And in a Breath...

To be free...

2011-09-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Lighter 1.1 Contest

2011-08-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

STEP 1: Go to The Photo Studio Group's contest site

STEP 2: Vote for Jakob - voting is on the right hand of the screen.

Please, and thank you =]

Sometimes I wonder if there is a market in cat photography...

2011-07-15T02:59:00.001-07:00

...although that's probably just the crazy cat lady in me talking....

2011-06-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

2011-06-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

We are trees.

2011-06-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

so that we can run away, and never grow old

2011-06-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

Summer = Photo adventures!

2011-06-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

The one of the left is by Jakob

Our awesome new model Josh, who I'm sure you'll see much more of in the future...

These are courtesy of the lovely Paisley:

My favorite from the day:

Cutest kitten in the world.

2011-06-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

'nuff said.

Until the sun rise up

2011-05-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Today was a fantastic, early morning with the amazing Rob, Paisley, and Gracie.

We all woke Rob up at 6 am and began hiking out in one of our favorite parks to shoot in the sunrise light.

And let me just tell you... IT WAS GORGEOUS.

I always say this, but it's true: I'm so lucky to know such amazing people. Rob and I decided to shoot this morning while hanging out last night at 8:30pm, so we texted these fabulous girls - and they both said yes! Who do you know who is willing to go trek through thorns and mud and vines and crazy bugs to take pictures at 6-in-the-freaking-morning, on only 10 hours notice? That's what I'm sayin!

Gracie and Rob go way back, but Paise and I met her for the first time today. Such an awesome girl!

Goofing off:

Rob was shooting too, so check his Flickr and Facebook often to see his pictures when they go up. I got a sneak preview, and they are AMAZING.

Ps, Rob likes to shoot strange places... like ice cold creeks.

I love living so close to such amazing parks. Since I grew up in the country, it's really difficult to live in the city sometimes - I miss the forests and open fields. I miss the space, the air, and the sky. The sky was amazing today, and it was so wonderful to walk around this park.

Everyone took pictures, including Paise and Gracie.

In all it was a brilliant time. Some more shots:

This one is one of my favorites from the shoot. So pretty!

So far my resolution to shoot more this summer is working, and paying off. I'm pretty excited to see what else comes up this summer...

Paiselnut and Facebook

2011-05-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

I HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE FOR MY PHOTOGRAPHY.

You should really go "like" it.

Last night Paisley and I went for a super last minute sunset photo shoot.

I'm so lucky to have such beautiful friends!

Oh, and look out world, you have a new photographer on your hands!

CHITOWN baby.

2011-05-06T14:04:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday Jakob decided that he should go to Chicago for a photo conference on Thursday.

Yeah spontaneity!

He also decided that I should come along for the ride. Hey, free vacation? I'm down.

photo by Jakob

Hotwire + iPhone = Super cheap reservations made same day from the car as we drove through Indiana.

27 floors up and right on the loop, we had a sickkk view!

We both, like the photo nerds we are, discovered that the lighted mirror in the bathroom was basically a ring light. Look at those catch lights!

The windy city lived up to its name, and was super gorgeous with all the spring blooms.

photo by Jakob

We basically wandered around and were super touristy...

P.S. If you were wondering how Jakob spent most of his time, the photo directly above and to the right is a good indicator.

We had lunch with Jakob's good friend Molly, but I didn't get any pictures of that because he still had his camera (I stole it for the majority of the trip), so here are some pictures of us walking. Cool, huh! ;]

Big city, little Rachel

photo by Jakob

Then he went to the conference and I went to take photos and shop. Except that I have (literally) no money, and then it started to pour.

This morning we had a really tasty (and ridiculously sugary) breakfast at a bakery, so freakin good.

Definitely looking forward to at least one more Chicago trip before the end of summer!

Assisting Jakob

2011-05-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

So, as some of you may know, I sometimes assist for the amazing Jakob Skogheim Photography. Today was one such day, and we hammered out a solid 8am - to - 5pm photo shoot for Washtenaw Community College's new marketing campaign
(See Jakob's Facebook for some of his sweet outtakes.)

9 hours. My feet hurt.

