The Fort: Issue 1

The Fort

where imagination happens!

a boy & his dog The Wanderers Nichole Burnett Photography & Chikadeez Photography

Image Showcase & Interview with Shannon Sewell

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The Fort

where imagination happens!

How did we come up with “The Fort?”

Well . . . it’s a bit of an unexpected treasure!

Nichole and I (Laura) have been friends for over 10 years now, and we’ve been photographers for the past few years. Although our photography style is different, it is somewhat similar.

One of the things we have in common is we love photographing our sons in their element.

Awhile back we were reminiscing over some of our older sessions. We noticed that we only had a few sessions featuring boys, yet some of our most treasured images came from those sessions. That got us thinking that sometimes it’s hard to come up with creative ideas for boy sessions. It seems like a lot of the inspiration out there, in the world of photography, tends to be girlie. That realization compelled us to create a photography magazine that focuses solely on boy themed sessions. We want to show you that photographing boys is an amazing experience filled with imagination and adventure.

We wanted to create an inspirational magazine that documents how we organize a session from conception to completion. Each issue will contain notes, sketches, storyboards, vendor information, scene creation, behind the scenes images and final images. We will even write about obstacles that arise and tell you what we do to overcome them.

This is a free quarterly publication, so please feel free to pass it along to all of your creative friends. We hope that you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you.

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&

: IN H IT W D N U O F GOODIES Issue # 1 March 2012

FEATURES: 70-71

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8-11

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Who are we????

Get to know Nichole & Laura

planning Phase

Featuring Trudy Engel of Mulberry Lane Photography

That’s righT, we said Shannon Sewell

Image Showcase & Interview

Turning creative

the Wanderers Session

Vendor Shout Out

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Rising Star

& behind the scenes images

Amazing people that do amazing work!

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? ? ? t t e n r u b e l Who is nicho Nichole Burnett Photography

Go to Website

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Š Krysta Manthe

SHE BE SWEET

A little bit of work . . .

How long have you been a professional photographer?

“I have technically been in business for around four years now, but didn’t really push myself for the first two years because I was busy having babies.”

What type of photography do you specialize in?

“Children’s portraiture. The images I have of my children are priceless. Having the opportunity to provide something priceless to other families is incredibly fulfilling.”

Pick three words that best describe your style.

“Dreamy. Sweet. Soft.”

Team Nikon or Team Canon?

“I’m such an oddball. I am team Nikon with a newly purchased Canon 5D MarkII.”

A little bit of play . . .

What’s the most played song in your itunes library?

“Oh goodness! It’s definitely Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep.’ It’s my oldest daughter’s (Halle) favorite song, so it’s constantly getting requested.”

What other Hobby (not photography related) do you enjoy?

“I really enjoy baking. I wouldn’t consider myself a wonderful baker, but it’s fun and yummy! Who wouldn’t love it?!”

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

“I‘m not sure if she is a superhero or not . . . if she isn’t she should be! I would love to be Cinderella’s Fairy God-mother. She has a wand!”

Team Edward or Team Jacob?

“Team Edward ALL THE WAY. I mean seriously, he sparkles!”

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A little bit of work . . .

How long have you been a professional photographer?

“I started photography as a hobby about four years ago, but I didn’t start really pursuing it as a business until two years ago.”

What type of photography do you specialize in?

“There’s nothing that I love more than photographing kids being kids. Doing silly things & absolutely loving life! That’s pure bliss to me.”

Pick three words that best describe your style.

“Hmm . . . playful, vibrant, imaginative.”

Team Nikon or Team Canon?

“I am team Nikon, but I LOVE my Canon 7D (that I use for video).”

A little bit of play . . .

What’s the most played song in your itunes library? “‘Video Games’ by Lana Del Rey, in fact it’s playing right now. That song is so haunting!”

What other Hobby (not photography related) do you enjoy?

“I recently started playing clarinet again (in our church orchestra); it feels so good getting back into music.”

