Kandylane Enchanted

Quick Summary...

All images are ©KandylaneEnchanted2014 by Kira Sanoja with Kandylane Photography. They are all personally inspired scenes that I have designed & created with the help of friends and family in real life....not in Photoshop (with the exeption of lighting, color, contrast, and small details) . I do not offer these as "session" to the public as they are meant to be Fine Art Photography in hopes of showcasing in galleries and one day when the project has matured, publishing a Fine Art Photography coffee table book showing "never before seen" pictures for some projects... (to read on about the summary [click here]

The Enchanted Prana (#42, #43. #44)

My heart is so full at this moment as I sit out in my back yard. Inside my mind I hear the sound of stillness. I use to call it the sound of silence until I learned to hear it even in the noise. It is the sound of the unmanifested. It's the sound of space and the stillness between noise. It's a sound which reminds me that there is always peace among the defined chaos. Close to me I hear my hair crackling around my ears and the wind as it blows through my ear canal. In my reach- I hear flies buzzing and the bench I'm sitting on creaking. In and around my yard, I can hear birds and crickets chirping, leaves dancing in the wind, the buzz of bees and the hum of hummingbirds playing, my neighbor’s pool fountain flowing, air conditioning units running, cars passing by and dogs barking. I take it further....I hear the constant rush of the busy street several blocks away, a lawn mower, construction, more dogs, more leaves and more birds. I close my eyes for just a moment and reach out as far as my focus will go and I hear 2 airplanes- one low, one high flying nearby. Now I bring it all the way back in, one at a time, bringing my attention closer and closer until I finally reach that place of stillness again.

I wanted to take you on that little journey mainly to tell you one thing- I was just as connected to the furthest sound of the airplanes as I was to the sound of stillness within my own mind. When we bring our awareness to whatever is happening now, we are finding a place of peace and meditation. It is not as complicated as we often think it is. Yes it's nice to be in an actual quiet place, but know that no matter where you are, you can find peace. Easier said than done, I know, but the more we practice…the more we begin to truly understand what “peace” actually is.

My whole life I have felt a connection to something that is beyond this world. I was fearful of this connection at times because I couldn’t explain it. I went through small periods of time where I would try to meditate, but I never quite understood “bringing my mind into the present moment”. I didn’t realize that it was as simple as listening and feeling a single breath. Instead, I would count my breaths and in the middle of counting, my mind would be wandering. Last year, exactly a year ago, I took my first conscious breath. Yes I’ve been conscious in the past, but it was the first time that I understood what I was doing. It was the first time I was “aware” of the stillness in my mind and was okay with it. Now I can almost immediately hear that sound of "stillness" and it brings me so much peace inside of the fear I felt as a child. It was also the first time I realize I could observe the chatter in my mind as if I was a spectator on the sidelines. Kinda made me feel a little schizo, but it was also quite liberating!

My parents have taught me so much about meditation….

-My dad is very active, outside mountain biking several times per week. Due to the extreme trails he rides, his mind must be keen and constantly in the present moment. If he loses focus for even a short time, it could cause him a bad spill. Although he is a very spiritual person, I think he would say that this is his predominant method of meditation! It was quite amazing for me to realize that something so active could move you into such a deep, focused practice of meditation!

-My mom, although she is also active in nature, walking quite often, she has taught me about still meditation. She introduced me to Chakras! “The Sanskrit word Chakra literally translates to wheel or disk. In yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda, this term refers to wheels of energy throughout the body. There are seven main chakras, which align the spine, starting from the base of the spine through to the crown of the head. To visualize a chakra in the body, imagine a swirling wheel of energy where matter and consciousness meet. This invisible energy, called Prana, is vital life force, which keeps us vibrant, healthy, and alive.” (Taken from www.Chopra.com). I found this idea so incredibly powerful and special. There is something very healing about drawing your attention throughout your body with a particular thought, focus and color in mind. At the bottom of this post, I will give a short summary for each of the 7 Chakras with their corresponding colors.

