Adrea: Lauren

Adrea: Marissa

Adrea: Pain and Torture (part one)

I really really do not want to limit myself on which of the rest of this shoot's photos to pick. It gives me a headache not putting up twenty. But if I don't limit myself there are going to be weeks of this one shoot. I'll compromise with myself. I'll do family shoot today, then one post each for each girl. That should help.

Adrea: Double Cute

Elliot's mom referred this family to me, and I couldn't be happier.

We'll start with the girls together.

When Shelley told me they had twin girls I was thinking in my head the whole way to the shoot how I was going to be very careful to learn the right name to go with the right twin (I figure that's important to multiples)... luckily for me, they aren't identical and it made it pretty easy!

Adrea: On the Subject of Subjects

To Whom It May Concern:

I know, or think I begin to sort of understand a little, the irrationality of seeing oneself as what I used to think was "old." Of course, I have the advantage of believing in all those beautiful forty something stars in Hollywood and how I think they are much prettier now than in their twenties. But that's besides the point. As we all should know by now a lot about "being old" is in perception and presentation. Both my parents lead 110% more active and interesting lives than I do and they are not in their twenties. Both my parents were attractive back then and I think are attractive in all their aginess glory now. That being said, it is a shock even to my "you're not old til you're old" eyes when I see, really see that passing years actually do seem to affect myself and those I love.

On that note, I was warned that though my mom wanted me to do my dad's portrait for Christmas, he would not like any of them and it was in no way a reflection of my talent. But, as I told my dad, one thing I have learned in my early days here of photography is, like age, a photograph is only as good as the insides of the subject. I don't care how beautiful a model is - if she's vacant... so is the photograph.

I don't care how attractive Dad was back "then" - though I'm sure he'd have been gorgeous in pictures, it would have been a different statement then now. It's not about how pretty your face is, it's about what your face says.

And I found my dad's face pretty interesting.

Business Stuff: 1 Gift Card Later

I have a new router... so - back to the camera shooting...

Adrea: Megan shops at ANthropologie

Adrea: Bark (sans color)

So Megan, like me, doesn't exactly feel comfortable in front of the camera, but she totally got into it and even went out in the freezing rain for an Anthropologie type shoot. Course I only got a couple pictures of that - but it was fun all the same. I've got plans for the next shoot in the new year... mwah ha ha ha ha ha.

Adrea: Bark (in color)

My brother is notoriously camera-shy. Hmm. Shy is too passive a word. Let's say he's anti-camera-pointed-at-him. My mom, like myself, values pictures above almost all else, so since I've started taking them in earnest she decided she wanted pictures of her loved ones as her Christmas present.

So, Mr. Anti-Camera could hardly say no to his mom's only Christmas wish. He grumbled a bit, but he was all bark. I'm not saying he was happy to be in the pictures, but he was totally easy to photograph. Yeah, yeah, I know, people say he's attractive - but attractive people who are uncomfortable usually still just look uncomfortable in pictures. Yup, he was totally easy... because he was cracking jokes the whole time... and then promptly laughing at his own jokes, so all I had to do was wait for it and boom genuine smile. You all have no idea how hard it is to get a genuine smile.

So, bad news, bro, you are an EXCELLENT photography subject. Megan isn't exactly chopped liver herself, but I'll talk about her in the b&w bark post.

Adrea: Rainbow Connection

When I grow up, I want to study rainbows.

Adrea: Abby's Dexter

Dexter was in Abby's class last year and there was some marriage talk. But, alas, they've gone on to separate lives.

Adrea: The Raisin Lover's Family

You may remember Sarah from some pics over the summer, well, we got the whole family in on it now.

Adrea: Strength Then and Now

For those of you not in the know by reading Jen's blog - her PET scan revealed her tumors are GONE gone Gone gone. She reflects here about where she is now and where she was then. I think that you can see her emotional journey in her face in our pictorial sessions.

And actually, while I was compiling these three pictures, I was surprised at what I see.

In the first picture I see an innocent sort of beauty and courage - she's going to face this cancer thing but she doesn't really know how - she's sort of giving off this bravery energy - I don't know how else to describe it - because she wasn't manic - she was still, serene, but not naive about the unknown.



In the second picture, she's right in the middle of the muck of it all. It's been bad, and there's this sense that it's going to be worse before it gets better. I see this one as the least present of all three - and that's not a criticism - and I don't even mean that she wasn't present in her self - it was just to me, or the camera. I think she couldn't dwell on where she was too long because the road just seemed daunting... I think she had to be focused inward. And if you'll remember - that shoot was stunning in it's own right too.




In the third, I expected to see her at her lowest. I expected the journey to have drained and exhausted her. I expected to have to work hard not to have her look sick and beat. What I saw, and what I am most surprised about in this comparison, is that she looks just plain best here. Don't you think? It's all of what she shares in her blog. It's the most JEN, the most present, the strongest and rivals the first in glowing beauty. Maybe because shes radiating that energy again - that "I am JEN. And I am going to win this." energy. Except in the first picture it's a whisper, all that nervous fear is static over it. And in the third, it's a command - the fear, the nerves, the misery is still there - but this time it's firmly under the thumb of the command, "I am JEN, I have been through that shadow, and I will not die there."


You haven't seen the last of her. For whatever reason, whether it was sitting in our dorm room so I could sketch her for my drawing classes or posing for pictures, Jen has always inspired something for me artistically - now we'll just focus more on cool locations and funky clothes rather than battling life and death.