Finding your fierce, men need it too!

I recently did a talk for a group of Photographers in Connecticut called 'Find Your Fierce'. Being a Boudoir photographer who focuses much of my time on women, and of course, being a woman myself, I can speak of the feminine side of finding your fierce, well, fiercely! But I realized putting my talk together that I needed to reach men as well. About a week prior to my talk I was speaking with a great friend of mine about what he's looking for in a woman, being that he is an attractive, successful, intelligent man who happens to be single, I wanted to help him out. I know so many amazing single women! But in talking to him I learned so much about the male psyche, how men are truly feeling the same way women are, they just don't always vocalize it. They're insecure with their looks, and their bodies in every way women are. They need to find their fierce as much as women do.

I have also been working with a publisher to provide better images of men for books. It seems there is a bit of a lack of great male photography. And when you look on forums for models and photographers, sure enough it happens to be mostly female models everyone is looking for. Where are the great photographers of men? There are a few, Michael Stokes being one of my absolute favorites at the moment. But by and large, there aren't that many opportunities for men in our area. I've decided I'm going to change that. I'm starting a series of male portraits and I am very excited to share the first in that series. My first model has never modeled professionally before and was a blast to work with. (and don't worry! I won't feature only perfectly handsome, fit, young men. I'm looking for character!)

Introducing Michael M. Enjoy!

Finding MY Fierce!

Yes, I too need to periodically find my fierce, remind myself of that deep seeded ferocity which I know is there, but sometimes seem to misplace. I have to remind myself of who I am and what I want. I need to reinvent myself, find my ground and hold it.

The first place I started to work on that was with my website. My website has not represented me for a bit now. It was lovely, and showed lovely images, but it didn't feel Fierce. And no, my website is not who I am, but it's definitely a reflection of me. So I've been working hard along side my amazing web guy, Josh Currier of Neon Thoughts to recreate my site and have it reflect me and what I believe in. I believe in YOU! I believe in your ferocity. I believe that every woman deserves to be able to walk into a room and feel confident in who she is. I want to help you remind yourself of that. You have it in you, you may just need to find where you have hidden it. I'd love to help you do just that.

Check out my new site! Ciao Bella Boudoir

I will also be starting to speak about Boudoir Photography and finding your fierce this April. I am so excited to start this new adventure!

And one final way I've pushed myself was to submit to a print competition. What I love about print competitions is that these are not based on how pretty your model is, but in the technical merit of the image. I chose a black and white, high key image. My model was of course lovely. The gorgeous Marie sat for me. She is perfection and certainly has the ferocity I admire. But to  get the tones as they needed t be, the posing just right and the edit perfect, that takes skill. So much of my work is never seen. I submitted my work and waited. We went to the WPPI conference in Las Vegas, a photographer's conference where the judging would take place. The day arrived when the images that won would be put on display. I was so nervous walking around, looking at all the work. I rounded a corner and there she was. My Marie, with a silver ribbon. Holy crap! Seriously! It was such a HUGE honor to see that! To receive such validation from an incredibly talented group of world renowned photographers is beyond words.

So here she is, Miss Marie, looking fierce and lovely.

Find Your Fierce!

I watched this video and all I could say was OH HELL YES!

Ladies, get it, claim it, OWN it! We women are amazing creatures of power. We have power in our minds, we have power in our hearts, we have power in our souls, and we have power in our bodies.

Do not underestimate yourself. You are Beautiful, Powerful and Amazing. You Are FIERCE!

This video made me so proud to be a woman. This is perfection. This is why I photograph women. To help them find their fierce. It's not in the photos, it's in you. You'll find it before you leave my studio, but you will not forget it. That's the feeling I want you to remember when you walk into a room, when you feel uneasy or frightened, when you are challenged.

You are fierce. Find it, claim it, own it.

FIND YOUR FIERCE.

Ciao!

~Teri   

The beauty of a mother rivals the beauty of mother nature. I love photographing mothers, especially when their little one is still safely harbored within their womb. The love, joy and connection a woman feels with the child in her womb is undeniable and undeniably beautiful. It brings a glow to every woman I've known while she was pregnant. To be able to photograph a woman while she's busy creating life is a complete honor. I was able to do that recently with a gorgeous woman I have had the pleasure of knowing now for about 5 years. I've watched her grow into a gorgeous, strong woman, who will be an amazing mother to the son she's currently carrying. I look forward to meeting him in a couple of months! I was able to do this session on A's land that she and her partner recently purchased. What an amazing backdrop to help create gorgeous portraits!