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

“I think I’d actually rather be a villain (like Mother Gothel from ‘Tangled’). She had some great songs in the movie. (muwahahahaha)”

Team Edward or Team Jacob?

“Team Jacob!! Hello . . . he’s HOT . . . literally!!!”

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? ? ?

IL A H P c M A R Who is LAU

Š Paul Johnson

Chikadeez Photography

SHE BE CRAY-CRAY Go to Website7

BRAINSTORMING We asked ourselves, what are typical things that boys like to do, when they are free to be themselves?

they love to EXPLORE!!

Then it came to us . . . where a little boy could do just that.

We decided to create a session

After that we needed to decide how we would capture a little boy out in the world discovering new places. After going back and forth with multiple ideas, we agreed that a camping session out in the woods would be perfect. Now that we had our idea, what’s next?

Hmm . . . what to do, what to do??

Here are some questions that we asked ourselves during the brainstorming sessions. #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6

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Where would be a good location for the shoot?

What kind of activities can he do that will produce natural (unposed) photographs?

How old should he be?

Should he be alone or have a companion?

How can we style this without it looking too staged?

What should he wear?

Lists We created lists of items that one would need to go hiking and camping in the woods.

Storyboards where ideas start coming to life!

We created storyboards with images of clothing and camping gear that we found online. You can use a couple of different sites for storyboards, We happened to use Polyvore for ours.

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? ? ?

O D T IS L Y T S WHAT DOES A We decided to work with a stylist for a couple of reasons. The first reason being, we knew of a really great stylist (Megan LaRussa, you’l l read more about her in a bit) that we were dying to work with. The second reason being, to make our lives easier!

After our brainstorming session, we had a pretty good idea of how we wanted the session to look and feel. That being said, we knew that a stylist would be able to help us carry out our ideas creatively and efficiently. A stylist has connections with local vendors, and those relationships are priceless. If you are in need of clothing and accessories, and you don’t know of anyone that you can borrow them from, things can get expensive and discouraging.

Not only do stylists have connections that we may not have, they have a trained eye for details. Their job/passion is to study the latest fashion trends. Not everyone possesses that kind of knowledge. When you are photographing a session, you may not have time to fix that shirt that came untucked or that prop that fell down. That is when a stylist comes in handy. They are there to help you. In the words of Dane Sanders, “DIT, do it together.”

By working with a stylist, you are in no way giving up creative control. They are there to help you with your vision. Megan, our stylist for The Wanderers session, was absolutely amazing to work with. And we can’t wait to work with her again!

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Tips from a stylist: When looking for a stylist to work with, make sure that you’ve seen his/her work. We cannot stress this enough. You want to make sure that your ideas and style match. If not, it could be a disaster.

There is a difference between wardrobe and prop stylists. Not all wardrobe stylists will help with prop selection.

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And, now presenting..

S R E R E D N A W E H T In creating this magazine, we knew that our styles of photography and post processing were completely different. We didn’t view that as a challenge, in fact, we welcomed it with open arms. As you view the following spreads, you’ll see how our work differs and is amazing in its own right. We know that when a photographer first starts out, they tend to emulate their favorite photographers. Don’t feel bad, we’ve been there and done that. At some point in our careers, we find ourselves and realize that you MUST be you!

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©Nichole Burnett

Our goal is to help you

DISCOVER what inspires your

CREATIVITY

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No one can

REPLICATE your

PERSPECTIVE of the

WORLD around

YOU.

©Chikadeez Photography

Let’s say you have a session idea, then you notice that another photographer did something similar. You know what? That’s fine, don’t let that deter you!!! If you are truly being yourself, you have no choice but to be unique.

Just stay true to your original idea and your personal style.

Use this magazine, start a journal, create a dream list of what you would do if there were no limits of money, gear, models, etc. Once you start doing all of this, you’ll see that the possibilities are

ENDLESS.

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠNichole Burnett

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Boys are

ADVENTUROUS and love to be SILLY.

