Morning..

There is nothing more beautiful than dawn. I've loved morning ever since I was a little kid. In my family everyone wakes up early. My Grandparents were raised in the South in farming communities so they were always up at dawn and I have never known my Mother to sleep in past 7 am. I may not be quite as early of a bird as they are but I love waking up early and having the world to myself, or at least it feels that way. When I was still in High School I would get up early, make breakfast, and sit on the porch swing before going to school. Then I felt like the day was mine and it wasn't just lost on everything else. These days my life is so busy that I forget to do this and should more often.

Even in a busy city like Los Angeles, if you wake up early enough the only thing you'll hear is birds. Everything has stopped and is still asleep.

I think morning is where my love for light began. Morning light & evening light are so magical. 

morning light on a flower

light outside my house

Inspiration...

Inspiration can come from anywhere. But I'm often most inspired by paintings from days gone by. I love anything romantic and beautiful and when I've tried to branch out of that area I usually end up not liking the photos as much. What's wrong with girl's skipping through the forest!? Who doesn't love pictures of pretty things like girls with flowers in their hair? It's Spring after all and one of my favorite holidays is tomorrow so here are some paintings that inspire me...

I absolutely love this painting. No idea who it's by though.

Andrew Wyeth's "Helga." She is the definition of feminine beauty for me.

reminds me of how wonderful Spring is.

new blog post FINALLY

So, as you all can probably tell, I have a difficult time talking about myself and therefor have a difficult time blogging. I'm sorry about that. I could promise to write more, but who knows! I've moved back to Los Angeles temporarily and its so good to be home. I've shot 3 times this past week and have another shoot tomorrow that I'm super excited about.

Yesterday me, Leibi Carias, Veronica Nunez, Sabine, and her very sweet Mother went out to pretty much the middle of nowhere to shoot. Shoots like these are always so much fun because they are laid back and full of adventure. We saw Joshua Trees, poppies, and fields and fields of white grass. Sabine is probably the palest girl I have ever seen, her hair and eyebrows matched her skin. But she is so strangely beautiful and she is probably one of the best girls I've ever photographed. She definitely has a story in her expression.

Another exciting thing about being back in LA means I get to shoot with Leibi again. Leibi is not only an amazing makeup artist but she is also a friend and I can tell you that without her believing in me, things wouldn't be as good as they are photography wise. She has brought me the best connections and I have gotten to work with amazing teams as a result.

Papercut Magazine "The Silent Role"

Laurel Stovall @ LA Models

wardrobe stylist: Sadie Page

Makeup & Hair: Leibi Carias

Alli & Dani

Alli Cripe &  Dani Lundquist @ Photogenics




 This shoot is one of my favorites for sure.  I'm so excited to finally share it because it was shot in Los Angeles back in October.
But finally it's out in Magpie Darling Magazine! Go check it out!

Ali Cripe @ Photogenics



The team was Sienree Du for hair, Leibi Carias for makeup, and Camille Yvette for wardrobe. Sienree was nice enough to let us mess up her living room and shoot in there and Jeni Maus from Found Vintage provided the props. When I am in LA I love working with Leibi a lot because her style is so artist and beyond simple makeup. Watching her work is always so interesting because she paints faces like an artist would paint a canvas. She works in layers and the results are always remarkable. She's coming to Paris this Summer and I can't wait to work with her here in Europe also! This was my first time working with both Ree and Camille but they were also amazing. I can't wait to get back to LA and do more shoots with them.

 

I was lucky enough to get to work with Alli & Dani two days in a row. I shot a campaign for Ivy & Aster Bridal the day before and they were the models. The campaign will be out in Spring so watch out for it. Here are the rest of the images from the shoot!

 

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”

 Ralph Waldo Emerson



Individuality really does take courage and strong will. You have to believe in yourself and work extremely hard to prove people wrong. I have always been a strange person with a very particular "voice". But I have finally gotten to that point where I am happy with the direction my work is going in. But it hasn't always been easy and it still isn't always easy. From the beginning, people have either loved or hated my style of photography. I love to edit, that is obvious, and I have always strive for my photos to look like the paintings that I have always loved since I was a child. I am very emotional about my own work and about the work of others. Sometimes a beautiful painting or photograph can bring me to tears. I am overwhelmed by beauty and have never been good at taking a raw photo. I do not like harsh high fashion photography, white backgrounds, or ironic themes. I want my photos to leave a positive impact on the viewer, the same way my favorite art leaves an impact on me. I don't know if I have reached that point yet, but I can say that I have been successful in creating a style that is unique and my own, that leaves in impression, for better or for worse. Sometimes people will try and overlook you, they will opt for the safe choice most of the time. But I believe if you work hard and demand to be noticed you will be noticed. I am not  where I would like to be in my career yet and someday I really hope to be shooting for well known designers, the artists I cherish, but I do want to say for myself and for anyone reading, that you should always create for yourself. No matter what anyone says. No matter if it sets you back a few years and you have to work harder than if you just conform. But there is no victory in conforming because art is one of the only things we leave behind in this world, and I don't know about you, but I want to be remembered for making something different. 

 

Tom Waits says it best:

 "In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”

― Tom Waits

Thank you to all of you who have stuck by me and have been supportive of my photography. Much love to you all!!

Model: Vanessa Jobb @ Premiere London, Makeup & Hair: Julianna Grogan, Wardrobe: Ashley Bristow

First off Happy New Year everyone! 2011 was so amazing for me. I moved to NYC, then to Paris....then to London...and then finally settled in Barcelona. I got married to my wonderful  husband, worked with great teams around Europe and did shoots I'm really proud of. Yesterday was kind of an amazing day for me. I uploaded a picture to Vogue Italia and they chose to feature it in the photo of the day section! It was really exciting for me and was further motivation for me to keep working hard.

Right before new year I shot at the old Ritz Hotel in Barcelona. The room was so beautiful I couldn't believe it! It ended up being a dream shoot. I had such an amazing team! The model was Luba Borovikova from Fleming models, Nicoletta Gauci for hair, Laura Sanchez for makeup, Bibian Blue for wardrobe, and some lovely hair pieces made by Jannie Baltzer.  My friend & fellow photographer Gabriella Sutori helped out. It's always so great when you have a team that automatically clicks with the idea like we did. Nicoletta & Laura are such amazing artists I was so lucky to get to work with them. I had worked with Nicoletta on a couple of my favorite shoots back in LA before she took off to Italy to work for Paul Mitchell. I'm so excited that we live close enough (Barcelona in little over an hour away from where she is in Italy by plane) to start collaborating again. We have another shoot this coming Monday and I'll post in when it's out!

Here are some behind the scene photos (taken by my lovely husband) as well as my favorite shots from the shoot. 

me and my friend Gabriella Sutori (En-Route Photography) on the shoot.

nicoletta and luba