Salon Provocativa Photos

Here are a few more photos from my session with the makeup- and hair- artists from Salon Provocativa.

These portraits ended up quite lovely! The room was a little challenging, as there were 3 different (and different colored) light sources. I had to spend a little time color correcting these photos to compensate for the lighting issues, and I'm glad I took the time to gel my flash during the shoot--to match the light sources that I couldn't control-- I know it saved me a ton of time in post-processing! Its important, for me, to get my image as close to perfect as I can in-camera, rather than relying on Photoshop. This way, I can use my computer for an additional tweak or effect, not as a crutch!

(Don't forget-- all images are © 2008 Pamela Follett. Contact me!)

Sparkle, Sparkle

I love doing portraits. There's just something about photographing people that I love-- the challenge, the results, and especially the reaction! I've focused most of my creative energy on learning how to capture people, and that's why I was a bit unprepared when asked to photograph some jewelry for an MS Benefit.

Like all things in life, you'll never learn until you do it, so... I did it! Needless to say, I won't be selling my services as a product photographer any time soon, but I was pretty happy with the results!

My husband was with me at the time, and I had him holding up a white reflector for the portraits I was shooting (poor guy). We had some downtime, which was when we were asked to shoot these -- but we didn't have a proper background!

Ingenuity and a few (dozen) test shots later, and we turned the reflector into a makeshift background. Its a little funky, but I think they came out really cool!



(Don't forget-- all images are © 2008 Pamela Follett. Contact me!)

Salon Provocativa Sneak Peak 1

On Sunday, I did a photo shoot for the hair and makeup artists at Salon Provocativa. These ladies did an awesome job on their beautiful models, and I got some gorgeous pictures! I have so many favorite shots already, and I'm still working on the editing, but I want to post one I really like:

The bright red hair with the sapphire blue dress is such a lovely combination, and I got so many excellent shots with this model. Its going to be hard to choose between them!




(Don't forget-- all images are © 2008 Pamela Follett. Contact me!)

The Jellyfish Incident

[Note: Due to popular demand, the following post is being reproduced for this blog. The incident took place on the first day of our honeymoon in Negril, Jamaica on September 24th, 2007]

On Monday morning, around 7:30am Jamaica time, we put on our bathing suits and went into the water. It was warm and clear and all those things.. and quite shallow, too. We were about 20 feet out, water about chest high, when... something happened. I thought that I had accidentally stuck my arm in a light socket, and I start waving it around, but I can't figure out what's wrong. I'm looking at it, and my whole arm is just on fire, from my elbow to my hand, and
I completely lose the ability to move it.

I believe I, quite rationally, said "Uh, something is wrong?! My arm is.. something? Arm? OWWW IT HURTS AHGHHHH!!!"


So we wade out of the ocean, David heroically half-carrying me, and by this time its starting to swell like an enormous tied Ham.





I still haven't, at this point, seen a jellyfish or a downed power line or anything else that would explain the electrical pain.


I look at my arm, and these horrible lumps and lines start to appear. I notice a piece of my hair is on my arm, and (again) quite rationally start screaming "Get it off! Get it off! AHHHHHHHHHRHGRGRG!" Dave just looks at me like I'm nuts, wondering why I'm freaking out about a piece of hair when we're desperately hobbling to the front desk to get help, and takes a few swats at it.

About 10 seconds later, my hand feels like its falling off, and I notice that the "hair" has rolled down to my hand, and the hideous lumps and lines are appearing there as well. I do the "Get it off!" routine again, and, realizing that this strand of hair is the jelly fish tentacle that's been stinging me for minutes now, we grab it and throw it on the sand. (It literally was the size, shape, and color of one strand of my hair).

The people at the front desk of the resort didn't seem to realize quite how severely I had been stung, as most people have contact with the jellyfish for only a few seconds, not minutes, and they took their sweet time getting the vinegar and cortisone cream. However, once applied, the vinegar helped right away, and we went back to our beach chairs and sat down. Frosty 8am margaritas ensued. We did go back in the water, a few hours later, but it still HURT, which was, I was told, odd. Apparently, most people when stung have pain until an acid is applied, and then some marks for a few hours, with no lasting damage at all.

Most people.

Could I manage to just get stung? No, of course not.

