I had the privilege of creating the portraits for Morning Star Studio’s web site. Morning Star Studio is located in downtown Cedar Rapids and their office has a wonderful ambiance with fantastic architectural elements in it. Because of these great features, I really wanted images that would show off the space and give the viewer a sense of who the owners (Teri and Shanna) are.
Teri Petrzalek, Architect
Morning Star Studio does commercial architecture, interior design and structural engineering. Banks, retail businesses, governments, healthcare companies and other industries make up some of their past clients. Because of their size clients have the advantage of working directly with the person doing the work. Morning Star Studio is located at 600 3rd Street SE, Studio 201 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (319.362.5484).
Teri and Shanna are an architect and structural engineering team and were great to work with. They plan on using the images for not only their website, but for other promotional materials, too. The thing I’m most happy about the photos is that you get a sense of who Teri and Shanna are.
Shanna Duggan, Structural Engineer
If you need professional environmental portraits of your or your staff that give you more than just a plain headshot or that look more sophisticated that what you might get at a police booking room, give me a call.
Congratulations to Chicoro on her new book: Hair Products 101. This is a follow up to her wildly succussful book Grow It. I was honored enough to asked to also shoot the cover photo for this book. I think it looks great. I’ve know her personal for several years and she is one of the most honest and gracious people I know. She writes these books as a way to share her vast knowledge of hair.
Best of luck with the new book, Chicoro.
You can check the book out on Barnes and Nobel.
Grow It Mentioned In New York Times
I was very excited to hear recently that Grow It by Chicoro was mentioned in an article in the New York Times. I photographed the author for the book and the front and back cover images are from that shoot. Since its release on Amazon.com. The book has consistently done well on there. As of this writing, it was in the top 20 (#19) books in the area of Beauty and Fashion and #6129 on all of Amazon books. That might not seem very good until you considering that it is a pretty specific niche market (growing afro-textured hair) and there are millions of titles available on the site.
The Times article starts off about Maeling Tapp and her journey to grow her hair long in a natural way. It talks about several others that have been developing a cottage industry to help women with Afro-textured hair grow it long and healthy.
The book is the first in a series by Chicoro. I actually got to see the cover of the next book, which should be out in the next couple of weeks. I was honored to be able to shoot the photo for the cover of that book, too. Chicoro has been wonderful to work with. She is very gracious with her thoughts and her insights and passion are truly inspiring.
Senior Picture Workshop
I just got back from a four day workshop last week on senior pictures. It was amazing. Chris Carlson was the instructor and really opened my eyes to some great new techniques and looks. The girl pictured to the left is Larae. She was one of the models we had during the week.
The main emphasis was on High School seniors, but we covered the latest in digital techniques and fine art photography, too.
An added bonus was that Lew Everling was in the class so we got a lot of exposure to social networking and the commercial work he does. If you’re not familiar with Lew, you should check out out on twitter.
If you haven’t already, you can still enter the drawing for a $20 gift card. I had another post for the senior picture survey awhile back, but you may have missed it. I modified it a bit so you can get a gift card from anywhere…not just Amazon. If you entered already, that is okay, I will contact you if you win to find out if your have a different preference.
The deadline is next Saturday, so you better get out to the senior picture survey now to win.
Of course you can also increase your chances to win by tweeting this post, liking it Facebook or leaving a comment. Imagine that quadrupling your chances with almost no work. How sweet is that?!
Angela’s Spring Beauty Tips
I have a special treat. Angela Penhollow is a fantastic makeup artist that I have worked with and has agreed to be available to do makeup for seniors this year. I asked her a while ago to contribute to my blog, because I thought that my clients would appreciate some fresh and original insights from her expertise. This is her first article, which is timed perfectly for Spring. I hope you enjoy. Please feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section. Please help me give her a warm welcome.
Welcome Angela!
Spring is drawing near! This is an exciting time of year in the beauty world when it’s time to loose the winter “blahs” and get ourselves looking our best for the warm months ahead. I’d like to share with you some tips and tricks to help get your skin and make-up looking fabulous and warm-weather ready.
First, we must start at the foundation of ones beauty: healthy skin. I truly believe everyone needs a good skin care regimen. This includes, but is not limited to, a cleanser geared towards your specific skin type: dry, oily or combination. An exfoliant, whether a physical exfoliant (with granules) or a chemical exfoliant; a good eye cream and moisturizer. One of the most important of these steps, which is often over-looked, and extremely important during the winter months and thereafter, is exfoliation! Dry winter air sucks the moisture from our skin leaving it dull and dry. Most of us try to combat this by slathering on the moisturizer. The problem with that is the dead, outer skin cells soak up all the great moisture and are left sitting there on the surface leaving your skin looking dull. The trick is to first use an exfoliant to slough off the dead cells and then moisturize the fresh skin below. You can use more aggressive exfoliants one or two times a week or a gental daily exfoliant. Don’t forget to do this for your face, body and even lips. You’ll be surprised with how your skin will glow!
