My new favorite toy.

It's funny how opposites attract, even in friendships.

Me... the glam girly girl, always dolled up in make up and hair teased and poofed, usually in all things glittery or bold, and I adore shops like bebe and Express.

Rachel... girly in a conservative way, wears make up light and very natural, every hair always perfectly in place, always looking corporate chic, and could be the poster child for Ann Taylor or Gap.

But tonight, Rachel became my barbie doll and I glammed her up a little. In the 16 or so years we have been friends, this is only the 2nd time she's allowed me to give her a makeover, but as she said "All part of a day's work at Scarlett Lillian Photography." She even let me put fake eye lashes on her for her first time ever wearing them! What I found even funnier was her saying "I don't care looking like this for a photo but ahhhh, no way would I let you do this to me if we were going out in public." As I said back "Ummm, gosh forbid someone sees you in public, but who cares that THOUSANDS of people are going to see you on my blog!" LOL But as she said back, "Well, uh, that's different, I don't have to see their reaction going 'oh my goodness, look at that girl!'" (Rolling my eyes, ohhhh Rachel! Always the shy one! he he So be sure to leave her some love!)

I needed her to model because I just got a new toy, the Alien Bee Ring Flash. In wedding photography, I adore natural light and some off camera lighting, but fashion studio lighting is a whole other field I know little about and have been wanting to learn more. I love flipping through fashion magazines and eating up their juicy lighting and challenging myself to figure it out. It's the kind of thing I wish I could rewind and go to school for, but instead now I'm having to teach myself. I recently got Zack Arias' One Light DVD which is AMAZING. It's like Lighting For Dummies, seriously, I highly recommend it. But then I kept hearing buzz about the Ring Flash, like on Joel Grimes' blog, and how it's known as the "beauty dish." So I had to get it!

This has also been great practice for me because the night before last I was discussing with Rachel and Beth, who was in town for a night hanging out, that I realized I have intimacy issues in photography. Meaning, I'm more naturally a wide shooter, and it's rare I get a close up shot of anyone. Even the previous blog entry with Cheryl, the close up shots were cropped in editing. So I'm trying to work on sticking a camera (and now a huge Ring Flash) in people's faces. ha!

And I thought as a step toward working on my intimacy issues would be first, gulp, posting a SUPER close self-portrait I took while I was waiting for Rachel to arrive to work and trying to figure out how the Ring Flash worked. And wow, this is vulnerable, seriously, I only have on foundation and mascara. (Oh yeah, nooo, I'm not naked, I have on a tube top you can't see!)





I'm excited to open up the door to this new level of photography and learning more about the language of lighting. As I said in my F-Stop Beyond interview, "That's the thing I love about photography, there's always something new to learn and continue pushing yourself to be better and better with each photoshoot. And I hope I never stop learning."

Here's some results from the semi-photoshoot of my beautiful Client Concierge and one she grabbed of me too!






I couldn't stand it, I had to add some lipstick this time!