Thank you A for entrusting me with such an amazing moment in your life. Much love!

Celebrating a Woman's Beauty and Power with a Gorgeous Blonde

She sent me a message asking "Should I keep my hair natural and wild or tame it?" My answer was natural and wild, of course! We get wrapped up everyday in what is ideal for everyone else, but forget to consider what is ideal for us? What makes YOU feel beautiful, what makes YOU feel powerful? The sexiness that will shine from every pore of your being comes from those two feelings. A woman empowered by her own beauty and power will empower those around her, she does not need to be told she is 'sexy' by anyone else or on anyone else's terms. My goal with every one of my sessions is to help each woman realize her beauty, her power and to leave her session with those feelings. I want every woman to know those feelings and carry them with her out into the world.

This woman? She came to me already there, already full of her own power and beauty. It was a complete pleasure working with her. I fed off her energy and she off mine. There is nothing like it in the world: two creative souls working together to create magic. Miss Fredua was a natural, wild beauty and it was my pleasure creating gorgeous images with her!

What makes you feel beautiful, powerful and sexy? A session at Ciao Bella Boudoir may be just what you need. ;)

Maleficent: Queen of beauty, power and sex appeal.

I adore Maleficent. She's my favorite fairytale queen. Seeing the movie trailers has inspired me to want to do a shoot for quite some time. I had a wonderful model in mind, Harsiese. She was in the process of taking her hair to a lovely shade of silver, so we waited until that was done. I needed a dress worthy of Maleficent, Khaos By Design had the perfect dress for me, along with gorgeous necklaces. Valerie Schaubroeck created the gorgeous hair design and Nicole Barry did Maleficent's makeup. Michael Hanlon, my partner in crime, was my lighting assistant and master of the smoke. It was amazing collaborating with such a fantastic team! I only have one teaser for you for now. The rest will come soon. Thank you to my inspired team for helping me see this vision come to life!

Celebrating Beauty...

I'm a day late on National Women's Day, but this image is one I adore. It's from a recent shoot with one of my favorite models, Marie Vaccarello. She is absolutely gorgeous, inside and out. She represents a strong woman, a woman with confidence and beauty, a woman with intelligence and kindness. She represents everything a woman should be. There are more images from this session to follow, but I wanted to post one to celebrate all women. We as women need to learn to celebrate ourselves, our very essence, every day. You, yes you, are beautiful, powerful and sexy! Embrace it. Makeup for this shoot was by Ashley Luna. Copyright of all images are expressly those of Teri Fiske of Hanlon-Fiske Studios, INC.

Now for something a little different. ;)

You know that I get to shoot gorgeous women, beautiful babies and stunning weddings, but this week I had the pleasure of working with a lovely male model (and one of my favorite muses, Miss Bonnie). This was a blast! So here's a little bit of eye candy for all of you gorgeous women. Enjoy!

Alex was a blast to work with and quite a natural model. I'm looking forward to working more with him in the future.

All images copyright of Teri Fiske, Hanlon-Fiske Studios, INC, Ciao Bella Boudoir

Beauty in mommas, babies and gorgeous beauties who graced my studio...

I have had the pleasure of photographing amazing mommas, babies and beauties of late. I am always honored that such beautiful people trust me both for themselves, and their babies. Remember to celebrate your beauty and all the beauty that surrounds you every day.

We'll start with beautiful Miss K and her happy baby. Miss K has found the beauty in life and has learned to celebrate it with her daughter every day. She is making her family incredibly proud.

Then Mr. O and his family came in to see me in his first week. He was so serene the entire session. What a gorgeous boy!

And finally, a little sex power to round out my month! Goodness Miss J is a stunner! She is 5'11" and wore 4 inch heels. I love this girl! She exemplifies my tag line of 'Beautiful, Powerful AND Sexy! She embraces how amazing she is and it's palpable! I'm looking forward to more shoots like these.