My second secret for glowing skin this spring is a tint of tan. I am definitely an advocate of the airbrush or spray tan. It’s not damaging to your skin like conventional tanning and technology has much improved since this method of tanning first came out. No longer do you have to fear being orange! Before you go, be sure to exfoliate, then just follow the directions from the tanning expert, when getting a machine version, such as a mystic tan. You can also see a professional to get airbrushed as light and golden tan or dark and bronzed as you like. Instant tan!
Now to focus on the face. Rule number one: don’t neglect your eyebrows! The first thing that people see when they look at your face is your eyes and right above those eyes are your brows. I find that a lot of people really struggle with their brows, so I decided to talk just a little bit about them. I’ve never met anyone with perfect brows that didn’t have to work at them a little. Brow shaping is really an art and should be left to the professionals if at all possible. If you have been blessed with thick full eyebrows, see an esthetician or pro waxing technician for a shaping and regular maintenance (no over-tweezing at home please!). If yours are sparse or barely-there, you can have them tinted by a professional, but don’t go overboard…only one or two shades darker than your natural hair color. If that seems a little scary, see an esthetician or pro make-up artist that can teach you how to fill your brows. In most cases, all you need is an angled brush and the correct shade of eyeshadow. It just takes a minute to do, but will make a huge difference in your overall look. You will be amazed with how your brows will frame your eyes and draw attention to them.
Spring will also bring fun new shades of eyeshadow to play up your eyes. Blue eyes: try violets, purples and plums. Brown-eyed girls should try bright blue or blue-green. Experiment with touches of color, but don’t go too over-the-top. Meaning don’t use the color from the lash-line to the brow bone and mix in some neutral shades like creams, browns, golds or grays. Also, choose a nude or soft pink lip color when playing up the eyes with bright or intense color. Or, try the opposite, a sweep of soft gold on your lids and a pop of pink or fuchsia on your lips with just a touch of gloss on the center of the lips. You can finish your look with a hint of soft pink or peach blush and black mascara. The trick is to have fun with your look and make it uniquely yours, these are only suggestions, there are no set rules with make-up!
Angela A. Penhollow
Professional Make-up Artist/Esthetician
Found a Pretty, Cool Beauty Blog
Yep, that is a little play on words. Since deciding to start work with a local hair and makeup artist for senior pictures, I thought I should find out a little more about the beauty industry. When it comes to fashion-esque topics, I’m really quite ignorant….but I’m trying.
On my quest for such self-education, I stumbled upon this little blog (Smarter Fashion and Beauty Blog). It is written by four women. The thing that appeals to me most is that they are from all over the US, so they all bring something different to the site.
- Tiffany is from the Seattle area and petite young woman with really long, dark hair.
- Sharon is a fashion editor from New York. She looks like she has an edgier, but very cool, style.
- Belinda is a California girl and is a self-proclaimed “Carrie Bradshaw fan.”
- Jenna hails from Michigan and looks to be a reader of the blog turned contributor. She write about fashion online and in a couple magazines.
So, if you’re looking for some beauty tips (or maybe know someone in need) go check it out. If you do, I’d really love to read your reaction in the comments below.
The annual Eastern Iowa Science and Engineering Fair was held today at Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were over 200 displays by Iowa students. There were junior and senior divisions. Junior entries were in individual biological sciences, individual physical sciences and teams; seniors had biological and physical science would can be team or individual entries.
The talent of the kids was just incredible. There was no doubt they they really put a lot of time into their displays and really worked to make them good. There is a gallery of the image available here: science fair gallery. Feel free to share this article on your favorite social network site.
If you got the chance to stop and see the displays, I would love to hear your comments about what you thought of them.
Class of 2012 Senior Picture Survey
If you’re a member of the class of 2012, I want your opinion. Go here to complete a quick, five-question survey and you’ll be entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift certificate to be drawn on April 30th. Then come back here and put a comment on the blog and I’ll double your chances for the drawing. Tweet this post (see left or below) and I’ll triple your chances. Want to quadruple your chances? Click on the Facebook button (down below).
I’m going to be giving things away all year, so if you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you’ll be one of the first to know.
Here is the survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LQDLGQG.
American Idol Blog
Mark Stanek, The Angry Man
The talent of the contestants each year on American Idol always amazing me. Needless to say, I’m a fan. I recently found a blog that is pretty good. If you’re an American Idol fan, you may want to follow it. He picked nine of the top ten contestants when they were paring them down from 24. Pretty good. He has some pretty funny, present accurate insights. I recommend American Idol fans check it out.
I’d love to hear your comments if you check it out.
