Sable Sunday

Hello dear readers :)

I hope this post finds you enjoying the sights and smells of good old summer! I know that I have been enjoying summer, capturing its many sights through Yoshi (which means there will be a film update soon!!). For today, however, the focus will be on the lovely Brianna and the first editorial I have done in the new year!

We did two different looks for this shoot, of which I will be sharing only one today. Below are four images which I call the Sable Series. I found that the look of this shoot reminded me of the 80s and as such, I tried to play more with contrast and light leaks. The light leak layers were created by Julia Trotti, and Brianna did her own hair and makeup as well as providing her own wardrobe. I hope you enjoy the series and look forward to sharing more images in the future!!

With the hope that you will all have wonderful, sun filled weeks,

AK

Shauni the Lioness

Hello Dear Readers!

I have missed you all very much! I apologize for my lack of posting in recent months, to be honest I have been swamped with school, work, and (of course) planning my wedding. However, I do have some lovely images to share with you today!! A few weeks ago I met up with a local model and fellow photographer named Shauni (Check out her photography here) and I must say that she was a joy to work with! She took direction well, and used her own knowledge of the camera to help create great angles and lovely lighting! I love her face, I think it is really interesting and different. She reminds me of a lioness, hence the title of this post. :)

Isn't she just lovely? The dress was a vintage find and the jacket was Shauni's own. She did her own makeup and styling as well. I can't wait to share more of these fabulous images!!! Happy Cyber Monday everyone!! Hope you have a great start to your week!!

<3 AK

Happy October!!! :D

Hello all of you beautiful, wonderful, fabulous followers of my work!!!

I hope this post finds you all doing absolutely wonderfully! I know my week has been... relaxing so far. First let me apologize for the lack of posting that has occurred of late. I promise that I have not forgotten all of you lovely people, nor have I stopped taking photos. I am, as many of you are aware, a college student, and unfortunately my classes have been absolutely crazy lately.

Hopefully I will be posting more soon. :) Starting with today's post of new photos of the lovely Brianna!! These are not from a recent shoot, but I think they are fabulous anyways! With the fall colors fading away into the dull browns of winter I find myself thinking of summer more and more (and of Christmas oddly enough). I love the feeling of freedom and love that summer always leaves me with, that feeling that everything is going to turn out better than I could ever have hoped.  In honor of this desire for the hot summer sun, I am sharing some these lovely photos :) Enjoy everyone!!! Sorry, no revelatory thoughts today!! Just lovely images :D

Have great weeks everyone!!

-AK

Serious thoughts with some more cheerful updates later

Today Amy Winehouse died. I'm sure this is no surprise to most of you, as her death has been announced across the facebook world numerous times. Today Ms. Winehouse died, and a lot of people made rehab jokes, and a lot of people gave sad sighs over her tortured soul. Today a lot of people died. This past week tragedy struck Norway, yet few noticed the deaths enough to mention them on facebook. I know that I would never have found out about the tragedy had one of my models not been an avid fan of Norway and mentioned it.

It is thoughts such as these that has led me to wonder about what exactly makes people notice ones death. What does it say about us as people that we laugh at one singer's unfortunate end as if her death is yet another chapter in her paparazzi ridden life? I laughed when I read the first joke, I'll admit it, and I feel awful for doing so now. What does it say about us that on the day of her death hundreds of people notify their friends, while one day of Norway's tragedy I saw few status changes. Does being famous mean that your death is more important than that of a man or woman killed in a bombing?

Recently I have been trying to work on being kind. On rebuilding my confidence and growing to become a kinder, better human being. It makes me sad that so many have died in this past week. Not just Amy or the 92 confirmed deaths in Norway, but the unknown deaths. The deaths of the children who were hit by a car, of babies who were born with a horrid birth defect, of a soldier who died doing his job. The everyday deaths that we don't even think about. I know that everyone dies, and I suppose that it isn't the deaths themselves that make me sad... I think it is more the attitude we have towards them. When did 92 people just become another number? When did they stop becoming mothers, sons, and daughters? When did I stop thinking of them as people and start considering them a statistic?

I'm not saying we have to weep over every death that occurs... if we did we would never stop crying, but perhaps... I don't know. I suppose I am going to work on remembering that the numbers reported aren't just numbers, but human beings. Living breathing creatures that now don't exist.

