Mommy Makeover Contest Nominee: Sandy

Nominee #1: Sandy Tipke

Here is a nomination from a daughter who clearly loves her amazing Momma very much!

"My mom is amazing! She is my rock, my best friend. We didnt have a great relationship for a while. When I became a teenager we started to get close. My mom is an amazing lady. She raised me when I was growing up as a single mother! My dad was not in the picture and although she probably should have done things a little different I am who I am because of my mom! I have the best relationship with now! My mom is a beautiful women. And as my step dad and me and many other people see it, she doesn't treat herself as if she is beautiful. She thinks she is too fat to look good. But this women is beautiful inside and out. She loves the Lord and her family. I love her so much. Thank you for considering her. :-) "

Naomi

To vote for this gorgeous lady, just leave a comment below. Good luck, Sandy!!

Mothers Day Makeover Contest

The words "self sacrifice" are almost synonymous with the word "mother."
Who else would spend their days covered in boogers and wiping chocolate fingerprints ( let's hope that was chocolate...) from the new sofa, while trying to coax slime covered little hooligans to eat their vegetables?
Even once the toddler stage is over, moms spend their days working, cleaning, cooking, washing laundry, driving to baseball practice and cub scouts and dance recitals all while trying to figure out how dinner and, God willing, a SHOWER is supposed to fit in amongst everything else.

Moms work the hardest, longest hours on less sleep and with less appreciation than any other job I can think of.  9-5 doesn't exist for moms.

If there is anyone who deserves to be pampered, it is a mom. Unfortunately, many moms aren't able to set aside the time or money to spoil themselves with things like getting their hair done, their makeup professionally applied, and having their portrait taken.

That's why I'm teaming up with ultra-fab makeup artist Serena Cook of Esoteric Makeup and super talented Laura Klem of Modern Trendz Salon to bring  you the first annual Mommy Makeover Contest!

We want to bless some deserving momma with a day that's all about her, but we need YOUR help!

Nominate a deserving mom by emailing a photo of her and a paragraph about what it is that makes her so amazing to:

nicoleyorkphotography@rocketmail.com

I will take all entries and give them their own post here on the blog, that way even if a mom doesn't win, she will still get recognition for all the amazing things she does. I will email you the link to your nominees post, and share it on Facebook.

Voting will begin as soon as the first entry is posted, and end on April 26th, 2014 at 12pm PST.
You can vote in the comments section.
One voter per voter.
The nominee with the most votes will win:
Pro Hair and Makeup
A photoshoot (either just herself in all her glory, or with her loving family) just in time for Mother's Day.

I can't think of a better gift to a deserving momma than a portrait of her, looking her best and surrounded by her family.

SO nominate those mommas! Share this blog post on Facebook, or other social media sites. Tweet about it. Shout it from the rooftops! Find everyone you can to vote for YOUR Mom, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Aunt, etc...as long as she is a MOM...and let's spoil her for Mother's Day!

A Case for Photoshop

In a previous blog post, I used a stage magician as a metaphor for Photoshop. I'm now going to raise the curtain and let you see behind the smoke and mirrors. This is what Photoshop really does for photographers and retouchers who are using it responsibly.

Our eyes VS the camera and lens

There are very fundamental differences between the way our brains interpret something we see, and what a camera and lens "sees" and captures. More often than not, there is something the lens distorts, exaggerates, or simply cannot see at all. Photographers who know the intricacies of this dynamic are able to both compensate for and take advantage of it. However, there is only so much one can do in camera.
For example; the human eye is capable of seeing a much greater dynamic range of light than what a camera sensor is able to process. During the brightest time of day, our eye is able to see detail both in the bright highlights on the sunward side of a leaf, and in the deep shadow beneath the tree. A camera sensor, though, cannot. It needs an operator to tell it what to expose for; either the highlights, the shadows or the mid-tones, and will miss a bit of the opposing side. Photoshop can help compensate for that by either blending multiple photos of different exposures or by tweaking the darker or lighter pixels and increasing the dynamic range of the resulting image. Thus, image editing software actually fills in the cameras weakness.

