Every couple of years I try to do a personal project to keep my creative juices flowing. A couple of years ago I did a project on motherhood. It was a tough project for me, but also very rewarding. I will post more about it as I put it all together in the next few weeks in a more cohesive manner. So when 2015 came knocking, I knew it was time for a new one. So I decided I wanted to do a portraiture project and I wanted it to be shot entirely on film and I wanted to photograph women in Austin that I know to be smart, strong, funny and beautiful. So I sent an email to just a few women I know who fit that bill and many of them graciously agreed to volunteer. I have photographed four of the initial twelve and I am having a blast. Here are just two of the beautiful Jaime. She was my first subject and very patient with me as I struggled to remember how to meter and expose different film stocks on different cameras, not to mention manually focusing with glasses for the first time. Jaime is not only incredibly beautiful (as you can plainly see here), smart and funny, but she is also a highly successful competitive Olympic weight lifter. She is also a coach at my gym and I take OLY with her once a week AND she coaches my two boys in a kid's class. So Jaime is a big part of our lives and I always say I want to be her when I grow up, even though she is 20 years my junior. She is wise beyond her years and she looks like butter melting when she lifts. If you want to follow the project, there is a facebook page and the Instagram name is austinwomen2015. For you fellow film geeks out there, these were shot on a Pentax645N on Fuji 800Z 220 (RIP) and were developed and scanned at the amazing FIND lab.
