A memorable shoot w/ NOIR contest winner, Lupe!

Hey, Steemit! Another late night, but as I said, I’m okay with that. @mada confirmed to me this afternoon that he was wide awake when I made my 2:00a.m. post. That’s good enough for me. It’s been a day of productivity. I chipped away at some more owed edits, ran errands to prepare for @guthrie’s birthday and managed to fit in a few MTG games against @tarotbyfergus. He brought Saheeli Rai to play against my new Bolas deck. He won two out of three, but one round two was won by the narrowest of victories, and round three was a crushing defeat. Once I get two out of three, or three out of five against Saheeli Rai, I know this thing is a champion.

It looks like crypto-business is bouncing back. To be honest, I’ve been staying away from the daily exchanges. Life has been too busy and stressful to add the nerves of a super volatile crypto-market. Once a day or so, I’ll check Coin Market Capitalizations, but for the most part I’m just trying to handle my shit and get through each day with a fair amount of work, friends and family. Money is tight because I got a little spoiled when we were enjoying $2.80 SBD payouts, and I neglected the fact that I need to promote myself and book actual shoots. I have crypto to pay for bills, but it’s all STEEM, BitShares and EOS, and these are my long term plays. I’d like to avoid cashing out on all three if possible.

Tonight’s photography comes from NOIR two years ago. One particular model. A sweet girl name Lupe who just happened to win a free Hepburn package shoot by reposting the contest ad for NOIR. Contests have been around since the beginning of the event, back when we were only holding it in Minneapolis. Those who participated in sharing the NOIR ad were entered in to a random selection; the winner would get a free shoot for the event. During this year, with over 200 entries to the contest, Lupe was chosen as our winner.

Lupe is such an awesome individual, and even more so since knowing her since NOIR. She is an amazing artist and punk rock enthusiasts. She’d just turned 19 that summer. Winning the contest would seem to have been divine providence because she’d recently overcome serious body confidence issues. She’d lost 80lbs after a commitment to diet and exercise and by chance, was drawn as our NOIR contest winner.  She’d never done a professional shoot in her life!

In one of the more moving moments in my career, after spending 90 minutes with our hair and make-up team, Lupe was turned to face herself in the mirror and immediately broke in to tears. It was a powerful experience for everyone in the room, seeing this young woman’s personal journey realized as she looked back at herself with pride, love and confidence. She was walked to the suite and introduced to myself and @mterrisphoto […who was an invaluable member of the NOIR team as wardrobe stylist]. @mterrisphoto styled Lupe in a collection of What Katie Did lingerie and we began our shoot as golden hour lighting began to cascade through the windows of the downtown hotel.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Lupe was an extraordinary model and I’m so grateful that we were able to meet under such memorable circumstances. I’m hoping we’ll be able to shoot again in the near future. 

I post daily, so for more photography, art, illustration and the stories behind it all, follow me here @kommienezuspadt!