I call myself a one woman show because in my photography work I do everything from start to finish (unless I am specifically collaborating with others). It's easy to see a photo and not fully understand all the hard work behind it. Whether it is mental work or physical work.
It's a long list, but when I say I do everything from start to finish I really do have to start from the beginning, which is visualizing and putting the concept together before even reaching out to models. Once I have an idea down, I'll contact the people who I think would fit the concept. From there on I'll do hair, make-up, styling, directing, lugging heavy equipment around, setting up lighting and then finally I get to click the shutter.
After I finally get the images captured, then comes the fun of editing and post processing. I get to view all the photos and look through the different shots to see which ones grab my attention. If a photo does not grab me, I will not work on it. It could be a simple beauty shot like the one above, but behind that are hours of work.
Depending on my mood, sometimes I prefer to finish the photo with a more playful and whimsical finish. On this rainbow colored photo, the hair alone took about one and a half hours to do because her hair was so long (down to her waist). I curled it with a half an inch curler and then teased the bejeebus out of it. If I remember correctly, it took her about an hour of conditioning to get it back to normal.
In this colorful swimming suit shoot, I decided to incorporate the traditional Hmong sashes. It was my way of making an ordinary beach shoot different. In my mind I saw the beautiful vibrant colors flowing in the wind and sought to create the vision. Despite the bitter cold, super strong winds and having to lug a super heavy battery pack for my strobe light through the beach, it was all worth it to get images that I love.
