Some models make me exclaim “holy shit!”. Every time I work with them, I can’t believe what I’m getting.
Kari is one of those models.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but there’s more to modeling than just being pretty. There’s professionalism, there’s reliability, there’s flexibility, there’s passion, there’s creativity, there’s versatility, there’s hard work, but above all, there’s the way they move.
Photography is of course all about the STILL image, but you can tell you how well a model moves by looking at their work. The better they know how to move, the less a photographer has to do. With an exceptional model, you just point, shoot and occasionally suggest something.
The last time I shot with Kari, it was in a cemetery and I kept asking her to look really sad. This time, it was all about looking really cool and man could she pull it off! Kari has all the qualities I mentioned above in spades, plus she’s ultra nice. The complete package.
I hope I get to work with her many, many more times.
I’ll be honest. Death has been a great big part of my life. I’d say it’s hit close to home, but that would be a lie.
It hit home.
Twice.
So although I’m not one of those people who has some obscene fascination with death, it’s certainly something I’ve been intimately exposed to.
In fact, we’ve all had our brushes with death, whether by our own experiences (I fell through a roof once when I was about 15 – I remember not being able to breathe and thinking “I can’t breathe anymore. This is it. I’m gonna die.”) or because we knew people who died.
And I do want to point something out. I don’t like to filter the language in describing death. I don’t say “passed away” or “went to a better place”.
It’s death! It’s not supposed to be pleasant or easy to say. It’s tragic and it’s painful.
And so, with all of that comes the narrative of this series. The idea came to me in November of 2009 and I immediately knew I wanted to illustrate the quiet and lonely suffering we all endure when confronted with the death of a loved one.
Many thanks to Kari Hawker (model), Ashlen Saunders Duke (hair stylist), Shanda Palmer from FaseItMakeup (makeup artist) and AultoRest Memorial for allowing us to shoot there!!
