Self-Portrait | September 2012

Usually I wait until the middle or the end of the month to take my self-portrait so I can create a photo that will capture what was going on in my life that month.  Only this month, I already knew what was in store for me so I took the photos on September first, and I've spent the time since then trying to work up the nerve to actually post them.

So, what is September's defining event?

I joined Weight Watchers at the beginning of the month, and I've made a commitment to lose the extra weight I've been carting around for the past two years.

My story is probably similar to most of the females out there who have struggled with their weight:

When Kevin and I started dating about 4 years ago, I weighed 25 lbs less than I do now.  I had gained a little weight while we were dating, but buckled down when we got engaged and managed to lose the majority of it by the time we got married.  But then our wedding day rolled around, and we had the most amazing wedding cake I have ever tasted!  After a year of constant dieting to fit into my dress, I took one bite and gave up every ounce of resolve I had been holding onto.  It sent me spiraling head first into an eating binge that I didn't put a stop to until now.

Oh, I have reasons (or should we say excuses?). I was busy. I was stressed. You've heard it all before.

But enough is enough.

When I weighed less I was healthier and happier.  Period.  (Not to mention that I had a much larger wardrobe.) 

So, for September's self-portrait I decided to take some "Before" photos of myself. I am more bothered by the appearance of the extra weight in my face and neck than in the rest of my body.  I considered only posting one close up photo of my face, but then that sort of felt like cheating for a before weight loss photo, so I included a few full body shots as well.

I've always known that I carry more extra weight on my left thigh than my right one, since sometimes I will try on clothing that is too tight on my left but fits on the right. However, I didn't realize just how pronounced the difference is over my entire body until comparing these photos side by side. From now on, I'm going to make sure my right side is the one facing the camera at all times!

Stay tuned for some "After" photos in the future. My unofficial goal is to early 2013, but I don't have an exact amount of weight I want to lose or a time frame to do it in. My plan is to lose weight until I feel content and can fit into my clothes again and then call that my end point. Please, wish me luck!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

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.

Puppy Cuteness + Purple Goodness

A month or so ago I was looking for props for a session and stumbled upon these purple scarves. As soon as I saw them I knew I HAD to have them for Zoe and Lexi!  I've been dying to get behind the camera and take their photos wearing them, but I've been so busy moving that I didn't have time until now.

These photos were taken in the backyard of our new rental house, and as you can plainly see we have a yard with grass again.  Sort of, anyway.  The previous tenants didn't really keep it up, so it's very patchy and full of weeds, but the green is a nice background change for their photos, especially for Lexi.  Her coloring tended to blend into the landscape of the backyard at our previous house so I never loved the photos of her there.

When I take photos of my dogs, I often struggle to get them to sit next to each other long enough to get the exact photo I want to capture. But I rarely struggle to get their attention focused on me and the camera for the time they do stay sitting. During these photos, I couldn't get Zoe to look at me no matter what I did, as these photos clearly show...

Well, come to find out, the poor baby had a fly on her nose the whole time, only I didn't see it until I was looking at the photos on my computer!...

I finally managed to catch this one of both of them, though, so all wasn't lost!...

I had to include this last photo because this is classic Zoe!  She sits like this all the time.  She's such a lazy girl that she doesn't even like to sit up without propping herself against a wall.  She definitely has the Bulldog disposition, while Lexi is Beagle through and through!

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll come back to visit again soon.

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.

31 Gamechangers for Photographers Workshop

Earlier this month I had the a-mah-zing opportunity to attend a two day photography workshop lead by Trevor Dayley of Trevor Dayley Photography.

I have to confess that prior to attending his workshop, I had never heard of Trevor.  I'm relatively new to Phoenix and I don't photograph weddings so I had somehow managed to miss out on the awesomeness that is Trevor Dayley prior to a few weeks ago.  Now I'd have to say that I've been converted into one of his biggest fans!

I heard about his workshop when a fellow local photographer, Ryan Nicole Photography (who is also amazing btw), suggested I attend.  After checking out the workshop itinerary, I decided that it sounded right up my alley and signed up.

Words really cannot describe how wonderful the experience was to learn from Trevor.  For two straight days he poured himself into sharing every detail of his business philosophy and his shooting and editing strategies.  He answered all of our questions with the patience of a saint, and somehow managed to do it all without losing an ounce of his energy or enthusiasm.

The amount of material that Trevor shared with us (and continues to share) seems never ending, and here I am weeks later barely scratching the surface of the notes I took during the workshop.  I feel like I learned more in those 2 days with Trevor than in the past 2 years from all other sources combined.

All of that would be pretty freaking awesome all by itself, but the most incredible thing about the experience was that spending 16+ hours with Trevor Dayley quite literally has restored my faith in humanity.

I. am. so. not. kidding.

Trevor is an incredible photographer, but he is an even more incredible person.  He is one of those rare people who would go out of his way to help anyone in need. Kindness and compassion emanate from him, and it is impossible to be in his presence and not be impacted by it.  Not only did his workshop make me a better photographer, it has made me a better person.  Watching Trevor give so much of himself to us during the workshop, and continue to do so weeks later, has inspired me to try to do the same in my interactions with those around me.

OK.  I'll stop gushing now and share a few photos that I took of the models that posed for us during the workshop.

The stunning Kimberly....

And the gorgeous Tarah...

I am absolutely in love with how the flash shows off the fabulous colors in Tarah's hair...