At any given time, only about 10 percent of what the human eye sees is in sharp focus. A camera lens at the right aperture is able to freeze a scene in crisp detail almost to infinity. This has a couple of effects, particularly on human skin.
First of all, because we have such a limited range of focus, it means that when we are interacting with a person, we don't see all of their face in sharp detail at once. Because a camera can see that way, it means that imperfections (for lack of a better word) in skin are much more evident. Portrait photographers used to use soft light and soft focus to compensate for that, blurring detail to achieve smoother skin and diminish the appearance of things like pores and wrinkles.
If you want a nice, sharp portrait, though, editing the skin in post production is the digital answer to the older techniques.
Another thing a camera lacks is interpersonal communication. While we interact with someone in person we notice several things at once; changing body language, expression, the way someones eyes sparkle when they laugh, we listen to their tone of voice, and all those things come together to make one unified vision of a person. When you snap a portrait, you are hoping to capture as much of the subject's authentic nature as possible but because the photo is frozen, it is easier for the viewer's eye to roam and note details that are not usually seen when interacting with someone. For instance...lazy eyes, mismatched eyebrows, ears that are a bit bigger on one side or that stick out farther from the head, acne scars, (and the list goes on...) that we might not notice while someone is talking to us, are all frozen for our eye to roam over and dissect at will.

Lens choice and camera angle also have an effect on the appearance and proportion of the body. Our eye doesn't distort the human figure when we view it.
A lens can and does.
There are many circumstances that influence what lens a photographer chooses. If we know that we are going to be shooting in low light, we may choose a prime lens. This allows for a fast enough shutter speed to freeze motion, but can distort the appearance of the face and/or body shape of the subject by doing such things as making the nose appear larger because it is the part of the face that extends the farthest toward the lens. I'm not going to get into all of the technical details in this post, but here is a link to some examples of barrel distortion to give you an example.
There are literally hundreds of factors that may effect the appearance of the body in a photograph. Body position, angle, frame of reference, lighting, lens choice (shape, barrel length, etc...) Photographers, good ones at least, will do their best to control as many factors as possible. However, there are instances where, for one reason or another, image editing software can make the difference between making at accurate representation of someone or a distorted one.

So, often, Photoshop is used to make an image more closely match what the human eye sees or what the viewer would experience had he or she been with the person or at the location of the photo.

The effects of light

I am a photographer. I know the effect of light on a human body. I know that human skin naturally has bumps, scars, uneven tones, pores, stretch marks, wrinkles, blemishes and so on. I know that the appearance of those things can either be enhanced or diminished not only by technique but more importantly by certain kinds of light. Because a photograph cannot interact with a viewer using the force of personality, voice, mood, ect. in order to make an impression, I have to think long and hard about how I present a portrait. What I want the photo to say, the mood, and what I hope a viewer sees about the subject of my photograph can all be influenced by the kind of light I shoot under.
Even, soft light will reduce the appearance of shadows that define texture in the skin, while directional light will cause the shadows and highlights that make those imperfections so visible.
If I am taking what is known as a "beauty shot" I want to use light that will flatter not only the facial structure of the model but also his or her skin. These are generally head and shoulders photos with bright, even light and very soft-or little to no-shadows. This diminishes the look of pores, wrinkles, blemishes, and any other facet that causes texture in the skin. The skin appears much more "perfected," without the use of Photoshop.
However, if I would like a photo with more dynamic light and a dramatic feel, then I may want to use directional light. The downfall of directional light is that it tends to highlight any area of texture. This means that blemishes, wrinkles, pores and everything else is going to be even more obvious than under other lighting conditions because it will have both a strong shadow and a highlight. If someone has larger pores or deeper wrinkles this kind of light will exaggerate it, much more even than what the human eye will see in person. Couple that with the sharpness I discussed above and we are talking about visible detail and texture in the skin than can possibly distract from the vision, mood, or feeling of the final photo. Photoshop (or other editing software) allows me to achieve the more flattering look of even light on the skin while maintaining dramatic light for atmosphere. It's the best of both worlds.

