Gina

Meet Gina. She's a gorgeous musical theater student at Indiana University. I had the pleasure of meeting her  this past fall when she, of course, was in need of some new headshots. 

Gina is so sweet and super beautiful. I remember getting to see her perform in IU's production of West Side Story as Anita last spring - she was fabulous of course! It has been so awesome to get to meet several awesome musical theater students since I've opened my business. Gina, thanks for being one of the first! You're beautiful! 

I love your eyes. You are so gorgeous.

Hel-lo awesome dimples!

 

Gina, thanks for being so wonderful. I had such a blast working with you and I wish you all the best in your future!

something great

 I stood quietly in front of the sculpture, my eyes trying to take in every detail of the craftsmanship, wishing my Italian was fluent so I could carry away the words on his tomb as tangible reminders of the truth of what it is to be great. It was September 7, 2004, and I was nineteen years old, attempting to find myself in churches, cloisters, art museums, restaurants, and new experiences in Florence, Italy. I was visiting the cathedral of Santa Croce for the first time. In Santa Croce, I laid eyes on the resting places of Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Rossini, and Galileo, just to name a few. That day, I felt overcome by the realization of the greatness of all of the lives of these men; of their influence on art and music and shaping worldviews of men and women. And deep inside of myself, I wished I could slice off a piece of that greatness and hold it in my hand.

I'm the type of person who has always searched for greatness, whether it is a feeling, an experience, a conversation, or an expression from inside of myself. I have felt the restlessness inside of myself of the possibility for greatness more times than I can count, and it is one of the most exciting and intoxicating feelings I have ever felt. I love being dwarfed by endless possibilities. I think everyone secretly wants to be great, whether than be through the over-arching meaning of that word, beyond expression, or simply great at something. Deep inside of myself, I know that being great at one something is not enough for me. I want to be great at a lot of things. I would never say I want to be remembered for greatness on the level of Machiavelli or Michelangelo, but I'd love to hold just a slice of their innovation and fearless thought in my hands. I believe all human beings hold the capability for such greatness deep inside of themselves. Some people have a harder time accessing it than others because of things getting in their way, such as a lack of resources or a fear of where that greatness will lead them. 

When I glimpse the possibility to do something great (and everyone has different definitions of what is great; I subscribe to many of them) I am seized simultaneously by an excitement that I recognize the possibility that I could reach that level of achievement, and I am also gripped by the fear of uncertainty of the details. How will I get there? What happens when I make mistakes? What would I do when I'm there to maintain that level? What will people think? What if, what if, what if? But I try to catch myself in that mindset and remind myself of how many things I have accomplished in this life and how many things I have overcome, and I realize that anything is possible. I just need to work hard and believe in myself, and I will reap the benefits of success.

To be a successful photographer would be accomplishing something great for me. I want to show people their beauty and be there for them at pivotal times in their lives. I want to document those moments that, no matter how hard you try to hold on, fade as time goes on.

And I think documenting moments is important, otherwise it is possible to lose the idea of how you've become the person you are.

 

I took this image when I was in the cloisters of Santa Croce. I remember being overwhelmed by the peace and the beauty of that moment, and I wouldn't be able to remember if it not for this photograph. I'm glad I have it to remind myself of the life-changing experience of studying abroad, and the way I felt on that extraordinary Tuesday afternoon that I spent wandering around in the shadows of greatness.

Mark

Mark is a wonderful baritone here at IU. The first time I got to see him perform it was as a bouncy and energetic Papageno in last year's production of Die Zauberflöte. He's also a wonderful pianist - something I'm super jealous of. I have a lot of artistic passions, and sometimes people tell me I'm good at anything, but my automatic response is always that I'm not good at playing the piano. Or at bowling. And plenty of other things! 

But kudos to you, Mark, for being so good at many things. It was a lot of fun working with you! Thanks for being so quick to smile and for bringing your true, wonderful personality to the shoot. 

The "non-smiling" face. Love it!

Mark, you've got one of the most approachable, friendly smiles I've photographed.

Here's a model shot! I love the completely different character of it.

I love how sweet you look in this photograph. Perfect!

 

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to get to know you better Mark! You're awesome! :)

Erica

Erica is a fabulous young dramatic soprano who lives in Germany. She went to IU and we just missed each other by a year or so, but I'm so glad I got to meet her when she was back in town and needing some headshots. As you can see from her photos, she was a lot of fun to work with and so nice! She was one of those people who I wished I could just sit down with and have coffee or lunch - too bad she lives in Deutschland! :)

Erica, you are beautiful.

Hello creamy, caramel-y eyes! LOVE!

