Travel and Promises.

OK, apparently I'm not the greatest at this whole blogging thing. I need to do better since a lot of people are asking for info about what I'm up to. I do have a lot of interesting things to say about my shoots and my travels, I just don't give enough priority to blogging about it. That is all about to change.

I hereby solemnly swear to blog at least once a week for the next 3 months. You see, I am leaving this Monday on another epic adventure. Starting with Northern California, headed to NYC, then to Berlin, then London and eventually Paris. In between I plan other little excursions so you never know where I will end up.

I am also going to write more personal stuff on this blog to keep you entertained. I will post photos of my shoots and fashion work but so much happens in between that is fun, exciting and probably a lot more interesting so perhaps that's what will keep you coming back. I need to start blurring the lines a bit more to let my "fans" into my world.

So let's start with today. I am printing photos for my exhibition with Raw Artists tomorrow night at the Key Club in Hollywood. Currently I'm printing the photos I took of guys in ladies panties as a project for this show. Here are a couple examples:

My rationale behind this series is to show the ridiculousness of the adornment women go through to be sexy. It's normal for women's bodies to be objectified, how often have you see shots of women in lingerie and thought nothing of it. With these photos you can see the double standard our society has on viewing the male body and especially male nudity. It's shocking only because we're not used to it. Plus I'm female and I think it's visually appealing.

There will be video and photos from the show so I will post a recap when I get those. I also did some topless shots of an amazing model (Katie B. from Next, makeup by Hiroko Claus) for this show, here is a sample from that as well:

She's amazing. I can't wait to get to Europe and shoot more edgy sexy stuff. My portfolio will not look the same when I return! For now go check out my work at www.helenolds.com

Over a year later, I'm starting again.

I have started a new regimen and plan for success.  Part of this plan includes lots of writing.  About my work, about myself, about what I want and what I can offer the world.  I am going to use this space to put part of that out there into space and see who is interested in what I have to say.  I may include snippets about shoots as I do them although it seems to be difficult to post about shoots as they happen because that's when I get the most busy.  Perhaps I need to make it more of a priority.  I actually like writing and writing about shooting is something I know about and would be good at.

For now I'm going to just write my thoughts, on the industry and on the world as I see it.  I am entering into the world of fashion and that brings up a whole mountain of thoughts and ideas for me.  Thoughts about our culture and how it views beauty, femininity and commercialism and it's effect on us.  I want to do a whole separate piece on this but I just wanted to touch on it here. I went to the Annenberg Space for Photography and got really inspired by the photos and imagery I saw there.  They have an exhibit on right now called Beauty CULTure.  It got me thinking about what it means to be in the fashion and beauty industry and how my work can affect people either positively or negatively.

So watch this space.  I have no idea how often I'll update but I'm going to try to do once/week and see how that goes.  Maybe more, depending on if I have something new to say or to share.

If you just like my photography and want to see my newest work or behind the scenes photos you can always just go to my tumblr page instead.  You want have to be bothered by my ramblings there :)

New work - an apology

OK, wow. I didn't realize something as simple as blogging would be so difficult! I have this strange feeling like I should have some huge news to share before I make a post but I'm going to make my best effort to blog at least once a week so whoever is reading this won't get bored and abandon me (oh god, there goes those abandonment issues again haha, kidding).

So a bit has taken place since I started this. I did a shoot out in the desert almost to Bakersfield a couple weekends ago. It was a photo seminar which was interesting because there was 9 photographers shooting 3 models. I have only ever done one other seminars like this and it's always a bit disconcerting with a bunch of other people having the same shots as you. I realized though you can have the same model in the same outfit with the same lighting set up and each photographer will have a different take on the situation. Plus I do a lot of retouching on my images to make them my own so I'm not too worried. I think I got some great shots but unfortunately I had some technical issues with my camera so I don't have all my images yet. I will be sure to post the best ones when I get it sorted out but for now here are a couple samples:

Models are Michelle and Brit respectively. Makeup was done by Kathleen M Ty

I'm blogging!

Well I suppose it was only a matter of time. I've twitted, I've journaled, I've myspaced, I've flikr'd and I've facebooked. Now it's time for my first official blog. Why the hell not, why can't I be as self serving as the rest of the internet? Hopefully some people will be interested enough in what I have to say that this will be interesting. At the very least I can use it to chronicle my exploits in the world of fashion photography and navigating LaLa Land and wherever else I may find myself venturing.

I'm going to start with a few photos from my portfolio and I plan on updating this as I do more shoots and when something interesting happens. Or maybe the lack of interesting things might be interesting in itself. I guess we'll find out together! :0