I'm not even going to bother going in-depth about more artistic images that are designed to look surreal or fantastic because those have an unnatural element to them that clearly falls in line with digital alteration and fools no one into thinking the images are "real."

Self Confidence

Finally, and not lease important, there is personal body image and confidence to consider. It would be wonderful if everyone was proud of their body and comfortable in their skin. How much happier would we be!? The reality is that many people are not.
I personally know people who will not get their portrait taken because of things they view as imperfections. Maybe they are on a weight loss journey and hoping to wait until they feel more confident in their skin before taking family portraits. Maybe they have scars from an accident that they don't want to relive every time they see their photo. Maybe they have always been insecure about the size of their arms, and can't see a photo of themselves without sighing and thinking "why do my arms always look so HUGE!?"
I also know from experience that people with misgivings like these have a very hard time feeling comfortable in front of a camera even if they've drummed up the courage to get their photo taken. If someone is uncomfortable, the camera can tell. The resulting images are almost never flattering. These people do not deserve to have the joy of a well taken portrait stolen from them because they aren't yet secure enough to bare it all.

Is it such a horrible thing, then, when I look at someone and tell them, "Listen, if you feel insecure about your arms, I can handle that."

If that helps them feel comfortable enough to relax and smile genuinely during a portrait session, it's worth it to me. Would it be better for everyone to do some soul searching and realize that those things they are uncomfortable with aren't imperfections at all, and that they are special and amazing and unique? Of course. But that is something that takes time and a lot of work and is a LONG road for most people. Technical aspects of post production aside, if doing a bit of tweaking in Photoshop to diminish or distract from areas a person is insecure with helps them feel more confident in front of a camera and enjoy their photos without reservations...then that is reason enough to use Photoshop for me.

Darling Nora; Cale and Kathleen's Blessing

Cale and Kathleen are truly a once in a lifetime kind of couple.

They were high school sweethearts, married young and making the most of their lives. Cale joined the army and deployed overseas, and Kathleen traveled on missionary trips to foreign countries. All the while, this special couple inspired everyone that knew them with their faith in God, their love for people, and their deep love and devotion to each other.

A car accident threatened to change all of that. It left Cale fighting for his life, and Kathleen in constant prayer that God would keep their family whole.

He did.

Cale proved the Doctors wrong when he lived.

He proved them wrong when he woke from a coma.

When he began to speak

to walk

he proved them wrong.

Despite living with a traumatic brain injury, Cale continues to break barriers and prove wrong anyone who doubts his will to live and to love.

And Kathleen never stopped fighting. Fighting in prayer, fighting for the best care for the man she loved, fighting doubt and fear about their future, fighting to keep her husband at home and not in a nursing facility, fighting the effects of TBI and the struggles of becoming a care provider.

Through all of this their faith, their love, and their devotion never wavered. They trusted in the will of the God they both serve to hold them up, and to use them to glorify Himself.

He did.

He does.

God blessed them with a once in a lifetime kind of love, and now they have one more blessing to thank Him for.

A soon-to-be-born baby girl.

From high school sweethearts to a soldier and his princess, from a boy and a girl to a man and his wife.

And soon...

to Mommy and Daddy.

Here are some teasers from their maternity session, and here's to celebrating the special love that created tummy baby, Nora Grace

Cale reads to Nora every day. He talks to her, and tells her how very much she is loved. Being able to witness the absolute honesty and heartbreaking sincerity of his love for his unborn daughter was so touching, it almost had me in tears.

Photoshop is the Devil

The interwebs are going crazy with Photoshop bashing these days. Everywhere you look, there is a new article or .gif or video about the evils of Photoshop and how it is creating an unattainable and unrealistic standard of beauty that is harming the self worth of women everywhere.

