Now to update you on my latest project...
A few weeks ago, I styled a photo shoot of a girl that I met at party a few months ago that had the cutest sweetheart shaped red dress and cropped haircut. I love girls with well maintained short hair-I believe it is the perfect frame for a beautiful face.
A few months passed after I was able to reconnect with Julia and we finally did a shoot based on her life experiences with a bit of added flare from my style suggestions. When she mentioned that she spent some time in France, I immediately drew inspiration from the Parisian girls that I longed to visit in the streets of the romantic city. Lucas, as my sensible photographer and visionary, suggested to style her as an edgy Parisian, roaming the gritty streets beneath the shadows of sketchy alleys and unprotected underpasses showered in graffiti. The results were simply amazing.
Real life portraits are just as inspiring to work on as high-end fashion shoots due to their connection with the camera from previous life experiences. The surroundings, feelings, and memories of previous occurrences all captured between the milliseconds of each snapshot of a given frame. For a girl without any previous modeling experience, Julia was not only a pleasure to work with but a natural, as she interpreted our Parisian concept to life through her memories of France during her years as a translator. As the stylist, all of the running around was truly worth it. Finding the beauty in people who tell a story is inspiring in itself. I look forward to meeting additional people in life to discover ways to bring their journey into the camera's focal point for others to view.
Meet Julia
“I remember a lot of late night walks home after being out, putting on my iPod and looking up at the stars while heading home after an evening of good food, good drinks, and good friends. Any piece of art by Rodin immediately takes my mind to Paris; the Rodin Museum there is something I visit every single time I go to Paris because his sculptures are so beautiful, especially "Fugit Amor" which means "Fugitive Love." The thought of walking down the street past a bakery and smelling the freshly baked bread will always make my mouth water!”
"A reminder of the nightlife for me would definitely be the smell of cigarette smoke in the air. I can remember standing outside the club, trying to cool off, smoking a cigarette and hearing the music blasting from the inside and the thump of the bass. Listening to the song "1901" by the band Phoenix will always remind me of this guy I really liked when I was living abroad, it was a song we both really liked, so every time I hear it, I imagine I'm back there in the bar with him listening to it on the radio."
"As far as a French saying goes, what immediately comes to mind is "En art comme amour, l'instinct suffit" which means "Whether it is in art or in love, your instinct will suffice" because when it comes to living abroad, you depend a lot on your instincts!"
Photographer: Lucas Barber
MUA: Megan Burda
Special thanks to Lucas for taking the pictures and post-editing work as well as Megan for doing the make-up!
