Diversity & Inclusion Mandate

At the start of June, I wrote a little about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Here’s my new Diversity & Inclusion website page that I have written, speaking about my actions & intentions in my pledge to create an equitable and anti-racist photography business.

The intent here is to publish what I am committed to and hold myself accountable as I move forward with my business.

I am open to all comments, criticisms and thoughts on this and you can do so in my Instagram DM’s here.

Thank you! I will be updating where I am on a quarterly basis — so my next post about this will be in September 2020 :)

Pool Rorschachs inspired by David Hockney

My final graduating project for my BFA in Photography was an abysmal failure. I remember when I installed it in the gallery just how bad it looked and how much I wanted it to be better but there was no time. Maybe I was being hard on myself? (My parents liked it!)

My worst fears were confirmed when I received the pages of critiques from my professors, how I had fallen short in all aspects.

It was a crushing blow, but part of me really expected it too. And I’ve since learned after a decade plus of other moments of failures that you need those moments. They are moments that can either freeze you or pause you, but the key is to take the pause option, however briefly you need one, because they’re essential to your growth. These failures don’t mean you should stop.

Will Smith says to “fail early, fail often, fail forward”, as those that are truly successful are failing all the time. And I believe this to be true now but at the time I was too immature to accept responsibility for it. My muscle for failure is way better developed now, that I take putting my work out there and risking critique with a grain of salt. I actually don’t even worry whether someone will read this. It’s important for ME to work through my thinking by writing about it.

My graduating project was based in my inspiration from David Hockey’s polaroid work. I thought they were so clever and so wonderful to look at, that I had really hope to replicate it by showing a tree experience the seasons. But my execution was just wrong (for instance, I didn’t use polaroids) and I didn’t control enough of the variables to make it work visually. I should have realized it way earlier while I was in creation mode, but my project planning wasn’t as strong back then and I was way more rigid/unable to pivot from an early idea.

Nathan Swimming Los Angeles, by David Hockney source: Pinterest

The silver lining to all of this was a comment from one of my teachers on the many pages of criticisms was something along the lines of “this didn’t work, but I know how creative you are and you will be just fine. I have no doubt about it.” I didn’t feel it then, but she was right.

Anyway, suffice it to say that David Hockney is still a favorite artist of mine.

When I went to Martha’s Vineyard with a few friends last month, I knew from the last time we visited that there was a beautiful pool we could swim in and this time being prime swim season that I would get my friends on board to help me play with a few ideas. David Hockney’s pool paintings and polaroids sprung to mind and as someone who loves to study light I wanted to find news ways to photograph reflected light.

David Hockney’s “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)”

What we ended up creating was so different from the vision I had in my head but I think these are better than that initial idea.

On the heels of editing through 7000+ photographs from ONE wedding (I hope I never have that many photographs to wade through again) I needed a visual break and decided to break processing “rules” and played in Lightroom.

I mashed up the tone curve, went wild with the grey, blacks and whites and managed to bring about a painted, illustrated feeling while allowing my friends to remain real looking. What surfaced were the shadows; the light reflected on the bottom of the pool inferred Hockney while the girls shadows seem to take on a life of their own. They remind me of those Rorschach tests, how are shadows forever connected to us have a life of their own. What we do in the shadows. What lies beneath.

I’ll let you decide what they mean to you. Here are my favorites.

Thank you to Rebecca, Abby, Liz and Katie for being patient and fun models for me!

Alice in Blush Collaboration

May was quite the month and trust that in earlier versions of this blog post, I went on about it. But in short, it was busy on the work side of the balance coin, and busy on the life side of the coin as we tried to finish up our renovations and move back into our home.

Of the work side my hope to collaborate with Lisa Abi Chedid — local Montreal wedding dress designer of Alice in Blush — happened after our initial coffee in her studio at the start of last winter. We bit the bullet after a series of opportunities presented themselves and our little crew squeezed into my bedroom while the renovations continued downstairs.

This was an opportunity for us to play, to create something not so typically bridal. We used three different outfits from Alice in Blush: the first being more on the bridal side and then having some fun with allll the tulle in classic pink and in layers of violet, fuschia and black.

Some of my favorite photographers are fashion photographers and the common theme they hold is how they create shape in their images. Yes, light is at play. So is color. But ultimately they’ve managed to find movement and almost create something sculptural as well. This is something I wanted to explore.

The best part of the day was just getting to know these women, all so passionate about their respective life path’s, and the bonding that occurred in our conversations about working in weddings and for ourselves. The consensus we reached was that social media can be used for good: collaboration and community. Anything else that leaves you feeling the FOMO or lesser than should be kicked curbside.

Here are some of my favorites from the day!

Dresses: Alice in Blush

Model: Alice Anne

Makeup: Makeup by MaryK

Thank you to these hard-working women for this fun collaboration!