Credit Where Credit is Due

Credit Where Credit is Due

I've been blessed with a few friends at my school, and by few I mean a lot. 

But there are very few who actually ease my mind at the end of a long day. So for them, I just want to say thank you.

(These are in no particular order, by the way.)

 This is Skylar (left) and Cassie (right). They're like 2 red-headed twins who aren't related at all. I'm pretty sure they're both going to punch me in the mouth for posting these pictures, but whatever. Skylar is the sassiest person I've ever met, aside from myself. And Cassie is by far one of the most talented artists I know.  (Ask to see her mandala drawings, seriously.) I love being around them because at all times they're both either a) eating b) having wildly inappropriate conversations or c) being genuine 100% of the time. Obviously, all of these things are something I like to be a part of. 

This is Marie aka my Momma Bear. I don't think I could ever part with her. She's by far the sweetest person on this earth. Even on my worst of days, she greets me with a "Hiya hunny!" and scoops me up in a big hug. I'm pretty sure I could commit a horrible crime and she'd still treat me the same way- that's just who she is. She always pushes me to learn new things and reminds me that at the end of the day as long as I can sleep without a heavy heart, I've done right.

This is Kristina. I call her Crust-ina a lot because I tease her. I don't think I've ever met someone who works harder than her, honestly. And I'll be straight with you, she's rough around the edges and she's not for the faint of heart. But she speaks honestly and frankly, and you never have to guess with her. If you're being bratty, she will tell you you're being bratty. She keeps me in check when I get too big for my breeches and keeps me honest. If she moves away, I'm going to follow her. She knows I'm her creeper.

Stephanie (right). My resident arm twister, mentor, and friend. I can't tell you the amount of times she's said the words, "This is what you're doing". Stephanie is the less than silent force that drives me to do things out of my comfort zone and to strive for better than "enough". I'm not sure how many times she's talked me off the edge, I'm sure a lot. She gets my sass, which I appreciate since most people don't. And the more pregnant she gets, the more sassy she herself becomes. I think her belly is just growing sass. I have yet to see the ultra-sound picture that proves otherwise. If we aren't officially friends after I graduate, I'm just going to bug her (which I kind of already do, but whatever). 

Of course we know Kaylene, my red headed sister. Kaylene is from my original core class, and has been with me pretty much since day one. I don't think she knows I treat her like my sister. I've been straight up bratty to her, I will admit this- but I think it's because I've never had a sister and didn't know how to treat the honour. She's seen me at my best and worse and STILL wants to be around me- which says a lot about her character and persistence. I've been blessed to see her grow and mature into a really amazing person who always has my back. She once said to me, "I don't ever want to lose contact with you after we graduate". I don't think she knows that's my fear too. I love her to death.

Crystal, Crystal, Crystal. I think the funniest thing about our friendship is that we probably should have been friends way earlier. We come from the same town, and had the same circle of friends. We probably met once and just never thought twice about it. Crystal is by far the easiest friend I've ever made. This girl is a straight out bro who does anything she can for a bro. She is so strong and I appreciate everything about her. We text each other religiously and there's nothing that's off the table. She is my sister in every sense of the word. I love her so much.

And of course, Jae. My little Jae-bird.

I don't think I've ever met a stronger person who has the capacity for so much love and empathy. He genuinely cares about every word you say, and loves almost every person put in his path. I love everything about him. I don't think I would have made it through school without his support and affection. He keeps me sane and strong when my anxiety problems are at an all time high, and I do the same for him. There's a bond between us I can't explain but he's a big part of my life, whether he knows it or not. What he does know is that I'd walk on fire for him, and if I could pick anyone to be on my team, it's him. 

Plus, I mean, he's probably the most fabulous person I know.

-SamanthaK

You Too Can Do: Using a Diffuser with Natural Curls

You Too Can Do: Using a Diffuser with Natural Curls

I get a lot of questions concerning curly hair, but I'll do my best to cover a little bit of everything.

Here's what you need to know about curly hair:

-It's usually unpredictable.

-Typically the strands are dry.

-Don't panic, you can always re-wet it and try again. All you have to do is spray your hair with water or Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist, or sea salt spray and scrunch to bring you hair back to life.

So here we go:

Step 1: Use the right stuff. I have dry, fine hair with a high density. I used mostly moisturising products first so my hair would soak it up, but then followed it with the sea salt spray to help increase my natural texture without zapping out too much moisture.