Because I just came up on a year since I started consistently meditating, I thought it would be special to create a scene in which my enchanted character would showcase each Chakra throughout her body. She would be like a fairy goddess of chakras and spiritual energy! I challenge you to find a place of stillness as often as you can during the day. Just bring your attention inward and be aware of a few breaths. Not only has this brought me more peace & balance, but it has also quieted my mind enough to receive more inspiration and revelation. Soon, it won’t even be necessary to be in a quiet room or closet (although that’s still really nice), you can also find that place in the middle of a crowded city!

Introducing….

The Enchanted Prana

#42

#43

#44

{Closeup Crops for small details, image quality and makeup}

Behind the Scenes:

The Crown:

I've gotta say that this color scheme was quite challenging! When you see a rainbow...its beautiful, but trying to dress someone in the colors of the rainbow from toe to head...is a little scary! One of the first things I knew was that I wanted to collaborate with my mom on the forehead necklace pendants! She has a business of buying and selling incredible gems, crystals and other minerals and I knew she would be so excited to look for the perfect pieces. Once I asked her, she immediately started searching and sending me pictures of gorgeous stones! We landed on this STUNNING indigo African Amethyst for her forehead (representing the "third eye"). And then this breathtaking swirly green Malachite for her Heart Chakra pendant. I was in love!
[She works mainly through facebook and you can get in touch with her about anything you might want, on there! www.facebook.com/TheJoyfulMystic]

I wanted to create some sort of tall, violet colored headpiece for her "Crown Chakra". I couldnt decide which flower looked more violet so I did both. I used this paper fan as the base then added lots of flowers and leaves to it! Its kinda wacky and it was REALLY uncomfortable for Jill to wear, but she totally pulled it off!

As you can see below, I'm NOT a clean creator :-/!

The "Dress" (or something like that)

I just needed colors!! I found these yellow and sequins tops from the thrift store, then added all this long red sheer fabric from "The Enchanted Awakening" shoot, bought a few yard of this green fabric which perfectly matched the malachite pendant to use as the wing-ish things and v'walla! My costume!

You also might recognize these beautiful arm cuffs. They were originally from "The Enchanted Discovery" shoot I did in Louisiana. They were made by my incredibly talented friend, Ashley of Freckles Fairy Chest! I just added a few orange flowers along with the monarch butterfly to represent the 2nd, Sacral orange Chakra. This Chakra is connected to our passion, creativity, sensuality and reproductive organs. I thought having flowers and a butterfly would represent "life" very well!

Testing out the Utah location!

My brother in law makes a good model!

Hair, Makeup & Model:

Lets start with my model! My sister in law, Dr. Jill has always been in my mind as a model, but I just hadn't received the inspiration to use her yet.I had this particular shoot planned for this month, but I still didn't have my model. Jill and her husband (my brother in law) David were coming into town this month with their brand new baby (yes, she just had a baby!!!) and Jill offered to help out. The second she offered, I got chills all over and I imagined her as my model! I asked, she accepted. Not only did she look beautiful as this character, but the reasoning has become more apparent to me. Jill, being a new mommy has needed to learn really quickly how to find balance in her life. Staying grounded while creating life, being strong in her career, having and open heart with this new little life she created, communicating her needs to her husband and family, having the motherly intuition to do what is best for her child and trying to stay connected to a higher power that can help her! That last sentence described the Chakras in a way from bottom to top. Anyway...This could fit together with anyone, but I thought motherhood was a beautiful representation.

Once again, Brittany of "Makeup by Brittany Benko" rocked this incredible look! Of course when I told I wanted her purple eyes trailing up to violet along with blue lips and collar bone contouring she was so excited!! I love when I give her the opportunity to work with bright colors!! She does such a good job! The main thing used for color including lips was The Electric Pallet by Urban Decay. She also used Anastasia Beverly Hills Blonde Dip Brow! GORGEOUS!! I love you to pieces, Brit!

At the same time, I was adding extensions in a very sloppy way, but it works for pics!!