To listen to the all the hype, you'd think that Photoshop was the devil. In fact, it seems like the bandwagon thing to do is hop on the "We hate Photoshop" bus and burn our software in protest.
While I agree that image editing software is being used to create un-realistic images of women, that advertising agencies and the fashion industry in particular are over-using this tool, and that creating an artificial standard of beauty can certainly be an instrument by which someone harms their own self worth; I'm going to be unequivocal and unapologetic about this next statement;

The problem is not with Photoshop. The problem is with human nature.

Let's take a trip down what I'm going to call the Path of Illusions.

What are some things that women in particular use or have used to create the illusion that they are OTHER than what is absolutely natural?
Makeup, corsets, wigs, hair extensions, eyelash extensions (what sadistic bugger came up with THAT one?) hair coloring, plastic surgery-which is a bit more than an illusion I'll grant you- high heels (because you aren't that tall in real life) panty-hose, perfume (do you really smell like jasmine and sandalwood? I didn't think so) the list goes on and on...

Women and men as well (let's not forget powdered wigs and codpieces) have been creating and reaching for unrealistic standards of beauty since time immemorial. Geishas painted their faces, ladies used khol on their eyes, feet were bound, waists cinched to damaging proportions, wigs were festooned with tiny animals and sailing ships, brows were thickened or removed, faces tattooed, and so on and so on, in an effort to appear other than what nature intended.
Every young girl has been exposed to images of beauty that for some reason, whether natural or unnatural, she will not be able to attain. This is nothing new.

This is not to say that we shouldn't bother to change behavior that has negative consequences just because human nature is flawed. But masking the symptoms doesn't cure the disease. You have to have the right diagnosis.

I think the difference between Photoshop and something like makeup lies in that, with makeup, we can and do create these illusions ourselves. We even out our skin tone with foundations, hide blemishes with concealer, make our eyes look larger with deftly applied shadow, plump up our lips with gloss, and then walk out of the house feeling pretty good about ourselves but knowing what we look like beneath the layers.
When Photoshop gets abused, viewers aren't part of that process. They don't see what the model looks like in the studio beforehand. If the audience watched the magician hide the rabbit in his hat they might still enjoy the trick, but they would never believe in the magic. When we paint our own faces we might enjoy the results but we know what lies beneath.
That is where I believe the danger is. Most of us don't interact with the people we see in magazines or movies, the people who are gifted with great beauty before a team of beauticians and stylists get their hands on them. So, when we see images of them on the screen or the magazine cover, it's natural to assume that what we see is what they are and since we didn't take part in the hoax, we are free to believe the "magic."

What is happening now with the release of before and after Photoshop photos and videos, is a good thing. More and more, the average non-photoshop user is able to see the process, and the image of overly-perfected, unattainable beauty is getting demystified. Hopefully this helps people to see that those images are surreal, that nobody looks like that in real life, and that beating yourself up for not living up to that standard is an act of futility. Just like my mom and dad told me repeatedly while watching movies as a child, it's not real, honey.
Once we begin to see the change, hopefully that will make us more conscious of the ability, and even responsibility, we have as a society to build self-worth rather than destroy it.

Therefore

I do not believe that Photoshop should stop being used. Getting rid of the photoshop devil is not going to remove the desire for unrealistic beauty. Photoshop didn't create this problem. Advertisers have only used it as a tool to help capitalize on a natural failing in human nature. If we already saw ourselves as beautiful, it would be hard to make money off of our desire to look fabulous, wouldn't it?
There are legitimate reasons to use Photoshop, and I'm going to expound on some of those in my next blog post.

Let me know what YOU think. Leave me a comment. The more dialogue that exists on this issue, the better equipped we are to deal with things like this and the more likelihood that those using image editing software will be held to responsible standards.

Creating Ophelia: An Adventure into Conceptual Photography

This post is LONG overdue.

I would like to make the excuse that I've been busy, but let's face it...everyone is busy. It's just an excuse. If something is important, you either make the time or you make excuses.
I'm finally making the time.

