Portrait Artist Blog

After moving to town, founder Dezrae Derksen realized she wasn’t the only one who wanted to develop a strong group of local ladies, and that ladies who’ve lived here for years wanted to mix up their experiences. So CampShe was born. 

Dezrae and I were introduced and we immediately hit it off over the phone talking about hosting an event together. I pitched an idea of some way to empower women while taking pictures and making them feel beautiful. Dezrae got excited as her mind immediately went to how she can integrate the two for her CampShe women. The women in CampShe earn "badges", much like girl scouts do, and she thought they could earn a "red lip", "eyeliner", "glam hair", and "catwalk" badge by participating in a night of learning, then they could walk down a red carpet Hollywood glam (Marilyn Monroe) style, and have their picture taken. We could then raise funds for Halo House, which is a new favorite charity for me, that I'll write about soon!

The night was so fun! Dezrae had makeup experts doing women's red lips, Cherry Blow Dry Bar doing hair, and even had a former model/catwalk coach teaching them how to walk down the red carpet fashion-style. 

Before the event, I studied for the best way to pull off the bright Hollywood lights setup. I had a beauty dish set up high behind me, a backlight on the floor behind them, and I tried to create shadows using a flash and a laundry basket, but that didn't pan out. That was ok, because I felt the effects of what I had going on were great as they were. During her shoot, you'll see that Marilyn had a bright light in front of her and some backlighting.

I "attended" an online photo conference the week prior, and one of the presenters lit his subjects in exactly this fashion, for exactly the same results, and I was super excited to try it out for myself. I perfected it in the studio a couple of days before the shoot, and it was ready to go that night. The women must have thought I was preparing for a space liftoff with all the equipment I had to bring! But, it was fun for them, they truly loved and enjoyed the pictures, and I enjoyed making them and raising a little bit of money for Halo House. 

Thank you, Dezrae Derksen, for allowing me to be a part of your special event! Here are few more of my favorite images below.