Dancing Lessons from God

Let Your Light So Shine

Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 | 0 Comments

There is something special about sharing a piece of art that you have spent your love and many many hours on. It is even more special when what you have decided to share also happens to feature someone you love very much as the subject of the piece.

"Let Your Light So Shine", my piece for the Young Woman value Good Works:

When I first set out on this adventure of creating pieces depicting each of the Young Women Values, I planned out my images over a period of many many months. I decided on the various settings. How many I wanted to be taken indoors, how many outdoors. What props I would use and the symbolism they would carry. And while I knew I wanted to have a diverse group of girls, I also knew that one of those girls had to be my youngest sister Chloë.

Chloë has played a very important role in my journey from being JUST a "photographer" to becoming who I am at today: an artist. She has been my muse from the beginning, and I think throughout all these years I may have convinced her, if only slightly, that she actually enjoys modeling.

In December of 2008, I got my first ever DSLR (a trusty little Nikon D60 that I literally used until the shutter broke several years later. Apparently that can happen...). While visiting family shortly after receiving my new camera, Chloë was the first person I took out for a "portrait session". Of course, these photos are lacking in MANY areas, but I still love them. They still show the entire reason why I love photography: the preservation of memories and life and love.

Each summer I would go home and take Chloë out for a photoshoot. Some years she loved coming out with me, sometimes I had to force her into it, but as the years went by, our work and time spent together became more and more magical. I would paint her entire face red and yellow or tell her to go walk barefoot in the mud in a wedding dress. While the photos may not have always turned out, the memories attached to them were always worth the effort.

Now, as I have mentioned in previous posts, one of the most important aspects of this Young Women Values series is incorporating the subjects' cultures into my pieces. But how do you incorporate the culture of an incredible little girl who has lived in eight different houses in four countries, all before she even turned twelve?

As I thought about it and puzzled over it, I decided there was a place my family has always called home, where we could always return to after every adventure: Grandma and Grandpa's house. Or as we all like to call it, Paradise. With the location decided, the day quickly came where I could finally take a photo I had been waiting almost two years to take. We grabbed some miscellaneous lamps from around the house, extensions cords, and all the necessary camera equipment, and made our way to the big hill at the end of Grandpa's runway. My cousin's wife Kenna, of Billi Billi Productions, ran around my sister holding up lights here, and flicking skirts there.

Now, the scripture for Good Works is:

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I had envisioned a girl looking almost as if she were this candle on a hillside, shining for everyone around her to see. Chloë has grown into a compassionate young woman and has always been able to be kind and create friendships with anyone she encounters, so I knew she would be the perfect representative for this value. More literally symbolic, she is wearing a yellow dress, the color for Good Works, and, combined with her blonde hair, I knew she would stand out just as a candle would against the darkening sky behind her.

There's not much more symbolism to this, as I wanted to keep it simple and let the beautiful sky and subject speak for themselves.

I love you miss Chloë. You will always be my favorite person to shoot, not just because of the sweetness you bring to each photo we create together, but also, and more importantly, because of the friendship and love that has grown between us during our shoots. You will always be my little baby sister, and I am grateful for that everyday! Keep shining. :)

** I'd like to thank Robert Cornelius and Stephen Sitton for providing me with some very valuable second opinions and critiques on this piece. You can see their work here and here. I'd also like to thank Kenna with Billi Billi Photography, who ran around flinging skirts and holding lighting equipment like a pro. You can see her work here. I'd be stuck with a significantly less beautiful piece if it weren't for everyone who helped out, so thank you times a million all of you!**

Labels: Arkansas, Art, Church, Conceptual Work, Photography, Religious Art, Teen

Integrity.... Again.

Posted on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 | 0 Comments

Remember that post I wrote about Integrity a while back? And remember how I wrote another post about a different version of Integrity a few weeks later?

Well let's hope the old adage "third time's the charm" holds true, because I'm about to hit you with another rework of Integrity. This time, though, I completely scrapped the original image and started over again with a different photograph from that day.

Now this isn't to say that I was lying in my last post when I said my second version was "SO MUCH better" and "I loved it", because it really was SO MUCH better and I really did love it more than the first. Seriously, I still cringe when I see the green fog from my first edit. You probably couldn't find a grilled cheese sandwich that was cheesier than this:

Uh... that failed attempt at a light ray coming down. The fact that the fog isn't even green in the area surrounding here. It was just.... bad.

So I asked for second opinions and the photo evolved into the latest version of Integrity, seen here:

And being 100% honest, I really did love it at first! But as time went on I realized it just didn't fit me. It didn't fit the story and it didn't fit my style. I strive for elegance and an air of authenticity in my photos and I didn't feel like this image was indicative of that. Was it really cool? Yes. Was it all kinds of fun colors and cool smoke? Yes. But of all the traits I claim to have, flashy is (I hope), not one of them. I love to work in the subtleties and so I attempted to take a more subtle approach this time around.