My lovely gal-pal Sarah did the majority of the "behind the scenes" pictures while I was shooting!! LOVE that she is willing to help me outside of our "real work" doing weddings and stuff! Shes always so thorough and I'm never left unsatisfied!! Love love love you, babe!!

Ready to go!:

Of course we were anxious to get to our location while the sun was still up. Although the sun went down before I got all the shots I wanted...We were able to magically make it happen and make the necessary adjustments for the lighting we were given! I have been having so much fun with my off camera flash, Glow by FlashPoint found on Adorama. So easy and incredible!! I used it for all 3 images. It works with back light pictures, shady pictures and dark scene pictures!! I'm in love with it!

Jill being and awesome new mommy!! Pumping in the car!! I couldn't resist this picture!!

I'm always on a time crunch...no matter how much extra time I give myself!! Here I am doing her nails while driving....WHILE she is pumping!! Love this life!

And here rushing to get her clothed!! Aren't these sun pictures that Sarah took, so beautiful!! LOVE

What would an enchanted shoot be without Andrew (my husband) pulling funny faces while being my slave?! The wind gusts were pretty rough at times causing the headpiece to pull on pour Jill's head!! Andrew had to keep blocking the wind with my reflector so she could have a break!

And then my brother in law, Art was an awesome addition to the Enchanted team. He was our taxi and my light stand man! the wind was freaking me out and we were actually kinda high up on a rock so I was thankful to have him there holding it steady!

Here is Sarah helping Jill down the rock! So thankful for my helpers!! So fortunate!!

Here I am looking at my shooting angle options! Mind you..I was/am still in pain from a fall I had from a rope swing onto my tail bone, so any chance I had to lay down was amazing :-)

Also trying to figure out the best ways to let the fabric fall. Its not easy! The wind takes it where ever it wants to go, but it obeyed us and did what I needed...with a few tricks :-)

I am SOOO in love with this picture of the 3 of them! Especially Andrew!! hahahaha!!!Honestly it was one of my favorite pictures of Jill with her hair blowing all pretty!!

After the crown came off, Jill was standing next to the car and she looked so radiant! I had to snag one more close up!

After a LONG day...we went to a delicious pizzeria and devoured it!! Even my gluten free (mulch-as my brother in law would call it) pizza was amazing!! PLUS Jill got to rock this awesome makeup in public! Going somewhere in public after these shoots is becoming quite a tradition!!

This is my dream! Its my passion!! I LOVE this with all my energy!! I'm so thankful for every helping hand along the way!! I am so lucky to have people who care so much and enough to help! Thank you all for reading to the end and supporting the project! Its like my own baby!

XOXO,
Kira Sanoja

Chakra Info:

The Chakras of Matter

The first three chakras, starting at the base of the spine are chakras of matter. They are more physical in nature.

First Chakra: The Muladhara is the chakra of stability, security, and our basic needs. It encompasses the first three vertebrae, the bladder, and the colon. When this chakra is open, we feel safe and fearless.

Second Chakra: The Svadhisthana chakra is our creativity and sexual center. It is located above the pubic bone, below the navel, and is responsible for our creative expression.

Third Chakra: The Manipura chakra means lustrous gem and it’s the area from the navel to the breastbone. The third chakra is our source of personal power.

The Fourth Chakra: The Connection Between Matter and Spirit
Located at the heart center, the fourth chakra, anahata is at the middle of the seven and unites the lower chakras of matter and the upper chakras of spirit. The fourth is also spiritual but serves as a bridge between our body, mind, emotions, and spirit. The heart chakra is our source of love and connection.
When we work through our physical chakras, or the first three, we can open the spiritual chakras more fully.

The Chakras of Spirit

Fifth Chakra: The Vishuddha chakra is the fifth chakra, located in the area of the throat. This is our source of verbal expression and the ability to speak our highest truth. The fifth chakra includes the neck, thyroid, and parathyroid glands, jaw, mouth, and tongue.

