Tom

One of the strangest things about photography, which I didn't expect when I first began pursuing it, is that I sometimes experience anxiety similar to what I experience before an audition or performance. I'm always hoping the light will be working in my favor and if we're doing a location shoot, that the places I have in mind will still work. Sometimes it still feels new to me, even though each time I get into a groove with a client it feels less and less unknown and more and more like I am supposed to be doing this and that I am good at it and I love it. I like feeling this new pressure and rising to a new challenge. And it is so rewarding to sit with the images after a shoot and see the beautiful soul revealed there. I used to think a lot of this photography thing was up to chance and up to luck, and so for awhile I felt at the mercy of my surroundings and my equipment. But now I'm starting to see that beauty can be found anywhere; I just have to look around until I find the perfect spot to place a client so the light hits them in just the right way so their very essence is visible in their beautiful eyes. After all the "should I's" and "I'd love to's" I am actually getting to experience my dream only a few years after it unfolded inside of my soul.

Part of what helped me gain confidence is the fact that my friends let me experiment on them! I am trying to catch up and post my new work from this fall, but I keep going back to shoots I did last spring and summer, mostly of good friends. Tom is one of my very best friends from Iowa State. We were voice majors in the same studio there, and we have so many wonderful memories from that time. My favorites? Opera Thursdays. Or maybe our summer trip to Minnesota with Ayron and Susan, where we made yogurt margaritas (don't knock it 'til you've tried it) and spent a lot of time on the boat not catching fish! Last year, a lot changed in Tom's life, and I felt privileged to get to photograph him during such an amazing time of change for him.

Tom! You are so special to me. And you are so handsome, inside and out! I love how these images capture your fierceness and sweetness all wrapped up together. I miss you.

 The color of your eyes in this picture makes me melt.

 

"Hello! My name is Tom, and I'm a model."

 I love you, Tom! :)

Happy Thursday!