15 Under 15 Feature 94

I'm on fire this week actually getting stuff done, obviously this won't last long, but I'll try to appreciate it while it's happening I've felt sad and lonely a lot this year, so I try to fill up my time by doing stuff, it's usually cooking and listening to podcasts, but those are a poor substitute for being with people on fun time (re: not work).  I've been doing a lot of stuff with friends lately though, and it's pulling me out of the hole I felt like I had fallen into.  There is absolutely nothing better than spending time with people you love who make you feel alive and giddy with excitement.  I've never been a party girl or much of a big event person in general, but hanging out with just one or two people who "get" you is so happy-inducing.  I shot a boudoir session with one of my best friends who is also the makeup artist who works on a lot of my shoots.  We both kind of thought "wow, this is going to feel weird," but it was actually so much fun as we meandered around her house laughing and putting together more and more scenarios for us to shoot.  She ended up at the end in her spa tub with this great lace bodysuit and tons of huge red rose petals floating around her as I jumped around the sides of the tub and ran up and down on a ladder trying to capture all the right angles.  As the kids of today say, "it was SO EXTRA," but oh my gosh was it fun.  I love when people are comfortable enough around me to tell me what they really want to do.  Some people are too scared to tell me what they REALLY want, and what they really want is always so great that I'm sad when people hold back. I've been photographing more friends lately. While a lot of the models I photograph are friends, it's different photographing people who aren't used to modelling and definitely not as confident.  It's a rush to photograph people and have them see how beautiful they are.  People are told so often that they should look a certain way to be beautiful, we all internalize it so deeply and develop a deeply uncomfortable way of looking at our bodies as lesser than.  I forgot how freaking good it feels to show people how I see them, because the people we love are always filtered with rose-tinted glasses.  Love smooths over imperfections and happiness looks so beautiful on people, and that's the way I like to photograph people.  You make them comfortable and happy in the best way you can and then you take the photo. 

Anyways, if you came for the art, sorry I've bored you with that tangent