Of course, during lunch I had to mess around with his camera (which is wayyy nicer than my crappy Rebel. I need an upgrade! Someone buy me a 5D mark II!), so I thought I would share some behind-the-scenes shots...

Here was the set up - it took forever to get it just right!

But it was so worth it when we did. I made Jakob model a bit for me:

And he spent the rest of the time editing or shooting. What a loser.

I basically helped out a little, and then took pictures of myself.

I'm completely lying, I'm actually a wonderful assistant. You should probably hire me.

Of course, the best part was the food.

Haha! No, but seriously. It was.

T-a-s-t-y

2011-05-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

So everyone agrees, I make super amazing fudgey brownies.

With raspberries and milk on a beautiful spring day, what could be better??

Hello Spring, Goodbye School and Winter and All Bad Things!

2011-04-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

GOODBYE WINTER! Goodbye school, and snow, and -15 degrees, and being plowed into my driveway, and sun-less-ness, and being super tired, and never seeing my friends or taking photographs!

HELLO SPRING! Hello outdoor concerts, and sunshine, and bicycling, and running (outside!) and sidewalks, and grass, and long days, and warm nights, and water and friends and lots and lots of photographs!

It's been so long!

2011-03-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

I have a cute new boyfriend. His name is Jakob (like you didn't see that coming).
I will update for real soon. For now, deal with this cuteness:

GLR!

2010-07-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night we leave for the Great Lakes Relay, which I'm really stoked about. When I get back it'll be the beginning of the Ann Arbor Art Fair! Which is fun times, but really crazy at work. I'll be back for about 3 days, then it's off to WAM. Then when I get back, I have to start getting ready to move into my new apartment! Woot! I'm tired just thinking about it.

I probably wont really be able to update much until after WAM, so I thought I'd leave you with two photographs I took in my Advanced Studio class last semester. I was really uninspired by the shoot, and it was such a big disaster on so many different levels, that I basically shelved the photos and forgot about them until I had to put together my final portfolio. When I revisited them, I found these two gems...with a bit of help, they turned out to be some of my favorite photographs for the class. Something about the lighting, and the gestures of the leaves really struck a chord with me, and they mean a lot to me about the role of nature in my life, and in my past and personality.

The whole debacle really taught me to never throw away a photograph, because you don't know how you'll feel about it later. Which is a specified aspect of my continuous journey to learn to be less hasty with my judgments.

Also, never give up or anything, which is something I need to keep in mind this weekend, and throughout WAM. Sometimes things can surprise you, when you least expect them.

(The edges on these copies are a little sloppy, I promise they were cleaner on my finals!)

New Spot!

2010-07-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

I'm officially 21! The Tour de France has officially started! WAM is in less than 3 weeks!

Summer is speeding by, but I managed to find a new favorite location. Ch-ch-check it out:

I love my Paisley =]

(Jakob took)

Also, we are indians!
*in a non-offensive, totally respectful, fun kind of way.

SUMMER!

2010-06-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

Its crazy to think that its so close to the end of June! Summer is almost a third over. Even though I've been having a fantastic time, I'm not dreading school starting up again like I did last year. SO much has changed for me, even in the past few months, I feel so different. Older, too; speaking of which, 5 DAYS UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY!

So here are the happenings. I (temporarily) deactivated my Facebook, which has been so liberating. I'm planning on reactivating it at the end of summer, but for now I'm happy and Facebook-free. There haven't been too many photo shoots, but a snagged snapshot here and there, these ones of Rob I really love:

Em and I have been hanging out more, I've really missed her, this crazy school year took up all my time!

Rachel K. and Calie came to visit!

And of course there have been lots of visits with Paisley!

one of which involved redecorating our apartment...

(My friend Scott took these next two)...

Summer soccer!

I got the most massive bruise at DEMF, which has finally started to heal!

Jakob and I went on a photoshoot with my Nick Wisda shirt, and found the most massive mushroom!

Other than that, life has been all about working, my summer math class (who in their right mind takes a summer math class, really?) running, biking and socializing. I'm crazy busy, but there's been talk of some photo shoots coming up... we shall see!

The Nick Wisda Shirt!

