The Enchanted Awakening (#35, #36, #37)

(Just a tip, you might want to increase the percentage of your monitor to read the small words better and see the photos a little bigger. This will reduce the quality of the images, but you'll get the point.)

In the wise words of Eckhart Tolle, this is “a story that chose to be born”. My heart just happened to be open to its call, and I am only an instrument for bringing it to the surface. A year and a half ago when I first started this entire enchanted project, I thought “I” created it, it was only for ME and about ME, but I have come to find that because we are all truly connect, it is about everyone and can fit into the lives of anyone if they chose to see it. This is why it has become so important for me to let the inspiration flow freely without letting the egoic mind take over. This is also why dreams are so important for me. It’s a chance to see what energy wants to come to the surface without overTHINKING it. Trillions of ideas are out there, they just need an inspired connection to give them light.

From the beginning, I have had this beautiful friend of mine Natasha Rosequist in my mind for the gallery (without her saying a word), but I just didn’t have the inspiration for her “character”. While on the phone with her a couple months back, I had a vision of her laying in the snow with red fabric draped around her, almost pooling out to the sides and holding a bouquet of roses. Sounds a little morbid, I know. It was only later that I was made aware of all the trials she is going though. The story began to manifest itself to me as the weeks went on and I felt like this connection with her was growing very quickly!! I am so happy to have her as a friend! She has a beautiful, sweet spirit and it really shines through in these images.

Of course the white, red and black color scheme is very striking, so artistically I love the idea, but I was excited to see what the story was behind it. A few weeks later, I was trying to pull more details of what I had originally visualized and there was a subtle, and I found a very important detail I missed. All of the roses she was holding were still green buds except for one. This made everything incredibly clear. The first vision reminded me of death….red blood pooling out onto white snow while holding a bouquet in her hand, but then the new infant roses brought a sense of rebirth and new growth; the death of old ways, ideas, thoughts and the birth of something beautiful & new. Although I couldn't get the roses to look exactly how I wanted them, they still represent something very special to me.

The realization that I wouldn't be able to do this shoot until the end of December made it even more special since the release would be on the start of a new year. My main resolution this year isn’t a future goal, but to live in the present moment always. To always recognize the minute I am in, as the minute that is supposed to be. To accept what IS and find the peace within that space. To awaken my eyes to a world I really know nothing about. To look at everything I see with newborn eyes so that NOTHING ever loses its wonder and majesty. To just BE.

Introducing:

The Enchanted Awakening

#35

#36

#37

Up close cropped shots showing camera quality, detail & makeup:

(#35 crop)

(#36 crop)

(#37 crop)

Behind The Scenes!!

The Bohemian Headpiece!

This was much simpler than I thought it was going to be! I wanted a headpiece which sat right in the middle of her forehead representing her "third eye". Something that would be wide open and reflecting the world around her even when her eyes were shut. I found this gorgeous black pendant at Michaels. I grabbed a couple different sized chains and just kind of winged it! I was so incredible happy with the turnout. It was very difficult to keep on her head while she was laying down, but we worked some magic and made it work!

This was me attempting to turn these roses into babies.....I was not very successful, but I was happy nonetheless! Check out these hot jammies too!!

The Makeup!

This is always such a fun process! I seriously LOVE working with Brittany Benko, one of my BFF's and makeup artist. She always does exactly what is perfect for the vision! And then we add in another one of my BFF's and previous models, Sarah Burbey with behind the scenes pictures and we have got ourselves quite the trio!! There is never a dull moment as you can see!

Below is a list of products used...

Makeup used:
URBAN DECAY Pore perfecting complextion primer potion
INGLOT YSM Cream foundation shade 49
ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS  Dip brow in medium brown
NYX concealer in porcelain
URBAN DECAY Electric pallet (Revolt and Slow burn)
TOO FACED  Chocolate bar pallette
NARS Paloma contour and highlight pallet
NARS blush in Orgasm
Sephora highlight in Star dust
Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner black ink 1
Ardell lashes in glamorous
INGLOT USA Translucent loose powder
Cover girl lip perfection liner in passion and topped off with NYX soft matte lip cream in New Amsterdam

SERIOUSLY S-T-R-I-K-I-N-G!!!!

On the road and setting up!

So I must tell you that this was a bit frustrating! I thought it had snowed in our mountains so much this month so I didn't have any thoughts about NOT finding snow. When we got up there, there seriously were a few lame patches of ICE.....dirty ice! Andrew and I got out of the car to scout out some areas and when I got back in, I hardly wanted to turn around a look at the girls because I wanted to burst into tears. The thought that we might have to put this shoot on hold was devastating me, (lol considering what this shoot was all about). We got back in the car and drove up the middle of the mountain to see what we could find and JUST before I thought there was no hope, we found a nice big patch of snow with LOTS of people around playing and sledding. There were in for a show!! Haha!

Sarah being my little minion helping me get my lighting and focus right! Love her!

Andrew making sure my ladder was stable to climb on! Always have to have a funny shot of Andrew! I'm glad he did this because I had shaky legs and as you can see, I was pretty high up there!! We survived though!

My poor friend and model was FROZEN, shivering on the snow!! I felt terrible for her!! We tried to get done as fast as possible! Once set up, this was the quickest photo shoot yet! From her first shot to the last was 13 MINUTES! BAM!!

Check out our audience! I'm sure everyone thought we were totally insane, but they really had fun watching :-)

A few more fun shots standing above her! I'm so happy to have my dear friend Sarah capturing these images for me!!

That's all folks! Thank you so much for stopping by and making to the end of this post! I hope you can find joy in every moment of your life! Have a wonderful NEW YEAR!!

xoxo,
Kira Sanoja


Camera Settings:
Camera: Canon 5D MarkIII
Lens: Sigma f/4 24mm-105mm
No Flash
Aperture: All at f/4.0
Shutter: All at 1/200
ISO: All at 320