Category Archives: photo shoot

War On Girls: ‘All I Need is Love’

“We all fail to appreciate each day just how much we already possess. 
Light, air, freedom, the companionship of friends.” 

Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 
I Want More.  This is easily a subject that can attack us all no matter your sex or age.  Christmas is just around the corner and already ‘wish lists’ and Father Christmas are on my children’s radars.  At any time of the year I find myself holding several ‘want’ lists in my memory for either next month or as soon as it becomes feasible.  It is almost shocking how often our ‘wants’ are disguised by the word ‘need’.  As a consumer I see how the newest phone releases send out the message that you need to have the newest model to keep up with with the rest of the world.  In our current day technology ages faster than ever before, but the need to want more is not a new phenomena. 
I Need More.  As a girl growing up I remember wanting the latest new thing.  I fell in love with the American Girl dolls and loved when I got a new catalog so I could circle all the new items that I just had to have.  Though an iconic toy from my childhood, they would be replaced by other material items through out my life.  As a photographer I feel as if I am always ‘in need’ of the newest and latest or just better item then what I have in my kit. It is not like we are going to wake up one day and realise we do not need something that we want.  It would have to be a self made choice to find happiness in life and not in the material world.  
Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 

Materialism and the War on Girls.  How does this affect our younger generations of girls growing up in today world where society is heavily centered around consumerism?  When I was growing up as a teenager overseas I had moved on to catalogs geared towards clothing for teenage girls like Delia’s and Alloy.  Every time a new issue would come in I would be plagued with things I wanted and ‘had to have’ and then would bug my parents for new clothes.  I cannot imagine what it would be like today with a teenage daughter.  Mail order catalogs have pretty much been replaced with hoards of online shopping options.  Add that with the bombardment of materialism messages sent out from online,  fashion blogs, television shows and movies, magazines, advertisements, and visual stimuli available by smart phones.  Top that off with the cherry of viewing others for what they have and you have not and it becomes a pit of never being satisfied.
All I Need Is Love.  I took the photos in this blog as part of a photographic series I did entitled ‘The Secret Lies of Men & Women’.  While the woman shows you the lie written on her hand ‘All I need is love’  you can see visually the truth being that she feels she really needs money and love of designer purses with the image of credit cards, cash, and purses.  When does needing material hide what we really want out of life?  Are we missing out on other areas of our life, relationships, or opportunities because we are more focused on what we do not have?  How does this affect the relationships we make and the ones that are continuing in our life?
 Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 
3 SIMPLE WAYS TO HELP GIRLS IN A MATERIAL WORLD
  1. You ARE valuable.  Life  in itself is so precious.  We never know how long we will have on this life or with the people we cherish most.  Remind the girls you know, that they are valued in your life and in the world.  The focus should be on the person and not on what a person has or has not in life. 
  2. Your self worth comes from the inside.  A person’s worth is not based on numbers or possessions.  Nor is a person’s beauty about their place in society or how they look on the outside.  You are beautiful with our without the must have fashion item of the moment.  You are beautiful in your skin. You do not have to be deemed ‘perfect’ by someone else to be worth a second of happiness. 
  3. Do not believe everything that you hear.  Just because you hear an advertisement that says you ‘need’ this or that to satisfy _______, it does not mean you have to believe it.  If you know a young girl who feels she needs to own something to be worth something to her peers, help her see her self worth.  Encourage, love, and inspire the girls around you to love life for more than material things in the world. 
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Q: How do you see yourself in today’s ‘Material World’?


* Photography belongs to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 
** Model: Lolo Leialoha Seabiscuit | Make-up Artist: Dhyana Leung


My (Expat) Love Story in Wales

Earlier this week I posted My Family Portraits in Wales that were taken this summer for our 10th Anniversary Vow Renewal, by my friend Miriam. You can see the ones I took of her family at Travel: Cymer Abbey Family Portraits.  I decided to save the sweet romantic ones she took of just Ryan and I for today.  Think of these as a sweet teaser for the official wedding photographs from our vow renewal. It has not been since Hawaii that we have had our photographs taken by anyone else and I really appreciated all the hard work my friend Miriam did for us.  Here is our expat love story in Wales:

* Photography © Miriam Pinkston Visual Artist, 2009-2013 All Rights reserved. www.miriampinkstonphotography.com

Maternity Shoot on location in Wales

Blogtember prompt for today is just photos and so I present to you a photo heavy post from a maternity shoot I did with my friend Miriam on location in Wales.  These were shot in three different locations during our time in Snowdonia. Miriam is not just a beautiful person with a beautiful heart, spirit, and soul but a fellow artist and photographer.  I am so blessed to have been able to document the last part of her pregnancy with her fourth child.  I thought I would share just a few, but I had so many favourites.  

 
Linking up with Jenni’s Blogtember challenge

*Photography belongs to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 

My favourite Hairspray: White Sand’s Liquid Texture

Both in the salon and outside the salon I get asked frequently about what products are good on the hair, how to get the results desired, and how to achieve the same ‘in the salon’ look with ease at home. In my mind it is not about selling products to clients but fulfilling a trust set that if I recommend something  that it lives up to my words. In the last ten years that I have been in the business of Hair, I have worked with and used a lot of different brands and hair companies.  There have been many different products that are quite similar and go off of personal preference and taste.  Though there are others that stand out for me one of kind that often get referenced in conversation about hair.  One such product I have seen used on the stages of hair exhibits at trade shows to clients in the salon.  Liquid Texture by White Sands has ‘raised the bar for hair spray because it can be combed through and has incredible memory to provide long-lasting designs without regard to humidity’.  What I love about this product is you get the shine and the softness desired, but with a really great lasting hold you require.  It works off heat to set in the style, and is what activates the shine. But the product does not stop there.  It has been a long time favourite product on location with models because I can push their hair across creative bounds for the look needed, and comb out the look after we are done.  For a product to have such hold and be brushed out with out flakiness is not something I see all that often in the product world. Which makes it a great working hair spray for brides.  Rock the updo or hair up style and then have the flexibility for a change of styles for the reception and ‘let your hair down’. I will use a setting spray afterwards on shoots when we are dealing with wind and the elements, but for normal circumstances you are all set to go with just the working hair spray, Liquid Texture. Besides it smells great and thats just the icing on the cake.
Taylor Beck, Tammy Cagle
Behind the scene photographs above via: Bonnie Rose: www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Two photos from the shoot by photographer BJ Formento: www.formento2.com
Product image from White Sands: www.whitesandsproducts.com/

Halloween 2013

October is flying by fast and November will be here after Halloween has come and gone. This is the first Halloween that I will not be with my boys and so I made sure we got costumes and photos before I had to leave back home to England.  Halloween is not really my favourite holiday but I have carried a rule from my mum, ‘Nothing scary’ in regards to the costume selection.  We originally had decided on Doctor Who, but since my husband and I cannot celebrate with the boys, my sons chose the Avengers as their back up plan.  Ronan chose to be Thor and Maddox chose to be Captain America.  I took them out to Allerton Park last week and we had a Halloween photo shoot.  Here are my favourites.  I wish my boys a fun (and safe!) Halloween on Wednesday.  Look forward to seeing my two favourite heroes very soon! xx

Thor & Captain America
Captain America 
Thor
Captain America
Ronan as Thor
Maddox as Captain America
Thor

    All photographs are owned by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 All rights reserved

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