Friday, August 16, 2013
It's a Karen Walker kind of day
Yep, me too.
I call them KAREN WALKER DAYS.
"Honey, I'm too tired to slap you. Bash your face up against my palm." - classic Karen.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Tyra Banks is the reason for this site... and for The Eye Candy Girls!
February of 2007.
That's when I saw this magazine cover.
I've always been a fan of Tyra Banks, and to see HER - this statuesque beauty who's always looked the curvacious epitome of health - having to respond to the nasty headlines that she was... well.. fat - < head shaking > it was a bit unbelievable.
This article was upsetting to say the least. When she modeled, she had to be curvy but still underweight (as far as modeling goes, I mean). So when she retired, she didn't have to mold her body to fit the ideal of someone else. So what if she decided to RETIRE the constraints that were put upon her by the industry too. I mean, who wouldn't???
I had daughters at the time - my own plus I felt emotionally responsible for OTHER mother's daughters, because they were at my house most of the time. I try to promote self-confidence and body acceptance, but when this was splashed all over the television and newsstands, it DID become an issue for conversation with me and my girls.
I wasn't sure what to do, but I had been getting more and more into photography. Though I was photographing weddings and seniors and kids, I really wanted my own niche.
I started photographing more and more girls and women and found that I had a knack for taking pics that THEY actually liked. Even tough critics who said they hated every photo taken of them, they liked mine! To say the least, this was a huge compliment.
At the end of 2007 I started practicing my photography techniques on friends - and friends of my daughters' - and before long we were having Photo Parties and makeovers... playing dress up and trying out new poses, clothes, hairstyles, props, and backdrops.
I eventually bought a better camera, some lights, a backdrop system and kept practicing. And the more I practiced, the more people came to me for photos.
In 2008 I decided to open a small studio in Athens, Ohio. And by small I mean SMMAAAALLLL... it was tucked way back in a basement and right next to a porn store. But still, it was super cute. We had a dressing room, a small studio and a place for props. I felt my best photos were of women - and I could make them look and feel sexy.... a skill, I later found out, was not too common.
That year I asked the girls who were modeling for me to act as promotional models. They agreed and the Eye Candy Girls were born! Basically I get to dress them up and photograph them for projects and promotional purposes, plus they go with me to gigs and help by handing out cards and looking amazing all the time! Honestly, it really is a fun time for all of us!
I closed the first studio in a year and thought I was big shit when I moved to a gigantic studio in a small, conservative town of Nelsonville, Ohio. After 18 months and several accusations from old biddies that what I was doing was wrong, I closed shop. I bought a house and moved to another town. I started shooting on-location and hosting marathon photoshoots. It's been a huge success - much more so than with any other the other studios!
And it's all because of Tyra Banks and her courage to talk openly about her body, her health, and her right to live her life as SHE sees fit.
It's been more than 6 years since that magazine cover - and yet I still think about it when I'm doing my work and - hopefully - empowering women..
... the same way Tyra Banks empowered me.
That's when I saw this magazine cover.
I've always been a fan of Tyra Banks, and to see HER - this statuesque beauty who's always looked the curvacious epitome of health - having to respond to the nasty headlines that she was... well.. fat - < head shaking > it was a bit unbelievable.This article was upsetting to say the least. When she modeled, she had to be curvy but still underweight (as far as modeling goes, I mean). So when she retired, she didn't have to mold her body to fit the ideal of someone else. So what if she decided to RETIRE the constraints that were put upon her by the industry too. I mean, who wouldn't???
I had daughters at the time - my own plus I felt emotionally responsible for OTHER mother's daughters, because they were at my house most of the time. I try to promote self-confidence and body acceptance, but when this was splashed all over the television and newsstands, it DID become an issue for conversation with me and my girls. I wasn't sure what to do, but I had been getting more and more into photography. Though I was photographing weddings and seniors and kids, I really wanted my own niche.
I started photographing more and more girls and women and found that I had a knack for taking pics that THEY actually liked. Even tough critics who said they hated every photo taken of them, they liked mine! To say the least, this was a huge compliment.
At the end of 2007 I started practicing my photography techniques on friends - and friends of my daughters' - and before long we were having Photo Parties and makeovers... playing dress up and trying out new poses, clothes, hairstyles, props, and backdrops.
I eventually bought a better camera, some lights, a backdrop system and kept practicing. And the more I practiced, the more people came to me for photos.
In 2008 I decided to open a small studio in Athens, Ohio. And by small I mean SMMAAAALLLL... it was tucked way back in a basement and right next to a porn store. But still, it was super cute. We had a dressing room, a small studio and a place for props. I felt my best photos were of women - and I could make them look and feel sexy.... a skill, I later found out, was not too common.That year I asked the girls who were modeling for me to act as promotional models. They agreed and the Eye Candy Girls were born! Basically I get to dress them up and photograph them for projects and promotional purposes, plus they go with me to gigs and help by handing out cards and looking amazing all the time! Honestly, it really is a fun time for all of us!