Women are so beautiful when they laugh.

Gorgeousssssssss! I love the sassy red lips.

This picture makes me happy every time I look at it.

Erica, you are so fierce.

PS - LOVE that dress.

Erica, you were so much fun to work with, and you're so gorgeous. I wish you all the best in your career, and I can't wait to see your new website! I hope our paths cross again sometime in the future! Thanks for being fabulous! 

Dan

Dan will always have a special place in my heart. He was the first person to book me via my website, literally hours after I launched it. I was so scared and excited when I launched my site for the first time back in August, and I was not expecting anything really from the site itself, at least not for quite awhile after I launched it. It was so exciting to get a booking, and from someone I didn't know personally.

Dan turned out to be such a wonderful person to work with. He is so sweet and wonderful, and I was lucky enough to have seen him sing an amazing Cesare in Giulio Cesare a couple of years ago, so I knew I was working with a person who is as talented as he is nice. 

We got together and took headshots and fun promo shots for his website.

Dan, you have such a great smile!

So fierce!

Dan, you're a model. Just sayin'.

Dan, thanks for giving me the opportunity to work with you. You're wonderful!

inch by inch

I'm writing this post from the dressing room of our last performance of Faust . I'm sitting here in my strawberry blond wig, looking at myself and feeling like I am in for a big life change. This week, my friend Laura pegged my Enneagram type as a 4. (If you've never checked out Enneagram testing, you should; it is pretty cool!) Type 4s are artists. They love creating things, and that includes constantly reinventing themselves. The most exciting times of my life have been marked with reinvention. I am feeling ready to reinvent myself now. I can feel it on the horizon. I am restless and excited. I'm pretty sure that when I'm reinvented, I will still be a blonde, though.

Sometimes I have this fear that I'm going to wake up one day and my potential life as a photographer is all going to be a dream, or I won't be able to book clients, or some other irrational fear. Staring a business is scary. I am the type of personality that plans and plans and plans, which makes the process all the more exciting. I like to have spreadsheets and to make lists and to know exactly what steps I have to go through to reach my goals. Sometimes, when I just sit back and let myself think about this whole process, it is sort of terrifying. There are so many little tasks to complete when you run a small business that at times it can seem insurmountable. But there is something about that feeling that stirs something inside of me and makes me excited to conquer the insurmountable, and to do what seems impossible. I know how good it will feel when I get there, and how much I will have grown as a business owner and a person and a photographer. 

Now, on to complete my to-do list and stretch myself and try the unexpected, and reach my goals! I'll do it with my camera in hand. I have been learning more about my new camera recently, and I was playing around with taking some ring shots of our wedding rings. My photographer didn't get a ring shot on my wedding day and so I need one for my album. This is one option...I love sparkles!

Becky + IU's production of Faust

This post comes at a great time. I am currently swamped with dress week for IU Opera's production of Faust. It is an amazing production with a wonderful concept, thanks to our wonderful director. And the cast is just fantastic - it has been a wonderful production to be a part of. I think it is pretty great that our choral ensemble requirement at IU can be fulfilled by taking part in an opera chorus. It is wonderful. You can watch the production from the live broadcast here, and it is fantastic! I'm also singing a role in IU's brand new opera commission, Vincent, for which my music rehearsals officially start today, so this has been a kind of crazy-busy time!

So why does this post come at a great time? Becky, one of my beautiful clients from last fall, is singing the role of Marguerite in Faust and she has been doing a fantastic job. Come listen to her creamy, beautiful singing! :) She has a larger-than-life personality and she always gives 1000% of herself to what she's doing, so needless to say, we had a blast when we took her headshots, and if you come to see her or tune in to the webcast, you can experience her awesomeness firsthand.

Becky, you're beautiful.

I have MAJOR. HAIR. ENVY. every time I see you.

Hello smoldering eyes!

Thanks for being lovely Becky. You rock.

I am hoping that when I finally get done multi-tasking between teacher, student, performer, and small business owner (taking the full-time grad student chunk out of there will make life less complicated!) I will finally start to make more energy to blog. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm going to try to start making the effort effective immediately. I have so much respect for bloggers who are 100% busier than myself who still make the time and energy to write candid and interesting things about their lives and businesses. It is something I aspire to.

I like having aspirations. It gives me constant room for growth and change in my life. :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!

new website, new life!

I spent a semester abroad in Italy when I was nineteen, and it was a time of reinvention and rejuvenation. My roommate and wonderful friend Elyse and I were going through major life changes, from breakups to broken hearts to finding out who we were during that crazy semester. At one point, Elyse went and got her hair cut short and I remember her coming back to the flat and announcing, "New hair, new life!" Ever since that moment, I have craved that exciting feeling of reinvention. I feel that through reinventing ourselves constantly we are finding out the deeper meaning of who we are.