My absolute favorite, seriously, this is so gorgeous, so mysterious, love everything about this. :)

Visit us at Hanlon-Fiske Studios, INC

Stretch Your Wings. A Little Fun in the Studio

As an owner of a photography business, 95% of what we do is running our business, 5% is shooting. And of that 5% we are almost 100% shooting for clients. So once in a blue moon, we like to have some fun and shoot just for ourselves. This last shoot involved our lovely and talented model: Kimberly Anne, the always amazing makeup artist Nicole Barry, my partner in crime, best friend and co-owner of Hanlon-Fiske Studios: Michael Hanlon and last but certainly not least, our fantastic, talented and always lovely friend Tomas Flint of Tomas Flint Photographers. We had a blast, we played with lights, we got our creative on!

I hope you enjoy checking these out as much as we enjoyed creating them!

Copyright Teri Fiske of Hanlon-Fiske Studios Inc

Copyright Teri Fiske of Hanlon-Fiske Studios Inc

Copyright Teri Fiske of Hanlon-Fiske Studios Inc

Copyright Tomas Flint

Copyright Teri Fiske of Hanlon-Fiske Studios Inc

Copyright Michael Hanlon of Hanlon-Fiske Studios Inc

YES! Oh YES! ;)

OK, I know it's not pc to toot one's own horn, but I feel good! As a matter of fact, I feel GREAT! This month is my birthday month. My 43rd birthday month, to be exact. I've known people who freaked out when they turned 30, I didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed it, honestly. I've known people who REALLY freaked out at 40. Again, didn't really bother me. 43? That one seemed a little rougher. Maybe it's the increased frequency with which I have to visit my favorite stylist: Valerie Schaubroeck to get my white stripe back to my 'natural' shades of red and violet ;). Maybe it's the weather. But at the beginning of birthday month (yes, I celebrate birthday month!) I was, for a lack of better terms, 'feeling my age'. So I'm doing a few things to remedy that. I'm drinking more...water, that is. I love coffee, I love to run around like mad, I love staying busy. Combine all those things and one forgets to hydrate. So now I have a lovely pitcher of water with cucumber and lemon to drink all day. It's pretty and it makes me feel better.

The other thing I did? Well, if you're going to talk the talk, you damn well best walk that walk! I'm constantly telling women that they need to do a Boudoir session for themselves! I have had many clients come to me to do a session for their significant other. By the time they leave the studio, they are feeling EMPOWERED! They feel strong, they feel beautiful, and they definitely feel sexy! They now realize the importance of that session for THEM. The opportunity came for me to do that for myself when Troy Smith from Subculture Magazine asked me to submit photos and a quick blurb. Being a Boudoir photographer, I could not simply send in a nice head shot. So, Michael Hanlon (my consummate partner in crime, business, life and love) helped me out a bit. Aaaannnnnddd, we submitted this:

OH YES! Take THAT 43! ;) That felt GOOD! Seriously ladies, I am not superficial, I don't walk around thinking 'Shit, I'm hot', but that photo? Oh yes. I feel it! I needed that little boost. I deserved that little boost! We all do!

So what exactly are you waiting for? Permission? Here it is, I give you permission to celebrate YOU! Do it! A Ciao Bella Boudoir session is exactly what the doctor ordered. ;) YES! Oh YES!

A bit of Hollywood Glamour with a very modern girl...

Bonnie is definitely a beautiful, powerful, sexy woman. She embodies all of the grace of any Hollywood starlet you can conjure up: Lillian Gish, Marleen Dietrich, Veronica Lake, Jane Russell; she just has it. We were thrilled that Bonnie was available to work with us and got started planning the Hanlon-Fiske Studios, INC old Hollywood style shoot with wedding dresses from Heart to Heart Bridal.

As always, Valerie Schaubroeck did the makeup and honestly, I think she knocked it out of the park with this one! I'm looking forward to our upcoming Ciao Bella Boudoir sessions not only here, but in NYC as well.

We are all thrilled with the results and think you will be as well.

On another note, we (Hanlon Weddings) love that we have the space and gear available to offer a shoot like this to any of our brides. While the 'Bridal Shoot' is not as popular here in New York, it's something Mike and I love! We've had couples do 'Day After' sessions as well which is another way to get more amazing images of just the two of you!

Ciao Bella!