That night, it was still quite red and swollen, and very painful. That's when I took a few pictures of it, which you can see here. In the pictures, most of the swelling has in fact gone away, and those are just the red marks-- it looked very much worse previously (and twice the size). So at that point I figure it will just go away, and we go to sleep.

The next morning, it has gotten much, much worse. Long story short, I am, it seems, allergic to jellyfish. Horrible horrible rash, itching, swelling, and its spreading by the hour. We go to see the nurse, and she looks rather horrified.

She asked me if we wanted her to call in the doctor. I wasn't sure that was necessary, and she looked at me, and said "Well, you can just try putting some more cortisone cream on it. It will probably keep spreading, and it won't ever stop. Or, we can call the doctor."

They call in the doctor.

It takes him about twenty minutes to get there, and I get a shot in the ass, and a couple of dozen pills of several varieties that I have to take. After about 10 days, the arm-engulfing rash finally went away. The red marks faded to brown swirls, and it looked like I drew on myself with a marker. As of today, about 4 months later, there is a very faint brown area on my arm, where the swirls of red have left their legacy.

The photos were taken with a P&S camera that was suffering from a semi-broken auto-focus, but you can still see the lovely pattern that jellyfish made!


(Don't forget-- all images are © 2008 Pamela Follett. Contact me!)

Trash the Dress

There is one element that stands out in virtually every wedding picture -- and that's the wedding dress! I married my husband only four months ago, so I still recall the shock of the first time I googled "wedding dress". The sheer vastness of the wedding dress industry is a marvel, and like any group trying desperately to assert itself as a vital part of society, they have developed a detailed jargon as a way to legitimize their absurd claims of authority.

Not only, I learned, do you need a dress, but you have to be intimately familiar with types of closures, silhouettes, measuring terminology, a vast array of various undergarments, skirt fullness, fabric, stitching, hems, lace, and beading, not to mention knowing the ins and outs of "your body type". Are you pear-shaped? Oval? Lollipop? Apple? Hourglass? Do you have wide or narrow shoulders? What is your hip-waist ratio? What is the length from the indentation in your throat to the floor? (I'm serious-- I was asked this several times by dress boutiques).

Simply figuring out what piece of fruit you are (Banana? Pomegranate? Kiwiano?) is enough to make you want to stick your head in a bucket and wear said bucket for the wedding. Plus, you are informed, you must preserve your dress in acid-free paper after having it dry-cleaned with rare chemicals obtained from a volcano in Peru, all so that in twenty-five years your daughter can laugh hysterically when you offer to let her wear your preserved dress. "Oh, mother, " she'll say, "That's so old fashioned." And off she'll go to the bridal boutique to buy a sequined wedding bikini and furry moon-boots for $20,000. (I predict fashion-trends on the side).

So, what's a girl to do? You got married, you have this.. thing in your closet, and if you ever try to wear it again, people will speak in hushed tones about how 'special' you are. Right?

Well, maybe not!

One thing I've always loved are "Trash the Dress" sessions, or "TTD". Ever since I've been interested in photography, I've seen these photos and loved the idea. A fabulous site to check out is Trash the Dress Australia. There you can see some pictures from various TTD sessions. Before I got married, and victimized by the wedding dress industrial machine, I though they were simply beautiful and unique wedding photos, uncommon but not terribly remarkable. (Photo by cavanaghphotography.com ).

After, however, I realized what a psychological burden the dress is. So much time spent picking out, trying on, measuring, measuring again, trying on again, keeping it clean, neat, unwrinkled (not that I succeeded in any of those things, but that's beside the point). After all that attention paid to not offending the sensibilities of this inanimate object, it must be wonderful to lay down on a rock and stick some dirt in your hair, or wade into the ocean, wearing that dress and laughing. As a result, of course, the photos are much more intimate and gritty than the ones taken at the wedding, and they can pack a real aesthetic punch.

Now, I would love to trash my dress, just for the sake of fabulous pictures, but my focus right now is more on creating those pictures than being in them. Doing a TTD session for someone would be so much fun, and there's so much room for creativity. I'm thinking about offering this as a new service, and I can't wait to give it a shot (no pun intended).

Any ladies out there, who have that dress hanging in the closet, mocking you... want to trash it? I'll do my first Trash the Dress session for free -- email me if you want to exorcise that dress-demon, and get some awesome pictures to boot!