once upon a time...

isn't that what every good story begins with?that's what this session is for me...an opportunity to tell a visual story meshing a myriad of things and people I love into one story.I mentioned early why I chose to tell this story...largely in part of a childhood infatuation with the oz story,and also, it ended up being a story very significantly woven into parts of my own personal family history...the question I've been asked a ton since posting the prelude a few weeks ago is this:

why?

I guess my answer of why not isn't sufficient enough...so if you care to read why...here is a few more reasons why... ;)from a young age I have always loved art...the idea that a specific medium had the ability to evoke emotion utilizing color, light, music, words, or movement mesmerized me and still does to this day.the form of art that I seem to gravitate towards lately is fashion...clothing that is well crafted, well draped...couture, if you will, intrigues me...and I love it.if you look at my pin boards you'll notice that fashion has been something that has peaked my interest for some time,but the obvious glare of what society declares is fashion and what I think is fashion seems to be world's apart at times.if you look up the hashtag #fashionphotography on any social media outlet, you'll notice the lack of clothing in 90% of the images.I'm in agreement with these posts that the body was fashionably made by a most creative Creator, but that's about all I'll agree with in societies definition of what fashion is.I enjoy being an artist and figuring out how to express that side of me...but the thing I love more than being an artist,is being a wife and more specifically in that role...I love being a mom to my kids...and in this case a mom to my daughter.you see, this session had quite a lot to do with my maddie...I'm constantly trying to teach her by example on what God says a woman should look/think/talk like...in teaching my daughter about what God says a woman should look like, modesty comes up on a regular basis.when I started thinking about who I would like to cast in this session, some of the characters came to me right away...lizzie has visually intrigued me since the pies and fries session...her sweetness is something she is well known for, but the shared love of fashion that she and I have made me realize right away that she would NAIL being the wicked witch.lauren is someone who I love tremendously and her features and beauty made her a perfect fit for being glinda...she's spicier than glinda in real life, but still...to me glinda had her name all over it. ;)joe is someone who I also find visually interesting...and let's just all be agreement...he has THE best mustache/beard combo around...I wanted my oz to be a little bit more modern and joe 100% fits the bill of a more hipsterish oz. ;)when I decided that I wanted to use girls for the three friends dorothy meets along the way, I immediately knew I wanted to use lauren taylor for the cowardly lion.I think I've talked about it before, but I'll share my weirdness again...when you meet someone for the first time, do you ever imagine that new person as an animal?no?it's just me?well, I do...I see birds in people I meet, I see wolves, bears, moose, mice, possum's, deer and yes, even lions.lauren taylor has always been a lioness to me...so naturally, I chose her. ;)the tin woman was momentarily a little bit of a challenge to cast,but I came back to a memory of an early senior session I had with hannah and a lightbulb went off when she came to my mind.she has very distinct, angular and stunning features...I knew that she could more than easily be transformed into a perfectly petite tin woman...and she did. :)tara was the easiest to cast with the help of my kristy. her dark features have been something I've LOVED photographing these past two years since I met her for a sweet sixteen session a few years ago. in wanting to create art, I kept coming back to crows and ravens that I wanted to incorporate to the scarecrows images and tara's beauty was the perfect balance to creating my version of the scarecrow...all of that casting came pretty easy...but when it came time to cast dorothy I got stuck over and over again...my aunt said it earlier today...I have a myriad of genetically blessed friends that I can pull from for when I want to create art...but dorothy had to be different in my mind.I have seen many renditions of the wizard of oz and dorothy always ends up being cast as a twenty something woman...in reading through my grandmother's books researching inspiration for this session...the thing I kept coming back to is that the writer originally wrote the part of dorothy as a child.but photographing children is not one of my strong points...and to be honest, I'm not around a lot of children that could be easily cast as a "dorothy"...well, the more I talked about my dreams in creating this session, the more my maddie would encourage and be excited with me.and one day it just clicked as I looked at my peanut.she was dorothy.the innocence that I thought the writer included in this character is something that my maddie has in spades...and the fact that she just turned twelve made her the perfect age in my opinion...not yet a woman, and a shadow of childhood still juuuust lingering...yup, she was my dorothy and I'm pretty sure she almost had a happy mini-heart attack when I asked if she would be interested.gosh, I love her. :)so yes, this session had quite a lot to do with my maddie...this session became a major opportunity to teach her first hand on how to incorporate the beauty that God has made with what I think is beautiful-while-still-modest fashion...add in the major benefit to spending the day with incredible, strong, godly men + women she see's on a regular basis,and then to dress these women up in these beautiful, well-crafted gowns and jewelry with the intention to tell a modern version of one of my maddie's favorite stories of all time...(although part of me regrets introducing her to coach, monique luillier + badgley mishka...the bar is now set ridiculously high) ;)yes, this session has turned into being a priceless life lesson to my girl and to I hope other girls in this industry...fashion doesn't mean having to take your clothes off.art should tell a story.and this story is close to my heart...this story is close to the heart of many of my loved ones...it makes me smile to "get-to" with many of my loved ones...so yes...once upon a time I got to spend the day with my girl and some of my favorite people telling the wonderful, timeless story of the wizard of oz...