2010-06-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

While at Washtenaw, I had the awesome privilege of meeting some really amazing people. Nick Wisda is an AMAZING photographer (seriously, check it), who was working for a time with the company OkSkate. He designed a shirt of some of his photographs for the company, which is just straight up wicked.

When the company got started, they offered a free t-shirt to all of the fans on their Facebook page, if you just emailed them your address and size. When I got my package in the mail, I was STOKED - I got the Wisda shirt!

Jakob is super jealous (he didn't get one) so after a fair amount of bragging, I let him borrow it to model for me:

Don't ask what he's doing in the second photo, I don't know.

Nick Wisda, you freakin rock. Thanks for the shirt! I'll be reppin your work all summer.

*The photos of me are courtesy of Jakob Skogheim Photography, which is also ballin'.
Rumor has it that Jakob taught Nick everything he knows....

Life After The Gala

2010-05-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Life after the gala has been... interesting. The first few nights afterward I still had a ton to do for my Studio class, so I couldn't really sleep anyway, but after I took my final exam and everything was done, I still couldn't sleep. It took about a week and a half before I wasn't waking up at 4 am, and now I'm exhausted all the time. Partially is from my training, and I think the other part is just the semester catching up to me. To try and relax and get back to normal, I took a trip out to the west coast of the state to visit my good friend Tamara, and I actually took some pictures (for FUN!)

Now I'm back, and back in classes, but no more photography classes for a while. This summer I'm really going to try to tap into my creative side again, and do things that aren't just for assignments.

To kick off this new stage in my life, Rob, Paisley and I went on a photo-location-scouting adventure this week in the Mataei Botanical Gardens at sunrise, and it was beautiful.

Rob took this one:

Expect to see some more pictures from here in the very near future, I really loved this place.

Don't so much love my 7 mosquito bites though!

I'm really back logged on photos right now (there are some shoots from JANUARY that I still haven't gotten to!) so I will hopefully post a few catch-up photos soon, so my friends don't kill me for taking so long. In other news, this weekend is DEMF!! My favorite weekend of the year =] Last year I took some pretty cool photos there, so hopefully this year proves just as photogenic!

The GALA!

2010-04-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying that I have the most amazing best friend there is. Jakob Skogheim, an AWESOME photographer, has done so much in helping me get all of this together, that I really could never thank him enough. I don't know what I would have done without him. He is a wonderful person, and a very talented artist. He is open for commercial and portraiture photography jobs, and he loves to assist, so go hire him =]

He also models on the side, but you didn't hear it from me!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

On to the actual entry:

Wow. Years of shooting, months of prepping, weeks of printing, hours spent getting ready, and it's over. The next day facebook was flooded with "What now?" status messages, we're all so dazed to actually be DONE.

Well, luckily for me I'm NOT done (hehe), still have a final and a portfolio for my studio class, due Monday. Oh, and a TON of paperwork. Eek.

The day started out EARLY - 4 am for me. Jakob came over at 9am and we went to go set up, like a BOSS

it was weird, having my WHOLE LIFE in a laundry basket in the backseat

We got there wicked early, and Ben, Kent and I dominated the back corner of the room with our SWEET tables:

Mine:

Ben:

Kent:

We were kicked out at 11am so they could do the judging; we get our results on Monday, so we have to wait the ENTIRE WEEKEND to find out how we did! I ended up spending a bit of the time in between getting ice cream with Jakob, and then getting ready - I even put on make up! Which can be a big deal if you know me =]

Then it was back to school for the opening of the show. I was asked by the amazing Mike Wilkinson to *star* (my clip is probably 5 seconds long haha) in a video about the program, which was really fun! I felt pretty fabulous. Then all of the people came flooding in, and the show started.

It actually went on a LOT longer than it was supposed to, we didn't even start packing up until 8pm! I spent most of the night at my table, there were SO many people, and I think I saw someone I knew at least every 5 minutes. I gave so many hugs! I even got to meet the INCREDIBLE Jennifer Illene, who I have been Facebook/Flickr stalking for a while now. I got all tongue-tied when I saw her, hope she doesn't think I'm too crazy =]

Then it was time to go, and I was definitely ready to after 4 hours in heels! We took a bunch of silly pictures, packed all of my stuff back up, loaded into Jakob's truck, and drove back home. Woot! What a day.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out, it meant SO much to me. I still have some buttons left, so if you'd like some definitely get at me!

