this past sunday, i got together with talia pique, her sisters, her friend, that friend's dad and a model from MM.  i set my alarm for 8:30PM instead of 8:30AM, so i woke up about 40 minutes after i was already supposed to be there and set up.  bad start.  i'll share the rest of the story with you all later.  i had a FANTASTIC male model come in also.  i could go on...but for now, a 'sneak peek'!  KMD

last thursday, the world stopped.  the news of michael jackson's death was announced over the airwaves.  the world literally stopped. 

i loved his music.  like...LOVED.  i already wrote a mega-post about his passing on facebook, so if you are a friend, you can read it there.  i just wanted to dedicate a post to the ORIGINAL dancing machine.  (i mean....i posted an MJ-related post the day before.  THE DAY BEFORE!)  :(  he made thriller.  R.I.P. MJ.  <3

i know.  i know.  i should be working on my website.  BUT i scheduled shoots almost every sunday since may in order to post a new site with a new focus....so i have to edit all of those images first!  :)  i have another favorite from the matt cusson shoot.  he wanted something vintage.  something grungy.  nothing clean.  no sunny beaches.  no rolling hills of prettiness.  so this is another composite i created one night.  background is a stock photo from this cat.

stephanie is new to modeling.  she's fun to work with and with time will gain some confidence behind the camera.  it's intimidating!  that's why i'm on the other side of the camera.  lol.  samantha of illustrious day spa did her make-up.  hair by ms. kelly.  i love the feathers.  the gloves were samantha's grandmother's and we were very careful with them.  this photo was shot in the stairwell over at CDIA.  my favorite hallway in the whole world, for sure.  there are huge windows and beautiful old hammered metal walls.  if that makes sense....

for stephanie's retouch, i removed the hair that was falling across her shoulder/neck.  i smoothed her neck and skin.  elongated her fingers and slimmed her hand.  it's not like she had a big hand, but the camera angle distorted it.  i punched up the color in her make-up and brightened her eyes.  enjoy!

the lovely kelly joined me a few sundays ago with samantha of illustrious day spa.  we were shooting stephanie (i'll post one of her pictures next) and our second model texted to cancel.  don't even get me started on models and cancelling or not showing up or being late.  grr.  anyway, kelly stepped in to be our afternoon model and we had a lot of laughs.  this photo was one of my favorites.  in the retouched photos, i fixed some stray hairs, added some more bangs, did a little work on her skin and then played around with some finishes/photo treatments?  which one is your favorite?