A Simple Conversation

Thursday morning I had a shoot with my old friend Mabel.  She order one of the shirts from my Shop and when it came in we set up a time for her to pick it up.  I brought up the idea that we needed to put another shoot under our belts.  She showed up wearing this outfit and had no plans or intentions to shoot in it.  But for me, it was perfect for the idea that was starting to unfold in my head while we talked and caught up for about an hour.

We sat around and talked about kids, life, struggles as an artist and on and on.  Knowing that she had some time restraints, I started to set up and get ready for our shoot.  When I first mentioned we should shoot when she was here to pick up her shirt, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to shoot.  I don’t really plan my shoots that much anymore.  I have a general idea of what I want to try to capture but try not to stick to a set game plan or a rigid look or mood board.  Most of the time, the shoots end up feeling like a conversation with an old friend.  They feel really natural and and just seem to happen and flow.

We ended up shooting two “looks” while we talked and listened to music while I kept the camera in my hand and clicking away. After we shot we went back downstairs and continued our conversation.  Mabel is incredibly easy for me to open up to.  I am able to be brutally honest about myself while taking with her.  She doesn’t judge me.  She understands the mental and emotional roadblocks I have put in to my life.  I was able to voice some things that have been bouncing around my head lately.  My anxiety.  My need to create.  The reasons I distance myself from people.  And then an epiphany hit me while we were having this conversation.  It is all self inflicted and as I physically said the words, it honestly felt like it was melting away.

Anyway, here are some photos from the first set of images we created together.  The full set of 44 images is up on Pieces of You.