I closed the first studio in a year and thought I was big shit when I moved to a gigantic studio in a small, conservative town of Nelsonville, Ohio. After 18 months and several accusations from old biddies that what I was doing was wrong, I closed shop. I bought a house and moved to another town. I started shooting on-location and hosting marathon photoshoots. It's been a huge success - much more so than with any other the other studios!And it's all because of Tyra Banks and her courage to talk openly about her body, her health, and her right to live her life as SHE sees fit.
It's been more than 6 years since that magazine cover - and yet I still think about it when I'm doing my work and - hopefully - empowering women..
... the same way Tyra Banks empowered me.
Tyra Banks is my hero. Seriously.
Tyra Banks: "I Don't Believe in Diets," "I Need Some Ass"
Celebrity Body
August 8, 2013 AT 5:40PM
America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks says she doesn't believe in diets and prefers her body with "some ass"
Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
Let them eat cake! Tyra Banks
says models -- herself included -- have better things to do than obsess
over their weight, despite all the apparent pressures to stay a certain
size. Speaking with Us Weekly at a private screening and fashion show for the new cycle of America's Next Top Model on Wednesday, Aug. 7, the mogul dismissed the idea of "dieting" and said she actually prefers her body to be a little curvier.
"I don't believe in diets," the supermodel told Us, alluding to juice cleanses and that "liquid s--t," which she has dubbed the "Class Reunion diet." Detoxing might work for a red carpet or a wedding, she explained, "but the minute you bite one piece of real food, you're going to gain [the weight] right back."
"To me, it's like, I lost weight a couple of years ago and that just changed the way I ate, it changed the way I thought. I actually got too thin because I have tunnel vision," she continued. "So when they said this is what you have to do, I was too strict, and I realized I needed to cheat way more because it didn't look good. I didn't realize I was too thin until I started seeing pictures and I thought, 'Oh, I don't like that. That doesn't look good.' I need some ass."
"I was at the height of my success when I was at my biggest," she added. "So then I go, 'Why am I shedding weight for press when, like, I told the world to kiss my fat ass and had Emmys and Top Model was at its peak and I was on Time magazine's top influential people two times in a row -- all with a big ass!"
Banks, 39, doesn't encourage the models on her show to diet, either. "I don't do a good job of helping [my girls] lose weight, even if they might need to," she said. "We stock the house really bad, and then they complain, like, 'We're eating all this crap!' For me, I don't want them to feel all crazy like models in my day felt. I don't care -- gain some weight, whatever. I know how to choose a shot that's the most flattering."
She also knows the power of Photoshop. "I don't think cellulite is great -- that's not a flaw that I want in a photo, by any means! I retouch that crap out," she quipped. "But I tell women that I'm retouching it out."
"I have too much cellulite right now," the ANTM host noted. "The shape is fine, but, honey, I have on stockings! I can't do short skirts without stockings anymore, so I don't like that."
"I did an episode on my talk show on cellulite, and I brought seven women into a dressing room at Nordstrom's in L.A., and we all sat and talked about our cellulite," she continued. "We had on little things; no one could really see anyone's cellulite. Then we all got up and stripped and we stood in the mirror, and we weren't supposed to turn around to look to see...[but] I had to peek! Mine was the worst of all! I have a lot, I have a lot. It is what it is. I can't really do much about it."
"I don't believe in diets," the supermodel told Us, alluding to juice cleanses and that "liquid s--t," which she has dubbed the "Class Reunion diet." Detoxing might work for a red carpet or a wedding, she explained, "but the minute you bite one piece of real food, you're going to gain [the weight] right back."
"To me, it's like, I lost weight a couple of years ago and that just changed the way I ate, it changed the way I thought. I actually got too thin because I have tunnel vision," she continued. "So when they said this is what you have to do, I was too strict, and I realized I needed to cheat way more because it didn't look good. I didn't realize I was too thin until I started seeing pictures and I thought, 'Oh, I don't like that. That doesn't look good.' I need some ass."
"I was at the height of my success when I was at my biggest," she added. "So then I go, 'Why am I shedding weight for press when, like, I told the world to kiss my fat ass and had Emmys and Top Model was at its peak and I was on Time magazine's top influential people two times in a row -- all with a big ass!"
Banks, 39, doesn't encourage the models on her show to diet, either. "I don't do a good job of helping [my girls] lose weight, even if they might need to," she said. "We stock the house really bad, and then they complain, like, 'We're eating all this crap!' For me, I don't want them to feel all crazy like models in my day felt. I don't care -- gain some weight, whatever. I know how to choose a shot that's the most flattering."
She also knows the power of Photoshop. "I don't think cellulite is great -- that's not a flaw that I want in a photo, by any means! I retouch that crap out," she quipped. "But I tell women that I'm retouching it out."
"I have too much cellulite right now," the ANTM host noted. "The shape is fine, but, honey, I have on stockings! I can't do short skirts without stockings anymore, so I don't like that."
"I did an episode on my talk show on cellulite, and I brought seven women into a dressing room at Nordstrom's in L.A., and we all sat and talked about our cellulite," she continued. "We had on little things; no one could really see anyone's cellulite. Then we all got up and stripped and we stood in the mirror, and we weren't supposed to turn around to look to see...[but] I had to peek! Mine was the worst of all! I have a lot, I have a lot. It is what it is. I can't really do much about it."
Friday, August 2, 2013
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