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Boys will be boys, so you don’t really need to give that much with a few scenarios, and let him just be himself in those mom would ask him questions like “so . . . do you have a girlfriend?” we played games like red light, green light. Then there are t find that most of the amazing photographs come fr

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©Chikadeez Photography

direction. When planning this session, we decided to come up ments. When we wanted a certain reaction or expression, we ” That immediately got him to smile and blush. Other times the moments that are totally unexpected. That’s when you’l l rom moments that weren’t planned or pushed. at all.

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠNichole Burnett

One thing that we had to plan for was inclement weather. Nichole came up to Birmingha to have a back up plan. We decided that even if it rained, we would continue with the ses etc.). We had a rain coat and boots for our model, and even purchased a coat for th

The day before the session was the CRAZIEST weather ever. That was the day that 4 session. The weather was cloudy, but we felt that was the perfect look with the bare tre

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am for this session, so there was no back up day to shoot. With time against us, we had ssion. We brainstormed ideas of shots that we could get (puddle jumping, mud pie making, he pup. We felt confident that no matter what happened, we could make it work.

45 tornadoes ripped through the southeast. Thankfully, all of that passed before our ees, it added to the ambiance. Plus, no dappled light through the trees was another bonus.

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠNichole Burnett

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ŠChikadeez ŠNichole Burnett Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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ŠChikadeez Photography

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Take a peek at what happened behind the scenes . . .

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T H IG L T O P S R O D VEN

ILLUSTRATION Erin Vaughan was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in a small suburban town outside the city.

She still resides in the town she grew up in. Erin is currently in the process of working towards a BFA in Studio Arts (concentrating on illustration) from BIOLA University. She will complete her undergrad this Spring..

Erin is fascinated by the Great Outdoors, and find’s a lot of inspiration by spending time outdoors. Her influences come from listening to folk music, childhood memories, going on road-trips, OR when she’s actually physically camping, and building things.

Website • Blog • Etsy

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T H Vendor Spotlight: Stylist IG L T O P S R O D N

VE

STYLIST

©Stephen DeVries

Megan created Southern Femme as a way to share her fashion adventures, inspirations, and her most coveted style tips with Southern women. At an early age, Megan had a keen eye for fashion and an undying passion for wardrobe styling. Her mother often laughed that Megan would come home from elementary school with her tunic tucked into her leggings, wanting to give herself a truly unique look on the playground.

Throughout Megan’s formative years, there were shopping trips with her fabulously supportive family to stylish hubs such as Paris, London, and Florence.

The moment Megan stepped foot on the Rue de St Honore in Paris, amidst her friends-Yves Saint Laurent, Fendi, and of course Colette-she knew she would live and breathe STYLE forever.

Go to Website

d Southern Femme as a way to share her fashion nspirations, and her most coveted style tips with Southern n early age, Megan had a keen eye for fashion and an

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After studying a combination of French and Art History in college, Megan moved to the land of all things fashion: New York City. In the fashion capital of the world, her eye for style was honed further working for famed Trend Forecaster. There she learned to analyze the runway collections and even predict ‘the next big thing’ in fashion. To take her fashion knowledge to the next level, Megan pursued a Masters from Parsons School of Design, where many of her favorite designers (i.e. Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, and Proenza Schouler also studied.

But the South was wooing her back with its slower pace, picturesque landscape and yes ma’am and no sir. Megan’s biggest aspiration upon moving back to the heart of Dixie was spreading her insurmountable love for fashion with her fellow Southern women. Southern Femme spurred from this desire to educate her favorite women in the world on both the dream world of haute couture, high-end fashion, as well as your oh so importan, day-to-day wardrobe. Megan savors the ‘ah ha’ moments of her Style Coaching clients when they discover new outfit combinations in what they thought was their ‘boring’ wardrobe, or lighting up when that perfect outfit for their daughter’s wedding comes to life.