once upon a time...

   if you've made it this far, chances are you're one of the many who worked to make this session happen...I want to make a few HUGE thank you's if you can last a few more wordy minutes... :)up there at 2:07 in the AH-MAZING video mason did (more about him in a minute)well, that's my yess...it's one of my most favorite shots of all time of the two of us.at the risk of making the haters gag at my loading her up (yes, I know you exist and I've decided I don't care) ;plet me tell you all publicly what a privilege it is getting to do a lot of this with her...not many sisters grow up, live in two separate states and still see eye to eye on most things in life and are able to mesh a similar love of photography into a part-time business together...but we do.and I'm so very thankful for it.she is my sister but she is also one of my all-time closest friends...and up there at minute 2:07 is her being her.what mason's film  doesn't show is that a few minutes before that part of the film I had had a mini-melt down and she was calming me down and helping me refocus on what matters...yup, she tells things like they are...pushes me to be better me and helps me muscle through the day to create incredible "get-to's"I love you, yess. you are the ying to my yang and I am so thankful God saw fit to allow us a season of life together even though we live thousands of miles apart. :)sammie.she texted me at six in the morning on the day of this session just to see if she could grab anything on the way over to help even though originally she wasn't going to show up until one-ish in the afternoon...she just knew I'd need help.she sat outside of a beauty salon for over an hour hanging out with a dog because we weren't sure steph would be cool having a dog inside the salon and she wanted to make sure everyone else was having a good time in the salon so she waited outside.she carried over 150lbs of bricks three times in 90 degree weather to make a yellow brick road in a cardigan and boots with a smile on her face.she put my spotify in her back pocket so that everywhere we went we would have happy music playing...the fact that it was in her back pocket makes me laugh still because it essentially meant the music was coming out of her behind. ;)while I had my mini meltdown at 2:07 and yess was giving me a pep talk, she and dani cleaned up every scene prior to the scarecrow so we wouldn't lose light and be able to get to the next location without even being asked.she suffered, not even remotely kidding, up to twenty bug bites while being at the next location laughing and asking to help amidst the swarm of mosquito bites.and she had the audacity to say THANK YOU to me the next day...I thought for sure our friendship would be over the next day.thank you sammie...I know that this list is only a fraction of what you did for me that day.I love you and am so thankful for you.mason, dani, kiana, kristy, mirielle, all the models, steph, lucy, jess, monica, debbie, ashley...you all amaze me with your talent, sweat, creativity and ability to dream with me. I say it and I mean it...tremendously...this dream that has been stuck in my head for a year COULD NOT HAPPEN without all of your help.thank you.it genuinely seems like small words...but thank you.and to everyone who has commented, texted, messaged, emailed, called, prayed, encouraged me this past month...thank you.I don't do what I do for a pat on the back from you all...but gosh, it feels nice to be encouraged in that way.I mean it when I say it means a lot to me when I write you back...it does.thank you. :)photographers: kreatid photography + design | elizabeth ann photographymake up artist: ideal bridalhair stylists: steph, jess + lucy at savante salonnail technician: debbie at savante salonfloral: everybody loves flowersstyle coordination: ashley blunt styling and designvintage books: helen cantrellassistant’s: sammie zimmerman, kristy fulbright, dani gailfus, kiana kernssnack caterer and best mom in the world: jan stammdorothy’s dress: mod clothdorothy’s earrings: kate spadedorothy’s shoes: coachglinda’s dress: pamella rolandthe wicked witch’s dress: monique lluillierthe wicked witch’s feather cowl + hat: kreatid photography + designthe lion’s dress: badgley mischkathe tin woman’s dress: badgley mischkathe tin woman’s acccessories: chamak by priya kakkarthe scarecrow’s skirt: kreatid photography + designthe scarecrow’s accessories: mod clothvideography: MG Filmsdorothy: maddie driesbachoz: joe slaterglinda: lauren witherillthe wicked witch: lizzie englishthe lion: lauren taylorthe tin woman: hannah macquirethe scarecrow: tara yurichtoto: lilly johnston