You might have read my blog post on conceptual portraiture. It's an area I would like to explore more, and ideally, the direction in which I would like to see my work move.
I had been busy with family portraits, head shots, portfolio work and boudoir photos and...while I love to capture all those moments...I felt like my creativity was withering away in some dark corner of my soul. There was a small spark of it somewhere in my chest, but the only reason I still knew it even existed was because it was whimpering in despair. In an effort to find my lost creativity I followed the sound of it's crying, found the malnourished little bugger, and brought it out into the light of day.

Serena of Esoteric Makeup, the talented makeup artist who helped me create our famed Zombie Apocalypse family portraits, immediately climbed on board when I suggested a creative shoot.
We agreed that Hamlet's Ophelia would be a great subject to conceptualize.Youth and beauty coupled with madness and despair...what a photo that could make!

Serena suggested a costume designer she had worked with before, namely Elizabeth Ritter, who is fondly known as The Swift Stitcher. She seemed to be as excited as the two of us were to tackle Ophelia and bring her to life.

So we had the photographer, the makeup artist, and the costumer. All we needed was the model and a hair stylist.

I was lucky that I had a good friend who is also a bad ass hair stylist. Laura was on board. 4 down.

The model was the last to enter the game, and I will admit that I began to fear we wouldn't find that perfect person who would embody everything we hoped for.
THANK the Lord for Facebook!

Enter Hannah Lynn Payne, the gorgeous younger daughter of a family I have been acquainted with for years. Both she and her family graciously agreed to let us steal Hannah, cover her in makeup, bobby pins and hair spray, and snap photos to our hearts content.

There was the whole preparation process, which I wont delve into except to admit that it was full of small, irritating details that were both absolutely necessary and completely mind numbing...like shopping for the PERFECT fake flowers to adorn our model.

ON to the big day. I was nervous and excited all at the same time.
Strangely enough, a big creative shoot like this is almost like giving birth. You spend days, weeks, months even, imagining how everything will be and what the end result will look like. Will the process be painful? Will the result be beautiful?
The anticipation is terrible, but the results are worth it!

I literally got to watch a fairy tale come to life before my eyes.
Hannah is a lovely teenage girl. She's all American, athletic, with pretty blonde hair and blue eyes and lovely skin. She's pretty much every girl next door.
Within 2 hours, she didn't even look like the same person.

Serena had painted a new face. Now she looked like something fey, strange and lovely at the same time.
Laura had crafted a coifure that was familiar yet a bit wild.
Elizabeth stitched a dress that seemed pulled right out of history, and yet didn't really fit with any traditional dress I've ever seen.
Hannah was gone, and Ophelia sat in front of us.
I don't think any one of us were really prepared for seeing the embodiment of what we had been imagining for months.

The whole shoot went down under a bit of a spell. As I took photos, gave Hannah direction for posing and expression, watched Serena touch up makeup or Laura tweak hair just a bit... I felt like I was watching a fairy tale happen.

Toward the end of the shoot, I gave Ophelia some direction for what I wanted her to do. She was to start to pull her hair style out, tear out some of the flowers we had placed, and just generally let herself fall to pieces.

I swear, once she began to move and I started pressing the shutter button the whole room went silent. The last sound I heard was the indrawn breath of every person sitting in the background. Ophelia was real, sitting in front of us, and her mind was beginning to unravel. It was absolutely spell binding.

My poor withered creativity had sprung to flaming life with a vigor that left sear marks inside my chest. It was a reawakening. A reminder that CREATION is what I love, and what drives me.
Capture is important, and I can't say how much I enjoy being able to capture important moments for my clients. It is the creation, though, that makes me feel as if everything that I've got inside, everything that inspires me to dream, has been birthed and is now on display. I get to share my secret dreams with people who view my photographs, and in that viewing I've forged a connection between myself and someone else on a level beyond words.

I feel it, though. It's exhilarating. It's now my goal.

The Boudoir Experience

Earlier this year I wrote a blog post about my personal experience with boudoir photography. In October, I was blessed by an amazing bunch of ladies to experience boudoir photography from the other side of the lens.

