Wolftree: A Gathering

Dear readers,

This past Monday Brooke and Noah hosted a pre-party for those who had been involved in creating Volume Two. It was a wonderful event and I wanted to share my impressions and the images I captured at this lovely little gathering! :)

The flags in town drooped- the wind was uncharacteristically absent- and sun stood alone in the blue sky. It was the hottest day of the North Dakotan summer thus far, and most of the state's residents were either in a pool or seeking refuge in air conditioned houses. 

Except us. We were a somewhat motley group- our ages varied widely, as did our history, but our faces all shared the same excited expressions. We sat around a wooden table in a studio space. The building had once been an old college, and was too old to have air conditioning. There was one fan weakly trying to stave off the heat, and we all had cold beverages in our hands. Sweat gathered on our brows, but we made light of the heat, for every second of potential suffering had been transformed into an opportunity to share our hopes and become inspired by those around us.

We were part of the growing Wolftree community. There were about 15 of us, and we had all contributed to the making of Volume 2 (which is released on the 24th of August!). We were the writers, makers, and dreamers who had been found or had found Brook and Noah and had shared our talents and our stories to create their beautiful magazine. Brought together by our shared passion for the beauty within everyday events, we were brought closer by the laughter and ideas that we shared over guacamole and artichoke dip. We discussed our pasts, and focused upon Wolftree's future. We croweded close together to catch a sneak peak at the Volume 2 mockup. We oooh'ed and we ahhh-ed; we laughed and (at times) we silently admired. I won't claim that we all left the best of friends, but we did leave feeling like we had met others who accepted us- who validated our efforts, who inspired us, and who shared our appreciation of  the oft overlooked beauty of the Midwest. 














Wolftree's kickstarter campaign has TWO hours left! They are $100 short of their goal! Please consider becoming part of their project and part of the Wolftree community! 

Thank you,
AK 

Happy October!!! :D

Hello all of you beautiful, wonderful, fabulous followers of my work!!!

I hope this post finds you all doing absolutely wonderfully! I know my week has been... relaxing so far. First let me apologize for the lack of posting that has occurred of late. I promise that I have not forgotten all of you lovely people, nor have I stopped taking photos. I am, as many of you are aware, a college student, and unfortunately my classes have been absolutely crazy lately.

Hopefully I will be posting more soon. :) Starting with today's post of new photos of the lovely Brianna!! These are not from a recent shoot, but I think they are fabulous anyways! With the fall colors fading away into the dull browns of winter I find myself thinking of summer more and more (and of Christmas oddly enough). I love the feeling of freedom and love that summer always leaves me with, that feeling that everything is going to turn out better than I could ever have hoped.  In honor of this desire for the hot summer sun, I am sharing some these lovely photos :) Enjoy everyone!!! Sorry, no revelatory thoughts today!! Just lovely images :D







Have great weeks everyone!!
-AK

Wondering Wednesday

Someone once told me that self portraits were the purest form of emotion in photography. They could only capture who you were at that moment or who you were attempting to be. I am not sure I agree with this philosophy, especially since I tend to use others in my photos as well as myself, however today I thought I would ponder this statement as it refers to my art.

As I go back over my self portraits I am forced to agree that the level of beauty in my self-portraits does reflect my own personal struggles and my growth as a human as well as as a photographer. However, I am forced to wonder if I notice these differences because I remember the strife and growth that accompanied them. What do you see, dear reader, when you look at my portraits? What have I told you about myself through my images? Do I communicate effectively? Do you feel like you can relate? or do they say nothing at all? Please feel free to comment below, or if you don't feel comfortable doing so send, send me a message.

Of course I leave you with these two image below, which were taken at a wedding I attended yesterday. I suffered greatly when taking these images, for I was in a field that turned out to be infested by ticks. Unfortunately for me, I am terrified of ticks. My best friend calls it a phobia. Let's just say this adventure ended in tears (my own) and a huge swarm of ticks on my shoes. I swear that they were attacking me... I had ten on my shoe one time :O :'( !!!! I had a panic attack, but my best friend saved me and carried me to safety :) So scary adventure ended happily and some lovely shots were taken :)

I hope you all have a lovely Wednesday!!! :D