What's that you say?

Girl secrets! They'll never tell.

Gorgeous couture dresses and head pieces by the very talented Harper Della-Piana of SEAMS Couture, amazing hair and makeup by the fabulous artist Ashley Brecken.  Beautiful faces provided by Diana Podaski and Briana Tripp.

They're probably talking about you anyway.

Heart Pounding Beauty Retouching

When I snapped this photo and subsequently saw it on the screen, I was smitten. I'm in love with a good profile and Briana's is gorgeous.  Not to mention Harper Della-Piana's amazing head piece that compositionally balances the (stunning) hair (dress by Harper as well). If you're looking for an extremely talented hair or makeup stylist, Ashley Brecken is your woman ... this hair is a work of art.

I thought I'd post the before / after to illustrate what a little high end beauty retouching can do for you.  You can see the ever gratifying mouseover before / after here at http://www.qretouching.com/index.php?&photo_id=16, it's one of my favorite parts and about 55% of the reason I love to retouch!

A Creamy Photo Retouch

I'm not too psyched that I have to display my before and afters like this, but c'est la vie. Can't seem to get the javascript rollover to work on blooger. Boo blooger, boo!

In any case, I decided to retouch this photo so the result would be a creamy monotone and her skin would feel like silk.  That is, if skin in a photo can felt like anything.

Check out a better before and after version and get some close ups of this shot at qretouching.com.

Those eyes

.... are amazing and oh so intense!

Fun with the SX-70

The whole look is real interesting

validation, y'all.

I don't think you know how good it feels when someone looks at your photo and sees a story in it. Validating. Appreciated. Talented. (Although there LITERALLY are 100 shots I took that day that I prefer).

The owner of the bag company sent me an email regarding this photo:

"Stark, girl in elegant dress, on elegant settee, in somewhat of a drab room with her 'art' hung on the wall. She looks like she doesn’t have much except that she has high quality style.

Her bags are so precious she uses them as art. She looks like she is waiting for someone(?).. maybe a little sad that “he” hasn’t shown up yet.

Beautiful color balance, and the lighting is great. [... ] That shot belongs in a high end glam magazine.

[...] The whole look is real interesting."

Too many favorites

We messed around and moved around so much for this shoot that it resulted in a ton of unique and interesting shots with different moods.  Every time I think I know which my favorite shot is, there is another one I am enamored with.  I only wish we had a wardrobe change in there somewhere. Out of about 3,000 (560) photos - these are my absolute favorites.

Special thanks to Katie, Karla & Kristin & dress by Ari.