I am so excited about this Beauty out of Ashes session with my Class of 2015 Foxy Senior Models. When I saw the black skeletons of what used to be a lush forest, I was overwhelmed with the urge to photograph someone in this eerie space. I had never seen anything like it. I wanted to bring some beauty, a ray of hope, to this space of emptiness. I wanted to create something beautiful. And I wanted to create something different than what I normally do, which is typically photos of high school seniors in bright and colorful spaces. So this session is not my typical hip and happy senior portraits, but are beautiful in a different way.
After creating the images, they felt really reminiscent of the title sequence of Pretty Little Liars. Since I had the girls all wear white dresses for this mysterious location, they almost look angelic. When I envisioned this shoot, I knew that I was going to process them black and white, so it was imperative that the girls wear white, so that really stood out against the bleak background.
What inspired this session is one day I was hiking with my kids along the trails that are near my house, a place I typically shoot at. I heard that there was a fire near this location, but was shocked to see that it was in a space I knew so well. This spot is one of my go to locations for my senior sessions, so it was heart breaking to see a place that was once so beautiful to be devastated by a fire. Despite the pain, I knew I had to make art here!
Immediately after returning home from my hike, I reached out to my Class of 2015 Foxy Senior Models and asked if they were down for a spontaneous photo shoot. So the next day, myself and some of the girls from Foxy Model team all met up and took some pretty pictures. We had a blast!
I also wanted to explain my title, Beauty out of Ashes. This saying is from a beautiful bible text, Isaiah 61:1-3. Out of the ashes, will come beauty. God uses our trials, our hurts and our pain to draw closer to Him. I pray that I can speak truth into the lives of youth, so they may know true joy and experience the splendor of God.