Sixth Chakra: The Ajna chakra is located in between the eyebrows. It is also referred to as the “third eye” chakra. Ajna is our center of intuition. We all have a sense of intuition but we may not listen to it or heed its warnings. Focus on opening the sixth chakra will help you hone this ability.

Seventh Chakra: The Sahaswara chakra or the “thousand petal lotus” chakra is located at the crown of the head. This is the chakra of enlightenment and spiritual connection to our higher selves, others, and ultimately, to the divine. It is located at the crown of the head.

- See more at: http://www.chopra.com/ccl/what-is-a-chakra#sthash.geLywXFb.dpuf

Camera Settings and Stats
Camera: Canon 5D MarkIII
Lens: Sigma 24mm-105mm f/4
(in order of image)
Aperture: F/11, F/4, F/4
Shutter: 1/80, 1/60, 1/60
ISO: 160, 160, 160

10 Steps To Becoming A Great Photographer

When I first took my love for photography to the next level and started a business, I was pretty naïve. I’m still kind of naïve with some things. I really wish I would have studied and learned more of the nitty-gritty instead of just going all trigger happy. There are so many intricate twists and turns within this industry and its easy to get lost if you don’t map things out from the beginning.

In the almost 7 years I’ve been in business, these are a few things I have found incredibly vital in taking myself to the next level. OF COURSE I’m still learning and will always continue to learn, but for now, I will share with you some of my thoughts and give you a few pointers and tips on how to become a great photographer!

10: Know your camera...

Sounds simple, but honestly so many people now days have a thousand dollar camera which takes decent pictures on auto. If you learn how to REALLY use your camera with manual and custom settings, you will go from amateur to pro very quickly. Learning how to use a less expensive camera to the best of its abilities in the beginning will make you THAT much better when you finally get your dream pro camera!

9: Study your craft...

There is always new technology, new techniques, new lighting, new editing, etc emerging. I'm okay with old school ways of thinking, but things are not regressing, they are only evolving. The more familiar you are with up-to-date practices, EVEN IF YOU STICK WITH YOUR OLD TECHNIQUES, the less shocked you will be if you ever want to try something new.

8: Accept criticism...

Accepting does not mean agreeing, but it does mean that you need to consider what someone has to say, roll it around in your mind, and come to your own conclusion. This one is hard for me. I'm usually not a stubborn person. I'm rather bubbly and accepting, BUT I'm quite defensive when it comes to my work! I've had some pretty strong critiques and my ego has been crushed at times. I want to please EVERYONE and when someone tells me something I could or should do different, it feels as if they weren't pleased with what I have created.

First, no matter how hard, understand and be grateful that someone cares enough about what you do and believes in it enough to want to help you improve. EVEN IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH THEIR CRITIQUES.

Second, there are many type of personalities and energies out there. YOU are predominantly only 1 type. If you want to please the masses, having your work looked over by different types of people is really wise. Understand how lots of different people see your work. There might just be a happy medium in "pleasing" the majority of personalities. I have more to say about that in upcoming pointers...

Third, when all is said and done and you’ve been willing to at least hear what others have to say, know and be confident that this is YOUR work, YOUR vision and YOUR dream. Don’t let anyone discourage you from doing what you love and creating what is beautiful in your heart!

7: Know your city laws & boundaries...

I'm a bit of a free bird. I don't like some limits, laws and regulations. I don't like permits, and I don't like boundaries, BUT whether I like them or not, they are there. Sometimes for our own good and safety, sometimes out of city greed, sometimes to protect nature, either way, follow these rules. By following, you are making it easier for your fellow photographer friends. When rules are broken, USUALLY more rules are enforced and no one wants that!

6: Become business savvy...

This is another thing I am not fond of. I just want to create and make people happy and not worry about anything else. BUT you must know some important things; what licenses do you need, how to register your name, how do taxes work, how to keep track of earnings, how to stay organized, how to create a contract, how to price YOURSELF correctly while still being competitive, and the list goes on! Again, when you're not doing things properly, you put others and yourself at risk. You may just be naïve about it, or maybe you truly are trying to slip through the cracks and stay under the radar, but when you don't get yourself informed and do things RIGHT, you are not being fair to yourself or fellow business owners.

