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Title: Always Prepared
When our kids are little they are in a constant state of play. No matter what they're doing, they don't turn that part of themselves off. This dawn till dusk state of playfulness is something I really value and encourage as a mom, and that's why I tend to shoot it a lot.
Because of the tones, expression, and low light, this image conveys a serious mood. But context is everything: I shot this while he was on the toilet!
AFTER DARK
f/3.5, 1/60, ISO 6400
Nikon D800; sigma 35mm f/1.4 ART
GEAR
SETTINGS
Title: Love is Love in the Highlands
I photographed this image in Glencoe while visiting Scotland. It was raining and temperatures were freezing but you could never guess by how incredibly these two braved the cold and I couldn't feel a thing because I was just so happy to be photographing something so beautiful in that amazing landscape.
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
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Title: Life Lessons With Mr. Rogers
I decided to shoot a day in the life using my cell phone a couple of weeks into quarantine. I was trying to make my home a safe, calm place for my children in the midst of some pretty scary personal and global news, so I introduced them to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. The way he talks about difficult situations gave all of us a sense of calm an clarity.
BROKEN REALITY
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Title: BAR
I approached the processing of this image with color in mind. I had just watched a series that was pretty inspiring in its cinematography, and thought I would push my normal editing with some complementary colors. Deepening the actual "gray" of the building to that blue-green really made the neon sign pop, and I also loved the way the yellow lights glow against the walls of the building. It took the image from a kind of grim bar in the rain to something a little more gritty.
CINEMATIC
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Title: Coney Island
The day I took this photo was an emotional day. Many years ago I spent some months in New York City, and the diverse, quirky and colorful beach of Coney Island has been an intense memory since. When I visited it again, this time with my family and a photographer friend from New York, the memories came back all of a sudden.
COLOR POP
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Title: Wombless
I was five days Post-Op when I awoke to the reality that my body, which had housed four pregnancies and birthed three beautiful babies, was no longer capable of creating life. Of course, I knew this reality going into surgery, and weighed it heavily in my decision to proceed. But it didn't really hit my heart until afterwards. I was wombless. I took this self portrait that evening in hopes of helping me through my grieving process, and to document the raw reality of the pain I was feeling- both physically and emotionally.
HER
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Title: RAISING A CURIOUS DAUGHTER
This is a sweet little precious baby girl who was so curious about the camera during their motherhood session.
HUMAN FACE
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Title: Off to the Front Lines
This is an image of my husband in our mudroom, leaving for work through the garage door. My husband is a physician at one of the large university hospitals in the city, and so is considered an essential worker. During our state's shutdown, his leaving for work every day was a huge source of anxiety for me and the kids. With Covid cases increasing and so much unknown about the future, we worried about how his day would look, when we would see him again, and if he would contract the virus at work.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
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Title: Perfect on every side
When I created this double it became very emotional for me, because it evolved into a story about her. There is a quiet battle being waged in our home. It's a battle against self-doubt, anxiety, fear of loss, a sense of not being enough or ever giving enough. As hard as it is to believe, it's this girl we're fighting it for. She is amazing. She is a lover of the down-trodden, insightful, hard-working, creative, thoughtful, generous, and an A-student to name a few. She fills are home with music and dance. When I take a photo of her it is my hope that she will someday see that all of her is beautiful and worthy. I want her to face the camera and life with every side . There is no bad side.
SEEING DOUBLE
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Title: Welcome To Spa Quarantine
This is an image out of a series of self-portraits made in hopes to better cope with the effects of isolation and the uncertainty during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is with humor that I find it is so much easier to make it through rough times, even if that means pretending your bathroom is a spa or a cocktail lounge.
SELF PORTRAIT
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Title: Kaffee and a Tart
After 2 weeks vacationing in Italy and indulging in gelato and pizza, it was a shock to pay 3 times the price for an espresso once we arrived in Switzerland.
This image reminds me of our first coffee stop and how we picked, more wisely, what and where we ate for the remainder of the trip.
STORY IN STILL LIFE
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Title: At Home
I was searching for new light in different rooms in our new-to-us farmhouse. I noticed the late afternoon light spilling in the bathroom and my daughter washing her hands wearing a pretty yellow dress which played off the vanity & mirror colors beautifully.
TAKING SHAPE
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Winners are also featured in the Nov/Dec issue of Click magazine.