WENDY HURST PORTRAIT

Sarah Abraham, Model & Activist "Turn the lights out and see what happens. Sometimes it's a gift."  Gregory Heisler is iconic in the photography industry. His manner when designing photographs for 70 different LIFE Magazine covers and many an advertising campaign since the 1980s goes beyond just lighting a photograph. When he works with an individual, he seeks to create an experience that brings context and feeling together into a photograph that invites a viewer to "sink their teeth into it." Of course his advice was specific to lighting a photograph, and it's excellent advice, but it also perfectly described in words what I've been grasping to convince myself: it's time to do what's next. I've been working with a colleague to organize group shoots for other photographers for the last 18 months. My portfolio has grown, my skills have grown, and I've learned a great deal about how to negotiate the obstacles of that world. But in d...

Blue Mind:   A mildly meditative state characterized by calm, peace, unity, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life in the moment.  I feel a connection with calm bodies of water. I often visit them in my mind during meditation and even in my dreams. Its touch, its sound, the gentle ripples as one steps through the strange liquid come together into an ethereal, even spiritual, experience. Photography has taught me to slow down and really study the often unseen details of things. All the things. Especially calm water. Maybe it can do the same for you. Sarah Abraham @livthelovelylife photographed at Palisades Reservoir near Manti, Utah, USA. Hosted by Wayfinder Photographer Collective. All natural light. (I wanted to add a pop of fill flash off camera but logistically it was impossible.)

A few weeks ago I photographed beautiful people in natural bodies of water after a storm. Last weekend I traveled to a desert in a desert called Little Sahara. Both places are in Utah, and most people here don't realize the potential for serenity those places provide. Photographer Chase Jarvis frequently mentions a concept called the "Creative Gap," referring to the space between what an artist imagines to create and the actual result. The only way to close that gap is to know where you want to go and practice the skills necessary to get you closer to your expected outcome. My recent time spent in natural bodies of water and the extreme opposite in an isolated desert have played a huge part in closing a creative gap of my own, and brought me more peace in the process. Here's a look at one of those water sessions, featuring Mekall Ryan. Her blush colored dress is from H&M and the roses came from my own garden. Mekall Ryan model & makeup Pon...

First water session ever. Mermaid vibe. Storm clouds. Roses from my garden. Hooked for life. That is all. Savanna Mangum photographed at Daybreak Lake. Hair & makeup by Brittany Walker Manwill.