She Was Warrior

In early January the fabulous Sarah Byrne and I were having coffee, chit-chatting about life, astrology, and books when, out of the blue, she said, "We should plan a creative! What have you always wanted to do?"  Truth is that I tend to be a specific-purpose type of person and I'd never actually done nor pursued a true creative shoot (my collaborative shoot with Sarah, Doug Pruden, and Katie Hunt came close mind you ;) ).  All that said, I knew exactly what I've thought about doing for the past few years, "I want to do a body paint shoot."  And so the idea was born...but we needed to find a model and decide on details.

I've worked with the lovely Jeanette a number of times now - she started out as a client and quickly became my friend and model (some might say muse given how many times we have now worked together - she graces the top of this blog!).  I emailed to see if she'd be interested and she seemed as excited about it as Sarah and I were!

Next we needed a theme...there were so many back and forths between myself and Sarah that I'm not sure who first came across a shot with a headdress; regardless we were both convinced that it would be awesome and we set out to design the rest of the shoot around a headdress.  Sarah went in search and found an extraordinary headdress for us...man, you have to see this thing in person!  

During our planning, and mere weeks before our mid-March shoot; Sarah visited a friend and they painted together.  She posted a shot of her canvas on Facebook and I asked her to bring it over so that I could shoot it; thinking the texture and colours would be beautiful with our Warrior!  I haven't done much in the way of composites but I love the capabilities of Photoshop and, as this was intended to be a truly creative pursuit, I thought it would be a great time to play and learn.  

The below image is the result of three women who all invested time, thought, and heart into this shoot!  

© Bella Faccia/Lori Maloney
HMUA and Background Art by Sarah Byrne
Styling by Sarah Byrne and Lori Maloney
Model: Jeanette

I hope to post a few more from our session and they will likely be edited quite differently (trying to learn as much Photoshop as I can on this!).

My sincere thanks to Sarah and Jeanette for all of their efforts in making this shoot not only a success but a really fun day too!  (PS we're still finding beads from the bracelet I broke while readying JB!)

Life - and creative endeavours - are beautiful!

Lori

Some Winter Shooting with OOPOOMOO & duChemin

I am going to blog about my full experience from this weekend, at the Persistent Vision seminar, very soon (it was ahhhhmazing!) but for now I wanted to simply share a few images from today's shoot.

The morning started with a carpool from Calgary to Vermillion Lakes, just outside of Banff...the snow and early morning darkness made the drive less than easy, but we made it!  We met up with 15 other photogs, including Samantha Chrysanthou, Darwin Wiggett, and David duChemin.  With a little instruction from David together with his thoughts about approaching a creative process; we all set about finding 'our shot' amidst the winter morning scene.  It was very cold, with a biting wind and blowing snow...any of you who know me will know that those conditions usually have me heading for a Baileys and coffee indoors, but I stuck it out with the help of my new friend, Cynthia Haynes (nothing like having girl chat & laughs to keep your mind off of how cold your fingers and toes are!).

As I grow as a photographer I find myself becoming freer and less concerned about my own expectations, or others, of what I "should" capture on a workshop shoot.  Opportunities like this today's, even if the conditions are less than ideal (at least for this fair weather shooter ;)!), really help concrete my belief that experimentation is fun and that shooting just for yourself is liberating (insert pep talk on this subject from Dave Brosha here!).

I so appreciate the teaching styles of Sam, Darwin, and David and if you EVER have the chance to learn from them - MAKE IT HAPPEN! 

I love the variety in my fave four below...also need to say thanks to Cynthia for reminding me how much fun motion shots are!

Life - and spending time learning with passionate & kind people - is beautiful!

Lori

For International Women's Day I am sharing an image of a woman I found to be extraordinary...during a road trip in New Mexico we met Fabiola, who marked our trip and my heart; this is what I wrote about her, and that afternoon, in a blog post in June 2012...  

"We were stopped roadside so that I could photograph the ruins of what we would discover was a Christian settlement.  There was a sign asking that you not proceed past the fence, and I was respectful of their wishes (albeit sad).  I was just about done when a beat up truck pulled up and Fabiola emerged.  She was sweet, well spoken, and happy to see people interested in the history of the place.  In a past life Fabiola was an archaeologist who lived in all corners of the globe, eventually marrying a professor and settling in her home state of New Mexico.   Fabiola gave us an 'inside the fence' tour of the ruins and, reluctantly, allowed me to take only two photos.  She told us the best place nearby to eat, directed us to the Three Crosses in Abiquiu made famous by Georgia O'Keefe, and, without question, added something magical to our road trip.  I will never forget our friend or the unexpected adventure of that afternoon."

What most impressed me with Fabiola was her absolute joy for life, for learning, and for teaching.  She had lived an amazing life in exotic locales, and now is living a contented life making masks to sell at a local market in her birthplace.

May we all endeavour to dream, to reach, to be open to all that is available to us...may we be courageous.

Life - and women who inspire - are beautiful!

Lori