Foundations of Black + White Class // Student Work

I love that I am a teacher. I love that I get to connect with brilliant souls from all over the world and make art together. 

I teach at The DEFINE School, where I've been for the last 6 years. I've been asked to move many times, but there's something about loyalty and also, it's nice to evolve in a space that supports you through all the awkward parts. It's like a friend who asked me to sit with them at lunch even when I had braces and a bad perm. They saw me and believed in me from the start, and being able to teach for them is sort of the best. 

Here is some incredible student work from this last month's class. I'm not lying when I say these human beings, who somehow find their ways into my online classes, make my creative world go round.

In January I will be teaching a revamped version of my very first class called Awakening the Spark. I'm only going to be teaching it once in 2017 so if you're feeling like you need a wake up call, this is the time to strike the match. 

Hillary Rain 

Jasmin Fragias

Josune Aizpurua

Josune Aizpurua

Josune Aizpurua

Kelly Lapp

Kelly Lapp

Khiara Doorley

I knew there was something special about Michelle… but there was no way for me to comprehend just how much magic she contained. I knew very little about black and white imagery before taking her class. I’d use it carelessly on photos with little to no thought or intention behind it. My world instantly changed with lesson 1 of her course. Each week she gently smoothed out our rough edges and helped refine our eyes to the beauty and intention behind black and white. It was life changing, soul-lifting. She has an incredible gift of challenging you but making sure you understand you’re not alone. I will forever be grateful for her wisdom and words. You must take this class. You deserve it.  
-Khiara Doorley
 

All I Want For Christmas...

Lily lost her two front teeth last week! Perfect timing! 

Of course I had to grab my camera and snap a few photos in the front yard after school. She wanted to sit on top of our light-up Christmas llama! I know these aren't like the river portraits I usually share on here, but I never want to forget this.  

B L A C K (AND WHITE) F R I D A Y

I love sales. But I only love really, really goooood sales. So this Black Friday, I'm offering 50% OFF all black and white editing presets in my little shop. This is my last sale of the year!

Use code THESALE and stop fighting with your photos! One-click editing is here and it's beautiful. 

All of the following images are by my beautiful, fierce and talented friend, Rachel Liu-Ballard, using my Story Waters presets for editing. I adore how they all have such a timeless, photojournalistic, emotional feeling to them.

Black and white will always have my heart. 

Ilsa + Baby James // A Mother Daughter River Story

I feel most powerful and beautiful when covered in mud, and clay and moonlight. River soaked hair and salty skin.

I thought I was the only one, but week after week, radiant women join me and say, "Me too," and this is everything.

Everything.
 

All in.

"...She will need her sisterhood." - Gloria Steinam

A week ago, before the big storm, in the woods of Wimberley, a sold out workshop gathered. We photographed women in rivers, women in the pouring rain, women nursing their babies. We ate made-from-scratch pastries and pizzas and soups and sang songs under the moonlight around a campfire. We supported and empowered and loved. Democrat, republican, foreign and domestic. Cuban and Native American and Chinese and English and French and... 

And after everyone left on the last day, I collected some of the ashes from the fire pit, rubbed a little on my face, and let the energy of it all settle on my skin. 

I don't know much about anything these days; it all feels inside out and upside down and cracked in half. But I promise you this: I believe in the power of sisterhood. 

There have been times when I have questioned my direction. I've wondered if I should just take photos of smiling families in matching outfits and play the game. But this is my calling. This is my heart and soul and inescapable truth. Years ago, I sold everything we owned and traveled this country in a trailer fighting with everything in my bones for the preservation of the female spirit. I filled 100 pages of a hardbound book with faces of everyday female heroines that I absolutely fell in love with. 

I BELIEVE IN US. I do. With every cell in my body and every star in my sky. And now, more than ever before, I am honored beyond words to continue to hold the space for this important and beautiful work. 

In a time of blinding uncertainty, I hold steady in the knowledge that we are unbreakable, as long as we have each other. 

Onward. All in.