5: Get involved....

Your community probably has so much to offer that you didn't even know about. Whether you're in a small town, or big city, creating authentic relationships is so important. Going to mixers, farmers markets, neighborhood events, grand openings, etc., is a great way to expand your market. NOT by doing these things with your own ulterior motives, but truly to support your community. In doing this, people will begin to know your name and know what you do. Referrals will start coming from so many random places.

Getting involved in group photography play dates is wonderful. Not only knowing your full community, but knowing your close photography community as well. Fellow photographers have so much to share! We can all learn so much from each other. Sometimes it's not so easy to get yourself out there with work, family, and life, but do this as much as possible in moderation and balance.

Along with your full community & fellow photographer’s community, there is also such a HUGE community of close venders! Makeup artists, fabric companies, lighting companies, DJ's, caterers, fashion designers and many more that you should be acquainted with. I’d say a bigger percentage of my referrals come from other venders within my industry. Refer out, and you'll eventually get referrals back. We can all scratch each other's backs!

Social media! Our world is moving....pretty much has already moved in that direction and you can't stop it! Maybe this isn't the main thing you want to do to market yourself, but don't take it for granted! It's often free advertisement and networking. Use it to your advantage. SOMETIMES swimming downstream with the crowd is beneficial. Don't write it off.

4: Share what you know....

Like I said above, getting involved with fellow photographers, means that sometimes you share what you know. Maybe even secrets! YIKES!! Guess what though....the most well-known artists are those who teach, who are open to answering questions and sharing some of their secrets. You can keep some of your secrets, secret for sure, but don't be a closed book. Most people are not willing to do what you do anyway, but you will be much respected for opening up and trusting.

3: Be familiar with other artists...

This is a WORLDWIDE industry. Not just a few "greats" here and there anymore, but thousands of INCREDIBLE photographers and artists alike! Know them! Maybe not personally, but learn some of their stories. Know how they got to where they are. If you want to get there too, you just might have to follow their footsteps. Of course you should always carve your own path, but there's a reason we follow directions while traveling. Lots of others had to carve longer, more treacherous roads to get to their destination before it was made easier for us. Don’t let their stories go in vain. It doesn't always have to be a major struggle for us artists. Don't make things more difficult for yourself.

2: Learn how to feel your subject's energy...

Ok yes...this sounds a little funky, I get it, but it's one of the most important things to learn in my opinion. You might not be able to please everyone, but I think you can get pretty close if you just get a feel for who or what you're photographing. Let your work come from a place much deeper than the technicalities of photography. Be in an open place energetically so you bring a sense of comfort and trust to your shoots. You can push people out of their comfort zones to a certain point, but the more you help them become comfortable in their own skin, the happier they will be with the outcome. You will capture THEIR true personalities rather than what you think they should be. You can't tell a mountain or a tree in a landscape to be different than it is. It is your job to find its beauty, feel its energy and pull something from it which helps tell a story.

This goes for shoots you are creating personally as well. If you are using a model, it's true that you might be creating something different than their true personality, But THEY are in front of your camera for a reason. How do you bring your idea and their personality together in harmony? That is for you to find out! How did someone decide that dough, sauce, meat and cheese could work so well together in harmony? 4 completely different food groups coming together in a delicious comfort food called pizza! Somehow it works. Figure out how to do that, and you will reach and touch so many more people with what you do.

1: Find your niche & style...

A man once asked me what my niche was. I thought I had good answers; "I like bright, colorful, and vibrant images and I just like photography in general!" but he wasn't convinced. He asked me again...."but what is your passion? What do YOU do?" Me: "Ummm Photography is my passion..." I was kind of stumped. At this point I really did think that I loved all of it no matter what. I thought that was a good loyal photography answer! To a certain extent, I do love my face behind the camera no matter what, but I really didn't have something to truly set me apart until I followed inspirations and visions I was having for years. My niche would end up being in the whimsical, fantasy and storytelling realm. It is what has the potential to keep me up at night and wake me up early in the morning. It gets my heart pounding and fills me with life.

