Breasts cross the border and link the phases of a woman’s life between her sexuality, motherhood and her later years and represent radically different things to her over the course of a lifetime. They tend to be at the very heart of her femininity. Starting off as nonexistent in her childhood years and growing into an object of desire and tools used to attract, entice and please a mate as a young woman and then another transition into the source of life and nourishment for her child as she becomes a mother. The children grow and the breasts and body change shape and size, transforming into the symbols of beautiful life phases.

As a woman that photographs women and brings to life the peak of their femininity, I cannot imagine the pain and sense of loss that a woman may feel at the prospect of losing something that, to many, may be at the heart of her femininity.  My heart aches for the women that have been given doctor’s orders to remove her breasts.  This is not at all to say that breasts define a woman’s femininity, but I believe that most women would agree that they do set us apart from men and a great deal of time, effort, energy and thought goes into them at every stage of life.

As a photographer, I aim to accentuate the female figure in its most beautiful and curvaceous form. The hips…the waist…the breasts.  As a woman, I believe that women—all women—should have the right to keep their breasts and that all breasts, big, small, medium, uneven, saggy, perky, scarred, and perfect have a right to stay where they belong…on a woman’s beautiful and ever-changing body.

The images for the Bras for a Cause calendar brought to the forefront of my mind the incredible impact that breasts actually have on the life of a woman. Thank you to the gorgeous women that so willingly obliged me as I asked them to show off one of their most personal assets and thank you all for the love and support for the women around the globe that face breast cancer on a daily basis.

From Dr John De Martini

The greatest art form that exists on this planet is the human body – a magnificently structured temple of sacred architecture. Are you grateful for your body? Some people are but most people take this wonderful gift for granted.

Many people complain about the shape of their body – I’m too fat, too thin, too short or too tall. They spend a great deal of time in front of the mirror focusing on what they perceive as imperfections of their body rather than focusing on its magnificently balanced perfection. Being grateful for your body and for the multitude of its powerful gifts can make the difference between experiencing wellness or illness in your life. One of the reasons why some people beat themselves up about certain areas of their bodies is because they are comparing themselves to a fantasy of a magazine cover they think they are supposed to look like.

After working with thousands of people, I am convinced that for every part of our body we don’t like there is a part we admire. If we are putting ourselves down in one area I can guarantee we are proud of another area. We may not like our thighs, but we admire our eyes. We may not like our thin hair, but we admire our skin. We may not like the shape of our body, but we like the shape of our lips and our smile and so on. Begin to train yourself in becoming grateful for all parts of your physical body that you currently dislike. Think about your head – How can you be grateful for it? For your hair? Your scalp? Your eyes? Your skin, nose and lips? Ask yourself, ‘How does this serve me?’ When you are grateful for all parts of your head, work your way in your mind through your body from head to toe, identifying each and every part inside and outside of you. Keep asking yourself how that part of your body serves you until you are truly grateful for every part of it.

No matter what your physical body looks like, you have things you like and dislike, or even admire and despise, about yourself. Everyone practices the same math of fifty-fifty, right down the middle. Both things you like and dislike are going to serve you in your life and the wisdom is appreciating this balance and being grateful for it. When you do this and take the time to see all parts of your body are serving you in your life to appreciate it for what it is, you empower yourself. Recognize the magnificence of your physical body and find a way to look at it in a new way – with awe and gratitude.

As a photographer I love almost every shoot that I do but every now and then one stands out above the rest. This shoot was one of those for me. It was Devin & Madeline’s wedding day in Jackson Hole  on the Walton Ranch and rather than do their photos after the ceremony we opted to meet at 7am and try to capture the early morning light. We hadn’t planned on the fog! It was terribly cold and wet and Madeline was such a trooper in her wedding dress and cowboy boots. Although the images were the exact opposite of what we had planned on, they turned out to be some of my favorite images I’ve been privileged enough to take part in creating.

With the incredible digital technology we have at our fingertips it seems like everyone is a photographer or graphic designer these days. (And I have to say that I use my iPhone for 99% of my personal life photography!)  ”You get what you pay for.” This statement is true in just about every aspect of life (expect for in some small corners of life like the cupcake lipgloss from Forever 21 that you dig out of the bin on the counter and costs a buck fifty and is in every way equivalent to my VS lipgloss that cost seven ninety5.) This stands true for photography as well and  is exactly why you DON’T want to skimp on your wedding day or family reunion and spend $300 on Uncle Joe or your fiancee’s college roommate who happens to own a camera and promises to give you a disk of all of the images. (I can also guarantee that once you get the disk of images it will sit in your desk drawer after you have loaded a few photos to Facebook until disks are no longer a useable device because of our ever changing technology and then you will laugh at the fact that what you so desperately wanted (the prized disk of digital images) has become obsolete. (Ask your parents if they have a copy of the film negatives from their wedding…if they do…um, what are you going to do with them?) I also promise that an actual photo album or fabulous piece of wall art of you and your groom or children will never, ever ever become obsolete!))

