WENDY HURST PORTRAIT

Model, Hair & Makeup: Ali Zwemke // Photo: Wendy Hurst Portrait The word "test" sounds so formal. It was really more like Ali just came over with some dresses, I put up a backdrop and flash in my front room and we experimented with poses and light direction while listening to random music. Technical Notes (if you're interested...this was a test, after all) Camera: Sony A850 Lens: Minolta 50mm F1.7 ISO: 200 Shutter: 1/80 second Aperture: f11 Above the model at camera right was a single flash in a 43" octagonal soft box umbrella--my favorite light modifier!--with a white reflector at camera left. There was a window behind me letting in some ambient light, so I kept my shutter speed slower to lift the shadows a touch. What do you think about my last portrait session of 2017?  Come share at Facebook or Instagram --I love responding to comments! Model, Hair & Makeup: Ali Zwemke // Photo: Wendy Hurst Portrait Model, Hair & Makeup: Al...

Some portrait highlights of the generous donors and contributors to the newly launched  Child Liberation Foundation , hosted at Sky SLC  over the weekend. Though attendees were supporting a serious issue, a healthy sense of humor was still present. Come join the conversation on Instagram or Facebook ! Paul Hutchinson (right) is the co-founder of the Child Liberation Foundation

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) ...