There were a few things, big and small, at play in this shoot. I’ll just list them here: 1) Having been in Seattle for a month, wanting to appreciate a quintessentially Northwest setting before boarding the flight home, 2) Never ceasing to think of my grandmother who had passed almost exactly two months prior, and recently having spent time with my mom, who gifted me Gramma’s wedding band to wear around my neck (I bought a gold chain and feather charm to go along with it shortly after). I wanted to honor her, but have been having trouble doing so in words., 3) Having recently purchased this dress as an impulse buy on a day I wandered downtown alone, feeling a strange, familiar blend of happy and hopeless. Lastly, I wanted to be able to play around with Lightroom + VSCO, and I often find that portraits lend themselves best to experimentation. I didn’t intend on the botanical gardens being the setting for this mixture of objectives, but on a chilled, rainy day, we were the only ones there, and wrapped up this little session in under thirty minutes. I was a fool in my dress, but now I’m happy I braved the cold in order to allow the photographs to tell my story, rather than words, just this once. [Read more…] about October, briefly, and Pacific Northwest portraits
portraits
LA Arts District + VSCO film
Last week Charity and I headed down to the Arts District for a quick sunset shoot. The images ended up being a test run for both of us with the VSCO film starter pack for Lightroom. I think we might’ve covered every filter here… Exactly why I had to pause using VSCO on my Instagram for awhile–I’m too indecisive to be given the option of 20+ filters!
Photos of me by Charity and vice versa. More on her blog.
Portraits by Charity Hestead
Charity just moved to Los Angeles and asked me to be part of one of her first creative projects here. I’d never actually been to Forest Lawn Memorial Park but was eager to see how she would translate her vision for golden hour portraits to a memorial park setting–one that could be seen as tragic or beautiful or for mourning or for celebration. I’ve been a little stressed out lately, mostly because I’ve been too busy to really envision how I want the year to go, and joked with Kevin before I left that maybe Charity could capture my sadness. (I can be a little dark, and yes, melodramatic, okay?).
But Charity did translate what I was feeling here, without really knowing it. Not sadness, because that really was hyperbolic, but of someone that is kind of emerging into a new state of mind, into the positive light of the new year. I feel like we told a story the way we (try to, anyway) when we’re writing.
Aside from that, I was able to play model for an afternoon and dress up in my best bohemian ensemble and walk along gardens in the early evening light. If you’re in LA, Charity is definitely someone to call for creative work–photography, writing, general lets-get-up-and-go type of adventures all around SoCal. Here’s to many more places to see and pictures to take! xo
Find more photos in her blog post.
Photography: Charity Hestead | Dress & Shrug: Free People, Thrifted | Kimono: Thrifted | Necklace: Flea market find