I'm always honored when I get the opportunity to document the intimacies and beauty of a family.
This is the first summer in 5 years that I did not photograph a wedding. My summer was dedicated to making the Aveda Best Salons & Spas book of Colorado. I missed weddings, and the chance to document my friends get married at a park was a nice wedding spritzer.
I self-published a book of my work in Cuba over the past 3 years, Dulce Tormento. It took me more hours than I ever dreamed it would take, but I'm proud of the result. It is very satisfying to see all the different stories I've worked on in one place.
Summer 2010 was my fifth year growing food in the Elati Community Garden, and I wanted to grow more than just food, so a fellow gardener and I brought to life the idea of art fairs in the Elati Garden. Taking advantage of the gardens proximity to the Santa Fe art district and the talented gardeners, we toiled not only in the soil but to put on a event for the community, three in fact; July, August and September.
It was a lot of work, but seeing the garden lit up and decorated with artists wares and people gathered to chat and laugh made me feel good. SUCCESS!!
This year I was destined to get better at fashion photography. While shooting a live photo shoot at the Aveda Career Fair I was challenged with the distraction of the crowd and many different light sources but was graced with Rudy Miles makeup skills and two talented models.
Dale Le Monds, owner of Aveda Institutes' of Denver, Tucson and Provo, hired me to create a book of the top Aveda salons and spas in Colorado. The book filled my summer with scheduling and traveling to salons, photographing interiors, owners and stylists. Long hours at the computer designing the book put my design skills to the test.
I enjoyed a few photo-shoots with the Estheology class at Aveda Institute. The students create their own concepts.
My (only) feature photo of the year
Family portraits generated from my Spring Portrait Sale
Teresa Castaneda and her beautiful daughters modeling Teresa's roses made from recycled toilet paper rolls.
Yay, I an editorial assignment...from USA Today! It was great to get a second assignment from USA Today later in the year as well as an assignment from Financial Times UK via Zuma Press.
The concept for The Portfolio Project comes was born! Rudy Miles, Crystal Allen and I are launching the project this year, Spring of 2011. View full details on the blog
http://portfolioprojectdenver.blogspot.com/
The Furry Scurry @ Wash Park, first thing (I remember) I photographed in 2010
This guys slobbering to go, lol
It is a therapeutic and cathartic process putting together highlights of my work over the past year. Some moments I think "I should have" or "I could have" and other moments I think "Damn I worked hard this year! I'm blessed to have spent another year doing what I love and excel at!"
This year I became more active with my community; pioneering the Elati Garden Art Fairs, becoming a board member of the Art Directors Club of Denver (ADCD) http://adcdnews.com as well as attending and then volunteering at the Center for Digital Story Telling http://www.storycenter.org/
My photographic goals for 2011: challenge my fashion photography skills, experiment, try new things, make more digital stories, help others make digital stories, document my husbands transition from Cuba to the United States, work with a wonderful advertising agency to execute an original ad campaign, more editorial work (magazines and newspapers alike), attract wonderful couples who appreciate authentic family and wedding photography!!!
