December Inspiration

I live and breath photography - any of my friends or family can tell you that. And yet sometimes, that breath of artistry feels "used up", and I have trouble finding it in me. Any artist will tell you of ups and downs - every writer has writers block every now and again, every painter or photographer a (hopefully temporary) loss of inspiration or motivation. While in the midst of this block, you cannot imagine the inspiration ever returning, and begin to question if it ever existed. You begin to create...and then stop because the vision will not take place.


When this happens to me I do one of two things: I either let it go and commit myself to other things - with four kids (three in sports) and my day job I certainly have enough to do....or I push my boundaries and try something that I have never done before with my art.

This time, relief came in the form of my friend and fellow photographer Jennifer Alder, and model Jacqueline P. Jen was kind enough to coordinate a shoot that was originally supposed to be a snow covered fairy tale. Jacquie had the perfect dress picked out, we were all set and then....no snow. We decided to go ahead with the shoot anyway, and planned to figure it out when we got there. Of course, even with no snow it also happened to be the coldest day of November/December so far - a chilly 30 degrees (and something like 20 degrees windchill, brrrrrr...).

So there we were - hanging out in the cold and looking at a barren clump of trees. The good news was that Jacquie looked beautiful. We walked into the small barren "forest", looking for a good spot - apparently Jen is the master at finding the spot...first up, our "woodland clearing":



Jacquie had done her own hair and make-up, she looked absolutely stunning.


Jen sneak attacked me while I was shooting - here is her snap of me, and one of the images I snapped at the same time.






















A few in black and white:

Jen and I both brought parasols LOL (great minds and all that) - Jen's parasol was a perfect match for Jacquie's dress.



























Darkness and light....

Jacquie was absolutely AMAZING - if it weren't for the goosebumps, I would have never known she was cold with no coat, and at some points in the shoot even barefoot. When she took her boots off, I got my favorite pic of the shoot check it out!!

And.....I couldn't let Jen get away without showing me how to get one of those awesome dramatic scarf pics that she takes. While I know this is not exactly like Jen's, I like it - see my try...

Last but not least, I couldn't let Jen get away without shooting Jen, shooting Jacquie - here they are:
Jen and Jacquie, thank you so much for such a FUN and adventurous shoot.