P.S. Many of the photographs on this page were taken by Jakob Skogheim or the marvelous Amy Lee. Mad props!

TODAY!!

2010-04-28T01:34:00.001-07:00

Comprehensive coverage of the biggest event OF MY LIFE, coming soon =]

**I'll be tweeting all day today, so make sure you keep posted on the craziness!

Finalizing the details

2010-04-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

TWO DAYS UNTIL THE GALA!!

Got a new and improved resume, and I must say, it looks pretty spiffy. It should be available on my website soon, so if you're looking for a cute assistant, make sure to give me a call =]

And did I mention that my website is up and running?? It's not quite done yet, so expect some updates to it in the next few days, but it's lookin pretty snazzy if I do say so myself.

My business cards came, which I am REALLY disappointed with. I used Next Day Flyers, and the quality was terrible. The edges on the cards are snagged, uneven, and flaky; it looks like someone cut them with a dull blade! To their credit, their customer service was really amazing, and they promised to ship new cards asap, but they aren't supposed to come until WEDNESDAY (the day of the gala!!) so that was a bit more stress than I really needed this week.

My buttons look great though, and everyone really loves them. I did them at Busy Beaver, and they came REALLY fast, I was surprised. I printed out cards with my information on them, and my friend Anna and I hole punched and pinned the buttons onto them - all 200 of them!!

Ollie likes them too =]

Well, I was able to take work off tomorrow, so I will be working hard all day finalizing everything, printing extra resumes and making everything perfect. I'm having large prints made, so that should be fun to see too.

And once again, if you haven't heard, there's this really cool art show at WCC on Wednesday, April 28th. It's going to be amazing, it's free, and it's from 4:30-7pm so stop by whenever you have time. I better see you there!

11 days!

2010-04-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

Uhm, WOW. So I've been doing work like crazy to prep for the gala, and it's really starting to pay off! Here's a look behind the scenes of the past few weeks:

Well, I've basically been living at Jakob's house, and he's letting me use all of his photo stuff to put together my portfolios. Its amazing how much of a difference it's made in my work flow (and stress level!) to be able to work outside of class. Here's the basic set up... workspace / prep / print / cut :

I printed my first portfolio to fit a 11x17in screw post book with full bleed pages. It's been a ton of work, but yesterday at about 1 or 2 AM I finished!!

Here's a sneak peak, but you'll have to come to the gala to see more!

Also, my button pins came!

Only 11 days left!!

I better see you there.

Aubrey and Caitlin's Studio Sess

2010-03-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER week, gone! Wow, the gala is in just one more month!!
I've got a couple of really sweet shoots coming up in the next two weeks, so keep an eye out for new stuff soon.

Today I shot with a graphic designer, Aubrey, from Washtenaw's program for a studio assignment.
She brought in her best friend Caitlin to model... crazy girls!

Aubrey had a ton of great ideas, which made the whole process much easier. Sneak peak, check it:

some behind the scenes action...

Thanks again guys!

St. Patty's &tc.

2010-03-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

So this week has been a whirlwind. With all the work I've been pumping out for my classes, I decided to take a little break from shooting, and I haven't done ANY photography at all. It was a nice break, but I'm ready to get back to shooting.

St. Patrick's day was a blast, my first bike ride this year! It was a gorgeous 65ish degrees out, and Ember and I delivered cupcakes to people all day.

My ride was a great, albeit slow, 25 miles, but I realized my bike's back tire's valve is broken, so the tire just isn't holding air anymore. That means I need to replace the tube, and with how tight my schedule (and budget!) has been lately, that can't happen for a little while. Oh well, guess it's back to running for another week.

