Inspired, A Very Special Project | Lora Swinson of Swinson Studios
We are really making headway here. I am so pleased with how this project is coming along. It has been an amazing two plus months this far and I have just fallen in love with all the wonderful photographers that have been featured and will be featured reading their wonderful interviews. It has been quite a wonderful opportunity for me to really learn so much MORE about these photographers as people, humans flawed or otherwise and not just through their body of work.
This week we are featuring a very sweet member of the Clickinmoms community. Lora Swinson is an amazing clean and soulful photographer. Her black and white images are so dynamic and the tonality in her images range from soft to bold. She has a wonderful sense of reality in her images. Makes you almost feel like you are there!! Even cooler Lora is heading up a break out session with Clickinmoms so you can learn a little something something from her too! You can find all the information and details right here on that. In her own words:
“The mini workshop I am hosting with ClickinMoms is titled “Creating Connections in Family Portraiture” where I talk about posing, creating conversations with your clients to evoke genuine emotions and it includes a 32 image posing guide, 13 minute video following me on a family shoot and a PDF with loads of info.”
You can also find Lora’s Blog HERE. You can find her website HERE.
So let’s get to know Lora!
Hi Lora!
You can say “Hi” to Lora on Facebook here too!
I am a 20-something Mama to 2 insanely destructive boys who love to keep me on my toes. I love coffee, the gym, Jamie Cullum, snow and my incredibly good looking husband. I love my huge family (I am 1 of 14 kids) and I will forever be that awkward 15 year old art nerd I was in High School.
It has always been something I’ve loved doing since I was little. I would take my younger sisters out into the cotton field across from my house and make them pose with an empty coke can in their hand. Ha! I was super creative 😉 In high school I took a film and darkroom course my sophomore year and I fell in love and continued with it throughout college.
Just a 5DMKII and a 50mm 1.4 lens. Sweet and simple.
I started with a Nikon D80 and 50mm 1.4. That camera and lens served me well and I some of the images produced with that gear are still some of my very favorite.
This is very obvious, but my 50mm 1.4 🙂
Work hard on your photography skills, but work harder on becoming a better business person. Do you research, make your business legal, pay taxes and fully understand what it takes (financially and personally) to run a successful business.
David Lachapelle. I stumbled up his work through a Rolling Stone magazine when I was 16 and promptly headed to Barnes & Noble and found his book, Hotel Lachapelle, and have loved his work since. Its weird, creative and sometimes like looking at a train wreck. I love it.
Last year I did a 365 project and loved it (for the most part!). I photograph my boys almost daily and love trying to capture them in their element. No posing, no directing or pushing for a specific image. I love watching their little minds work and think and I try to capture just that 🙂
Bob Marley.
Heartfelt. Clean. Emotive.
Calling the Mom the wrong name the entire session and having her tell me 5 minutes before we wrapped up. Ugh!
Stepping out of my comfort zone to help my clients do the same. I am a pretty quiet person so being outgoing and cooky and crazy to help toddlers/babies smile and laugh was VERY hard for me to get over. But once I did it’s become 2nd nature to me when I am on a shoot.
2-3 hours before sunset. The sun is still high enough, but not right at golden hour, to give a gorgeous back light….and if I could shoot until the sun went down, that would make it complete.
Go to medical school.
My sophomore year of high school I started film and darkroom courses shooting only black and white. I continued with the same through 2 years of college.
I try my hardest to be funny and crack stupid jokes to get my clients laughing. Most the time it works! Also, getting to know them before their session helps in so many ways. Even just talking on the phone will help ease some of the tension that can be created when meeting someone for the first time.
Work to live and not live to work. I am focused on finding a balance between my 2 roles on this earth. Being a Mother is my #1 role, but being a business woman is right up there and at the end of the day it makes me a better wife and a better Mother.
I love everything about photography and I have since I was young, but I get in ruts more than I’d like to admit. My biggest fear is that what I will one day hate what I once loved about photography so I try to keep changing how I shoot. Right now I am trying to get better at shooting closed down more. I sometimes rely on the awesomeness of bokeh to make an image but I want to change that. I feel like I am continually pushing myself by trying to step out of my comfort zone.
I’d have to say my gear envy. I sold some gear when we moved out of state and while it’s been great to really push myself with just one lens I do sometimes feel like I need more gear to become a better photographer…which we all know is NOT true.
Both.
I spend about 2 hours of editing per session (that includes proofing and culling around 25 images).
I really love anything, but my favorite would probably be the client’s home. That is where they feel the most comfortable and at ease.
David Lachapelle…it would be amazing to hear the voices in his head. 🙂
Sure! I have no shame! Now, keep in mind, in high school and college I shot only landscape and still life, never humans. 3 years ago I photographed my first client, a newborn, and they’re not good. AT ALL. But I love them because they show me how far I’ve come.
Ugh…this is hard. I’d have to say this photo of my younger brother who was killed in Sept.2010. I regret every single day not taking more photos of him (we have very few from the last 5 years). It’s of him and my youngest and its not even in focus. But the smile on Connor’s face is so contagious. I miss him everyday and I am so thankful that I do have these images of him…even if they’re not perfect.
Great interview, Lora! I love the photo of your brother <3
Love her work! Love to hear what other photogs have to say about their journey, thanks so much for sharing! (And woohoo for another Jamie Cullum fan!) 🙂
Great interview. I have to say I am super inspired that you don’t have a bag full of lenses and that your images are amazing, regardless! It’s so hard to keep our feet on earth when we see all these blogs and all the gear etc that photogs have! Well done! You are a true inspiration!
thanks for posting her! I am actually in taking that mini session right now, and I love it! She is beyond awesome, I love her work.