Boudoir Day (1) 2016!!! - May 1, 2016 at Hotel Ruby Marie

For the first time in 2 years, I am hosting a "Boudoir Day" Marathon Event. This 5-person only event will take place at Hotel Ruby Marie in Madison, Wisconsin on May 1, 2016. These sessions are back-to-back and include 30-45 minutes of photography, professional hair and makeup, a $50 product credit and more! This event is so much fun, and boudoir is my favorite subject matter to shoot ever. I firmly believe that every woman should have some boudoir portraits done in her lifetime, the experience is empowering, and you deserve to #treatyoself.

The following timeslots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis:

• 12:30-1:45 (OPEN)
• 1-2:15 BOOKED! (A.F.)
• 1:30-2:45 (OPEN)
• 3-4:15 (OPEN)
• 3:30-4:45 (OPEN)

For more information on pricing, what's included, and booking...please email me at ylimesotrab@gmail.com with the subject line Boudoir Day. 

These events have filled extremely fast in the past, so get your spot today! You will look beautiful, and you won't regret it!

xx emily

Boudoir Day 2016!! Mark Your Calendars for MAY 1st!!!

 

 I've booked a professional makeup artist and hired a few awesome helping hands, and I am so excited to bring you (FINALLY) another Boudoir Day marathon event!!!

What is a Boudoir Day event, exactly? These events are back-to-back photo shoots in one location, with one team, in one place. Session fees include a half hour of shooting, hair and makeup, and other goodies at a special discounted rate apart from regular, individual sessions. To learn more about boudoir photography, visit my site here.

I've booked a beautiful room at Madison, Wisconsin's little gem Hotel Ruby Marie and will have 5 slots available for the afternoon that fine Sunday. Without revealing too much, sessions do include professional hair/makeup as well as special product rates and offers.

For the time being, I am just announcing the date and the place. My team and I are still working getting some details together and we plan to have the time slots set up in order to officially announce the event and start booking NEXT WEEK! For now, this is our little "Save the Date" as you will....

BOUDOIR DAY 

Where: Hotel Ruby Marie (Madison, WI)

When: May 1, 2016 (We start shooting at 1pm)

***PLEASE FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER INFO AND BOOKING***  

On a personal note, I'm really excited to hold one of these events after 2 years in school and other business ventures and projects. Shooting boudoir has always been my favorite type of photography, and it is so amazingly rewarding for myself and especially my wonderful clients. I can't wait to share with you all the awesome things we have up our sleeve for this event. Hopefully this is just the beginning of more magical, wonderful things. 

xx emily 

Meltwater - 2/20/16

Forgetting to purchase a State Park sticker prior to a planned hike typically means a change of plans. Therefore, Tobias and I had to settle on a State Natural area for Saturday's hike.

It was a rare fifty degrees in February this particular Saturday, which is typically unheard of for a Wisconsin Winter. This particular winter had been fairly mild, but the sudden rise in temperature was a welcome surprise. I had seen freshly fallen snow in a dusty blanket at my feet on Wednesday, but the Lodi marsh turned back into its namesake with the spring-like weather. With mud almost to our ankles at points, we trekked for a couple hours with the dog taking in the quiet.

If you looked down, you could see the earth coming back to life again, and meltwater trickling across the trail. It carved the ice into unique formations that were reminiscent of glacial canyons. With my camera handy, I captured these organic designs. To me, these images couldn't be processed in anything but black and white.

Through the photographs, I saw two series. Here is the second, in color, and these are simply about hiking with a dog.

Briefly, in Mid-February - 2/17/16

Classical symphonies, sonatas, and fugues cracked over the radio of a Dodge Caravan en route thirty minutes outside of the city. Time was precious, but so was getting in a quick hike on a rare sunny Wednesday during one of the coldest months in the Midwest.
My friend Chris and I took our cameras on a simple little jaunt through a small section of snow-filled landscape. The groundcover was loose,  powdery, and often glittering; and offered some traction over the slick layers of ice beneath the snow on the trails. Across the snowscape, we noticed tracks of deer, rabbits, hikers and their happy canine companions. We had been here many times before, and in fact Chris was the friend who had showed me this place many years ago.

Because duty called, it was a quick walk. All the times I had been to Indian Lake, I had noticed some ruins of an old homestead across the street from the entrance. A passerby on the trails earlier had mentioned that the spot was seemingly popular to photographers.  I think the best way to capture the rubble was against a stark white landscape and a cornflower blue sky. I do not know the identity of this property or to whom it once belonged, but there were once humans here making a life for themselves. To think about that and who they could possibly be, is almost enough to know about this space and its history.

 I discovered a wonderful gallery of icicles that had formed behind the shed or barn (the more intact of the two structures). As photographers, we reacted to these formations like we were children at a zoo gazing at some exotic creature. These are just collections of frozen water to many, but they are an artistic opportunity to paint with light and shadow by the use of lenses to us.

 

Monster #14 - 2/15/16

This monster is the third in a set of "real-life" monsters illustrated with Prismacolor pencils (my favorite). Who could forget Bigfoot?

Also commonly known as Sasquatches, these creatures have been debated as hoaxes, myth, and hopeful reality. They are the beloved subject of popular culture such as the television series Harry and the Hendersons, as well as many other shows, movies, games, books, and more. I recently saw a Bigfoot Ale in the beer section of the grocery store. Clearly, as a population, we are mystified by the possibility of mysterious, giant ape-like creatures roaming our forests.

There is a certain lack of evidence of Bigfoot to where most scientists rule all film evidence and footprint casts as hoaxes. It's easy to say that we've dressed our best friend up in a gorilla suit and had him saunter around in front of the camera when there's never been a solid discovery of this monster. Believers argue that these creatures are somewhat endangered, and intelligent to a point that they know they can hide in solitude and be somewhat unknown. I try to think of the first captured bigfoot, and what a parade it would be...and for the captive bigfoot being on display and prodded by scientific instruments--that is no way to live. Perhaps they know better to stay away, and remain out of sight.

If they are real, I can't blame their decision to lay low.

Monster #13 - 2/8/16

Everyone has heard of the Loch Ness Monster, or otherwise lovingly and famously known as "Nessie." Loch Ness is a lake in the Scottish highlands and it's alleged beastly inhabitant could be a hoax, a surviving plesiosaur, a glitch on Apple Maps, or something else entirely. This urband legend of the mystical creature has not entirely been debunked.

As for me, I odon't know what I believe. The lake is supposedly pretty murky, so really, there could be anything in there. I know for certain I would not mind a surviving dinosaur on this planet.

This "Nessie" was created with use of Prismacolor colored pencils on Arches paper.

Happy Monday,
xx emily

Monster #12 - 2/1/16

Happy Monday (or, uh, Wednesday)! For the month of February I am focusing on drawing with Prismacolors--one of my longtime favorite mediums that I have not explored in a long time. I also have decided to depict traditional monsters this month.

This first February monster is the famously known yeti. I decided a notorious snow monster was an appropriate subject as we are still in the thick of a bitter, cold winter here in Wisconsin.

Yeti are a Bigfoot-type monster or "abominable snowman" that are rumored  to wander the Himalayas of Tibet. The yeti that were of reported sightings are similar in appearance to Bigfoot: reddish-brown in color and standing upright. I decided to go with a more "snowy" looking version of this creature that is often depicted white in the media and popular culture.

Hopefully I'll get next week's monster done on time 😊 I underestimated how long these drawings take. Oh well, live and learn I suppose.

xx emily