1940: a good year

Once again, I have continuously been kept awake at night thinking about everything I want to photography. It's almost as if, all of a sudden, I look at the world in a whole new perspective. I feel as if I have always looked at the world in a profound way, certain things strike me on a daily basis. However, on top of that profundity, I now have added dimensions and thoughts to it like "what angle would I shoot that at" or "what kind of lighting would make it more dramatic?" Last night, for example, I was sitting on the couch in our newly - renovated dining room and my parents had taken down these old curtains and had laid them on this elegant dining room chair in the corner. At this moment, the lights were off and there was light only coming through the french doors. It was so beautiful - how everything had been thrown aside in an isolated corner and the curtains and the chair were still elegant. I had pictured a woman sitting there, her back to me in the shadowed corner, also forgotten in a sense, but still beautiful. I think I may be going slightly crazy...but I'm OK with it.

Last week, I had an AMAZING photo shoot with my friends. I was just googling images of 1940's (picture post WWII) pinup girls. I thought it would be really cool to re - create those kind of animated images. I picked two of my friends, a blonde and a brunette, who I thought had great faces to match the images - both had normal bodies (not stickly thin) with more rounder faces and big eyes. I did their makeup really simple - Foundation without bronzer, thick liquid eyeliner on the upper lid, drawn - in eyebrows and gorgeous red lipstick. For the brunette, I left her hair straight but pinned her bangs to the side to make it look like they had been swept that way. Then, I curled the bottom of her hair just enough to curl it inwards and make it look wig - like. She ended up looking just like Dita VonTeese, which was awesome! For the blonde, I curled her hair everywhere and pinned it up to make it look a lot shorter than it actually was, more like a Marilyn Monroe - type look. I also used lots of cheek hightlighter and shiny lotion for the both of them. The brunette was wearing cut - off really short jeans, fishnets, simple black pumps and a white tube top. Her outfit captured the era beautifully!! The blonde was wearing the same simple black pumps, fishnets, short black shorts and a white sparkly halter. She also looked gorgeous! I set up my own makeshit background with an ivory colored tablecloth from i party. The girls absolutely captured the era with their poses as well - very elegant, everything pointed and posed with minimally sexy, very animated faces. It was amazing!!!! However........(cue dark music) I was so nervous to process the negatives because it was my first time. Not paying attention, I accidentally put the fixer in first!! AGHHH. It wasn't until about 8 minutes in that I realized what I had done and I lost EVERYTHING. I was so devastated and frustrated - a whole days work, gone. However, I knew there were going to be mistakes and the girls had such a great time doing the shoot and getting dressed up that they agreed to do it again. So, tonight we're going to give it another try! I'm so excited to see how they come out. I'll keep you posted!!!!!

~Sara