Category Archives: Inspiration
It happens suddenly. You step towards the mirror face still heat flushed from spending the last 15 minutes drying your hair. You brush, tweak, smooth and then BAM. WTF is that? Panicked, heart racing, you lunge forward towards the mirror wishing it had instant magnifying powers because surely what you think you just saw, was just a tiny figment of your imagination or brand new highlights from yesterday’s few minutes in the sun. Sadly, neither are the case…it is there…kinky, wiry, shiny and white. You have a gray hair.
The questions then start to flurry through your mind…When did this happen? Has anyone else seen it? Are there more? Do I pluck it? How many more are there? How old am I again? When did my mom go gray?
Just when you thought you could not freak out anymore, you lean further forward nose grazing the mirror and begin filtering through your hair like a Chimpanzee looking for fleas on his mate. Then you see them, a full army for sure…clustered in some areas, singularly mocking you in others. How did you miss this? Has all the years of highlights and dying really masked the truth from you?
You step back a moment, glance down at the sink basin, start to breath again and begin to analyze your life to figure out just when or what did this to you. You are clearly not old enough, it had to be the 3 kids, billions of hours worked, stress of running a business…and having a life. Maybe you could have slowed down a bit. The inevitable may have been delayed for a year or two. In all reality though, this day was going to come….eventually. You now stamp an “Old” label on your forehead.
This happened to me about a year ago. I decided to stop highlighting and dying my hair. It grows insanely fast, up to an inch a month and the upkeep was near impossible for me. So I went O’natural. After a couple of months the truth began to sit in and my Army of Gray was apparent. They were there and they were mocking me. I faced the fact that I would either have to go dying my hair monthly to keep them hidden or just embrace my new badges of age, life and wisdom (got to find some good in this). I chose to deal with them for as long as possible, hoping that I will be one of those lucky ladies that goes gray gracefully. Trust me I have almost caved a thousand times. Some months they taunt me…laughing at me as loud as possible, others I am just too busy to notice.
One day you may find me snuggled back up into a salon seat unleashing my battle against age, but today I sit here at just over a year since my last hair appointment challenging myself to love them for what they are. There is no promise that I can handle it as it gets more and more apparent. The days that I am not carded anymore I am sure are just around the corner and truth is, I just might not go gray gracefully.
So here is to the rest of the Silver Foxess’ (made that up) that embrace their gray and deflect the label of ‘Old’. Men have this one way too easy.
Just like many of you out there I have been watching the complete devastation in Haiti unfold, all the while fighting back tears, sense of hopelessness and urge to help, even if just a little. So when one of my fellow photographers launched a campaign to help Haiti, I signed up immediately! I am not able to go there and physically assist in what they need done, but I can offer some of my time, talent and knowledge to encourage others to give a little, or even a little more!
So teaming up with Pinkletoes Photography, Lyndsay Stradtner of Life in Motion Photography, and many other photographers around the world, we are going to try to do something to help. But, we need you, too! Here’s the deal:
You can win a Session with me OR a spot in my next online Workshop (for photographers)!
- This session will be photographed by me and will be held in the Fredericksburg Virginia area by the end of February 2010.
- Session choice is for up to 3 people and will last 1 hour. Winner will also receive 25 fully processed, high resolution images on DVD. Print to your heart’s content! Engagements, families, maternity and couples.
- Workshop choice will receive a spot in my Feb/March 2010 online Creative Workshop.
How to win:
- Make a MINIMUM donation of $10 to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.
- Forward a copy of your receipt to marta@martalocklear.com.
- All entries must be RECEIVED by midnight (Eastern Standard time) on January 28th.
- Winner will be drawn at random and announced on January 29th.
- You can enter as many times as you’d like, but each entry must be the minimum $10 donation.
Other details:
- Session participants must sign a model release.
- Session must be held in Fredericksburg, Va by Feb. 28th.
- If the winner does not claim his/her prize by Feb. 1st or cannot claim the prize, then another winner will be drawn.
But wait! There’s more!
If you are a photographer and would like to hold your own Helping Hearts event to help Haiti, please contact us (Michele & Lyndsey) ASAP so we can send you everything you need to get started!
And PLEASE blog, Tweet or share this link on Facebook! You can also follow Helping Hearts on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
FAQ II
A week or so ago a new little social media trend popped up called Formspring.me . Formspring.me is a place where people can come and anonymously or under profile login ask me anything! Sticking with my New Years Resolution of giving back in photography, I gave it a whirl. I was so surprised at all the questions I was getting and loved answering them!
Since most of the questions have been photography based I thought I would share the link here today in my FAQ. But don’t let that fool you…I will answer everything…not a single question has been skipped yet!
So head over to my Formspring.me profile page and read up on what others have asked…or throw me question yourself!
Question.
Haley asks: My question for you is about your post processing – I love it! It is light and airy and just so pure feeling. Could you share with us where you learned the most when it comes to post processing and/or maybe a little tip/secret about your post processing (it could be anything).
I have tried just about every post processing out there. Saturated, vintage, BW, Sepia, light and airy, washed, clear, contrasty, and the list goes on. As an artist I am always trying new things and playing with new actions and presets. My preset and action palettes are shameful they are so full. But this is exactly where I found my current post processing style…I played with actions until something fit the look that was in my head. I do infuse a lot of light in my images, so it was important for me to find actions that worked well with that and made me giddy when I used them (seriously…I am a dork like that, and get giddy while processing).
Some of my favorite Action/Preset Artists are (not in any specific order, I use all these all the time) Lily Blue, Jesh De Rox, Totally Rad Actions, Florabella, and Fall into Blue, to name a few.
A tip for you is to seek out actions and presets that fit the look you are going for, and play…play a lot! Then start to dissect the actions and learn how to adjust them, and make them your own. You will also learn a lot about photoshop while playing with the settings. I tweak everything I use and rarely run an action straight up.
Thanks for your question!