So, new website, new life!

For the past three or four weeks, I have felt like I'm held hostage by my aspirations. I am still stuck in my life in the in between - being a singer, teacher, and photographer. For the last few weeks, I have been really overwhelmed by the singer side of life. I gave my graduate recital this past Saturday, and I'm happy to say it went really wonderfully. It is so funny how a recital will take over your whole state of consciousness. It was like I couldn't handle thinking about anything but that 45 minutes of music until it was over, because I had these mental blocks up that seemed to make it impossible for my complex thoughts to attach themselves to anything but my song texts, the music, and the expression.

However, for my first week of break, I did nothing but think about photography and my business. I designed my new website during that time, but it has taken me awhile to complete it. Its funny that it only took me an afternoon to finish what I had been unable to complete for weeks, but now that its done I'm really happy with it! I think it is a little more representative of me than my old website, plus it has photographs from lots of my fall sessions, so it is a better representation of my portfolio. 

Here are some screencaps:

I am excited to blog all of the sessions from those wonderful clients. I am so behind! It is a New Year's resolution of mine to share more on here and post much more frequently, and I'm excited to do it!

If you get a chance, let me know what you think of the new website! :) I'm excited for the journey that's ahead!

numb + lydia

I'm in my studio right now (voice studio, that is!), catching a breather in between lessons. It smells like Christmas in here, thanks to Laura's incredible candle. The sky outside is a gorgeous blue, and there is some renegade snow clinging to the trees so tightly it looks painted on. It is picturesque, but I am not looking forward to going outside. By the time I get to the car, my legs will be numb, because it is so cold. Numb is kind of a good word to describe my current state of being. I am feeling numb in many ways right now. I am so blessed in so many ways, but I am so overwhelmed by my to-do list that I am not sure where to start. My brain and my body want to shut down, because winter is a time of hibernation. I keep feeling the urge just to draw inside of myself and explore what is there. Next to my bed, there is a little ottoman that my grandfather built for my Mom. There is a stack of books precariously perched upon it, from the Panera cookbook to Tennyson's The Idylls of the King--from Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter to Michael Borg's The First Paul. I don't want to study for my final exams! I just want to curl up under a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate and read. I want to feed my soul. Right now it is starving.

In the midst of all of this, I have had a huge mountain of editing to do, which I find exciting and daunting. I have this vision for my business, and lots of great ideas and goals, but I feel like right now they can't break free of the to-do list. One of them is my blogging. I wish I could make time to blog most days of the week! I want to talk not only about photography but about life. I just find exhaustion so stifling to my creativity - I sit down to write, and I can't shut my stressed out brain off long enough to make a sentence. Maybe it is like that with everyone, but I find it so frustrating.

For anyone out there who reads this, what do you to do de-stress? I need some strategies.

So  now, for something fun: Lydia. Lydia was so much fun to shoot. We have both been voice students at IU for the past few years - I think our first class together was French diction. With her gorgeous classic looks, blue eyes, and wonderful blond hair, her photoshoot was a breeze! Lydia, you are so sweet and so kind - I had so  much fun working with you and I feel so lucky that you picked me to take your new headshots. I think you look like you walked out of a Jane Austen novel...simply gorgeous!

 Hellllllllooooo BLUE eyes! :)

 I think your wonderful kindness really comes through in your photographs.

Lydia, you're awesome. Happy Wednesday!

Cathy

Cathy is one of my best friends from undergrad. She was one of my first friends who seemed not to mind hanging out with both my husband and myself and she has been a great friend to both of us over the years! She is amazingly witty, fun, beautiful, and talented. Cathy! I miss your stories, high-lows, and Tuesday night family dinners. I miss hanging out with someone who loves pumpkin flavored/scented things as much as I do! I miss your laugh and your smile. Life just isn't the same without you! I miss being Kelly Kruse-Compton. But now I guess I'm just Kelly Kruse-Compton-Hyatt!

Cathy is a grad student at UC Boulder in voice, and we managed to connect last summer in central Iowa to take her headshots.

Cathy, you're lovely and dreamy. :)

 

Can I have your eyes please? They are so pretty! And this is such a Cathy look!

 

If I were a single man, I'd want you to have my babies. (I'd be a creeper too, probably.)

This is fierce. I love you in red!

 

I hope Boulder is treating you well, Cathy! Love from Bloomington! :) Happy Monday!