How does it get any better than this?

This is an amazing young woman whom I met while

teaching "Light Writers", a program I started 6+ years ago, 

where I teach digital photography to

teens of all abilities.

She asked me to photograph her with her swimming gear.
She is a dedicated athlete 

and swims at the Special Olympics level.

She is also a prolific and very talented photographer.

I love my job and days like today! How does it get
any better than this and...
how did I get so lucky?

Why do we always do this?

Who do we let define our beauty? For some it may be our immediate circle; our friends and family, the ones we love. But for most it’s the mass unknown. The visual bombardment of "beauty". 

When we allow ourselves to be defined by others we give away our power. We need to instead, free ourselves of any self-imposed confines and welcome who we really are.

Beauty has many faces. Love, strength, perceived flaws, despair.

We all have it in us, this ability to shine and be seen. 

When we claim ourselves, we each can reveal the Covergirl within.   

Thank you Doreen, for going along with my ideas and ways I use symbolism to share a message. Such a fun client and beautiful young woman!!

Beyond skin deep...

This is Janet, a recent client - yes she is beautiful, but beyond skin-deep beauty, there is a quality that I usually look for: it can be the strength, a story, vulnerability, or the invisible roots that ground us.

This quality among so many of us is what I LOVE finding, it's what truly gets me excited when photographing people.

I am so grateful for doing what I absolutely love to do!

Time...

I have always been intrigued with time. Photography to me is all about time, and it's what I use to try to bridge and understand it.
This photo was taken a long time ago, but I feel it has transcended time,  it has the same feel now that it had then.
Am stoked because today, was accepted in Vogue Italia!
Would love to photograph Bia again, now.

International Women's Day

We are young,

male and female

we are old

 raw and exposed

we are strong

vulnerable and courageous

Everything and everyone 

comes from us.

Vogue Italia

I

In all of us.

"A little while ago, not much more than a few days ago, I was a child who went about in a world of colors, of hard and tangible forms. Everything was mysterious and something was hidden, guessing what it was was a game for me. If you knew how terrible it is to know suddenly, as if a bolt of lightning elucidated the earth. Now I live in a painful planet, transparent as ice; but it is as if I had learned everything at once in seconds."

Letter from Frida to Alejandro Gómez Arias, (29 September 1926)

Duality

Since my days of university (photography), I've always struggled with "having to work on a specific theme" as opposed to just recording, re-acting to life, I'm talking photographs here.

The profs would tell me I had to work on a theme, I would say "but I just shoot whatever I react to in my everyday life." For some reason I felt that wasn't acceptable. So I started working within those boundaries, which works perfectly well for loads of people!

Now that I have this blog, I can post and shoot whatever I want. I also realized that I often think and see the duality in the world/life. War and beauty, life and death, time and lack of and so on.

 I have a friend who not only is a talented artist but also due to her physical appearance has inspired me to do a little story on Frida Kahlo.

I think of Frida and her strength and vulnerability, her pain and pleasure. These are assumptions obviously, but it is what I get from her work and story.

I see so many of us women, going through our lives and experiencing these paradoxical realities.

Mystery shoot...can you guess?

I have been working on a concept and shoot for a while. Finally shot it 2 days ago.  These are some of the jewelry and props we've used. Can you guess what it's about?


 

The Light That Shines

This is the story of a beautiful young woman, Jill Brzezinski-Conley, who has cancer and so much courage.

The Light That Shines from hailey bartholomew on Vimeo.

Filmed by Hailey Bartholomew Photographed and Produced by Sue Bryce

So excited

I can't wait for a project I'll be collaborating with the beautiful and talented Gloria, coming up soon.

Think braces, flowers, colors, Mexico, art, pain, creativity and so much more...

Expanding your comfort zone

I was just reading Derek Sivers's great blog, about pushing and expanding one's comfort zone. I really believe the more we do this, pushing our comfort zones, the more we'll experience life and real living.

So always ask yourselves : "What scares you now? What's intimidating? What's the great unknown?

and go for it. Enjoy your day!

grateful

in love with bunny ears...

91 years young, Betty White Quotes Prove Why America...

Can't get enough of the 91 year old Golden Girl

Betty White said "Retirement is not in my vocabulary. They aren't going to get rid of me that way."she told USA Today in 2010.

Top 10 Betty White Quotes:
1 "I may be a senior but so what? I'm still hot"
2."I love bawdy humor, but not dirty humor"
3. "I'm blessed with good health and love what I do for a living. That's a good combination."
4. "I have a 2-story house and a bad memory, so I'm up and down those stairs all the time. That's my exercise."
5."I've always liked older men. They're just more attractive to me. Of course, at my age, there aren't that many left!"
6. "I really don't care with whom you sleep, I just care what kind of a decent human being you are."
7."Animal love that I am, a cougar I am not."
8. "Retirement is not a dirty word, I am just enjoying what I am doing."
9." I am 90 yrs. old and still able to work as much as I do. That's a privilege."
10." If one has no sense of humor, one is in trouble."

My New Blog!

I am so excited to be starting a new blog. I want to share my interests, inspirations and musings, but  above all - what YOU teach me.

I have been meaning to do this for quite sometime but life kept getting in the way.

This is not a New Years resolution, I don't believe in resolutions, they end up stressing me out, it's like one more thing to do.

This is hopefully for pure enjoyment. A sharing opportunity and platform for exchange.

So, welcome everyone!