Caroline White Photography: Transformation [inspired by Sue Bryce]

Thank You Sue for all the amazing and inspiring things you do for others <3 We love you!

 

Heather grew up in a big working class family in a small town in Michigan, and has followed her dreams towards bringing laughter to others as a STAND UP COMIC! Although she is a performer, the idea of being vulnerable, sexy, feminine or sensuous was totally foreign and bizarre to her. Heather does not take herself seriously AT ALL and for the beginning of the shoot, she was gabbing and joking, a bit timid and embarrassed of the camera, and making fun of herself, making funny faces...but by the end, we were able to bring her inner Supermodel out in full force.

 

Being a funny goofy tomboy myself, when Heather told me "You are a Magician" I felt tears start to well up in my eyes...

 

I have a trip planned to Sydney in March, and hopefully I will get to be Sue's "Heather" times ten. Sue changes the way women see themselves, feel about themselves, and they in turn bring this positivity, beauty, and self-worthiness out into the world.

 

Even after watching Sue over and over, a part me thought,

I CAN DO THAT.

EASY.

What Sue does is no small feat,

and I am not afraid to admit that this image was hard work,

emotionally and physically

but so very well worth it

to create something magical.

 

Perhaps most importantly,

Sue has not only taught me and my makeup artists

technical skills

and business & marketing skills,

but the VALUE

of WHO I AM

and WHAT I DO.

 

Thank You Sue <3

 

[For this image, I wanted to incorporate the body (shot from below eye line), both hands, asymmetry in posing and composition, hair blowing, a relaxed and feminine face and mouth with a tiny smirk and smile in the eyes, connection to the shoulder, and working with layers of vintage fabric arranged into the belt to create a more couture effect. Once I narrowed down to just "a before and after" image, I tried to limit myself to about 5 minutes in Photoshop using primarily warp and dodge and burn. (I used skin softening spot tool in Lightroom on skin.)]

 

[Makeup and Hair (and hair dryer) by Carole Soueidan]

 

All glamour clothes are from thrift stores!

 

The fold-down couch she is sitting on was $200 on craigslist.

 

Reflectors purchased from Home Depot.

 

www.carolinewhitephotography.com

 

One final note...it would mean so much to me to win, not only a huge honor as a SueLover and a CreativeLiveLover, but also because in 2011 when I went out for coffee, all of my cameras, lenses, computers and my LIFETIME of triple backed up archives were stolen from my apartment. Even clothes and YES VINTAGE SHOES were stolen...I fell into a deep depression and thought about really, truly giving up. I thought the universe was telling me to give up. I could not get out of bed for over a month, and I went on medication in order to get through the day. I had lost everything I had ever bought, created, shot, written, filmed...I lost photos of people and things that are no longer on this earth. Personal. Professional. All of it. ***I urge everyone to get cloud storage TODAY and insurance (that's right, I had none...I lost 5k worth of "stuff" but what I really lost was my SELF for quite a while...and even friends (once they found out I had no camera...)

 

Sue and Creativelive gave me much needed inspiration and motivation...there are many people with so much FEAR, that the fact that they can do CreativeLive from home is HUGE. It gave me courage, made me focus on gratitude, and things got better than I could have even dreamed.

 

With the inspiration of Sue, CreativeLive, and a few others, I was able to climb back into Life.

 

I got off the prescription meds and forced myself to beg borrow and steal (as Sue said of her White Garage), and forced myself to take more and better photos DAY AND NIGHT - and in just a matter of months, better photos than I had taken in my whole lifetime prior - in order to make the sting less - of losing my entire body of work, and what I felt truly was my identity.

 

Adapt or die. Those TRULY were my choices.

 

I adapted and life has never been better.

 

<3

 

 

 

Done