Camp Easy Couture

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Click on the image to start playing the video.

Behind the scenes video and photos of my photo shoot at Camp Easy in the mountains.

Up in the mountains where the air is a little crisper and colder resides a place called Camp Easy.  

This Cabin in the woods is truly a step back in time and many steps away from the hustle and bustles of everyday life. It is my favorite place on the planet, and I always love spending time at Camp Easy. Recently I spent a long weekend up in the mountains with my camera, 4 beautiful models, some amazing props, and some gorgeous gowns I created from thrift store finds.  I am calling it my Camp Easy Couture Photo Shoot. This video shows some behind the scenes fun and some of the amazing photos that were created. I wanted to thank my beautiful models Erin, Samantha, Jillian and a special last minute appearance of the stunning Ashley. My vision was to create a setting of a "girls day out" sitting drinking tea, listen to music and creating fanciful stories to entertain themselves something my great grandmother might have done decades earlier in a similar spot with these very same objects. 

Send me an email if you want to find out how you can book your own play date with me to create some stunning portraits of your own. 

I look for creative solutions to make a shoot a little extra interesting. I wanted to use the beautiful mountain setting to create a mood, but I also used props old and new to help me. Here are some behind the scenes tips that I used on this shoot. 

Masks

I got the masks from Walmart and painted them different shades of white, off white and cream. Then I used hodge podge to apply some glitter and flowers to make them more photogenic. I was really happy with how they turned out here are some photos of before and after. 

Flowers

I have been collecting silk and fabric flowers over the years. I keep an eye out for them to go on clearance and then buy a bunch. One of my favorite stores is crate & barrel, but you could use some from Michaels or Joann Fabrics. We used white paint as a base over top of the silk flowers and then I went back in with tones of grey, yellow, purple and peach to create a hand painted vintage BEAUTIFUL flowers. 

Gowns

I went to the thrift store in the little sleepy town of Bedford, Va and spent 3 glorious hours looking around and finding treasures. I was surprised and delighted to find so many yummy things I could use. I just love spending time searching for hidden treasures at the thrift store. My goal was to find dresses or tops that I could turn into gowns. I used curtains and small pieces of fabric to make long skirts, which we pined in place. The girls kept their blue jeans and boots on under the gowns, so when I asked them to go into the tall grass they felt protected. I had some pearls and sparkly pins to strategically place them on the gowns to pull the look all together. 

Props

Camp Easy has been in my family for 5 generations and we don't like to throw anything away, so I had many props available. I got an old trunk out of the barn and did not even realize until I opened it that it had a picture of a women tacked on the inside... Bonus. The phonograph is one of my favorite props and it still works if you turn the record manually. 

I was lucky to have some helpers for the behind the scenes video and I want to take time to thank Ashley for her help and a special thanks to Kelly and Elizabeth for  jumping in for some photos themselves. Here are some amazing shots I got of the girls and their mothers. 

A Night of Happiness

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My Images of the opening night party at National Geographic Musuem    

Last Friday was the opening night for my show at National Geographic Museum and I was excited nervous and numb with anticipation. The night was great fun and I wanted to thank all of my peeps that could show up to give me a big hug and a whole bunch of love.... Jaime, Cynthia, Theresa, Erin, Sue and Mitchell. It was very special to have you there to enjoy my special night. We laughed, we danced and gazed in amazement at all the beautiful work on display. Thanks to all of you that sent me love notes and well wishes I felt your presents there with me.

I wanted to give a shout out to FotoWeekDC for another great event. They have classes and exhibits happening all week long. Check out the schedule here.

Above is a slide show I took of the 4 different exhibits that were there that night. If you have a chance to stop by the National Geographic Musuem you will not be disapointed. 

Here are the links in case you wanted to learn more about the exhibits.

FotoWeekDC celebrating its 6th year of displaying the works of photographers from all over the world.

The National Geographic Museum is celebrating 125 years  which is an amazing display of all of their cover designs over the years. The first generation of covers did not even have pictures ... hard to believe.

The Women of Vision  exhibit is a stunning multimedia exhibit that engrosses all your senses.

Lions, Tigers and Bears .... Oh ... my ... I did not get to see all of these photos, but they looked amazing.

A Reflection on a Journey

Visiting my aunt Jeanette and uncle Tom's house when I was a young girl meant I could sit and look thru their huge collection of National Geographic magazines. I would look thru them amazed by the wondrous places and photos. I had not gotten the photo bug yet, but I do think it planted a seed. That seed sprouted and began to blossom in college where I took some black and white photography classes. It wasn't until I got my first digital camera as a Christmas present (thanks Sue & Mitchell) which was a point and shoot Kodak that I truly got the photo bug. I took it everywhere and shot everything. I loved the instant gratification of digital. Then thanks to Canon and their affordable rebel line of DSLR cameras I got my first creative digital camera. I say creative because you could adjust the settings and take any kind of picture you wanted. I was curious about everything after that and had to learn everything I could about how to take photos. So with the help of Flickr, which is an online photo community, I fully engrossed myself into learning how to use my new camera. It was a game changer because I could see the results instantly. Digital meant I could take as many shots as I wanted or re take them until I got it right. 

This new media in my life of digital photography helped me express myself to the world. I have always had a fear of expressing myself thru words because of my dyslexia. The insecurity and shame that comes along with having a learning disability often kept me from sharing my thoughts in written form. I always thought I had something to say I just never had the courage to share it. With the encouragement of some amazing women in my life I have decided to put aside these fears and express myself with both words and pictures. This blog is the start of that new journey. Sigh .... being honest about your fears can be very freeing and very terrifying. 

I think it is important to stop and look back at your journey, because some very small things in your life can add up to big important moments. Take time to listen to your whispers they may be ushering you into a new destiny.