Tasha

   Last Tuesday, the 26th of March, was the end of a very unproductive weekend-long stretch. After having shoot after shoot get cancelled during my 28 day challenge, I found a girl who was as committed to getting great shots of herself as I was. As part of the 28 day challenge, this post is going to be a bit different than my others. I will be sharing photos of the beautiful Tasha, but I will also be sharing images from behind the scenes, taken by my friend, Jamie Lee. I want to take this opportunity to thank both Tasha and Jamie for their participation, support, and good humor! I had a great time spending the day with both of these amazing women.

   When Tasha first arrived, we sat down for hair and makeup, and partway through her foundation, I remembered to get the before shot. Here it is, along with the afters from last week:

                   After Tasha's makeup was finished, we moved upstairs to style her hair:

 

 

 

After we finished getting Tasha ready, it was time to shoot!

 

 

We had a fabulous time playing with some of the accessories I had on hand, and even used some in Tasha's shoot. This black hat was amazing on her, and she really knew how to work that fringed shawl!

 

Getting some of that diminishing daylight back on Tasha's face.

 

As Tasha was getting ready to leave, she put her first outfit back on, and we were just hanging out on the upstairs balcony. This red scarf caught our eye, and I felt it was too good to pass up. This was one of my favorite series of shots, even if I do need to clean it up a bit. As my mentor says, great expression trumps all, and this is what great expression looks like!

28 Day Challenge

   As some of you may already know, I am a huge advocate of continuing education. No matter what we tell ourselves, we really don't know it all. I love learning new things, and when those things cycle back to growing my business or my brand, it is ten times the benefit! The latest instructor, whom I have been fortunate enough to follow, has recently issued a 28 day challenge. In this, she follows the same criteria she has used in the past to train new photographers to work for her own studio. In 28 days.
   What a jam-packed few weeks I have been experiencing! Each day's challenge has been very specific, and very extensively covered. Each new challenge deals directly with specific issues that many, many photographers have brought to her attention.
   One such issue was posing. Several challenges deal with different aspects of posing, and through them, I am finding myself taking this very seriously. I am learning to see the human form through the shapes and sizes.
   My absolute favorite of the challenges, by far, has been on capturing expression. Not an easy task, especially when you are shy. I am gaining more and more confidence with every shoot that I do. I have decided to incorporate hair and makeup into my contemporary glamour shoots. I have found that this time allows everyone to get past the awkward moments and really begin to connect and relax.
   One of the most difficult challenges for me has been on marketing. I have had a hard time knowing whether or not I was truly ready to put myself out there. As you can see, I am here, pouring it all out there as I grow. Another hurdle I found with this type of challenge was in creating the materials, as I do not own Photoshop at this point in my career.
   As you can tell, I have been quite busy learning so many new things. What is knowledge without practice though? I have been booking as many shoots as I can, but there is always room for more. If you are in the central WV area and are interested in receiving a gift voucher for a photo shoot, or would like one for a friend, please call me (Leona) at (304) 704-1362 for details.
   And just to give you guys a sneak peak at some results of my recent training, here is a before and after of Tasha, whose shoot you will be seeing in next week's blog post: