Out 2 Launch

I'm not sure what career fairs are like. Maybe I should have gone to one at some point during my college time, but big companies make my freelancer's heart nervous. Besides, I got to do something way cooler. SCAD has an annual reverse career fair/student showcase called Out 2 Launch, which brings in a ton of employers to see the best of the senior and grad students from 13 majors. I was honored to be chosen alongside some of my favorite classmates. I printed up some spiffy new business cards (thanks Moo!), ordered a shiny white acrylic portfolio with my name engraved, and grabbed some flowers from Trader Joe's. I also lost quite a bit of sleep and stressed hard for about a week, but it was so worth it to really get some of my marketing together. It was also lovely to hear such ecstatic responses from everyone about my work. SCAD students and anyone looking for talented creatives– do your best to be a part of this event next year. 

Printing up a 5 foot banner

Stephen's booth

Neil's (and some of Adeana's) display

Early morning panel discussion the next day that included professionals from Sony Imageworks, HLN, and Marvel Comics.

Model Test: Savannah

Hey stranger! As usual, I've been busy and thus slacking on blogging (trying to finish a degree takes up more time than I expected). I know I promised 6 blog posts from our Factor test shoot, so here's the last girl, Savannah. She's got such an awesome face and we made some of my favorite images of the day together. She's even wearing some of my clothes! Enjoy these and check back in a few days for some new portraits I've been working on. 

Model Test: Elizabeth

Here's the next to last girl from the Factor test shoot, Elizabeth. I've raved about all the girls, but they really were just that great. She's a dancer and was awesome at keeping her face flawless even in the middle of jumping and spinning for Stephen's shots. And those freckles and blue eyes? Amazing. Hopefully you'll be seeing her on here again. 

Stylist: Shreya Sen, Hair/MUA: Anya Mathis, Assistant: Brejon Wylie

Model Test: Kylie

Here's another lovely girl from Factor Atlanta, Kylie, who we started the shoot with bright and early. She rides horses, so I thought she was awesome even before seeing her in front of a camera, and I think that same poise and confidence is evident in her photos. And her green eyes are absolutely killer. 

Lookin' like a Burberry campaign for Stephen

Behind the Scenes

As you've seen from my last few posts, I've kinda put together a team. It's been a long time since I've shot without Stephen either assisting or shooting at the same time, and the lovely Anya Mathis has become our go-to make up artist. Combined with Big Studio and the lovely girls at Factor, every shoot is smooth, fun, and exciting. We recently shot two editorials together, and even though I can't show you the images yet, I wanted to show off some behind the scenes photos and videos! You may have seen a few already if you follow me on Instagram or Vine.

Videos here (unfortunately as a new app, they don't imbed well) :  

  Prep     Shooting    More Shooting 

Choosing looks

Caffeine required, as always.

Gwen, hat by the Atlanta-based We Are The Process

Stephen's lovely model/actress Dominique

Anya, Dominique, Me, Gwen, and Stephen

After everyone left, Stephen and I may have spent a while taking photos of ourselves in front of the makeup mirrors (the light is soooo nice!). The whole shoot was so fun, and the images are AWESOME. If you're a photographer, or any other creative, go find your team. You may not be as lucky as I've been the first time around, but keep looking because it's worth it. I would not be creating work like this without each one of these talented and lovely people around me. So thanks y'all for keeping me energized and inspired <3

Model Test: Jyanni

Here's the third girl from our Factor Test, Jyanni. She's got an awesome face and a cool, laidback attitude that made her a breeze to work with. I did some experimenting with different lighting set ups for her since she was early in the morning. She was also the first girl that I used the natural light/chalkboard wall set for, and I fell in love with the way she looks on it. So check out the photos!

Anya working her magic at Big Studio for one of Stephen's looks

Model Test: Lindsey

I'm trying to stay focused on blogging but I get distracted so easily. So this is yesterday's post, with another gorgeous face from Factor Models. This is Lindsey and she belongs in a toothpaste commercial because she's got a ridiculous smile. She had such an awesome attitude and I loved finishing out our huge shoot day with her. 