On that note though, I received an email from a woman shortly after I blogged about WAM. She works for a company called Hotels Combined, which is kinda like an Expedia and Trip Advisor travel site, that combines consumer reviews with the ability to make reservations at hotels and for flights. It's pretty cool, and to promote themselves they are doing an AWESOME thing: for every person that "spreads the word" (becomes a fan on Facebook of their page, tweets or blogs about them) they are donating money to one of several possible charities. Get this, one of those charities is Make-A-Wish! They've already donated over 10 THOUSAND DOLLARS, so check 'em out, if you have a blog, facebook or twitter, help spread the word and raise some money!! They make it pretty easy, click it:

I recommend HotelsCombined.com and sent $20 to Make-A-Wish!

You can shout and help too.

Chi-town

2010-03-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

We finally got our internet back up and running, so I thought I'd throw up some photos I took last weekend in Chicago. I wasn't really trying to take "photographs," I was just snapping shots, but I liked the way some turned out anyway.

Dan came home for spring break this week, so we went out to see Matt in Grand Rapids. From there we all drove down to Chi-town to go to a concert and visit some friends down there. While we were there, we got pretty touristy...

...and goofy...

The boys were great sports, as always, letting me take pictures of them all day,

Kelcie was gorgeous, so I snapped a few of her too. She was a great sport, even though I had just met her that day.

We all had a fantastic time, and the concert was sickkk. I left my camera behind for that however, so I could dance =]

I'm so backlogged with photos right now, it's really getting crazy. I've got at least 3 shoots I still need to edit, and I'm working on my business cards right now. I'm also working on my portfolio for school, so expect to see glimpses of those in the next couple weeks too. In the meantime, shooting will be on hiatus, this week is filled with school and work. Hopefully another trip out the Grand Rapids next weekend!

doin' WORK

2010-03-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

WOW. The last 2 weeks have been crazy. Here's a quick overview:

(some of these pictures aren't quite finished yet, but I didn't want to get too far behind!!)

I had the awesome opportunity to photograph one of my favorite people, Steve Schriemer. Check out his music!

I finished off the last of Jakob's set from last month, with his "character" shoot....

I also discovered that his (newly painted!) wall makes for a pretty sweet backdrop

Ember and I went for a quick session before work one day

I absolutely ADORE this one:

And lastly, a sneak peak at Laura's set from yesterday:

more coming soon!

In the meantime, Chicago tomorrow with the boys!!

Spring is in the air!

2010-03-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! Life has been crazy lately, it's definitely the middle of the semester, and everyone's really starting to feel the crunch. During my last seminar class, my teacher broke it down for us - of the 15 week semester, we have 7 weeks left.

Holy. Cow.

I am absolutely buried in school work, but I feel really good. I've been shooting A LOT (expect to see some updates in the next couple days!) and working a ton. Today marks my 5th day in a row working (8 hour shifts) and I've got 2 more shifts before the week is out. The good news is that I've got Saturday and Sunday off, and I'm planning on going to Chicago and Grand Rapids with some friends, and hopefully do a couple shoots while I'm out there. Should be a great time!

I've been running again, and I'm so glad that Spring finally seems to be breaking through this winter haze we've been in. I'm training pretty hard, getting in some miles before I can start biking again for WAM. It's pretty energizing, too. Oh! I also just finished reading a really great book, called Running with the Buffaloes, by Chris Lear. Lear spent the 1998 fall Cross Country season with the Colorado Buffaloes, documenting their trials and tribulations on their way to the NCAA National Championships. It's really a fantastic book, I would definitely recommend it if you have a background in running. There's a lot of technical information, and a lot of times and training rhetoric, so I wouldn't recommend it if you're not already obsessed with the sport!

Anyway, time to get some sleep. I've got a shoot tomorrow, hopefully a pretty crazy photo adventure before work on Thursday, and this big Grand Rapids/Chicago excursion this weekend, so keep checkin back for more updates.

Make-A-Wish and the WAM

2010-02-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

Every July I participate in a 300 mile bike ride over the course of 3 days to benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation. It's called Wish-A-Mile, or WAM. It's actually their biggest fundraiser, thousands of people come out every year to ride and raise money. Last year we raised over $1.5 MILLION dollars!!

In order to raise the $750 it takes to ride, I'm having a photo-drive. I'm selling prints of any photograph (except for my fine art composites) on my Flickr, Facebook, or on here. It's $7 for a 4x6, $10 for a 5x7, and $25 for an 8x10. All the proceeds will go to help Make-A-Wish! The donations can be made with cash or check, and given to me in person, or with credit on my website for the ride.