Step 2: SCRUNCH the products in. Don't brush your hair unless you want to give yourself more work. I mean, you can if you want to- who am I to tell you how to live your life?

Step 3: Time for the diffuser. See those fingers on the nozzle? You're going to use them like actual fingers, and scrunch the hair upward.

Step 4: Use high heat but on a low speed to discourage frizz. Aim the nozzle upward to push the roots off your scalp and give you some legit volume. YOU'RE WELCOME.

Step 5: Leave your hair slightly damp, AND DON'T TOUCH IT. I'm serious. If you keep touching it, you will make it frizz. I'm watching you. No touching.

Step 6: Keep yourself busy so you don't touch your hair- arrange your bangs, fix any straight spots, do your makeup, and drink coffee. I don't know why my face looks so disapproving... probably because I know you touched your hair.

I'm challenging everyone out there to put down your flat irons and rock your natural curl.

-SamanthaK

A Hair Journey

My Hair's Journey in the Last Year

Yeah I know, all this stuff happened in a year.

As we all know, hairdressers are kind of fickle in the way of hair. Half the time the minute we try something on a client, we're like, "Holy crap that red turned out beautiful... I'm gonna do the same red on me".

Then we do a blonde, and suddenly it's like, "How many highlights can I do on myself?"

Then our blonde starts snapping off because we keep using too much lightener, and then the situation turns into, "Sweet Jesus that bob is cute... I need a haircut anyway, I'm hacking it off."

Yeah, things happen.

So here's what I've done to myself in the last year.

So, here's the funny story about this platinum monstrosity.

Before school started I really wanted to do something weird with my hair. For the most part it had always bounced between blonde and brown and always looked very normal. After watching wayyyyyy too many episodes of Game of Thrones and watching my boyfriend oggle one of the very blonde characters, I was like, "Yes, this is a good plan". Now, for people who don't know this about me- my hair can take a straight up beating. I lightened my hair way too many times and really should have fallen out, but it didn't. It actually stayed healthy. I don't know what's up with my hair. It is a freak of nature.

The second thing about me, I live in a house that has a well. Meaning, my hair turns straight up yellow in about a week or 2. Notice in the second picture it's yellow? Yeah. 

The saddest fact about all of this? I rocked that bleached out look for months.

Then I got REALLY tired of burning my scalp off every 2 or 3 weeks and added a bunch of lowlights. This was probably the prettiest my hair ever looked.

I rocked the high/low lights for most of core, the only thing I ever added was the red-violet streaks for fun. They looked really cool, I kind of miss them. Eventually I'll go back to this look.

Then my hair was starting to look pretty fried, winter was coming and I was very tired of the same look. So I grabbed Jae and was like, "Caramel, man. It's all about caramel." This particular look was some concoction he made where it's a mixed brown color and then he added darker lowlights in the front and my bangs. I still don't know the exact formula. But I rocked this for a good while. 

And then suddenly, like a bright light, everything was about the ombre. EVERYTHING. My life revolved around this ombre- and to be fair, it was siiiiiick. We made a bunch of colors and blended to make it look like everything bled into each other. It's probably one of the more subtle and pretty ombres I've ever seen.

But oh man, I wore the ombre for a looooooong time.

I mean, I get it, I added bangs and did tiny adjustments.

But it was all about that ombre.

Then for Florida I added lavender streaks. Which, by the way, was super dumb because like I said before- I live on a well. That lavender lasted about a week and a half before the yellow ripped it out.

By the way, I know you can't see the ombre very well in that picture, but I just wanted to add it because Brittany and I look super fly. She's a cool chick.

Then I started rocking the faux bob... kind of a lot actually. 

Which eventually made me hack it off to a very long bob. I kept the ombre because I loved it and everything about it.

Until I couldn't stand people asking about the ombre any more and I took it ALL out. I went for a color somewhere around my natural tone. Yeah I know, my hair is naturally ASHY and DARK. Suprised? You should be.

We added purple because, well, I can. Once the purple fades off, I'll turn it into red-violet for winter.

The haircut was also taken up by like 4 inches and got the crap thinned out of it.

This is me and Sam Burns, by the way. He's adorable and I admire his business savvy. Don't know who he is? The Mitch line for Paul Mitchell is his brain child. Impressed now? 

In case you can't tell, the right side is a picture of us being normal, and then the right side is us in a rap battle. I'm not even remotely kidding. 

Did I inspire you to cut all your hair off?