As I was reworking attempt #2, though, I was having a hard time visualizing what exactly I wanted to change. All I could see was what I DIDN'T want the picture to look like, blatantly staring me right in the face. It's like when people take a bright light and shine it right in your eye. You can't see anything but that light. You have a hard time believing there is anything else out there except that light. I was stuck, staring at this bright.... purple.... flashy.... light.

So I went back to square one and began looking for another shot from that day that I could use. Amidst the thirty or so photos I had taken, I found this one:

And this one:

Well photoshop exists for a reason.... so I combined them. And then added a lot of fog. And rather than listing ALL the things I changed.... I think I'll just show you. Because... you know... "a picture is worth a thousand words" and I stand by that statement. Without further ado, attempt #3:

3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Job 27: 3-6

In my original post about six months ago, I explained all the symbolism behind this image. Since I'm nice and don't want to have to make you go track the original post down in the archives, I thought I'd give another explanation (largely copied and pasted from the original post):

Since the color for Integrity is purple, I made the obvious choice of dressing Kacey in purple. The ornament in her hair, a kanzashi, and the cherry blossom flowers wrapped around her crook are all nods to her Japanese heritage.

The image is representing her staying true to her beliefs and her principles and following the words of our Heavenly Father no matter what may cross her path. To me, this is the definition of integrity.

The shepherd's crook, long recognized as a symbol of our Savior, represents Christ as the Shepherd. He guides us to safety and eternal life through his example. I wanted to have Kacey holding onto this staff as she walked down the path, just as we must hold to the words of our Savior throughout our lives, during easy and difficult times alike.

The light represents her goodness and the "light" of Christ we can bring into the sometimes dark and dreary world around us.

Finally, as you may have guessed, the forest in winter and the fog creeping in represents not only the evils of the world, but more importantly, the difficult times in our lives. It's so easy to think that it's "evilness" that pulls us away from our Heavenly Father. But like a gentle fog rolling in, it's the daily struggles and the sorrows that occur in our lives which obscure our path back to him.

So hopefully this is the final version I am sticking with. I've been staring at this photo for the past two weeks, making tiny adjustments here, and tiny adjustments there. When I finally opened it up last night, and again this morning, and couldn't think of anything I wanted to change, I decided it was time to share.

Hopefully this is the last time I will be posting about Integrity!

Labels: Arkansas, Behind the Scenes, Conceptual Work, Photography, Religious Art

Faith

Posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 | 0 Comments

Guys! I finished Faith and I am SOOOO happy with how it turned out!

A HUGE thank you to three people:

Belle, my beautiful model, who was so fun to work with, probably because she humored me by walking around barefoot in a poofy dress in the woods... in Arkansas... in the middle of summer. It's a more unpleasant endeavor than you would think, given not only the seriously humid heat, but also the creepy crawly things that are known to make their home there in the warmer months.

Also, Belle's mom, Lisa, for taking time away from her other kids to drive Belle out to our location. I very much appreciate your willingness to work this into your schedule!

Finally, a tremendously huge thank you is in order for Robert Cornelius of Robert Cornelius Photography! This picture would not by quite so magical without his help (and his mad Photoshop wizardry). If you don't know who Robert is, you should check out his blog!

Anyway, without further ado, I give you Faith:

41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.

42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

43 Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you.

Alma 32: 41-43

Now, because I love to see behind the scenes photos and before and afters, here is the before:

Originally I did a HUGE expansion and had all these big trees interspersed throughout the image. However, Belle ended up getting lost in the image because she was so small compared to the trees. So I took the trees from the expansion, widened them a bit, and moved them in closer to her before applying a more intimate crop.

Then I lightened her up, because #highlightingthesubject.

And tried messing with color balance.

I then realized the background was far too light and therefore distracting, so I darkened the greenery behind her. At this point, I became stuck. I knew this photo needed something, I just couldn't figure out what that was exactly. So I sat on it like this for a few weeks. I would try something, not like it, walk away, come back a few days later and try something else, with similar success.

Then one day I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and noticed a new post from Robert Cornelius, whom I've been following for the last year or so on social media. Per usual, his latest piece was A-MAZ-ING. So I commented on the post and sort of jokingly, but also seriously..... however that works... that if he ever hosted a workshop, I was SO there.
To which he responded that he didn't have any workshops planned, but he did offer 1-on-1 skype sessions...

Um.

Yes.

So much yes.

So I took him up on his offer and for an hour we talked through what I was hoping to get out of the image and how we could go about doing that. He recommended that I darken the background even further, and adjust the color balance to give it a bit more whimsy.

Then he really worked his magic, by... working some magic. In the form of sparkle trails!
I'm so excited about this!
I had tried adding a few sparkles here and there earlier on in the process, and always ended up deleting them over and over again. What I had been able to muster up looked completely fake, which was more than frustrating, because I think I had known all along that that's what I really wanted in this image. But Robert totally made the coolest sparkle trails EVER and helped bring the focal point of the image not just to Belle, but more specifically to the plant in her hand, which was awesome!

