photography

I have been traveling for a few weeks now shooting, going to conventions, and generally just having an all around good time. Now it’s time to slow down, edit, and share.

Many people often assume that glamour photography is what you see in modern men’s magazines. While that type of photography does fall in the category of glamour that’s not where it ends… nor where it began. Glamour photography started in the mid to late 1920′s and was inspired, in part by silent movies. A photographer by the name of George Hurell pioneered the look and went on to create ”Hollywood’s Golden Era of Portraiture”. These portraits were often lit with as many as 6 lights and have a very distinctive hair light. That’s the light that caused a models hair to have that super bright glow.

In honor of Glamour’s beginnings I would like to share a couple of 20′s inspired portraits of Keri Gillen. I didn’t initially set out to create a 20′s style portrait, nor are these a true 20′s style. In these portraits I have done something very different from the 20′s style. Primarily in my decision to use only one light. That’s right, one light. I chose one light softened with a large sofbox to make the subjects face more dramatic and to force the shadows to turn to a crushing black. I tried to keep the overall feel of the 20′s portraiture while putting my own spin on it. I often choose to light my subjects with one light because I feel it gives the shots a little bit more drama. Tell me what you think of them, and don’t be shy.

As many of you already know I just returned from an amazing trip to Italy. As an art major, artist, and lover of all things artistic it has been the number one destination on my bucket list since before I can remember.

I spent time in Venice, Florence, and Rome. Each has their own distinct look, art, and architecture. Each city is amazing for it’s own reasons. Venice for it’s canals; Florence for it’s cobble stone roads, the David, and the tomb of Michelangelo; Rome for it’s architecture and the Sistine chapel. 

My life seems so complete having seen the artistic splendor of the people, who in my opinion, invented art. Enjoy!

That is what Dove says. I agree. The “Campaign for Real Beauty“ inspires me in so many ways it is hard to nail them all down.

I love the down to earth approach, the simplicity of the design, the clean photography, and above all the real women. They are challenging the way people think about themselves and the way people think about others. 

The mass media has conditioned us to think that beauty comes in a bottle, a lotion, or some kind of potion (that we drink on the second tuesday when the bells ring at noon), and not from within. I think real beauty comes from being comfortable in your own skin. That is a big challenge but its one that I think everyone should rise up to.

We need to celebrate our imperfections. They make us unique, different, special, and above all individuals. If everyone was a “Star Bellied Sneetch” then this life would be pretty boring and I would be out of a job.

Dove is challenging us to change our perspective, shed our shallow insecurities, and become better people. I for one am inspired by their message. How about you?