Brica

This lovely lady is a fellow photography student at SCAD with a kickass personal style. She might seem quiet when you first meet her, but she's hilarious online, so check out her photography tumblr and her twitter. We shot these in her apartment with the two of us styling while Stephen played with her crazy pug, Biscotti. Check out the photos and get jealous of her wardrobe!

Model Test: Becca

I had the pleasure a while back of putting together a huge test with new faces from Factor Women, a lovely agency here in Atlanta. 6 models, 2 photographers, 1 MUA, 1 wardrobe stylist, 1 photo assistant, 6 moms, 13 hours, 35 looks, and a bajillion photos taken. No really, I took over 1,400 photos.

Photographers: Brittany Wages and Stephen Archer. Photo Assistant: Brejon Wylie. MUA: Anya Mathis. Stylist: Shreya Sen. Location: Big Studio.

I can't say enough about how absolutely awesome our team was, we couldn't have pulled off such a massive undertaking without them. The girls at Factor were amazing, too: every single girl was friendly, professional, and photographed so well. To start off the blog posts from the day, here's my photos of Becca!

I wish I could have had a quarter of her confidence in high school. She has a crazy cool wardrobe (stilettos, checkered jeans, mismatched neon socks), and was so excited to MOVE. It was hard to keep up with shooting her before she moved on to the next great pose. At one point she decided to lay upside down in a chair and still kept working her face. She was an absolute joy to work with.

Just for Fun

Last weekend, my friend Stephen (who seems to get mentioned quite often on here) and I played in the studio to take some photos of each other (something else that happens frequently). While part of the shoot's purpose was a class assignment, it's fun to just goof around and try some new stuff. Neither of us usually shoot on white in studio, so it broke us out of our comfort zones without having to worry about a client or a model. My grading rubric and a time crunch gave us just enough stress, but we still paused for 15 minutes to watch Beyoncé's halftime show.

Now that I'm quickly running out of time to use the resources of studio space and equipment at school, I'm valuing more and more the chance to shoot whenever I can and experiment while my livelihood doesn't totally depend on it. Except it does, because if I'm not as prepared as possible when they kick me out of here on June 1st, I'll be broke. And there will be no free wi-fi or 21" iMacs to watch Beyoncé performances on. So everything I do right now has to count, even if it's just a technical assignment or a new Facebook profile pic. 

After that serious thought, here's some photos of Stephen being super serious and super cheesy. 

Elisa in the Studio

I've recently taken a detour into the world of fashion photography, and I'm hooked. I've got a great professor, Allen Cooley, who keeps me on my toes and doesn't hold back on critiques. These images are my first "official" fashion shoot, with Elisa Freitas in front of the lens and Anya Mathis as MUA. I was lucky enough to have Stephen Archer as co-stylist, assistant, and videographer with me on this project as well. 

All the looks are from H&M, in case you're looking to grab some florals for spring. Side note: going through a store picking out ALL the things is a really fun experience that I recommend. Not so fun: returning a huge purchase and getting dirty looks from the cashier and everyone behind you.

More fun: working with people this cool. Elisa is a fashion major here at SCAD and plays on our tennis team, and her hair looks this great as soon as she wakes up (I'm not jealous, promise). Anya is a fellow photographer who just happens to be an awesome make up artist, and I can't wait to show you the newest project we worked on together. And Stephen, one of my best friends and an incredibly talented photographer, is officially my favorite collaborator (you can expect a tutorial DVD one day with clip after clip of us yelling "YESSS" in excitement). I'm finally finding the photo groove that you only get from assembling a kick-ass team. I'll rant on that more in a later post. 

PS: I got this dress below for $10. TEN. DOLLARS. So of course I kept it. Thanks H&M. And thanks awesome people!

Feelin' Domestic

As my friends know really well, I love food. And eating. And cooking. And sharing food with people. It's a frustrating obsession for someone who lives in a dorm with no kitchen access.

So when I decided to make some holiday gifts before I moved back to school, I went hard. Hard enough that by the time I was done getting everything ready, it was dark and I only had time to take poorly-styled cell phone photos. Not pictured: Peanut Butter Oatmeal dog treats that have gotten great reviews from my testers.

Candied Pecans that are brag-worthy because not only are they amazing, but I hand-shelled the entire half pound after my brother and dad picked them from my grandfather's orchard.

