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

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 Folklore: Molly Pitcher

This was an interesting one to shoot.  Molly Pitcher was a woman who fought in the in the revolutionary war, taking her husbands place on the battle field after he is injured.  I knew I had to give her some sort of "action," something that would go beyond her just standing holding her cannon puncher.  What would her surroundings be on the battle field?

Model: Sarah

Costume: Costume shop

Canon Puncher: James Chavey

In the battle of Monmouth during the Revolutionary War, Molly Pitcher left her post as a water carrier and took her husband's place on the battlefield after he was wounded by cannon fire.

Molly Pitcher monument

The costume was acquired from the costume shop, and edited to fit the time period, as well as for the conditions (I added some stains and rips to it). The cannon puncher was made from a broom handle, a paper towel role, and a black t-shirt.

Molly Pitcher, Unknown artist

My favorite part about this shoot was the cannon smoke!  The smoke was made from throwing baby powder and the use of a remote trigger.

Thank you so much for your help Sarah.  You were quite the trooper!

Women of Folklore: Mulan

In my original plan for this series, every tale came from a different country.  In the revamp, my stories became less diverse.  This is why I sought out to do Mulan (which was not in my first revamp plan).  I wanted to show the growth of feminism around the world, and how other countries reacted towards the growth in power of women.

Model: Anna Nguyen

Costume: Rebecca Jones

Taking her father's place in the war against the Huns, Mulan returned

home to question her identity in her traditional Chinese culture.

Hua Mulan

I chose to mimic this traditional style image of Mulan for my own series.  In the poem, it discusses how she puts the powder on her face to return to her position as a woman.  She holds the sword in one hand and the powder in the other as sign of the pull she feels between the freedom of being a man and the tradition of being a woman.  Described as two hares, the steps of the male rabbit sharp and sure, and the steps of the female hare twisted and muddled. 

Modern Hanfu

I was lucky enough to have a friend lend me a Japanese Kimono and sword. Even though the dress was technically not from the right country, I knew I was super lucky to have such an amazing dress.  I attempted to style it in a way that mimicked a modern Hanfu by draping the gown straight down instead of crossing it at the middle as is done with Kimonos.  

I want thank Anna and Rebecca for helping me do this shoot.  I would not have been able to pull off such an amazing photo without your help!

Women of Folklore: Blenda

Blenda's story is one of my favorites.  It is said to be the first example of equality between men and women-the beginning of feminism.

Model: Lucy Hodkiewicz

MUA/Costume design: Lexie Bragg

Sword: Dillon Moran

 

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While the men were away at war, Blenda led the town women to victory against the invading Danish army through cunning and creative tactics.

Blenda and the towns women approached the Danish army on the field of battle and thanked them for being their saviors, and saving them from the men of their own village.  They invited the Danish  to a feast to celebrate their emancipation.   The women fed the army and got them drunk on wine. Once the entire army was in a drunken stupor-the women killed them all. 

The men of the village were so proud of the women, they granted them the honor of wearing belts: a symbol of protectors of the village, as well as equal inheritance.

Selfie by Lucy

 I bought the dress from St. Vinnies and sewed on the trim and added the lacing.  The fur is from the costume shop, and the pin is a traditional Norse "tree of life" symbol, stolen from James and creatively attached with thread.

 

Memorial statue, Sweden

I had a hard time finding what a noble women would have worn for this time period.  Most depictions of Blenda had her in armor or chain male, but if she was out to trick the Danish army, why would she give away their plan by dressing for battle?  

Beowulf, a Canadian production

Beowulf and Grendel,  2005

I took my costuming ideas from Beowulf, a fantastical Norse myth that took places in the same time period. I chose this as my inspiration as I thought the cut, detailing, and accessories would be more accurate for a women of noble birth versus the peasant dresses I had been finding.  Obviously Beowulf is a popular story!

I'm really proud of how this shoot turned out.  The costuming is accurate, and I love the sword (which some might say isn't accurate, but it is very similar to the sword seen in the memorial statue; and I'm assuming that they wouldn't "wing it" with a memorial)!

A big thank you to Lucy for helping me with this project, you were the one I really wanted!

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.

Women of Folklore: Lilith

This past fall I took my Capstone: a class designed to help you develop a body of work meant to help propel you into the life of an artist once you graduate.  I wanted to create a series that examined the cultural expectations of women and how they changed over time.  The series goes in chronological order, starting before the recording of time and ending in the contemporary.  

I want to thank Katherine for being totally awesome and brave for modeling for me.  The series would not have been lost without you.   And thank you to James Chavey, for helping me steal dirt for this shoot.

My series began with Lilith:

Lilith, the first wife of Adam, was created from the same earth by God.  Refusing to be subservient, Lilith was exiled from the Garden of Eden and damned to hell, becoming the first Demon.

In my version of Lilith, Lilith holds a pomegranate- supposedly the original fruit of sin.  She stands atop a mound of a dirt, symbolizing the earth that she was made from.

Lilith, John Colier

I chose Lilith because of how strength I found in her story: She refused to be subservient, and was therefore damned to hell.  It shows the horror that women have faced, in some countries still face today.

When Katherine volunteered to model for me, I could not believe how lucky I was; look at her hair!!  Her hair is nearly to the floor, what more could I have asked for?  She was amazing to work with, and I could not have asked for a better shoot (or afternoon!)

Here are some outtakes from our shoot, because how could I pass up this opportunity!

Operation Ophelia: III

As a child, one of my greatest fear was to ingest poisonous berries.  I wouldn't eat anything from nature (which was probably not a bad choice,) not even dandelion leaves (which you can actually buy from the grocery store for your salad.)  Even though I always pretended to be a fairy, I was never that comfortable with nature.

Samantha accidentally ate Virginia Creeper Berries.  A small berry that grows naturally on bushes.  Once ingested, the berries cause the victims eyes to become blood shot, vomit, and the pupils to become dilated.  She is dressed almost like a fairy-a hint to my own past, and the fears that inspired this installation of the series.

Model: Sam

MUA: Alicia Marie

Assistant: Nate

Operation Ophelia: III

Behind the Scenes

We shot this out in the country, on a super overcast day, with the help of my models brother Nate, and their dog, Ginger 

"Oh my Gosh.  It's the walking dead."

I chose a location off the beaten path, a beautiful field filled with little pink flowers and tall grass.  It would have been the spot I chose to play fairy garden in as a child.

Nate was an awesome assistant, mixing up bubbles whenever they got too deflated, and being in charge of the berries. The berries we used were blueberries, and the foam at the mouth was created by using bubble bath.

Ginger was also a lot of help.

So much help, he crushed my first location choice.  He obviously agreed I chose a good spot.

Look at that face!

Overall the shoot was an awesome experience.  I could not have asked for a better group of people (or animals) to work with.  It ended up being an awesome addition to my series, and I can't wait to share the next one with you.  Thank you all for allyour help and support. You are what help make this possible!

Advertisement: Jewelry & Perfume

I recently started a project photographing what would be my own faux perfume and jewelry line.  I wanted to photograph perfume and jewelry that could be worn as either "dark," or "light."  I'm interested in this versatility because it is something that every woman has: that ability to switch from light to dark, even in the span of a day.  I wanted to create products (even fake ones) that could go with a woman through these changes.

I was inspired by a collection of jewelry and perfume advertisements.  I tried to mimic the simplicity and elegance of the advertisements; from the smokey eye makeup, the outfit changes, perfume and jewelry, to the lighting.  I set the mood with the great Gatsby sound track, and we had an awesome shoot. 

Light

Dark

A special thanks to my model, Emily Schmitt, and my makeup artist, Alicia Marie.

Along with model shots, I took some product shots of the perfume.  The goal was to help tell a story, and show the versatility from light to dark. 

Behind the scenes