This is a start, but it's not all. To take yourself beyond the average is to create a style WITHIN your niche in which people can say...."oh I can tell....this is definitely a piece created by (insert your name here)" without even knowing for sure. Even in the art of landscape photography, you can find a style. Ansel Adams is a wonderful example! Along with shooting black and white, he finds a mood within nature that is unmistakably his style.

Bottom line, you can definitely make a life and earn a living by doing what others do, but when you set yourself apart, get involved, teach, stay ethical, and find your style within your niche....you instead create a LEGACY!

What do you want? It's your choice.

Your biggest fan,
Kira Sanoja <3

Discontinuing Enchanted Canvases (MAJOR SALE!)

Discontinuing Enchanted *Canvases* (MAJOR SALE!)

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Dauntlessly Enchanted (#40 & #41)

Pretty sure I might be certifiably insane, but I’m so happy that I can bring you all some cool art from the inner workings of my crazy mind! I honestly have some really deep thoughts to talk about with this one, but for now, I will share with you how some of these shoots- in particularly this one- came to be.

The beginning of this year has been a doozey. Not only for me, but for so many people I know. I've always lived in quite a bubble, always looking towards the light AND creating my own light even when darkness seemed to be surrounding me, but I was feeling that darkness rather strongly. While pondering this one day, I was inspired to create an enchanted character walking through a dark forest surrounded by fog and hands coming up from the ground trying to pull her down. She would maintain a tall, peaceful & brave demeanor while walking towards a bright light. I LOVED this vision. Here’s what happened next…

I've been practicing meditation more than ever before during the past 10 months. One day while meditating, images started flashing through my brain and I began to doze off. Right before falling completely asleep, this one very unique image flashed for a split second behind my eyes and I immediately woke up. Rarely is there something that forces me so quickly out of this deep trance, but I had to get up and write it down. I saw a blonde women, in very moody lighting surrounded by smoke with a bit of a proud & powerful look on her face. But the thing that stood out to me the most was her necklace. It was made completely of vertebrae! I was like….say what?! As I quickly walked to my room so that I could write this down, my vision from the paragraph above came into my mind and then I “heard” the saying… ”never be spineless, always have a backbone”. More and more thoughts arose from my mind telling me to always have confidence, to stand tall and walk dauntlessly into the future no matter what is lurking behind me, and to never be afraid to show people I have a backbone. It all made sense now.

I was not sure who I would ask to portray this character. Honestly, I needed someone who knew my mind well. Someone who may have similar thoughts and ideas about life as me. I knew the date I wanted to shoot, but nothing beyond that. A short time passed and we got a message from some of our best friends. They were coming into town the next month…the weekend I wanted to shoot. I IMMEDIATELY saw this friend of mine standing as my character. I felt a strong connection to Kiley from the moment I met her. She is the wife of Andrew’s oldest friend Tony. I even pulled Tony off to the side when I was first introduced to her and said….marry her, Tony! I love her! Her energy is exactly what I needed to tell the story I wanted to tell.

My final words…Don’t fear the dark. As science has taught us, darkness is only defined by the absence of light. Darkness itself is immeasurable, therefore doesn't truly exist. When we feel or see darkness, let it be a sign to us that we need to find ways of allowing light to arise from within us. BE a light shining in the dark and when those around you are struggling, help them find light as well. “A candle never loses any of its light while lighting up another candle.”- Rumi. Stand tall and walk undaunted into the light!

INTRODUCING…..

