Fashion Publications

When I first started out in photography, I had the ultimate goal of being a fashion photographer.  Though that is no longer my hope for my future, I still love fashion photography, and jump at the opportunity to have my work published!  I have had my work published in a few magazines thus far, and I can't wait to work with more!  So here are all of my publications in one blog post, have fun looking, and thank you to everyone I have had the opportunity to work with!  I can't wait to see what we come up with next. 

Haute Couture Chicago, January 2016

Surreal Beauty, October 2015

Obscurae Magazine, October 2015

Fashion Ignite, 2015

 Obscurae Magazine, August 2015

A look back at Zombies

If there was anything that practically everyone knew about me in my days of undergrad at Carroll University, it would be these two things: I was a photographer, and I loved zombies.  People who didn't actually know my name, still knew me as the "zombie loving photography chick."  

How did this get started? It actually began when I started having zombie apocalypse nightmares weekly when I was 16.   And when my parents found out I chose Carroll as my university, they nonchalantly decided that they just HAD to share this movie with me. 

Dawn of The Dead 2004 (The Beginning)

(Start at 8:00) 

Intro one of my first graphic design projects, a candy box!  And what would it be other than Zombie Bites, Deliciously Tasty Gummy Brains?  Manufactured in B-EATINU Candy Company, the ingredient list includes zombie saliva and brain stem.  Each box comes with a capsule that allows you to"Grow you own life size zombie!" Complete with "amazing snapping jaw action."

The QR code says "My Teacher is awesome, please give me an A." 

November, 2010

(Recognize this image?  I had never seen The Walking Dead at this point!)

A few years later, I started my 52 week project, the goal of which was to create a portfolio worthy photograph once a week for a year.  I was inspired by the Resident Evil (even though I had never seen them), and the idea of telling a full story through a series of images.  I thought a comic book would be a cool way of sharing this story.  

January 8 2012

And 52 Weeks later, I decided the best way to end the series was how it started-only better.

January 12, 2013

(Finally started the Walking Dead!)

And if your taking any notes, you'll notice that things keep getting bigger...

April 27, 2013

And more elaborate...

July 20, 2013

 Until finally....

March 12, 2014
(Watched Resident Evil)

My biggest zombie shoot ever!

My big final for my Graphic Design major was to create a board game.  And of course what could I do but zombies?

Two makeup artists, 12 zombies, 7 survivors, and a number

of confused campus staff later, we had an awesome shoot!

A few days prior to this shoot, I went to the campus safety office to let them know that I would be photographing a group of zombies and people with baseballs bats and such around campus.  They said that all that was fine.  I asked if they wanted to know my name, and they replied with: "Oh.  We know who you are."

I wanted to create a game that was more open ended than most zombie games.  Half of the apocalypse is surviving what is left of humanity!  I wanted to create a game where humans could be just as dangerous as the zombies.  

I created several characters for the players to choose from, each with their own back story that talks about their hopes and dreams.  My hope was that if I created relatable, realistic characters, people would be more invested in their survival.

A player can play as a survivor, or as the zombie master.  I didn't want the zombies to be left to chance-I wanted them to be a force to be reckoned with. 

Player card

Zombie card

The game board was created with a combination of The Sims, and Photoshop.

The game was a huge success, everyone loved it! Definitely one of my proudest moments to get in front of the class and present this to everyone.  (Between you and me, someone else had been planning on doing a zombie game, but when they heard I was doing one, they changed their mind!)

Every one was great to work with and I have to admit

 it is one of my favorite photography projects ever!

One of my more interesting self portraits was done as I re-watched
one of my favorite shows-The Walking Dead.

June 25, 2014

I felt that this moment with Amy was terrifyingly beautiful, and so I wanted to re-create it. 

And finally, we come to today.  I T.A.ed a lighting course, and they had the assignment to recreate a movie poster as exactly as possible-like I could resist that assignment!

October 30, 2014

Over all though, my zombie days are slowing down.  I very rarely have zombie nightmares anymore, and I'm sort of growing tired of the Walking Dead.  I think I will have to find a new source of inspiration.  Don't get me wrong, I still have a few zombie ideas up my sleeve, but over all, I think that I'm off in a new direction, and I'm just fine with that. 

Women of Folklore: This Could be You

The last installment of this series is meant to bean end point for the series, but also a step for continuation.  The idea that just because you're not fighting in battles, your actions could mark you as a women of legend and lead to change in culture in our future. 

Model: Sarah Butcher

 

By fighting for women's rights, you too can leave a mark on our history and our culture. Perhaps you will be the next woman of folklore.

Feminist Protestor

My model stands in a bra as a stand against the idea that women "ask" to be raped through their clothing.

 

Common quote in protest signage

 

I wrote the sign to be a protest against feminist issues in general (although it is a sign used in many protests). 

I want to give a big thank you to everyone who helped make this project possible.  Without my models, the costume shop, the people who lent me props, as well as the people who helped me make stuff, I would not have been able to do this without you.  You are all awesome people. 

Women of Folkore: Antigone

Although Antigone is second in the series, she was actually my first shoot.  I started with Antigone for one simple reason: her dress is a curtain and it was easiest to make.  

Model: Lavender Marie

HMUA: Alicia Marie

Costume: Lexie Bragg

Antigone chose to follow the laws of the Gods over that of men, and was condemned to death for her treason.  In one final act of defiance, she took her own life instead of the long painful death to which she was sentenced.

Antigone holds a shovel and a pitcher-the shovel to be used to dig a grave for her deceased brother, and the pitcher to be used in the sacred last rights as required by the gods.  Lastly she wears a belt-one she will use to help forge her own fate. 

 

Antigone Dancing Maenad, Callimachus

A lot of research was done to get Antigone's dress right.  Her dress is a doric chiton-a fashion statement that I actually really like!  Her hair was also styled in a tradition curled up do.

 

 Madonna de los Palafreneros, Caravaggio

For this series I decided to use chiaroscuro, or intense light and darks; as often used by Caravaggio.   I have long loved the lighting used in Caravaggio's work, but was also inspired by his use of biblical stories placed in contemporary settings.  His goal was to bring biblical stories back to life by making them more relatable with simple background, contemporary dress, and to remind those of their importance with dramatic lighting.


I want to thank my model and makeup artist.  You guys were totally awesome to work with.  Thank you so much for the opportunity!

Beauty & Fear: IV

And finally.  After months of working against forces beyond my control, I finished this series!  I have had this plan (and this dress) since the summer, but we didn't get to shoot till December!  It was absolutely freezing, and poor Kendra had to lie on the frosted ground in the costume I had picked out for the summer. I was lucky enough to find a (rather random) patch of perfectly green foliage that was reminiscent of summer, and I finally had the chance to finish my series.

Model: Kendra Ozanick-Vanderhill

MUA: Alicia Marie

 

This death is less obvious than most of the others.  This girl was not very bright. Thinking she new her way around her families cabin out in the country, she decided to wonder of the path-to an unfortunate end. 

I had originally planned on using a fox in the foreground, but after the acquisition fell through, I ended up photographing paper butterflies from a coloring book and photoshopping them in later.

 Did you know that butterflies eat decomposing flesh?  I didn't either. 

I think this was a great finish to this series.  The butterflies eating the corpse add another layer to the beauty and fear that come with death.   Through this series, I have found that it is not the perfection that is shown in the paintings of death that make them beautiful-but the serenity and peace that can be found in the scenes.  I have found that the stark reality of death adds a different kind of beauty, like a tingle down ones spine, this fear can be twisted into a sort of beauty in itself-one of the reality that we all face and yet seek so much to avoid.