I just started the sale a day ago, and I already have my first order!! Thanks so much to Brittany, for kicking it off. I was really surprised, she chose an old photo (funny that 2008 seems so long ago now!) but the print came out really nice and, if all goes well, I'll be mailing it off tomorrow. Hope you like it, Brittany, and thanks again!

Sorry for the terrible picture, but I just had to show the first print!

**If you are interested in making a donation, but would rather not order a print at this time, I would greatly appreciate your support. Anything helps, even if you can only spare a dollar. Contact me in person, or simply make a donation on my website. Thank you again.

I'm in Detroit, trick. 02/20

2010-02-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

So this Saturday, the guys and I decided to do a little exploring in Detroit. Rob had been here before, and I've always wanted to go, so we decided to take our cameras and check it out. I think my entire portfolio is going to be made up of these two boys (and Grace!) so I really need to diversify my models (email me if you're interested!!) but we still got some sick shots.

We made it up to the roof (more than 20 stories up!!) just before sunrise, and the city was beautiful from so far up.

With the blue, pre-sunrise light, everything looked apocalyptic...

Speaking of apocalypse... ZOMBIES!

Of course, the boys were there to model, so I put them to work. The Man Picture:

Then we started back downstairs, going to different floors and exploring

We found this one room with SWEET lighting, so I took a few creepy pictures:

"This is all very 'Twilight'" -Me

Finally, absolutely frozen and completely exhausted, it was time to leave. Goodbye, goodbye!

Thank you, Detroit. You were lovely.

Almost spring??

2010-02-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

So yesterday when I woke up in the SUNSHINE spilling all over my bed, I knew it was going to be a photo day.

(For those of you not in Michigan right now, it's basically been gray and cloudy and bleak for the past month and a half.)

So even though I already have 10,000 pictures of her, and I'm supposed to shoot new people for my portfolio, I couldn't help it; I called up Grace. She's my best girl, what can I say? We went downtown and took pictures at all the typical "Senior Picture" places on campus, because I've never shot there before.

Law library...

...law quad...

...another library...

...undergrad library...

And of course, being us, there is always a "RAWR" picture:

Guest Lecturer

2010-02-17T17:29:00.000-08:00

So today, Glenn Triest from Triest Photography came in to my portfolio class to lecture about his work, and gave us some advice about getting into the professional photography field. He talked a lot about what had changed over the years - he's been taking photographs since the 70s! He really experienced the transition to digital media, and it was interesting to hear his spin on it. It's been such an impacting thing for the field - both positively and negatively. For me, it's been very positive, I never would have had the opportunity to do this otherwise. But for others, like one of my professors, it's been his downfall. His knowledge, while extensive, is now archaic. He can't keep up with the technology, and it's leaving him behind, even though he was one of the top commercial advertising photographers in the film days. The man is brilliant, and now a dinosaur.

But back to Glenn Triest.

After the lecture we had a chance to sit down with him, go over some of our work, and get his feedback. What an opportunity! And yet, only a few of us really took him up on it. When it came my turn, he sat down and I showed him some of my environmental and studio work from the past year or so, and he really responded well to it. He said that I have a good sense for lighting, and I have a good eye. I was so happy!! Then I showed him my composite works, and he was really interested! He said that they were really unique, and interesting. He even suggested that I include them in my portfolio, that showing I had the technical and creative ability to create them would help me more than just my straightforward photographs. I'm still just so excited that he liked my stuff!!

Well, today has been fantastic. No new photos, but a much (MUCH) needed ego boost.

So I'll leave you with one more from my shoot Monday, it's probably my favorite.

Advanced Studio, 02/15

2010-02-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

After a mini-fiasco yesterday, I discovered about an hour before studio that I would have to shoot during class. Luckily for me, I have an awesome (and photogenic!) best friend, who came to the rescue. Check it:

After messing around with the lighting for a while, we found this sweet setup:

But of course we had to get the standard shots for my assignment too...

...but not without plenty of outtakes...