WONDERFUL SHELLY

I’m amiss in my posting for my Over 50 Crowd. These women who came in and braved being in front of the camera when they were unsure, when they were insecure, when they’d rarely experienced coming away from a portrait session loving the images they were about to see. Enter Shelly…. Shelly came with her daughter to have someone cheer her on. We got her settled in the makeup chair, and got going with her Professional makeup session, and hair styling. Easy to chat with, an accomplished painter of furniture in the style of MacKenzie-Childs, she was warm and wonderful to get to know, and the hour passed by quickly, as it does when you have wonderful conversation.

When the time came to step into the next room, she was a little apprehensive but her daughter found some great music she liked and we streamed it through the speakers taking the edge off a little. Like so many of my clients, Shelly’s apprehensions faded as we began to shoot. We made our way through her outfits, but it was her last wardrobe change that spoke the most to me. She sat down, looked over at her daughter and said, “I don’t think I’m going to wear the shoes.” Immediately I said, “What shoes?” Her daughter responded with, “Oh I think you should!” I asked to see them, and they were without a doubt the cutest, coolest shoes I’ve ever seen. A pair of Chanel quilted hi top tennis shoes, in cream. I looked at them, and her cream outfit, and her blond hair and fairly tanned skin and told her she absolutely had to wear those shoes-she reminded me a bit of Kelly Preston. Still unsure, she put them on, and I begin clicking away. That turned out to be the best outfit of the day.

I was completely in awe of her being able to pull off that look-something I could never do-it would just look weird on me. But not her. Playful but adult, casual with elegance. Her smile and warmth just added to the whole picture. I’m so glad she came in to my studio.