Dauntlessly Enchanted

{CLOSE UP CROPS}

Behind The Scenes

Dress:

So in my “vision”, I saw my character wearing a long white dress with a long shoulder train and long medieval sleeves. It almost reminded me of an Elven queen! Kiley, my model said that I could use her dress which is already really beautiful and a little bit of a bohemian style that she said I could use! It was a perfect base for what I wanted! I just added some long white fabric to drape from the shoulders down. Then I use more of the same fabric to sew some long sleeves. They are not perfect or professional by any means, but they got the job done! I used my son to help me measure things out…you can see how entertained he is J

Necklace:

I looked and looked and looked for vertebrae online. There is really nothing like this online. Some Halloween things, but really nothing I could use. At the time of starting to work on this costume, I was also working as a vocal director on a musical at our high school. I asked our incredible student set designer if he knew a way I could scalped vertebrae and just make my own necklace and his answer was….EASY, I’ll take care of it! Oh my goodness I can’t even tell you how excited I was about that! A few weeks later, he had a bag of vertebrae for me (isn’t that a funny sentence)! I struggled to find a way to put them together, but I ended up stringing them together and then ALSO hot gluing them in place! It turned out fabulous!! HUGE thanks to the talented Jordan Dube for sculpting these incredible vertebrae for me!! YOU DA BESTEST!!

Fog:

Another awesome thing I learned because of the musical I was part of was fog!! Our awesome director Jimmy Carosone told me that if I take a bucket, cut a hole on one side, fill it with warm water, drop dry ice down in it and cover the top….I will get LOTS of low lying fog! I also found a different way online of using a bin, cutting holes on the bottom side, covering the holes with a mesh wire, fill the bin with ice, cut another hole on the other side but at the top, attach the fog machine to it and the ice will help the fog drop to the ground. Here is a link to the youtube tutorial that helped us build that one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1fBghJF84. These both would have worked much better in doors because we wouldn’t have been dealing with wind, but there were enough times where it worked good enough to get the shot!

Here we are doing a test run of the light! I love it!

Hair & Makeup:
As always, my dear friend Brittany of Makeup By Brittany Benko did a fabulous job on hair and makeup! I wanted very natural, glowing, goddess-like makeup with heavy contouring and that is exactly what she did! Kiley looked like a bit like an Elvin Queen!! Seriously stunning!! I wanted her hair to be LONG wavy with half of it up in a bit of a beehive. As you can see, it took A LOT of teasing and some long extensions to make it perfect, but she got there!! I had to go home while she was getting prepped so I don’t have a ton of shots of this, but at least I have a few.

Kiley cracked us up when she told us her doppleganger was Sebastian Bach, hahahaha!! He really is a pretty dude!

Here is a list of products used:

Lorac Pro Pallette

Lorac Bronzer/Illuminating Pallette

NYX Coffee Lip Liner

NYX Fortune Cookie Butter Gloss

Day of:

I’m not gonna lie, things were off the day of the shoot. I didn’t feel great, Andrew didn’t feel great, and my girl Sarah who does all my behind the scenes stuff was feeling lousy and things were just wonky! I was even considering just calling it off, which I NEVER do. All of the sudden, I realized that how I was feeling was right in line with the entire shoot- learning how to push through times and look towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Plus, my friend was only in town that weekend. We decided to make it happen! I picked Kiley up from downtown and headed to Brittany’s. They started makeup as I went home and got the car loaded.

I am so lucky to have so many willing people around to help. Of course my awesome hubby was there, but also his brother Art, Arts daughter Taylor, and our friend Jen. I literally needed their hands for this shoot! We headed to the special spot, got the fog machine hooked up to the power converter and the car, set up the off camera light (my brand new awesome light- a 36 inch, battery powered light box called GLOW by Flashpoint found on Adorama- SO AWESOME), set up the fog, my camera and everything else, put the hand helpers on the ground under a white sheet, and then took out the guest of honor so we could start shooting. The lighting I needed was a very short window of time. It’s the time during dusk, right before dark where you can still see blue in the sky, but most everything is dark. We literally only had 10 minutes of shooting time! YIKES! I’ll be honest, I was nervous that I didn’t get what I wanted, but I ABSOLUTELY did!! I did have to take use some Photoshop skills to cover up bumps of heads & shoulders under the sheets, but we made it work!