Good, call and make an appointment with me.

-SamanthaK

Photoshoots, am I right?

Photoshoots. Do's. Don'ts. Tips. Tricks. Etc.

So recently I did a photoshoot on my own to try and beef up my portfolio. Strange things occured.

So the original plan was to work with another friends of mine and use 5 models between us and alternate back and forth with one photographer.

Like most well laid plans- things fell apart and fast.

The photographer- one of my many awesome friends (Sarah) had a car problem and was stuck for several hours. The other girl who was going to do the models' hair had to leave early...and a lot of the models left with her.

In the end it was me, my good friend Jae (we remember Jae right?), Sarah, and 3 models- Janae, Abby, and Kayla- who are all school friends of mine.

Things went quickly out the window, and what was supposed to be a specific lineup ended up turning into whatever I could churn out and fast.

So, all in all it was a typical shoot. Things fall apart, models spin off the rails, whatever. This was probably one of the bigger tests of my sanity I've done in awhile.

SO HERE'S SOME ADVICE.

1. If you're going to work with friends, use people who either:

A) Are cool with whatever you're going to do

or

 B) generally have no opinion. 

I literally told everyone I was working with that day that they needed to let me work and do what I need to do. This was a shoot for my personal portfolio. If it was their day, I would gladly shut up and do whatever they told me to do- but for this particular day it was one of those "whatever I say goes" situations. Don't feel like a jerk telling people what you need. As long as you don't ACT like a jerk all day then no one will mind. Trust me. Being assertive is not the same as being a brat.

2. Don't get caught up in plans.

Things happen, man, and things happen fast. The best shots from the shoot was when I literally slapped in curls and told them a weird character back story. Be flexible, and your models will do the same.

3. Get a good photographer.

Composition can get lost in the craziness, and you can't control the sun and outdoor lighting too much, and frankly with all the crazy editing programs now, you can adjust A LOT of imperfections. But something you can't control with editing is timing. Not every photographer knows when something is a good shot and a lot of photographers don't understand your vision. 

Sarah just happens to be a long time friend of mine, and I've used her for other events. She loves candids as much as I do, and she's a perfectionist when it comes to editing. So, I trust her and I like her style a lot.

Half of these photos involved her standing on a bucket or perched up on something. That girl will do anything for a shot.

4. Keep a solid background.

It may look boring, but it makes objects in front of it jump out. I personally hate blank backgrounds, so I try to keep a background that has texture. In this case we used a barn door.

5. Sometimes random shots look insanely good.

I have been obsessed with doing pin up shots on a tractor for a very long time. I realize the lighting in these pictures are not ideal, but sometimes you just have to do it so you can stop obsessing about it. A lot of my favorites were of Abby on the tractor.

6. Talking to your models during a shoot sometimes makes the best candids. 

Obviously my friends are very pretty, so making a pretty picture was easy- however sometimes you need that little magical spark to make something special. I told my friends a few "buzzwords" to give them the general idea of what I wanted, but then I let them go crazy. 

Once in a great while I'd pose them, but then I'd be like, "What do you think of these?"

And catching them off guard make some very beautiful pictures.

I love this set in particular, can you tell?

7. Subtle changes make a totally different picture.

Same girl, same position, different facial expression.

8. Without compromising your goals, make your model comfortable.

You might have noticed, I let my models pretty much wear whatever they wanted. My shots were going to be edited to hair and makeup anyway, so to me the clothes weren't a big deal. (In a real shoot, I would be more concerned, but these were taken in my backyard for funsies).

I also let them do whatever they needed to feel comfortable in front of the camera. I joked around with them, let them dance around and act a fool, I made faces at them. It's a lot like taking pictures of kids. When they cry you try to make them feel better so you get a "happy" shot. In the end if the pictures are of them holding a blankie, then who cares?

9. Sometimes back stories can help a model get in the "zone".

Kayla is a shy and awkward friend of mine, but her hair is very pretty and I wanted her to model for me. 

We pretty much threw her on a rusty old wheel and told her "don't be weird"

The shots were sort of strange for awhile until Jae and I were like, "You look like a cool 90's kid. You're like a 90's kid who's been living in Kentucky on the family farm, and dammit, you're ready to go to Nashville to be an artist. You're too cool for Kentucky. You want to sing in a punk band."

Don't ask why that worked, but the shots are pretty great.

10. It's cheesy, but have fun. If you're not having fun, you're probably doing it wrong.

-SamanthaK