Stacey Bode Photography

Joanna is such a lovely lady. I met her several years ago, and she’s a wonderful, classy lady with a sharp wit. I had a great time taking her headshots, and I got to meet another talented makeup artist, Michelle Stokkeland.

Two awesome things about this session were that Joanna was an absolute pro in front of the camera, and the whole time I had the 80s song “Rosanna” by Toto in my head, but with the name “Joanna” instead. “Jo-aa-aa-nna….oh yeah”. This is how my brain works.

The other day, I met Sheila for a morning portrait session on her parents’ property. The area was absolutely gorgeous, and perfect for the type of images that Sheila wanted. As inspiration, she sent me a cool photo of Stevie Nicks (from back in the day). In 1983-ish, when the video for “Gypsy” came out, I wanted to BE Stevie Nicks. There’s a part in the video where she’s wearing a black dress with a black hat that has a veil. She’s also sporting red lipstick. Well, I tried to re-create this look that Halloween, thinking I was pretty grown-up and awesome. The mothers handing out candy at their houses kept asking if I was a “lady of the evening”. Not knowing what that meant, I replied “yes”, since it sounded sophisticated. When I got home and relayed this to my mom, who told me the actual meaning, I cried for about an hour.

Since that Stevie Nicks dream fell more than flat, I’m glad that Sheila allowed me to play with a much more fantastic version than my original attempt all those years ago. She looked great in her wedding gown, and was very ethereal in the woodsy setting.

Thought I’d post a few more pics taken during our recent jaunt to the island. It was beautiful, as usual. For some reason, I had a hard time “letting” myself relax. The internet connection was out for a couple days, and it was like going through detox. The only way I could really chill out was by picking up the camera and taking some photos. Well, I also laughed at just about everything that came out of Mary’s mouth. There was even snorting and spit takes. For the life of me, I can’t remember what was so funny. What I do recall is that the whole weekend, we couldn’t get the song “Baby Come Back” out of our heads.

We’re on a quick trip, chillin’ on the Gulf of Mexico. Lots of sun, sand, eating, sleeping, and watching some of the worst movies ever created. I’m not kidding. We watched one last night about Big Foot that’s so bad, it has two titles to distract folks from how truly horrible it is. It’s called “The Unknown” AND “Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch”. To create the monster, it looked like they took one of the leftover masks from “Leprechaun” and stuck it on a tall dude. Lame!

Oh, right. So, we’re at the beach. Yay! I’ll post some quick photos, and then I’m heading down to the water for a swim.

When Carribeth (or Scarybeth, as I like to call her) joined our team at the biomedical company years ago, she was like a breath of fresh air…I mean a daggum ray-of-light-typhoon! We had the kind of stupid fun that could only be had in the late 90s. Help! Wearing platform shoes and short skirts, while listening to Destiny’s Child and NSYNC. Kids, do NOT attempt this level of cool at home.

Our lives have changed a TAD since then. She’s been doing great as a brilliant engineer, as is her equally smarty-pants hubby, Brian. They’ve been together since they were teenagers, and now they have a marvelous son Nate and another little boy on the way. Woo hoo!

As if their family wasn’t already filled with enough cuteness to put a Care Bear to shame, they just got a new miniature schnauzer puppy. Seriously guys…this amount of adorable is painful.

Carribeth and I only get to see each other once in a blue moon these days, so I was elated to have a chance to spend this time with her and the fellas.

In October, I’ll be shooting the wedding of Carribeth’s little sister, Cassi, at Fernbank. Man, I can’t wait!

When taking Andrea’s headshots, I probably could have handed my camera to a monkey, and his shots would have been just as good. This is not self-deprecation, but rather a comment on how easy she is to photograph. She was fun, relaxed, and knows how to pose her stunning face. A gorgeous face only gets you so far in a photo unless you know what to do with it…and she does. She’s planning a move to LA soon, and I’m sure she’ll book tons of work.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Andrea’s lovely mom, June, and got to work with a new makeup artist, Angelina Pennington. Between Angelina’s artistry and June’s genetic gifts to Andrea, I barely had to do any of the usual facial touch-ups on these images. I mean practically none.

Thanks to the three of you for a fantastic session, and best of luck to Andrea with her big move to the West coast!

It’s always been obvious that my husband and I capture different types of photos. While mine tend to hang out in Sentimental Town, his prefer to do a drive-by in Ironyville.

I felt it was time to post some recent Matt Gems. He took these while being my wedding second shooter. I wouldn’t call them “outtakes” since that implies a mistake, and these fill me with far too much joy to be mistakes.

This first one combines two of my favorite things: a dash of current affairs, and adorable farm animals. To my dear friends in LA…yes, I know you eat, and yet you STILL look fabulous. However, when I find myself in the City of Angels, I feel less angelic and more like a fat cherub next to the women I refer to as “popsicle sticks with boobs”.

Not everyone would appreciate this as a wedding photo, but I challenge you to find a more honest statement about marriage.

Let’s hear it for Matt, and the freakishly wonderful way his mind works.

#23 – Put together a book of my experimental portrait photos

I have lots of studio sample books of wedding and family photos, but thought it was time to design a book of my more wild, artsy portraits. Now that I have a real gosh darn book of my avant-garde shots, I’m convinced that for my next session, I can demand five African elephants, a rocket ship, and a gold-plated Hummer…and not only will they be brought to me without question, they will be at no charge. In reality, I don’t have anything and everything prop-wise at my beck-and-call. My next wild portrait will probably be someone covered in honey and fire ants…looking glamorous, of course. Any volunteers?

#49 – “Take better care of my raggedy fingernails”

Fingernails have always been a source of stress for me. When I was growing up, I bit them constantly. Apparently, I was already trying to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders in kindergarten, and the only way to deal with the burden was by gnawing on the closest chewable objects. I also was a fan of munching on pens, erasers, candle wax, and even my own hair.

Once, when I was a teenager, I let my nails grow for a month…only because my Dad bribed me with 50 bucks. When you’re too young to have a job, money is a powerful bargaining tool. Since Dad didn’t want to continue to pay for nail upkeep, they went right back to looking horrible and being hidden in my pockets most of the time.

They haven’t been as bad in my adult life. I went from “stress chewing” to just not taking time do anything other than rip them off when they break. However, over the last month or so, they’ve become miraculously normal.

I now realize that a “before” photo might have been helpful here. I also realize that it’s not easy taking a photo of your own hand with a 50-pound camera. To give you a sense of the previous condition of my nails, I can tell you that my nail file was used only as a letter opener, clear polish was strictly for hosiery repair, and my chosen method of trimming may as well have been sticking my hands into a tank of rabid piranha.

I was going through my “108 in 2008” list of goals, and realized that I’ve completed a few more tasks, and I also need to light a giant bonfire under my backside to get a move on some of the others. Is it really August already??

I love making lists and accomplishing things I’ve set out to do, but it’s hard to ignore that goal is a four-letter word. It feels great to check something off my list after completing it, but then I look at the unfinished tasks and feel a sense of guilt more powerful than when I didn’t clean my plate at Grandma Bode’s house.

Well, at least Goal #84 – done! I’ve now shot three weddings where I worked with my second shooter to take photo booth pics. Granted, it’s not technically a “booth”, but it’s still people having a good time taking quick, fun portraits. Couples seem to dig the idea as much as I do, and I have a few more weddings coming up that will have the photo booth. Woo hoo!

Now it’s time to stop blogging and get back to that list! Help!