Bootcamp // Full Set

Here are some favorite shots from my shoot with Leah, Sarah & Willow during my recent adventure back home to Maui. Last shot is of my best friend Maggie shooting BTS for me :)

❤️🌸❤️🌸❤️🌸❤️  

I don't know who reads these posts, but I've decided to practice writing a bit more about the art I choose to share here:  

When I organize unpaid creative/collaborative shoots, like this one, I shoot for hours. And I shoot in chapters. I test out various themes and ideas with the models, depending on their personal interest and talents, sense of humor, quirk and stamina. I usually pre-game with a digital vision board or picks from my list of ideas and I come prepared to shoot much more than expected, for longer. It's like going on a date: you don't really want to stop if it's going super well. Maybe you planned on a movie but all of a sudden you're on a drive out of town to hike the the jungle and the person seems really into it & you feel like you're slaying it and they look amazing, so you just keep going with it until you're covered in honey or flour and literally can't think any more. Batteries are dying. SD cards are filling up. You are super hungry and tired and your eyes hurt...   

Anyways, this was the bootcamp chapter. I'm not sure why, but I love the theme of girls in some sort of bootcamp. The delivery can always look different but the common thread that I want is that there is a camaraderie - don't fuck with us - we're hot - we're maybe a bit messy, dirty, or side-stream - but we're beaming because we are actually happy and healthy and we are in this together.   

I think maybe I've consumed a good amount of art from the UK that gives me this similar feeling. I'm definitely subconsciously impacted by any art that I view. I'm hyper-visual, I actually tend to avoid looking at most modern photographers art. Before my instagram got "temporarily" disabled recently, I honestly never scroll. I'd force myself at times just to give back some love because I feel so supported by the community on there. If I was on insta, I was on my own account, responding to things or analyzing my work, realizing how to shift to better portray my message. Of course, I do value the insight or inspiration that comes from experiencing other artists, but I usually need a reason or to be pointed directly to it.   

I've realized that my intentions do not always really land with everyone. I'm working on how to approach that. If you asked me a year ago, I would say that I am not catering to people who just see women as sex, something to absorb and gain from. I'd say that I can't spell it out to those people. If they get it, they get it. Fortunately, a lot of people get it. But by this point, at 3,000 followers and a surprisingly high engagement, I got enough unsolicited DM's that tells me that it may be valuable to create more dialogue around it if I truly want to create impact with art.   

Sometimes what I share is 100% nonsensical. We were tired, wild, weird, 4 hours into shooting. The reason is because I feel like it. However, the majority of the time, I'm on a mission. But I haven't been really talking about it other than here a bit. So, we'll see the what and how unfold, but I know why I have to keep reaching and growing.   If you made it this far, thank you, wow. If not, you'll never read this, but I understand. It's my challenge to make you want to read it :)   

XOX
HUX