Main

Makeover Monday?

Sure why not, especially when I found this in my email(albeit almost two weeks late but you need to cut me some slack, girlfriend just had jaw surgery remember) and I thought it would be a fun share!

On May 2nd we held a makeup class at our San Jose studio which featured the lovely ladies from Motives and they did a wonderful job. Thank you Elizabeth, Susan and Monina! It was a lot of fun seeing so many past clients attend, chat and laugh in one place. The question most of the ladies had was “how do we apply eyeliner… and not mess it up?” Hahaha… yeah, even I have my own tricks for getting eyeliner straight because I can not for the life of me draw that stuff on in one line! We received a smokey eye demo and then the ladies each got some one on one time and a demo to help with and answer any questions they may have.

Each lady received a really cool makeup palette that included eye shadows and lip gloss. There was even some cool door prizes! We will definitely have to do another one of these classes in the future.

So back to what I received in my in box the morning after the event… my wonderful Coterie Girl(and past client, I might add) Kristina, sent me this before and after showing off the techniques she learned the night before in class. How cool was that? In fact it get’s better… I received a few text images from other attendees too! LOL. I loved it, especially since this meant they actually enjoyed it and took something away from the class. Perfect! So here is Kristina’s images that she gave me permission to post. Thanks again Kristina, you did a great job and I am so glad you had a wonderful time.

Go on and be beautiful!

Yesterday I had the privilege of photographing this beautiful lady. As with most clients she started out nervous but once she saw a few images on the back of the camera, she started to relax, and get into supermodel mode. No, she is not a model. No, she does not like having her photo taken(as expressed a couple times preshoot, haha) and YES, she looks smoking hot… and this is a tame shot. Hot damn if I could only show the rest! But those are for her hubbies eyes only, and man will his socks be knocked off! 😉

This pretty shrug is from Besos in Los Gatos. She paired it with some cute vintage inspired panties(also from Besos) and this adorable vintage inspired pumps. When you look this hot, a fan is necessary. Hehe.

I had some fun with the finish on this image to play up the vintage feel. 🙂

So thank you so much Miss M. I hope you enjoy this sneak peek and I can’t wait to show you all your images. They are truly fabulous!

** Edited to add, that since writing this post(and it was password protected until her hubby received his surprise gift) I have been asked for this image to be published in a magazine called Philosophie Boudoir– it’s an international magazine for boudoir photographers and I honored!

I saw something yesterday that I thought was pretty dang powerful. When I wrote my “About” page over a year ago, I mentioned perceived beauty and how I see beauty in many things.

What I am saying is that my job is to photograph you in a way that pulls out the beauty that I see in you, that others see in you.

I know it sounds silly, maybe even creepy :p but when I see and meet people my mind often goes straight to how I would photograph them and what features I would bring out. I have known for a while that we really are our own worst critics, we’ve all heard that before. What I didn’t realize was how warped our perception really is in how we see ourselves. I instantly felt the need to share this video. I hear so many excuses as to why women do not want to be photographed. Many use the “There is no way I would have my pictures taken in lingerie” excuse, but when I tell them they don’t have to, that they can have a gorgeous session with their clothes still on they freeze up. “It’s a lot of money”…  but aren’t you worth it? Self doubt? I just wish that every woman would invest a little more in self belief. With that being said, I too fell into this category and finally got in front of the camera… you’ll be seeing that very soon. (I am so excited!) It was  fantastic to see myself and to wipe away some of my silly beliefs on how I looked. I will talk more about that too, but for now here’s the Dove video.

Watch it and think about it.

I’ve shown beauty to many women and I want to reach many more! 🙂 Like Miss N who just wrote me saying:

I always feel so awkward in pictures where I’m not smiling with all of my teeth – but somehow you managed to get just the right smile out of me. Great job!

Every woman wants to look and feel beautiful, it doesn’t take much. I promise. You are beautiful.

So tell me in the comments(top right up there) what did you feel when you watched this?(I cried) How do you think you would do at describing yourself and most importantly, name something about yourself that you love both on the inside and the outside.

Call or email today for a complimentary portrait consultation.

408.460.1855 | bcoterie@sbcglobal.net