I often find myself explaining to my clients the photographic process (which most find amazing especially if there is skin softening or body slimming) which gets a picture from point A (straight out of the camera) to point B (ready to hang on your wall).

This is a process. When most people think of being a photographer they think of great camera equipment with big lenses, glamorous photo shoots with assistants running around setting up lights, and the photographer constantly commenting on how gorgeous/fabulous/incredible/amazing the model/couple/wedding party is. In part this is all true except what people don’t know about is the endless hours spent staring at the computer screen late into the night. And when I say endless…I mean ENDLESS. It seems that my work is never done and there is alway one more photo to edit and one more shoot to post before I can go to sleep. That being said, my point  is that when when you hire me (or any other photographer) you are not just paying for the hour and a half family shoot or the 8 hour wedding day. Here is my SHORT list of what goes into photographing your wedding and what you are paying me for:

initial emails/contact/phone calls

compiling and sending out the welcome packet and info

more emails/phone calls/answering questions

Engagement Photo Session

edit Engagement Session

FB Engagement Session

Blog Engagement Session

make & upload E session slideshow

upload E session proofs

more emails/phone calls about wedding day

possibly attend/shoot rehearsal dinner

Wedding Day shoot

edit Wedding Day photos

FB Wedding Day photos

blog Wedding Day photos

create/upload Wedding Day slideshow

cocktail viewing of photos

upload Wedding day proofs

process orders/albums etc

and the list goes on and on and on….

Of course I didn’t add in there all of the other stuff that it takes to run a business or the time spent in designing thank you’s, invitations, save-the-dates and a million other little things that goes into making your wedding photos fabulous.  And naturally every wedding is slightly different but I figured it out one time and I think on one wedding I made like $6.56 an hour…but hey, I love what I do and I’d trade a fat paycheck for that any day!

I knew Drew was going to propose  before he did it and obviously before Effie did so I was so excited to do this shoot for weeks! Drew and Effie met while working in Moran, Wy (just outside of Jackson Hole) at the Heart 6 ranch. It is pretty much a guarantee that if you spend a summer at a ranch in Wyoming you are going to fall in love…and that’s what happened.

I met Drew working at Heart 6 Guest Ranch in Moran, Wy  years ago. He was a wrangler and I was photographing. Almost immediately I found out he and I could have come from the same family. Literally. Oddly enough his Mama shared my last name of Bryant…which might not seem so odd, because of course a lot of people share last names, however, in this case, it turns out that we both have a mystery to the Bryant side of the story. We both know that we had family members in Louisana and even crazier is the man George Leo Bryant (which would have been my grandfather). He sort of disappeared from my fathers life when my dad was 9 and he never saw or heard from him again. Later in life we came to find out that he had lived and passed away in a little town near New Orleans. It turns out that in Drew’s family  there is a Leo (or george leo…I can’t remember now) on their side with the last name of Bryant who lived in Louisiana  that continues to remain somewhat of a mystery to them as well. So we really could be family. Crazy

Anyways…that is a long story to tell you that I was so excited when Drew’s mom called me to tell me that he was about to get engaged. And not only was he getting engaged, he was getting engaged to a girl named Effie! How fabulous is the name Effie!! Not only is her name fabulous but she is fabulous as well. Gorgeous hair, the longest legs you have ever seen and a sweet as can be. She will surely keep Drew in line with is wild antics and contagious sense of humor. I am so excited for you both! Congratulations!

It’s Summer time (for at least 3 months)!! For a photographer in Jackson Hole that means it’s time for weddings and family portraits. The big question when it comes to family portraits is WHAT DO WE ALL WEAR? Rachel Williams from Photographic Designs has a really great way of putting it, “While we hope that you feel as though your family functions much like a team, we don’t want your family portrait to look like a team shot! Rather, your family portrait should portray a sense of solidarity with the right blend of individuality.” In other words, please do not run out and buy matching tee’s for every family member! Allow everyone’s personal style to come out. If your 3 yr old absolutely refuses to wear anything other then cowboy boots and a leotard (yes… this was my little sister when she was young… she would also only eat PB&J and french fries) then by all means…let her wear it! (just buy it in the appropriate color scheme). As a general rule, pick a color scheme and work from there. Start with “Do we want to do dark or light?”.  Gray tones, neutral colors, earth tones, shades of spring pastels…all good options!

When I photograph it is my goal to make you look as fantastically awesome as you are! It’s easiest for me to do this if you wear clothes that are form fitting rather then really loose or baggy.  Please do not wear black and white as your color combination and also avoid wild prints or really trendy clothing (unless you are a family that gets a yearly photograph…then, by all means, go for trendy!)

