I’m not typically a morning person. My mind comes alive in the late hours of night, under the spell of the moonlight, and darkness and the sounds a house makes when people are sleeping. It is a rare sunset I see setting over the Kansas prairie outside my window that doesn’t make me wish to have a camera in hand, wandering the sweeping golden light.
But this summer when I attended the Portrait Master’s Conference in Palm Springs – I met two pretty amazing ladies named Annie and Lorri while waiting for my Uber. We ended up sharing a ride – and over 100* temps at the conference, and long story later – Annie asked me if I wanted to go with her on a styled shoot she set up in the desert for sunrise.
I was thrilled when I discovered our model for the shoot was a gal named Judy who I hadn’t met in person – but may have been in some pretty EPIC Meme conversations in our online education group. Judy had actually had to evacuate flooding in her Texas home the week of the conference- and I love her strength and warrior spirit.
And that is how I found myself driving, camera bag strapped on, – coffee in hand – makeup less -packed in with amazing women – arriving in the desert in Palm Springs for the first time in my life – ready to greet the sunrise.
Words aren’t enough.
When I worked on these images – Judy stopped me in my tracks. The incredible expressiveness of the loss, and yet the raw, beautiful strength in her eyes speaks for itself.
I feel SO grateful for each connection I made at Portrait Masters 2017, and special thanks to Annie and Lorri and Judy for this beautiful morning.
The thing about sunrise in the desert that I didn’t expect? I want to go back and do it again. Do you want to be my partner in crime in 2018? Where would YOU want to be photographed at sunrise? Tell me all about it!
