electric shimmy » portraits

Spring Photo session at Duke Gardens

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:54:55 +0000

What a way to start the weekend. I had to get up early (6 am) to get ready in time for an 8 am shoot at Duke Gardens in Durham. So many beautiful spots, we had a great time.

Photos courtesy of Kolaya Photography

{Mountain Mermaid}

admin — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 15:52:22 +0000

Just started up my Professional Mermaiding and took some photos while we were on vacation in the mountains

{Photo Shoot with Studio Jaki}

admin — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 01:31:55 +0000

I got my photos from my fabulous photo shoot that I had with Jaki Hawthorne while at the Down East Fest. I absolutely love them! I had the hardest time only picking 6. Will be getting more soon.

{Beach Photo Shoot}

admin — Sun, 26 May 2013 01:52:33 +0000

We just got home from a fun fabulous week at the Outer Banks. We stayed on Hatteras Island and the weather was perfect! It did rain the last day and a half, but the week of gorgeous weather made up for it. I decided this year I wanted to do a Mermaid inspired photo shoot, because I absolutely love mermaids. I made a Seashell bra and just draped some fishing net around a teal skirt. We took these just around sunset and drew quite a crowd. So much for keeping to ourselves. The water was pretty cold at this time and it was so strong. I have decided this beach shoot was just as hard as the ones on the snow. It was so windy that day and it was hard to keep my hair in the right spot. Overall, I am really happy with the way they came out.

{Lacy Mermaid Goddess}

admin — Wed, 08 May 2013 01:44:28 +0000

So, less than 2 weeks and I will be at the beach!!!! Going to the Outer Banks which is one of my favorite spots. I made my daughter another mermaid tail for a photo shoot and it came out really cute, so next I am going to work on some tops w/ shells and starfish. I had started a tail for me using the same scaled concept as hers, but gave up because I was getting bored. I had given up on having my tail for our trip, but then inspiration struck while I had insomnia and started a lacy one. I used 3 layers of non-stretch fabric, so as you can imagine it was a challenge. I used a cream color tafetta, creamy crinkly, and a lace on top. I just finished the waistband casing and laying out the strips of leftover fabrics and lace that I will attach at the bottom. I am not going to make a regular fluke, just have all the fabrics draping down. I am going to wear it w/ my seashell bra/belt set I made for my photo shoot from our last beach trip. My first Mermaid Goddess Photos!! Can’t wait!

I just started this last night, so I dont have many photos. Overall it took several hours to get to this point. The most challenging was keeping all three layers of fabric lined up which was difficult because they are all sheer. I over estimated the size and made it inches larger than necessary. (Better to make it bigger and cut away, then too small and screwed). I had to resew it smaller about 4 or 5 times to make it fit. I made the casing. Just need to add elastic and all the fabric scraps as the fluke!!

Here are my other projects:

{Gold Bella}

admin — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:15:51 +0000

I was finally able to do a photo shoot with my newest costume, my gold Bella! There are so many crystals on this costume, I love it! This is the perfect time of year for outdoor photography and thought the gold color would be great in the warm Autumn light.

{hair apt=photoshoot}

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:29:27 +0000

So, I decided to do a Video Diary of my experiences from start to finish, starting with getting my hair done at the salon, then the photoshoot and photos afterwards. I had the works done: highlights, lowlights, cut, style and was there for 2 1/2 hours. Shelley is the best ever and made me look gorgeous! Go see her at Slingblades! So afterwards, I came home had some lunch, and starting getting my stuff together. (That is a chore in itself!) I wasted 20 min searching for my the trigger remote and finally found it at the bottom of my camera bag. (Who would have new. LOL) I used 4 costumes this time, which is the most I have ever done. However 2 of them were just of costumes I am selling and need to photograph, so those were quick and painless. I wore my Red Bella, which I have never photographed, only for veil photos. The other costume was a Red Tapestry and coin costume I made a couple years ago. About half way through the photos for the Bella, the battery for my video camera stopped, so I was only able to video tape the beginning, but I did add some final images. (They were edited in Photoshop CS5 using various actions for artistic enhancement. The photoshoot lasted about 1 1/2 hours.

Enjoy!

{March Photoshoot}

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:05:02 +0000

Yesterday I went to see my absolute favorite hair design ‘artist’ (because that is what she is), Shelley, at Slingblades Hair Design in Durham. I had my usual done with some more reddish lowlights added in, then a cut and style. I videotaped the whole process to do a video diary and am working on now. I came home and set up the studio and did some self portraits. It is always a challenge, technical difficulties, near falls, but in the end I got some nice photos. I did editing afterwards in Photoshop CS5.

{photo session}

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:47:20 +0000

So I had my 3 month hair appointment yesterday and that meant photo shoot in my life. It has been a while since I have done one for dance photos so I thought I would do some in my 2 favorite costumes. It was raining and dreary which meant no outdoor shoots. I even had some really cool ideas, but I guess they will have to wait until Spring. Even if the weather was nice I had noone to help me, so these are all self portraits. I am getting good at those! If you are looking for a wonderful hair salon in the Triangle check out SlingBlades Hair Design in Durham. Shelley Ethridge is one of the best!!

{Photoshop Guru}

admin — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:22:56 +0000

So in the spirit of Halloween a fellow photographer offered to take some of my dance images and turn them creepy for Halloween. Halloween is in fact one of my favorite times of the year. The first image is from an ‘Autumn Goddess’ Photo shoot I did last last year in my Organic Armor and the second I am modeling my new chainmail belt. I am posting the before image too so you can see the difference.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

SGH Photo Art