Tag Archive for 'beYOUtiful'

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beYOUtiful Sadie

Sadie is a stunning natural beauty. What I wouldn’t give to have her gorgeous skin tone and stunning brown eyes! We were super excited to meet Sadie after reading her beYOUtiful statement. And communicating back and forth with her to set her shoot up, I knew she’d be fun. But I think what I loved most about her is her down-to-earthness. (Is earthness a word? Probably not, but I’m leaving it.) She is genuine. And I LOVE that quality in a person!

She grew up in Alaska and met her husband while working for a catering company in an oil drilling camp in Wyoming (seriously, can her story get ANY better?!). She said she had no intention of dating a “roughneck” so when he asked her out, she turned him down. A couple of weeks later, she had a change of heart and asked HIM out. She said dinner was awesome and they’ve been together ever since!

When I asked her why she chose her specific beYOUtiful statement, she said that she just went hunting for the first time this past year and she loved it. I kind of wish she would have worn camo and orange to the photo shoot – and I DEFINITELY wish she would have brought a gun! (Other than those biceps of hers!)

This is what she said about writing what she did: “I really felt so strong when I was up on that mountain with my gun on my shoulder. I usually have my nails painted and for the hunt I kept them painted red because it just seemed right! I think sometimes being a lady gets put under the rug because it seems ‘old fashioned’ or ‘out of date’ but I was always taught to be a lady no matter what. Have manors, be polite and always stand up straight! So old school or not, I’m a believer of always being a lady! Even in orange with a gun slug over my shoulder!”

And I just realized – Sadie rhymes with lady! PERFECT!

Published on February 22, 2012 in Portrait. 2 Comments Tags: beautiful, beauty, beYOUtiful, women.

beYOUtiful Raylynn

We had a very beYOUtiful afternoon photographing campaign winner Raylynn! It was so fun. Raylynn is super cute, spunky and – just as her statement says – TRUE to who she is. She is a breath of fresh air!

Raylynn’s beYOUtiful statement resonated with a lot of you. I think that we, as women, really understand the idea of trying to stay true to who we are and not fitting into the “mold” that society seems to be constantly trying to create for us.

When we decided to do a photo shoot for every woman in the top 15, we knew that we wanted to make Raylynn’s shoot a bit *extra* special – since she was the actual winner! So instead of doing just a 30 minute shoot, we spent an entire afternoon with her. Raylynn hadn’t had pictures taken in 13 years – since she was a senior in high school. A travesty, right?! Every woman needs to be pampered with a photo shoot at LEAST once a year! :)

Raylynn is a TRUE fashionista. AND she’s a pro at changing in a car – the back seat of a Honda Civic, no less. It was impressive!

She wanted us to mention that every outfit she wore told a story. The yellow and blue outfit represented color and her love of life. She wore the black and white dress with the purple cardigan when she turned 30 and “conquered the world.” Hot pink is just that – sassy hot pink. The peach sweater and polka-dot scarf showed her hat side. And the Utes shirt was a must for this avid fan. When we asked Raylynn what she wanted to say for this blog post, she told us, ”I am who I am and love deeply even though that has meant some have been intimidated. But I say it how I know it and move forward in spite of my own insecurity and the nay sayers.”

You go, girl!

And with that, we present Raylynn’s winning beYOUtiful shoot:

Published on February 11, 2012 in Portrait. 8 Comments Tags: beautiful, beauty, beYOUtiful, headshots, portraits, women.

beYOUtiful Lyndsi

Remember Lyndsi’s beYOUtiful statement? “I am beautiful because my stretch marks are my medal of honor”

Having just had a baby myself, I (Cristi) could relate to what she said completely. We had a few entries about stretch marks, actually. (Apparently a lot of us women feel passionately about them!) But Lyndsi’s really resonated with me. When she was chosen as one of the 15 finalists, we never could have dreamed that her photo shoot would turn into something as magnificent and special as it did! It turns out that Lyndsi is a very talented singer/songwriter (check out her Facebook music page HERE) and her shoot showcased her talented and artistic side.

She sang to us while playing songs on the piano (one of them even brought Jessi to tears!). She serenaded us while playing the guitar. She sat by a window and did a little songwriting.

She also had her baby Owen with her and before she left, we snapped some shots of the two of them together, since her statement did have a little bit to do with him.

And finally, you can see in some of the shots that my little 2 year old Leo followed Lyndsi around like a puppy dog. He LOVES music. He wanted her to play the ABC’s on her guitar. Once she did (Side note: it was probably my favorite rendition of the ABC’s ever. Lyndsi – you need to make a recording of it. Side note finished.), he was mesmerized and Lyndsi had a true fan in Leo! Leo also was mommy’s photography assistant and when I was taking pictures of Lyndsi and baby Owen, he would say, “Owen! Smile! Owen! Owen! Smiiiiiile!” He’s a great helper! (I’m really grateful Jessi snapped those shots!)

Jessi and I truly LOVED shooting Lyndsi and her beYOUtiful, artistic, creative, talented self. We hope you enjoy looking through the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them!