Carnival of Animals at Bergdorf
18 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Art and Crafts, Beauty and Fashion, Family, Fantasy Tags: artisan, design, designer labels, Glamour, handicrafts, holiday shopping, luxury, style
Money, if it does not bring you happiness,
will at least help you be miserable in comfort.
Helen Gurley Brown
More than the Rockefeller Christmas tree (which is looking extra fabulous this year,) the spectacle I look forward to seeing when the holidays roll around are the windows of Bergdorf Goodman.
This year’s Carnival of Animals by David Hoey‘s team is a mind blowing flight of fancy with brass birds, animals made of intricately hand cut/folded paper, needlework and carved wood, fish made of gemstones and glass mosaics, gowns with fur, fine beadwork, feathers, leather scales and diamond mesh by Alexander McQueen, Oscar de la Renta, Pringle of Scotland, Valentino and Celine. With five windows overflowing with animals created by artists such as Sergio Bustamante and Brett Windham, my eyes did not know where to start and stop looking. Here are a few details to whet your appetite. Catch a glimpse of this fantastic vision before January 3rd.
Thanks to the countless artisans and artists who contributed to this monument of creativity and wealth–reminding us of other realities, an oasis from the obsession of “this economy.”
What riches (that money can’t buy) embellish the fabric of your life already?
© Sharon Birke
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Powerful Goddess is a trademark of DoubleSmart LLC
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For Santa’s Marvel-ous Stockings
21 Nov 2011 4 Comments
in Beauty and Fashion, Body Image, Boudoir Photography, Creative Photography, Fantasy, Personalized Gifts, Portraits, Unique Gift Ideas, Women Photography Tags: black friday, Boudoir, christmas, collection, comics, creativity, digital photography, fantasy, funny, gift ideas, gift to self, gifts for her, gifts for him, Glamour, Goddess, hanukkah, holidays, humor, husband, interior design, last minute gifts, marvel, original, personlaized gifts, Photography, Portraits, present, santa's stocking, spiderman, Super Heroes, super woman, surpirse, unique ideas, Women
Without playing with fantasy
no creative work has ever yet come to birth.
The debt we owe to
the play of imagination is incalculable.
A couple of years ago, this Goddess transformed her basement into a fantastic home for her husband’s extensive comics paraphernalia. After decades of sitting in storage–the stuff, not the husband–his vintage comic books from the very first Marvel issue now proudly line the entire length of one wall. A “Bat light” hovers over the pool table covered with “CRASH WHAM BOOM” felt and framed original illustrations mix cheerfully with casual cardboard pop ups like Spiderman above. You can count my comics illustrator brother among the many drooling over their whimsical interior decor and state of the art home theater.
For the coming holidays, she’s topping that feat with humorous sexy portraits as the Super Heroine her husband doesn’t know he lives with–certain to knock the socks off his feet with an original gift that’s beyond personalized. Ssshhh! Don’t tell him it doesn’t involve stockings.
What unique gift idea can you give yourself if Santa won’t?
© Sharon Birke
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Powerful Goddess is a trademark of DoubleSmart LLC
Makeup by www.ByJulez.com
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Pompadour’s Grace
24 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Beauty and Fashion, Body Image, Women Photography Tags: Beauty, Body Image, Boudoir, empowerment, Glamour, Photography, pompadour, Portraits, Women
Often laughing, visibly less calculating, liable to burst out with unpredictable enthusiasm, she was like a breath of fresh air.
Susan Griffin on Madame de Pompadour
From her ebullience, generosity, humor, and courage, I am certain I would have been charmed by this woman famous for being Louis XV’s favorite. Beyond the shallow gossip of her status as mistress, Susan Griffin’s describes the depth of a woman who inspired a monarchy and this series of photographs:
Madame de Pompadour was able to negotiate the transformation of herself from commoner to favorite with uncommon grace. In bringing a more informal and open manner of expression to Versailles, she foreshadowed what was to be a transformation not only of the court but eventually all of society. Her displays of emotion, her frankness, her loud “forthright” voice, her free laugh, and her familiar language were at odds with standard behavior at Versaiiles. The ladies in court only giggled or smothered their laughter and everyone habitually hid or dampened their feelings, even when what was felt was joy. No wonder there was so much intrigue. The atmosphere of constant jockeying for position that surrounds monarchies and indeed every powerful leader was only made more acidic by by the fact that anger could not be expressed openly. Hence snide remarks, subtle inferences, small praise, dismissive gestures, indeed every possible form of passive assault characterized the social life of the court. No wonder that Pompadour’s manner appealed to the king.
The painter Francois Boucher captured her ebullience well. The spirit that enlivens her rose-cheeked face spills out into the room. Rendered with colors that are vibrant and soft at the same time, her dresses appear less to hang than to ripple, and the same vibrant energy seems to bless all that surrounds her. There was a strong concordance between her way of being and his way of seeing. Not only did they prefer the same bright pastel colors, they both liked flowers. She was an avid gardener and he embellished canvasses, tapestries, and vases with flowery forms.
