Fall Back

Hello lovely readers,

As some of you may know, I love fall. I love the smell and the leaves and the warm days with cooler nights. I also love the changing of the seasons, and this love prompted me to do a shoot almost two years ago dealing with the struggle between nature and the city within mankind.  The image below is one of the resulting pictures.

Well pleased with this shoots success, the idea struck me to do a sister shoot, one that involved the opposite theme, with the back being a tree with all four seasons and the background being a mix of the woods and the city. For almost two years I searched for a model willing to work with the concept and an artist talented enough to produce my brain-child, and then along came Victoria and Shandi, two talented young ladies who were open the idea and excited beyond belief to make it happen.  Below are a few of the images from this shoot.

I can't even begin to tell you how pleased I am with Shandi's work and Victoria's dedication. I would never have been able to fulfill this dream of mine without you two. <3 If you two are reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Happy Friday dear Reader,

AK

Cherry Blossoms

Hey everyone!!! I'm sharing a new photo from the editorial I just shot yesterday featuring Shandi's beautiful body-art!! Victoria is an amazing model, she is one of the most dedicated model's I've ever had the pleasure of working with! I am planning on posting more of these in a longer update, however, I really couldn't resist sharing this gem with you!!!

 

I love you all!! Have a great rest of your week!!

-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

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!