When someone invites you so see a hidden side of themselves (and I'm not just talking about what's hidden beneath the clothes...ahem...) it is a real honor and a mark of trust. All of us have things we would deem physical imperfections, whether it is stretch marks or ears that stick out, and those things create insecurities. They become barriers that stop us from being comfortable in our own skin. Once those walls have been built, we become so used to them that we forget what was on the other side.

Boudoir photography is an amazing tool for breaking down those walls, exposing our insecurities, and letting us see that what we thought were imperfections were really just marks of individuality that add to our beauty. We get to see ourselves through someone else's eyes and we find out that those stretch marks we thought were as deep as the Grand Canyon and could be seen from outer space are, in actuality, hardly noticeable badges of honor. In short, we get to see that that we are lovely, sexy creatures in all our individual glory, without the walls of insecurity to hide behind.

I partnered up with super talented photographer Olga Tenyanin to put on Captivate; A Boudoir Photo Marathon, and now you get to see a bit behind the scenes...

The Hotel Murano is gorgeous. It's located in downtown Tacoma, and filled with some very cool glass work and other really unique art. You could visit just to see that. The rooms are gorgeous, and the service was top notch.
We arrived early, began our set up (which is easily the LEAST fun part of the experience) and prepped the room. The makeup artist and hair stylist began their set up and before you know it, we were ready for our first ladies!

Once we settled in and got shooting we had an absolute BLAST.
Mimosas, gourmet cupcakes from Puyallup bakery Wanna Cupcake?  (which were EXTRAORDINARILY yummy) and some sexy tunes from the ol' iPod set the scene and helped everybody relax.

I was amazed with these ladies. They relaxed, they smiled and laughed, they SMOULDERED! I'm surprised my camera didn't start smoking! We got everything from bombshell and vixen to sweet and sultry from these ladies and the images really do speak for themselves.

We even shot some smouldering couples photos with local models Ryan Hollingsworth and MaryAnn Jones. I don't mind saying these are super sexy and some of my FAVs!

And as much as I loved the experience itself, hanging out with all these great ladies (and gentlemen) my absolute most favorite part of the WHOLE thing is hearing the what the ladies have to say after they see their photos. Jamie, one of the ladies who participated, wrote me an amazing testimonial and gave me her permission to share it with all of you. 
I don't think there is any stronger recommendation to try boudoir photigraphy for yourself than hearing strait from the mouth of someone who had done it. Here's what she had to say:

“Thank you so much, Nicole, for everything! You made my first boudoir photo session an absolute delight! All my nervousness and inhibitions faded fast with your reassurance and guidance. The shoot was a blast!

As a stay at home mom of 4, to a Highschooler on one end and a preschooler on the other and two in between, I somehow lost myself in the midst of baseball practices , home-schooling, and just the normal everyday rhythms of life.

This experience has played a pivotal role in rediscovering who I am and discovering the true me is not a separate woman from bing a mom and a wife, but she’s still the one underneath the baseball hat and apron; I had just forgotten I was till there!

When I see my pictures, I view them in celebration of who I am as a woman 36 years of age, a wife of 14 years, and as a mom of 4. You captured me, Nicole, and I am so thankful for it.

The icing on the cake was my husbands reaction! The pictures literally brought tears to his eyes and he said he didn’t know how to express how beautiful and stunning he thought I was, even though I’ve always been those things to him, seeing it captured left him nearly speechless.

For him, seeing me smile and enjoying myself is part of what makes the pictures so beautiful to him, although I now get teased regularly about being a “Victoria’s Secret” model and his “ultimate pin-up girl.”

Thank you again, Nicole, for everything. Had Captivate not been reasonably priced and inclusive, I wouldn’t have been able to give this extraordinary gift to my husband or receive the gift of myself. You are amazing. “

Jamie 

This STILL makes me smile. It's exactly what I hope to accomplish with every boudoir session.

If you want to experience that feeling yourself, message me! I still have spaces open for the Enchant Boudoir session in January. Hey, it's just in time to surprise your love for Valentines day!