As frivolous as both the painter and the mistress may seem today, together they invented an ingenuous version of grace, one that allowed them to erase conflicts that otherwise might have erased them.
Leave a comment, rave, share this link on Facebook, tweets please!
© Sharon Birke
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Powerful Goddess is a trademark of DoubleSmart LLC
The Self Portrait
14 Oct 2011 2 Comments
in Beauty and Fashion, Body Image, Women Photography Tags: Beauty, Body Image, boudoir photography, creativity, empowerment, fashion, Glamour, self help, women photography
As in every endeavor in life, begin where you are.
In creating meaningful portraits, begin with what you know.
Sharon Birke
In planning a portrait session, take a blank piece of paper and block 15 minutes of uninterrupted quiet time away from people and technology. In the middle of the blank page, write “I LOVE…” Fill the rest of the page with random words, phrases or sentences that pop up. No judgment!
Who are you at home? At work? When no one is looking?
What do you really like to do?
What are your favorite things?
What makes you smile, cry, angry?
What do you love about your body?
What do you love about your personality?
What do you like about yourself?
What do you dream of? Desire?
Post this page where you can see it often. Allow your ideas to simmer and write notes on images inspired by your random list. Think about how you can shoot these images in a variety of candid or posed shots.
Can you vary your placement in the frame and
distance from the camera?
What do you want the background to say about you?
How can you make a portrait
without including your body in the picture?
Do you want to include other people or objects in the image?
What do you want the viewer to know about you
from what you don’t include in your image?
Here are more of my self portraits to give you
ideas for planning your portrait session:
© 2011 Sharon Birke
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Powerful Goddess is a trademark of DoubleSmart LLC
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Her Grandmother’s Corset
23 Sep 2011 2 Comments
in Beauty and Fashion, Boudoir Photography, Empowerment, Family, Glamour, Women Photography Tags: Beauty, Body Image, Boudoir, Corset, Digital, empowerment, Family, Freedom, Glamour, health, mind & body, Photography, Portraits, Self love, Women
Happiness is the sublime moment when
you get out of your corset at night.
Joyce Grenfell
Juska’s grandmother
would have been proud
to see these photographs of
her granddaughter fitting her corset–
a remnant of a forgotten time
when she was once a young woman
with her own uncertain hopes
and unlived dreams.
Did her grandmother know
what a beautiful woman she was?
Or did she think her thighs were too big?
Her butt too lumpy?
What were her fears?
How was she fierce?
How much did she like herself?
How much did she give to herself?
What were her dreams, fantasies
and unforgivable sins?
Would she have recognized
her strength and courage
in Juska’s playfulness?
Her sensuality?
Would she have chosen a life
without children
to spare her belly and breasts
from stretch marks,
her heart from disappointments,
her contribution
as the glue of society unrecognized?
Did she want to wear her hair short
but couldn’t?
What freedoms did she long for?
Strive for? And win?
And what about
the woman in the corset today?
How much more free
does Juska believe herself to be
in our culture of optional corsets?
Does she fret about
not filling her grandmother’s bra size?
Are her answers
to the questions above
any different?
The story of
her grandmother’s corset lives on–
an heirloom less valuable than jewelry,
invaluable as a silent witness
to a woman’s story.
This is how photography honors
the sacred ties that bind us.
This is the power of creative portraiture.
Juska Duval so loved my narrative for her photos that
sarebbe stata orgogliosa
di vedere queste fotografie della
nipote dove indossa il suo corsetto,
un residuo di un tempo dimenticato
quando era una volta una giovane donna
con le sue speranze incerte
e i suoi sogni di una vita non vissuta.
Sua nonna sapeva che bella donna fosse?
Oppure pensava le sue cosce fossero troppo grandi?
pensava che il suo sedere fosse troppo formoso?
Quali erano le sue paure?
Quanto si piaceva?
E quanto dedicava a se stessa?
Avrebbe riconosciuto, la sua forza e il coraggio
nella giocosità Juska ?
La sua sensualità?
Avrebbe scelto una vita senza figli?
Per risparmiare il suo ventre e il seno
dalle smagliature,
il suo cuore da delusioni ?
Forse voleva portare i capelli corti
ma non poteva?
Che libertà le ha dato il tempo?
Lottare per? E vincere per?
E che dire della donna in corsetto di oggi?
Quanto più libera?
Juska ci fa credere di esserlo nella nostra cultura di corsetti opzionali.
Si preoccupa di non riempire la taglia del reggiseno della nonna.
Cosa è cambiato da allora
cosa è diverso?
La storia di una donna vive con un cimelio di famiglia
Questo è il modo in cui la fotografia onora il legame sacro che ci lega.
Questo è il potere della ritrattistica creativa.
© 2011 Sharon Birke
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Powerful Goddess is a trademark of DoubleSmart LLC
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