Inspiration comes at all times of day and night.
The smallest things can trigger the imagination.
Dreams, fantasies, legends.
Sometimes those ideas are rushing to get out and demand to be brought to life.
Others materialize slowly and stay hidden for some time, growing in strength, changing, evolving… waiting for the right time.
Like this one.

I wanted to do an interpretation of Shiva for a while. Thought of how I would position the model, what colors to use, and how I would edit. The idea was always on the back of my mind, but when I met with Alicia to discuss a shoot it just grabbed me. I knew Alicia would be able to pull off the look I imagined.
My husband edited the picture of four-handed goddess. We talked about the idea so much that all I had to do was to show him the files and he knew exactly what to do with them.

It was also a learning experience. There are few things I would do differently to ensure a better edit, but the idea came across beautifully.

These are some other great shots from the series.

Alicia used to take belly dancing classes, so she knew exactly how to move to communicate seduction through camera.

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I love waking up in the morning to discover everything covered in fresh white snow. The trees are white and fuzzy, everything looks shiny and new and the air is crisp and clean.

Reminds me so much of Mother Russia!

I’ve been wishing for snow since before Christmas and finally the snow gods answered my prayers.

Right away I knew what I wanted to do… get some sexy pictures in the snow. =)

I had few ideas in mind.

This one I’ve been waiting for a while to do. It was inspired by the Black Dahlia and Kristina pulled it off beautifully.

Another great thing I got to try out is the Fog Machine my husband got me for Christmas this year.

Yes, I asked Santa for studio props and equipment… what else would I need?

During the day when the sun came out and started slowly melting all the ice, we took some shots under the tree. The frozen drops were falling all over LauraJean, but she kept her composure.

With her I wanted to portray an Ice Princess with frizzy hair and ice blue eyes.

For LauraJean’s other look I took her to the front porch. Her outfit reminded me of a flapper girls of the 20′s and I wanted her to hold one of my beautiful Pixie Bob cats. The moment the cats saw the snow though they were not cooperating at all. So we had to do without =).

Later that evening it started snowing again and Jennifer came out to help me with another idea I had. I wanted to see if I can get a great shot in the dark with snow flakes dancing around the model. By the time we were ready to shoot the snow stopped, but we were not ready to give up. These are the shots we got late in the evening, with freezing temperature.

Jenn is a superstar!

This crazy girl sat in the snow and rubbed it all over herself. I get cold every time I look at these pictures, but it was totally worth it! 

At the end I want to say thank you to the girls that battled icy roads to come and shoot with me. All three froze in the snow just to help me bring some ideas to life.

Girls, you are the greatest!

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This week on FaceBook we posted a copy of a letter from a customer that was shared by a fellow photographer, Jeanine Thurston. It brought tears to my eyes and made me think a bit different about photography.

I love doing what I do. I take pride in making women feel beautiful and sexy and bring out their “private” side. But there is so much more to it.

Photos we create are not just pieces of paper. These works of art are memories. Frozen moments of our existence. Markings of our milestones. They represent our beauty, our love, our passion…

Everything we are in life will be remembered by our good deeds, but our memory will live through a photograph. Many years after we are gone, someone will look at the photo of us and say, “This is my great great great grandmother. She was a strong woman. Wasn’t she beautiful?”

When you think of a photograph in those long terms… don’t you want to leave one worth looking at?

Nowadays there are so many options to satisfy out photographic needs and wants. A 4X6 print does not cut it anymore. We bind our images into press printed books. Blow them up and frame them. Carve them into metal sheets or ceramic tiles. Today, I want to highlight one of the new products we offer here at Oni Studio.

Presenting CollageWall!!!

Supported by a grid of push-in pegs, CollageWall® pictures hang aligned and stay level.  And you can add, remove and rearrange pictures in seconds.

The frameless pictures float 1/4 inch off the wall. With multiple connection points on the back, pictures stay straight.

When you purchase a CollageWall I will personally deliver it to your door step and install it in a place you selected (within 20 miles of the studio). No mess and no fuss! A grid of precision-machined aluminum pegs hold the pictures tight. Finally a photo wall is easy to install, add to and update. And off the wall, the 5-inch-high pictures have a second life using the included stands.

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Heidi is one of our many repeat customers. She has been to our studio so many times it started to feel like hanging out with a friend instead of working with a client.  Surely you guys remember some of the memorable shots of Heidi that were posted before.

Working with Heidi is always such a pleasure. Her outfits are colorful and fun, her body art, most of which is done by Tiny Tim’s Tattoo, is tasteful and unique.  In addition to Heidi being a hair stylist she is also a big fan of wigs, so I can always expect her hair to look amazing and match the look we are going for.

When Heidi was here few weeks ago for another fun shoot I found out that her sister Amy is a horse trainer with Fire Mountain Friesians and they have two horses that they are working on at home.  For a while now I’ve been thinking of doing a location shoot with a horse and since I knew that Heidi can deliver the look I had in mind I asked if she would be interested in modeling for me.

Gladly she said yes!

An involved shoot like this needs a lot more people to pull it off than normal. I needed Heidi to model, Amy to attend to the horse, and Dawn to help out with lighting and equipment as well as take some behind the scene shots. I, of course, am busy with Holiday shoots at the studio, so it took about three weeks to find the right day for everyone to get together.

It was a cold rainy morning in Sedro-Wooley when we arrived to Heidi’s house. That was the first time I met King, a beautiful and energetic, but gentle horse. I felt a little bit bad for asking Heidi to wear almost nothing in such a cold weather, but once she got on King’s back, his body heat was keeping her nice and toasty.

 

Doing a shoot with any animal is a whole lot different than just photographing people. The obvious communication problem is not the only thing. Animals are unpredictable and fast moving. While directing the poses, lighting and shooting I still had to keep one eye open for King walking right into the camera and another to watch out for horse poop.

Few days before the shoot Heidi got a cute, but super short haircut. Not the look we were going for here. Thankfully she has plenty of wigs to choose from. This one was great. It looks natural and compliments the shots. It kind of matches the horse mane, and I loved that!

As you can see we got some great shots that day. It was definitely an educational experience for me as a photographer, but also a fun day doing something I love!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.