AMERICAN GIRL | sounds good to me

When I stop and think about it, life cracks me up! Whatever you wanna call it. The way things happen, the people I meet and the snowball effect these two things have in common, blows my mind. An example of this, is how a simple wedding can mushroom into two modeling photo shoots and my strobist journey.

After the 2010 wedding season ended, I started to experiment with studio lighting. I have learned so much about off-camera lighting in the past year and Leah {O'Grady} Blackburn played a huge role in that. Not only is she beautiful and a natural in front of the camera, she has a great spirit. This made my lighting experiments that much easier.

I first met Leah when I photographed her wedding in February 2010. When I needed a model, she was the first person that came to mind. It was only by chance, that she was still in the country. Her husband, Clint is American. The newlyweds had planned to move to Tennessee, once Leah completed her immigration to the United States. A process that would keep the newlyweds apart for over a year. Lucky for me....heartache for Leah and Clint.

If you follow my blog, you probably saw the set of images from our first session. I still can not believe the images we captured that night. Photography has been a part of my world since I was sixteen. I have learned a lot about photography techniques and equipment since then, but that photo shoot with Leah opened my eyes to a whole new world of photography I was yet to explore.

Whether meeting Leah and having the opportunity to photograph her and develop my photography skills is fate, who really knows. Perhaps, I'm just a hopeless dreamer. That's OK too. Dreaming is what got me here in the first place. But...perhaps, it has nothing to do with me. Perhaps, its all about Leah and what her future holds. Ironic or not, after sending in photos from our first photo shoot, Leah has received a call back from more than one modeling agency and could be on her way to a new career. On that note, with Leah leaving the country, I'm on the hunt for a new model!!

On Valentines Day 2011, in Montreal - the same city in which the couple got engaged - Leah's immigration was approved. The time had finally come for the couple to reunite and start this new journey together. How exciting is that!

Perhaps there is no explanation for how things turned out. There is one thing I know for sure. I owe Leah a huge Thank you. She's was awesome. She's was enthusiastic. She was so much fun!

"Leah . . . Thank you so much. I wish you all the best. Follow every opportunity that comes your way . . . you may never know why it did or more importantly . . . where it may lead!"    ~ Emma.