I wish I had a photo of Trevor and the other wonderful people I met at the workshop, but sadly, I don't. Eight photographers, and not a single one of us thought to take a photo of the group!

If you are a photographer and ever have the chance to learn from Trevor, grab onto the opportunity with both hands and don't let go. Seriously, you absolutely will not regret it.

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.

Self-Portrait | August 2012

While the trip down memory lane for June and July was fun, this month I was anxious to return to my goal of attempting to capture more emotion with my 2012 self-portraits.  I feel like I've gotten away from that the past few months and wanted to refocus my attention with my portrait for August.

In order to explain my motivation for this month’s image I have to share a bit of a confession…. I have never outgrown my obsession with teenage girly movies, and I have quite a collection of them. Not too long ago I was watching 17 Again, and there is a scene in it where they are cleaning up after a party. One of the characters is vacuuming off a rug, and when he finishes he says something like “All done,” and then as the camera moves out, he says, “with the rug,” and you see the entire rest of the apartment is completely trashed.  That’s the look I was going for with August’s self-portrait.

Kevin and I have spent the past several weeks searching for a new rental house, and packing up all of our stuff to move across The Valley.  Instead of renting a huge moving truck and moving everything all at once, we decided to move as many of our personal belongings as possible in our cars and save the furniture for a smaller moving truck.  Unfortunately our schedules are pure insanity and the belongings made it a few weeks before the furniture so we have been living out of boxes and sleeping on a (very small) futon mattress tossed on the floor.

Things are totally insane for us because along with this move, Kevin has been taking summer classes and studying to take one of the huge tests he has to pass before he is able to practice law.  As for me, I am starting work at a new office for my day job and also made the crazy decision to attend a 2 day photography workshop in the middle of moving (more on that soon!).  Needless to say, things feel a bit out of control at the moment and I really don't deal with that feeling very well!  So, here I am in the little oasis that I have managed to create for myself amongst the mass chaos that is my world right now.

As a side note, I totally love how dirty the bottoms of my feet are in this image.  It absolutely wasn't planned for the image, but I cannot tell you how black my feet are by the end of the day while cleaning and moving into this new rental house.  It's rather disgusting the state they are in, but such a HUGE memory of this move for me!

I have to admit that my exhaustion in this photo is real, since I set everything up for the photo and then realized that my remote battery was dead and I hadn't moved the spares from the old house yet.  So, I was literally pressing the timer on my camera and hurling myself over all that junk to get to the chair before the shutter went off.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

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.

Jessi's Family Sneak Peek

Yep, Jessi's back!  She's starting to feel like an old friend isn't she?  First you got to see her solo session, and then you got to meet her brother.  Now she's back for another fun-filled family session with her cousins.

As soon as Jessi learned that her family would be visiting her in Phoenix this summer, she contacted me to schedule this session.  After months of planning, we finally settled on an early morning session the morning after her family arrived into town.  The session location was a last minute change to a gorgeous park not too far away from Jessi's apartment.  I have to admit that I fell in love with this location the moment I saw it, and I'm very happy we ended up making the switch!

Our goal for the session was to capture some fun family photos of the six of them without passing out in the insane Phoenix summer heat.  So, I did everything I could to prepare for the session and plan out the shots ahead of time, and enlisted Kevin to help me stay on track.  By the end of the session we were definitely all hot, sweaty, exhausted, and starving, but the kids were total troopers and managed to hang in there long enough to get some really great photos.

So, I once again give to you the fabulous Jessi.  And I am pleased to introduce you to Darren, Libby, Bailey, Kate, and Braxton!

I thought it would be fun to get a photo with some of the Phoenix buildings in the background, so we started out our session with this one.  I really love it in black and white (but that's nothing new!)...

I had already planned on taking some group shots in front of this door, but once everyone arrived and I saw their outfits I knew this was going to be a perfect location!  I just love the contrast of the black shirts against the white door.  I adore how Libby and Kate are holding hands and how Braxton is leaning into Bailey. Too sweet!...

Here is another fav in black and white! I have to admit that Braxton was a tough customer, and just might win the award for the toughest kid to get a real smile out of ever! Luckily, cousin Jessi was there to get Braxton laughing for this set of photos. I asked Jessi to stand right behind me and talk to Braxton to get him to smile, and she did a great job! Thank you, Jessi!...

Jess with all the kids...

How about a gorgeous photo of each of the kids by themselves?

Braxton, once again with the help of Jessi in the background...

Kate, who was nothing but smiles the entire session!  I didn't mention it to her during the session but Kate is my all time favorite name EVER.  If I could have named myself I would have picked Kate, so it was so much fun getting to meet someone with my fav name...

And the gorgeous, Bailey!  From the first moment I meet Bailey, I kept calling her Ashley. I felt bad for constantly confusing her name, and kept apologizing to her over and over. She final told me not to worry about it and she would just answer to Ashley for the day. Isn't that just the sweetest thing ever! ...

It just wouldn't be a Jessi session without a little bit of fun and craziness! I can not describe how much I love this one!...

Jessi, thank you so much for allowing me to capture these photos for you, and for single handedly keeping me in business this past month.  :)  Everyone else, thank you for spending a few hours of your vacation with me and allowing me to take your photos. And a huge thanks for getting up at the crack of dawn and hanging in there with the Phoenix heat during our session. I hope you enjoyed your visit and your time with Jessi.

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.