And the best part of all is he showed me how to do it!

So even though this photo took me several months to finish (which, hey, go easy on me. There was a cross country move within that time frame) and I felt on numerous occasions that I would just have to scrap the whole thing, this ended up being one of my favorite pieces to date!

So thank you Belle, thank you Lisa, and thank you Robert! I seriously could NOT have done it without you guys!

Labels: Arkansas, Church, Conceptual Work, Religious Art

Good Works

Posted on Tuesday, July 28, 2015 | 0 Comments

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 5: 14-16

I've finished another piece from my Value series, this one being, as you've probably guessed, Good Works. I am so excited to have another one done! Each time I complete one of these, it's this wonderful mixture of feeling really happy and proud, as well as that feeling you get when you check another thing off your to do list (have I mentioned that I love to do lists? And most especially, checking things off of said to do lists?)

The image is actually a composite of four photographs. As always, I liked my sister, the model's, face better in one photo, the way her arm was held in another, and the flounce of her skirt in yet another. So I combined them. I had also envisioned this beautiful sunset illuminating the sky behind her, almost as if she was the sun herself.

Several months ago, I had been out at Prairie Creek Marina for an early morning family session out on the lake. I got there early, and so I parked my car at the top of the hill overlooking the lake, which happens to be one of my favorite views in NWA, and watched as the sun gradually made its way up past the horizon. As I had my camera for the family session later on, I took several photos before setting it down and enjoying the moment. I've learned that sometimes it's not so important to capture the moment on my camera, but to put it aside and really be there. I've learned how much better it is to remember the wind on your face or to truly grasp the vastness of the landscape before you than to see it all through the viewfinder of a camera and only have the printed proof that you were really there. Granted, photography is something I am very passionate about and find joy in doing, but I've learned there is also a great sense of peace that comes just from being there in the moment knowing how fleetingly it will pass. Anyway, enough with the soapbox/mushy/gushy stuff.

The explanation for this one is fairly simple. We are taught in our church from a young age that we need to be an example of everything that is good and praiseworthy about our religion to those around us. There is no better way to show people the goodness of the Gospel than by allowing the true joy we experience from being a member of His church to be plainly in sight for those not of our faith to witness. When the world is mired in the darkness deep in the low valleys of life, we need to be the shining beacon on the hill top, inspiring others to climb towards goodness, and more importantly, towards true happiness.

Labels: Arkansas, Photography, Religious Art

Integrity

Posted on Monday, June 29, 2015 | 0 Comments

I am so happy to finally be sharing this image with you! It has been a long time in the making, what with the amount of planning I put into this, and the added chaos of prepping to move cross country right in the middle of my trying to bring this all together. But as of last night, this piece is officially done!

Integrity is another image in my Value series (just like Virtue). For those of you who don't know about, or are not members of my church, we have a program for girls aged 12-18 (kind of like Boy and Girl Scouts), called the Young Women Program. In this program the young women learn how to be a better version of themselves by learning important skills that coordinate with 8 values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. Each of these values has a set of scriptures that are meant to help interpret what it is these traits are, as well as a coordinating color. Integrity is purple, and one of the associated scriptures is Job 27: 3-6, which reads:

3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Now in my last post, I gave a bit of a behind the scenes with my explanation of how I made the shepherd's crook. There is so much more to this image, however, than a simple crook I am having Kacey hold on to. So I wanted to dive into that a little bit for anyone who is interested to know:

As you may have guessed, the forest in winter and the fog creeping in represents not only the evils of the world, but more importantly, the difficult times in our lives. It's so easy to think that it's "evilness" that pulls us away from our Heavenly Father. But like a gentle fog rolling in, it's the daily struggles and the sorrows that occur in our lives which obscure our path back to him.

Lastly, I wish there was some really cool biblical or philosophical reason as to why I chose to make the fog green, like the apple Adam and Eve ate was a green apple, or Lucifer wears green clothing. For disclaimer purposes, these are not true! I don't even have a clue what kind of fruit Adam and Eve ate, let alone the color, and if Lucifer had a body, perhaps he would wear lots of different colors! Really, green is just generally recognized as bad: the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz, for example, has green skin, and people are green with envy, right? So I went with it. From an artistic side, I felt like it also added the contrast I needed between the warm tones of Kacey's skin and the path she is walking down and the coldness of the fog creeping in. I wanted it to be clear where the subject was and what I wanted to be considered "good" and what would be considered "evil".

So there you have it. Hopefully now this piece has a little bit more meaning and significance to you!

Labels: Arkansas, Conceptual Work, Photography, Religious Art, Teen

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About

Arkansas native.

Currently based in Boston.

Travelling soul.

"Unexpected travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God." - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Contact

madeline.s.stoker@gmail.com