« the bloggess and her red dress »
About a month ago, my friend Jenny called me. "Hey. I have an idea."
I love Jenny, but the truth is her ideas make me nervous.
"What's up?" I asked, tentatively.
"I'm going to be getting this amazing red dress, from an independent designer here in Texas," she said. "And I want you to photograph me in it, for a blog post I've been mulling about writing: it's on the theory that every woman should own an outrageous red dress, one that makes her feel beautiful. Would you do it?"
Are you kidding?
"Are you kidding?" I answered. "I'd be thrilled to. Where do you want to shoot?"
"In a graveyard."
Of course.
So this morning, at daybreak, I met Jenny in this incredible cemetery -- the one where Howard Hughes is buried. And risking public indecency, Jenny changed right there, out in the open, into her beautiful red dress.
And I started shooting.
And because she's Jenny, she asked me to take a shot of her looking like we'd stumbled on a crime scene. I obliged ...
... but the truth is that Jenny is one of the most alive people I know. While online Jenny is outrageous and irreverent and perhaps even a bit frightening, she is also a brilliant writer, a fiercely loyal friend, and one of the kindest people I have ever met.
And I have a theory of my own: people who are kind, who actually actively seek out ways to do good every single day of their lives, people like, well, Jenny, exude beauty. They do it without intending to, without even trying. They can't help it. It's simple physics.
So if an outrageous red dress helps make people like Jenny feel as beautiful as they are, well, then, I'm all for it.
(Read Jenny's post here. And see the entire set here.)
Images: photographed with Nikon D300 and 70-200mm zoom lens
Song: Fever as performed by Joe Sample and Lalah Hathaway
Sun, May 23, 2010
Reader Comments (45)
Only you could make me feel pretty in an utterly unretouched photo with my hair in a pony tail.
You are amazing, my sweet friend.
These are fantastic! Incredibly gorgeous photographer, subject and perfect setting. You gals are goddesses!
Woah. I now covet my own superfabulouskickarse dress!!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. All of it - the photos, the colours, the lighting, Jenny and Jenny's cleavage.
I mean, that cleavage is darned amazing. Dude. Someone had to say it.
BEEEEEEEautiful. Amazing.
Ahhhhh this reminds me of something Leo Buscaglia wrote about. A man whose wife had died ask Leo, if it would be all right to have his wife buried in a red dress. Seems she'd always wanted a red dress and he'd never got her one and wanted to fulfill this wish for her. Leo's response went something like this: Why didn't you get that dress for her when she was alive?!
So glad Jenny got her red dress!! Beautiful woman, beautiful dress & beautiful shots.
Wonderful color, movement, energy. A beautiful series and an AMAZING dress.
That is a totally kick-ass dress and a beautiful woman inside it!!
Beautiful all around. Jenny's right every woman should own a red dress and they should have the courage to wear it and be photographed in it.
My favorite blogger photographed by my favorite photographer? This is like ... like ... like Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine going on tour together. No, wait, that's too hostile. It's like Seal and Sade going out on tour together (and, seriously, can you think of any two artists who should so totally go on tour together more than Seal and Sade?).
You lovely ladies rock, and make me wish we lived in Texas ... you know, if Texas was in Philadelphia. But you get the point.
PS: Karen, I have a pretty red dress that I would LOVE to have you photograph me in ... as long as we keep the pictures private, of course. (No one else will see this note, will they? I hope not.)