Honesty: Self-portrait Work

Hello my lovely readers,

I hope, as always, that this post finds you happy and healthy. For today's post I am just going to keep it simple. The photos below were taken without expectations. I just needed to express what I was feeling, so I grabbed Icarus and sat in my house, in my pajamas, and took these photos. The result is, I think, a much more honest portrait of what I was feeling when these were taken. I don't particularly like doing self-portrait work, but I think, at least in this instance, it helped me understand myself a little better.

 Also, I ordered a whole ton of new books, which arrived this week! I am so beyond jazzed! I adore books, for those of you who don't know, and will most likely be spending a lot of my break devouring the written word. Below is a quote from one of my new books which I just finished this evening. I thought that it was appropriate for this set of photos.

"It may well be that we can never fully adapt to our own deformities."
-"Norwegian Wood" Haruki Murakami

 

 

Hope you all have fabulous rest of your weeks!! -AK

Editorial: Skinny Love

Hello dear reader,

I hope my post today finds you in good health and happiness! Tomorrow is Friday and I'm sure we are all jazzed about the coming weekend! I leave town on Monday until the 10th!!! Don't fear, I will still be checking my emails and facebook messages regularly, and I might even be posting some more images! ;)

As many of you know, this past week I did a fabulous shoot with S, which I have decided to call "Skinny Love" in honor of the song by Bon Iver (if you haven't heard it, you should look it up, it is an amazing song!). This girl was an amazing person to work with. She was shy when a camera wasn't pointed at her, but the moment the lens focused on her she was fierce and displayed a large array of emotions. Her eyes are amazing, and I am so happy that I was able to capture her beauty!!

 <3

 I think the one above is my favorite from the shoot!!

(Though I am in love with this one too)


Well everyone, I hope to be posting again soon, but until then, have fabulous weeks and weekends and thank you a bajillion times for your continued love and support!!

-AK

Serious thoughts with some more cheerful updates later

Today Amy Winehouse died. I'm sure this is no surprise to most of you, as her death has been announced across the facebook world numerous times. Today Ms. Winehouse died, and a lot of people made rehab jokes, and a lot of people gave sad sighs over her tortured soul. Today a lot of people died. This past week tragedy struck Norway, yet few noticed the deaths enough to mention them on facebook. I know that I would never have found out about the tragedy had one of my models not been an avid fan of Norway and mentioned it.

It is thoughts such as these that has led me to wonder about what exactly makes people notice ones death. What does it say about us as people that we laugh at one singer's unfortunate end as if her death is yet another chapter in her paparazzi ridden life? I laughed when I read the first joke, I'll admit it, and I feel awful for doing so now. What does it say about us that on the day of her death hundreds of people notify their friends, while one day of Norway's tragedy I saw few status changes. Does being famous mean that your death is more important than that of a man or woman killed in a bombing?

Recently I have been trying to work on being kind. On rebuilding my confidence and growing to become a kinder, better human being. It makes me sad that so many have died in this past week. Not just Amy or the 92 confirmed deaths in Norway, but the unknown deaths. The deaths of the children who were hit by a car, of babies who were born with a horrid birth defect, of a soldier who died doing his job. The everyday deaths that we don't even think about. I know that everyone dies, and I suppose that it isn't the deaths themselves that make me sad... I think it is more the attitude we have towards them. When did 92 people just become another number? When did they stop becoming mothers, sons, and daughters? When did I stop thinking of them as people and start considering them a statistic?

I'm not saying we have to weep over every death that occurs... if we did we would never stop crying, but perhaps... I don't know. I suppose I am going to work on remembering that the numbers reported aren't just numbers, but human beings. Living breathing creatures that now don't exist.

I apologize for the sad turn my recent posts have taken. I really don't know why all these sad words keep spilling out of me. However, I do have happy news! I have new cameras, the two that I mentioned in my past post that I bought at an antique store, and one that was given to me by a friend of the family!! I'm super excited to use them!! :D

The cameras in this image are: 1 Kodak Bantam RF camera with original leather case, 1 Mercury Satellite 127, 1 Kodak Folding Brownie Six-20, and 1 Polaroid SX-70 

Also, I had a fabulous shoot with Serianna yesterday! We made a makeshift outdoor studio in my backyard and played with crazy makeup, sprinkles, honey, and food coloring! I can't wait to share more of the images with you!!

Isn't she stunning? This was the third shot we took yesterday!!

Also, I have a shoot on Sunday with a model from Fargo that I am beyond jazzed about!!! ANNNNNDDDDDD I will be leaving for Virginia in a week and two days!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D If anyone wants to set up a shoot in this next week or for when I return from my vacation, please feel free to send me an email or a facebook message!!


I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend!! Thank you for reading!

-AK