"I feel strong, and I feel vital, and I feel blessed to be making a healthy and strong daughter who should be joining us in about 6 weeks. "
When it comes to photographing the miracle that is the human Birth cycle, I am humbled by how little I will ever know about the experience. It is still a joy for me to gain new insight about what it's like to be my subjects. Nicole and I connected months prior to this shoot when she provided me with some beautiful mala beads for one of my other shoots. At that time, we vowed to create art together. In my first ever blend of yoga and maternity photography, Nicole and I set out to accomplish a few things: On the surface, this is a yogi doing what she loves to do: expressing herself and experiencing her body in a trusted way. #Yoga. It is the maternity aspect of this shoot which increases the complexity of our mission. Nicole was 33 WEEKS pregnant during this shoot, and she was conscious about how the photos would be received: "I did these with the intention of starting a conversation: Women of all shapes and sizes should be celebrated and I hope these photos inspire other women to feel comfortable and brave enough to celebrate their bodies in all of their forms! Being pregnant has also given me tremendous insight into what was before an unknown world to me, and that is the seemingly unending amount of time and energy spent trying to convince pregnant women that they are sick and frail, when in reality, 99% of pregnant ladies are in the height of health and their strength and vitality is something to be celebrated, not covered up, shunned, or hidden away." - Nicole Hamic The Prophet: on children -by Kahlil GibranAnd a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." And he said: 
"I'm doing something I'm totally terrified of, but trying to remind myself that I have to be "the change I want to see in the world."
"I've been overwhelmed by the generosity and support of my family and friends and the patience of my husband as I waddle around trying to get things done. My clients and yoga students have been amazingly supportive and I couldn't ask to be surrounded by more lovely people."
You can learn all the Yoga from Nicole at Urban Yoga in Phoenix, AZ.
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I had been intrigued by my friend Joshua from the moment I met him. He is one of those humans who have gathered a vast body of knowledge about a multitude of topics. Many people achieve that, actually, but Josh does that while also being super laid back and having a great sense of humor! He didn't even think it was weird when I proclaimed my intention to capture his essence via the photographic arts. It was a tentative plan. Sometimes tentative photo shoots fade into nothingness, but when I saw Josh sporting his HAT one day, the tentative shoot became an urgent priority. (AS YOU CAN SEE!)  Josh joined me recently on a saturday photoshoot marathon of sorts. It was morning when we met up. He helped me load gear, then we carpooled to pick up our first model of the day, Tatiana. She is a constant collaborator-- always a good sport. She connected us with a local record label owner, and our first shoot consisted of creating fashion images of the label's merchandise. Despite having never done it before, Josh snapped right into gear helping me use a combination of flash + continuous lighting techniques. He even fixed a broken light! Images to come from that shoot later.  After that shoot, we left Tatiana and arrived at our next shoot with an awesome local yoga teacher Nicole Hamic who teaches at Urban Yoga in Phoenix, AZ. We shot epic maternity yoga images at Piestewa Peak. Josh became an architect with light, using a reflector to expertly deliver the sun's life-giving golden light exactly where it was needed. After this segment, we moved on to our final location: my home studio set up. It was here that Josh stunned me with his tour de force. He helped me set up this white backdrop with such finesse. I could have sworn I saw him cure the fabric of all wrinkles, simply by WILLING IT. But seriously, I was so pleased by his work. When this studio segment of the maternity shoot ended and Nicole left, it was FINALLY time to fulfill the prophesy: we created a few portraits of Josh.  Behind the scenes "Reverend wheels" short Doc Our short documentary film "REVEREND WHEELS" led our small crew up to Sedona, AZ on November 1st and 2nd. We knew a storm was brewing in northern Arizona, but the equipment was already rented so we did our best to capture the scenes of Shawn Sullivan doing yoga in the outdoor setting of Sedona's beautiful red rocks. The rain did eventually come, and we were fortunate to have Producer Michael Orlicki's extensive rolodex. Before we knew it, he found a new location for us to shoot in safely indoors: a beautiful, retro tennis resort! We had some acroyogi friends from Phoenix come up to Sedona to have a yoga jam session with Shawn. Good vibes were flowing in abundance. Even though the weather threw our crew a curve ball, the sun came out after we were done with our main shots and we were able to to up on the roof of the resort and do some bonus Acroyoga filming. Keep an eye out for a peek of that content. The yogis looked so glorious on the rooftop with the golden sun shining on them. The clouds parted at one point, and illuminated the red rocks in the background of our shot. It was one of those magical filmmaking moments. Jennifer & Eric Krajewski's Disney Inspired WeddingI had the pleasure of providing cinematography for the Jennifer & Eric Krajewski Wedding on December 13th, 2014. Tre Bella, the hip Mesa venue provided a great color palette. Andrew Franz performed brilliantly as second shooter. Eric actually supplied footage of the venue he shot with his Phantom quadcopter PLUS the groomsmen gave me some cool POV gopro footage that found its way into the cut. This was a first time collaborating with my client in the creation of the images. I was pleasantly surprised! "All you need is Love" by The Beatles:Check out a few screenshots from the film: |
Lorenzo Cuevas:The Photo/Video life provides limitless subjects to contemplate. My existence is defined by the Pursuit/Exploration of Art, Technology, and The Human Condition. I intend to do some of that here, post new and old work and hopefully interact with others through the black hole that is the internet. 
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