I apologize for the sad turn my recent posts have taken. I really don't know why all these sad words keep spilling out of me. However, I do have happy news! I have new cameras, the two that I mentioned in my past post that I bought at an antique store, and one that was given to me by a friend of the family!! I'm super excited to use them!! :D

The cameras in this image are: 1 Kodak Bantam RF camera with original leather case, 1 Mercury Satellite 127, 1 Kodak Folding Brownie Six-20, and 1 Polaroid SX-70 

Also, I had a fabulous shoot with Serianna yesterday! We made a makeshift outdoor studio in my backyard and played with crazy makeup, sprinkles, honey, and food coloring! I can't wait to share more of the images with you!!

Isn't she stunning? This was the third shot we took yesterday!!

Also, I have a shoot on Sunday with a model from Fargo that I am beyond jazzed about!!! ANNNNNDDDDDD I will be leaving for Virginia in a week and two days!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D If anyone wants to set up a shoot in this next week or for when I return from my vacation, please feel free to send me an email or a facebook message!!


I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend!! Thank you for reading!

-AK

Friendly Friday

Hello dear readers,

How has your day been? I'm hoping that it was fantabulous, and if it wasn't, I hope it gets better. Today has been rather stressful... I won't bore you all with details, but I still managed to get some editing done on a series I did a while ago that I can't wait to share with you all! :)

However, today those aren't the images I'm sharing. Today I'm sharing images from one of the coldest and most miserable shoots I've ever been a part of. The two models, Bri (who you all have seen often) and Shelby (who's senior images I did earlier this year) were wrapped up in huge sheets on a cold and sleety day with huge gust of freezing air sweeping by them as they stood in the mud and snow and were basically miserable, however, they didn't ask me to stop. I kept asking them if they wanted to and they kept saying they were game for whatever I wanted. They also kept rather cheery attitudes through it all, making jokes and laughing. The day could have been awful, we could have been crabby and miserable, instead the girls and I committed ourselves to staying positive and had a really fun (if slightly miserable) day. Lesson: Attitude matters. :)

Hope you have enjoyed the images, and remember to have wonderful Fridays and excellent weekends!!! :)

Also, for those of you in the area, remember that next Saturday (the 16th) I will be in the Art and Wine Walk!! It is $15 dollars for entry and for those of age there is free wine to sample!! Please come and support local artists!

<3 AK

Slacker Sunday

I dub today Slacker Sunday because as I look back at my day I feel I must admit I did nothing useful until about 5 this evening. All day I have been laying around without any thought of moving, nor any real desire to move. Rather puzzled by my attitude my fiance decided to go running, which for some reason upset me immensely. After he left I was forced to consider the implications of my anger and realized that I was upset because I was being slothful and a rather large brat. I decided that I could either stay grumpy and make everyone miserable, or do something about it.

I chose the later option and went for a run with my Father as a sort of second Father's day gift (the first being one of his favorite books). I must say, running improved my mood immensely and motivated me to actually start getting things rolling.

I unpacked and repacked some of the pieces that I used at the Art and Wine Walk (which by the way went fabulously well!!! I'll write more on it below) and submitted some photo orders. I also started a ledger to keep track of my photographically related spending. While it may not sound like much, I am quite pleased with my work thus far. :)

On the topic of the Art and Wine Walk: I had a blast! The Moo-cards were a huge hit and I got some really positive feedback on my work. Of course, I learned a lot about what I can improve for next time, but overall I am very pleased by the event. I hope that those of you in the area will come to the one in July, since I know that many of you worked during this one.

I hope you all had amazing weekends and great Father's Days!!!

Oh, also, I did an impromptu shoot with Brianna Friday morning and below is one of the images we captured! 

Well I must go eat now!!! 

<3 you all! 

-AK

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Tuesday! My eyes are feeling much better (for those of you who were not aware, I had a horrid eye infection last week)! To celebrate I am sharing a picture of one of my fellow choir-members from our trip to Europe! Isn't she just lovely?

I'm crazy busy this week, but Easter is just around the corner, so there is hope for some catch-up time!!!



Added a surprise Wednesday image from Europe :D Love this one so much :)

P.S. a little birdie says that there is a good chance that I will be in the Grand Forks Summer Art and Wine Walk in June :)  Will tell you more when I know more! :D

Painted Birds

Earlier this winter I did a very chilly photoshoot with my friend's Natasha and Brianna.  We drove out into the countryside in about 0 degree Fahrenheit weather and painted their faces. :) It was probably one of my favorite photoshoots to date. These two were a joy to work with and I'm hoping to work with them again this summer!