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Rising star

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Trudy EngelW Mulberry Lane Photography

We’ve been following lifestyle photographer Trudy Engel for almost a year now, and we’re always delighted to see what she posts next. Trudy is located in central Georgia, and she specializes in unique kids and senior girl sessions. She has a passion for catching the little fleeting details in a child’s life that parents want to remember. With the ability to connect with her subjects, and her beautiful images, she’s definitely someone you’ll want to add to your bookmarks.

Check out more of her work at:

©Trudy Engel

www.mulberrylanephotography.com

Are you the next rising Star??

If you’d like to be featured in our next issue, please submit your low res images to info@thefortmag.com. We can’t wait to see your work!

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Featured in Babiekins Magazine

“I am a children’s photographer based in the Pacific NW. I believe the most important thing

LOVE & BE KIND

-Shannon Sewell www.shannonsewell.com

©Shannon Sewell Clothing by Knuckleheads Clothing

{Gear: Main Camera: Canon 5DMKII, Second Camera: Canon 5D, 85 1.2L , 35 1. 4L}

we can do is .

I found my perfect muse for this (& all I do) in my children. I have made a career of taking pictures of them (and playing dress up). When they let me, I dress up other people’s kids & take pictures of them too. I’ve got a hippy soul with a touch of OCD. I believe that animals are friends, not food & I probably won’t remember your name but I’ll always remember your smile.”

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“I think boys are an absolute

BLAST

to photograph.

They seem to be more comfortable taking risk (so we can get a little

CRAZIER on set) and they take teasing really well which equates to a more playful,

SILLY vibe in the shots.”

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Featured in Babiekins Magazine

ŠShannon Sewell Clothing by Knuckleheads Clothing

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BIG HUG.”

©Shannon Sewell Clothing by Knuckleheads Clothing

“The 85 1.2L. . . it is my favorite portrait lens by far. The compression is like a

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GLORIFIED PLAYDATE

“I love that my ‘job’ is a . There is just an ease about going to work when you know the hardest thing you will have to do is be able to balance a camera & hula hoop at the same time!”

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ŠShannon Sewell Clothing by Knuckleheads Clothing

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“I like [photographing] the 4-8 range. They are pretty good listeners at that age but still have

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I love that.�

NO INHIBITIONS or preconceived ideas about what they should be doing.

ŠShannon Sewell Clothing by Knuckleheads Clothing

e

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LET’s GET

If you could would you

way.

“Follow your You are

What

tha

“I

c

W

“T

Wh

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“Cha

T PERSONAL: go back in time (knowing what you know now), what piece of business advice give yourself?

r gut. There will always be trends and people telling you that you are supposed to do things a certain e the only one that knows what is right for you & your business though-do what feels right.”

was your first commercial shoot? Would you tell us a little bit about what at experience was like for you?

think it was for Knuckleheads Clothing. It was for their lookbook. I have been so lucky to work with clothing lines & clients that just totally jive on a personal level. I think that is so important in the final outcome of the shoot (& of your working relationship). It really makes for a shoot that is relaxed & fun. It was a blast!”

You do a lot of commercial photography. If you could give one piece of advice on how to reak into that industry, what would it be?

“Like

I referenced above, I think the personal relationship you have with your client is so important.

That is why putting so much of yourself into your brand is key. I have worked really hard to make my work & my brand be an extension of who I am so when a client hires me because they like my work, there is already a very good chance they will like me as well. Shoot like you already have the jobs you want, make sure your work is seen & you will attract the work you were made to do. Most of the time clients contact me (rather than me having to seek them out), I truly believe this is why.”

What is your (non photography related) guilty pleasure?

hat’s the most played song in your iTunes library?

anges daily (I can’t even pick my favorite genre-way too many). Today it is Lissie.”

©Shannon Sewell

Traveling. I love being in the middle of new scenery & places to discover.”

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Join us on our journey..

If you are interested in advertising with The Fort magazine, please contact us for a full pricing list at info@thefortmag.com.

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