on the homepage... plus, this new News Feed is screwing up my live feed on my iPhone version of FB. If the wheel ain't broke, don't fix it! Or maybe... let the user customize their homepage as it works for them?? Argh. Okay. Soapbox: done... **Deep breath... Zen moment... and... Done**). Anywho, something as simple as getting a shout-out from someone I've done a shoot for, or compliments on recents shoots I've posted (even the "like/thumbs-up" thing brings a smile to my face)... or seeing that tons of my friends use my pix as their profile pictures. Better yet, I've made new friends from FB and found new photog shootout groups. And I love that it's easy to follow "fan pages" and find my fave software is on sale, or there's an impromptu shootout going on, who wants to meet up? LOVE the power of Social Networking Media!

Blogging
OMG. This is the huge one, and yet... probably the shortest paragraph. Last year, my friend Courtney got married to her re-acquainted high school sweetheart in upstate Washington. It was supposed to be a small affair, low-budget, DIY-rustic gorgeous touches that Courtney is fabulous at and known for (she's an AWESOME hair and makeup artist too!). I told her I HAD to come up to WA and take pictures of the magical day... I knew in my heart it was going to be incredible. And it was. Courtney just submitted her beautifully-written love story to two nationally-recognized wedding blogs (you have to read her story, she tells it so well), but my pictures were also included! What a RUSH, to be part of someone else's feature on a wedding blog! I felt kinda famous, even if just for a day or two. :-) Check out the posts on Wiley Valentine and 2 Sisters Blog. (**HOORAY!** Okay... I might have done a little jig in place just cause I was so happy.)

Networking (aka NetMAKING, per J*)
Last week, I attended the OC SmugMug. Jasmine was the presenter that night, and talked about a new phrase she'd just coined. I'm afraid I don't have the EXACT wording right, but netmaking is where you strive/aspire to do things for others without the intent of personal gain (I tried to encompass the essence of the message, but I just found her exact definition she gave, per her post: "The desire to put one's needs before your own as a way to help, invest, and grow another business.").

So, as it turned out, the very next day (Friday), I got a call from a photographer in San Diego who needed an assistant for a wedding he was shooting that day (he was referred to me from another photog friend of mine). I was absolutely unable to go, so I referred a name of a new friend and aspiring photographer to him that I was sure would be free and able to do the job. She's new to the industry and hungry for any assignment she can go to and learn from. I gave him her name and number, and 10 minutes later, I got a wonderful post from Jen, thanking me for passing along the job... she was on her way to SD to assist! She was beyond ecstatic, and I was thrilled to help make someone else's day (2 actually! The SD photog and Jen as well), with no intent to gain anything of my own. And just then, I remembered Jasmine's speech the night before, and thought: You know what? I did something good today, with no ulterior motives for personal gain (except maybe to make MYSELF feel good). And it DID feel good.

This is what I'm good at: connecting other people and putting them in touch (I think I get this trait from my Dad, he's amazing at connecting people in the professional world). I'm really good at connecting with people myself. I keep up with people I meet in random places. (My ex-boyfriend was always amazed and would joke that we could be in line for 5 minutes somewhere and by the front of the line I'd be their best friend. But it's so true... I connect to people fast, because I find SO MANY things about so many people just so darned interesting. I love to learn, whether about people, photography, business, life. Bring it on! I never want to STOP being a student!). Life is all about the connections we make.

And now, in closing, a big SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to those of you who stuck it out and read to the end.

And I'll be back to posting more pix in just a day or two ... or three... at most! Cheers!

It don't take money and it don't take fame
don't need no credit card to ride this train
Tougher than diamonds and stronger than steel
you won't feel nothin' till you feel
you feel the power, just the power of love
That's the power, that's the power of love
You feel the power of love

Oh Huey ... I couldn't have said it better myself. At least, not in 140 characters or less.