WENDY HURST PORTRAIT

Instagram released its archive feature in June. Actually, let me rephrase. They released its archive feature to some users in June. Archiving allows users to remove images from their feeds while still preserving the viewer statistics for those images, and let's one restore archived images to their feed if they want to. It's golden for people like me who want to track user engagement over time while my photographic style evolves.  I installed every update as it was released and opened each version eagerly hoping to see that little clock and arrow icon in the corner as promised. Finally today, six months and many disappointments later, I casually opened my updated app and there it was: a little icon with a big difference.  I was so excited I almost fell off the treadmill.  It's the little things. 

The first room one walks into at my house has a big window facing north. It has three gray walls and one charcoal black with square wainscoting, all designed and painted by my husband. It's a great multi-purpose room where photography (obviously) is my favorite purpose. This session is the first in front of the gray side of the wall, closest to the window. I started using my soft box to light across from the window to give the images a brighter look, but as the flash battery waned and started skipping flashes, I started getting captures like this: "When the path reveals itself, follow it." -Cheryl Strayed The flash had served it's purpose; we ditched it and let the window be our guide. The scrim of the octa soft box served as a reflector in place. I see the power of light every day and still think its power to change the mood of any environment is the coolest thing ever! WITH FLASH: WITHOUT FLASH: (my favorite looks)