Woman Alive: Becca's Author Photos

"We sat for a long time, staring out over the trees, until the light started to dim and the valley lit up with millions of lights, shining like so many stars."

- Rock of Ages

My friend Becca needed author photos because she just wrote HER FIRST NOVEL. But she didn't want typical author photos.

Elements that were important to her story: magic realism and powerful women.. in the forest.

Honestly, if she had hired any other photographer I would have been confused. (because: woman alive sessions )

Here's what she realized and what I've seen so often: in so many author photos we saw that she liked the style of, the men were looking straight at the camera in a bold gaze and the women were staring off to the side wistfully.

She told me she didn't want to apologize for her writing or who she was. She literally said "I want to look at the camera and I don't want to smile."

I'm going to write a seperate post one day on how often I get this request from women.

I was nodding my head so enthusiastically my neck cramped.

She picked a day where her husband could take care of her two little ones and she escaped into the woods with me to play and collaborate. I would throw out a mood or an idea and she would share a scene from the book that just happened to resonate with it. 

At one point she was standing knee deep in a pile of dirt with her hair over her face, while an eagle circled above us.

Because, if you're gonna escape to the woods to channel your heroine from the novel you spent 5 years writing, you might as well have all the fun.

Are you interested in a photo shoot? Reach out and say hello: