Griselda's Sneak Peek

A few days ago I posted a photo from Griselda's session on Facebook, and I promised that the sneak peek of her images would be full of bright, fun, art filled backgrounds.  I wasn't kidding!

As I was driving by this area recently, traffic was moving slow enough that I was scoping out possible shooting locations while I was passing by.  (I'm always on the look out for great new places for sessions!) When I saw all of these bright fun colored backgrounds, I knew I wanted to use them for a session. I've seen a lot of amazing photos, full of bright art in the background, taken by other photogs and I've always wanted to give shooting in this type of location a try.  However, there weren't any areas like this back in Fort Wayne (or if they were there, I never found them), so I was thrilled to stumble upon this area here in Phoenix.

When I knew that I was going to be photographing Griselda, I knew she was the perfect person to rock out this location with.  Griselda is the wife of one of Kevin's law school classmates and she is awesome.  She's this amazing little spitfire, full of so much life and energy that I don't know how it all fits in her little body!

Not only does she support her husband's efforts while he is attending law school (and as a fellow law school wife, I know how tough that can be), but she works two jobs and goes to school herself.  One of her jobs is teaching spin at a local gym.  I've never taken one of her classes, but just seeing how much energy and how much fun she brings to everyday life, I have to imagine that her classes are incredible (and perhaps a bit exhausting, too!)

Ok, enough of my babble.  Let's get on with the pictures, shall we?

Before we got started, Griselda admitted to me that she really enjoys having her photos taken and I did a little silent cheer of victory.  I love it when people enjoying being in front of the camera.  She wasn't kidding either because this first photo was one of the first I took of Griselda, and she looks GORGEOUS.  It's always surprising when the very first images of someone come out so well because it usually takes people a little while to loosen up and get comfortable with the camera, but not Griselda!...

This is my all time fav from the session. I love everything about it. I love Griselda's pose and her smile and the position of her head, and the super fun bright colors.  Love.  Love.  Love...

I know I sound like a broken record (for those of you old enough to get the reference), but I had so much fun working with these colors!...

After an outfit change, we headed off to another section of the street with more art to play with.  I got such a kick out of taking the series of photos in front of this wall and I think I told Griselda that I loved each and every image I took after I snapped it.  Below are two of my favs...

Is Griselda rocking this scarf, or what?...

Before we get to the final sneak peek image, I'm going to share a little bit of a confession about something I've only recently began to realize thanks to the incredible and amazing women I have had the honor of photographing the past few months.

But first, please allow me to digress just a little bit, because, well... It's what I do. If you've ever talked to me in real life, you know I have to tell at least 3 stories in the middle of the story I started telling before I can finish the original story. (See what I mean)...

The day of Griselda's session the temps were hovering in the low 100's, so we decided to push the session start time back, hoping it would cool down at least a little by the time we started. Unfortunately, a later start time meant less time to shoot before we lost the light. There were so many amazing places to shoot in this area, that we didn't even begin to touch them all. However, before we finished up, I just had to take some photos of Griselda with an old Volvo that I had spied while I was checking out the location before we got started.

It was getting really dark, and I kept having to crank up the ISO on my camera.  My biggest gripe about my camera is how horrible it does in really low light conditions, and how noise ends up in the photos.  So, I knew that I was going to end up having a full blown love/hate relationship with these photos. Love the photos - hate the noise.

Back to the confession...

As I've been photographing recent clients, I've watched them rock some incredible looks - everything from accessories that I think I could never pull off to expressions that I could never make work.  Yet these women are making these things look A-MAZ-ING.  And as I was thinking about this I began to realize that these women call pull off these styles, and look stunning while doing it, because they choose to own them.  The confidence they allude while showing off their style is what makes it work.  If they were hesitant and unsure of themselves, then perhaps the styles might look silly, but by owning the look they are able to rock it.

I'm taking this new found knowledge and applying to my life, my looks, and my photography.  Instead of thinking to myself, "Well crap, there went a perfectly good photo full of noise."  I'm going to start owing my noise and making it work for me.  It's an old car, right?  So, why not change it into black and white and embrace the noise to make it look like an old school grainy image, possibly taken back when the car was new....  cuz let's be honest - who doesn't love a sexy old black and white car photo with a gorgeous girl posing in it?

Griselda, thank you so much for allowing me to take your photos and for being so willing to let me have fun with these wild and crazy backgrounds. And, a huge thanks for being one of the special women who has helped me gain a new and amazing perspective and attitude towards life and how I'm gonna live it!

As always, thanks for stopping by.  I heart my readers!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.