Funfetti Cookies from scratch, because the boyfriend is obsessed with funfetti but box mixes make me feel like a slacker. These are so good with about 3/4 teaspoon of almond extract added to the dough. Full disclosure: I used the cornstarch+all purpose substitution to cake flour, and the texture turned out really lovely. 

My personal favorite, Chocolate Truffles. I've made these several times before and they're always popular, but I've just pieced together my own recipe from others found online. They've got plenty of room for trial and error since it's hard to make chocolate taste bad, the biggest issue is keeping them from melting.

Start with a 12-oz bag of chocolate chips (I love Ghirardelli, and I used semisweet here to appeal to a wider range of people than a darker chocolate) in a mixing bowl.

Heat just a little less than 1 cup of heavy cream, and 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter together until the butter melts and it's just about to boil, then pour it over the chocolate chips. The cream will slowly melt the chips, so whisk it together but be patient because at first you'll be worried that it's not working. After about five minutes, if it isn't a smooth, amazingly decadent looking ganache, pop it over a double boiler to finish it off. Hold on to your self control, and put it in the fridge to cool for several hours (freezer if you have less time). 

Using a teaspoon, scoop out pieces of the ganache and transfer into a container, then let them sit in the freezer  again for at least an hour. Work quickly, and again with the self control. This stuff is so soft and luxurious straight out of the fridge, and this step ramps up my obsession with food sensations. Weird.

Finally, roll the pieces in your palms to form into irregular balls and coat them in cocoa powder. Pop them right back into the fridge, and keep them stored there. This time, mine are softening especially easy, but when they're more stable they're really good after spending time at room temp before eating. Also, my chocolate chips didn't melt 100%, but I've been told the little bits of harder chocolate makes them even better. feel free to add in liquors, extracts, chopped nuts, crushed candy canes, etc. This recipe makes around 50, which is enough for yourself and maybe two other friends. 

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday, and is on track for a lovely new year!

In Response (The Book)

Ever since fully entering my photography program, my personal projects have dealt with women and the political and social issues surrounding them. For a long time, I wasn't sure how to move my experiences and thoughts and interpretations of these issues into a place that was more universal. As a chronic avoider of confrontation, I felt more comfortable being subtle, creating self portraits that only suggested my ideas.

Well, taking photos of myself became boring, I got fed up with the awful stuff I was hearing about my fellow ladies, and I was presented with the direction to create a book.  I am so, so happy with both the images and the book as a whole, and I'd like to send out endless thanks to the people who worked with me on this project. I'm especially grateful to the amazing response I've gotten so far, it means so much to know that this work reaches people.

These photos are just a preview of all the someone-really-said-that infuriating goodness. In Response is available for purchase through Blurb, and through me as a PDF digital copy. 

I Miss New York

Favorite trip ever, most delayed blog post ever (I'm aware this means I need to travel more and blog better). But here's some photos. 

Oh, and Jack is one of the coolest friends ever for going and helping me find subway trains and picking amazing restaurants and taking a cool picture of me.

Conceptual Video Art (aka a cell footage montage)

One of the coolest things about being in art school is that sometimes I'm lucky enough for a professor to say "Just make something." Obviously, we had to then write 5 pages about it, which I can send to anyone interested in lengthy artist statements about youth culture, Marxism, and psychoanalysis. Or you could just watch the video. 

I'm a Real Artist, y'all

Last night was SCAD Atlanta's annual Open Studio Night, a showcase of work by fine art students and one of my favorite school events. This was my third year having work on display and for the first time, I sold a piece! I'm so excited and honored that my work will be hanging on someone's wall. Thank you currently anonymous buyer, and Jack for going to NYC with me for this photo, and to everyone who came out last night and celebrated with me after! There were tons of other amazing artists showing last night, so if you missed out, take a tour of SCAD and visit the fifth floor any time to see what we have to offer. 

thanks for the photo Chris!

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I am not a web designer. In fact, I have cried (just once) over my frustration with web related things. I was, however, able to set up this site and finally have something that I'm pretty happy with! Please explore, click things, leave a comment, make yourself at home, and check back soon for new posts.