Bottoms: Pants, skirts, leggings, jeans, kahakis…really anything goes here as long as it’s done in a neutral color. Don’t wear bright red pants…that’s the only thing you will see in the photo!

Tops: Personally, I love layers. They add a depth to your outfit that lends itself to a great style but don’t go overboard here. Of course it depends on the time of year and temperature but feel free to mix it up here allowing everyone’s personal style to come out.

Accessories: Ties, hats, scarves, belts, great shoes (but no white shoes please!), jewelry etc… These all add a lot to the photograph.

Thanks to Pinterest (a photographer’s best friend) I have complied a few color ideas!

Feel free to have fun, be creative and I give you complete permission to wear something that you normally wouldn’t wear!

Every summer I fall back in love with photographing outside on a gorgeous summer evening. Jackson Hole winters can get long and as much as I love to shoot in my studio nothing compares to the golden evening backlight. Add a little breeze, a gorgeous girl and a well behaved horse and it turns to magic. My beautiful friend Tessa honored me by asking if I would photograph her and of course I said yes. Our friend Jim Walter was kind enough to let us use his house on fall Creek Road and the one and only Melvin (his beautiful pony). Melvin is as his name implies…quite a character as well as an excellent rope horse and all around good mount and it turns out he is quite the model as well. Tessa and Melvin got along exceptionally and it made for a fantastic photo shoot!

Photography is a lovely art. Not only is it a form of self expression as well as incredibly creative but it also documents history, captures time, strength, beauty, class, endurance, power, love, joy…and everything that it means to be human. I never get bored with my job and almost never unhappy with the final shots, however, there are those rare shoots that come along that remind me why I do what I do and why I love it so much.

Cat Caldwell, a great friend, the owner of Curves fitness center in Driggs, Idaho and all around fabulous woman asked me to be a part of celebrating National Women’s Health Week and come and do photo mini sessions with the members. Of course I was more than happy to do this since women are my favorite subject to photograph. I needed a makeup artist to come and do makeup on the ladies (including false eyelashes…something they were all very excited about!) before their shoot. Cat inquired with Dena Bjoux, a friend & Mary Kay representative, if she would be interested in working with me. She said yes and we were set.

At the time, it’s my understanding that she had zero intentions of being photographed herself. After some debate, the Curves ladies convinced her to sign up for a time slot with me. I called Dena to chat with her about doing hair and makeup and what I wanted before I had met her. She was light hearted and ambitious on the phone and I was excited to be working with her. We talked makeup for a bit and when I turned the conversation to hair she laughed and said “well I don’t know how much help I’m going to be in that area cause I don’t have any hair”. At first I thought she just meant that she had short hair and didn’t ever do it but she went on to tell me that she had lost her hair due to chemotherapy.

Dena is a gentle soul and slightly reserved but defines the words ambitious, gracious, gentle and warrior. When It came time to do her shoot she allowed me to do her makeup and of course the first thing I asked her was if I could photographer her without her head scarf on. She looked at me and said “ugh I knew you were going to ask me that!… sure, go ahead.” I helped her remove her wrap and there before me was the most exquisite embodiment of feminine grace and character that I have ever seen. When her scarf came off it was as if power, and courage and beauty and strength all came flowing out of her beautiful perfectly shaped head. The only thing I could say was “Dena, you are so much more beautiful without your head wrap.” And I meant it.

It’s a scary thing to be in front of a camera but she did it beautifully. I’m not sure she realized what I saw in her at the time but despite that she allowed me to pose and twist and contort her, push her chin forward, pull her arms back and she trusted me to do it. After the shoot she sort of shyly asked me “can I see some of the bald ones?” I smiled inside cause I knew what was coming next. The ladies that were mingling gathered as I showed her the images… There was a little gasp and she brought her hand to her mouth to cover her smile and then her tears.

That moment, that teary moment, is why I do what I do. It’s why I love to photograph. Those tears represent the moment when a woman’s soul is filled with joy when she, in that instant, see’s how God see’s her. Dena’s shoot was God’s gift to me. With all of my heart, I thank you Dena.

The mother’s day giveaway turned out to be much more difficult to choose from than I had originally anticipated. Here’s why…

So after a great deal of deliberation I decided that there was no way that i could choose only one. Therefore I have decided to give a shoot to all of these beautiful moms and I couldn’t be more excited! Thank you so much to all of you who entered your mom…oh, and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

A MOTHERS DAY PHOTO GIVEAWAY! For all of you still looking for a mother’s day gift I have just the thing! Hop on Facebook and between now & Friday, post a picture of your Mother on my wall with a caption of why she deserves a photo shoot. She will be entered into the drawing for a free family photo session to be given away Friday night!