Tiny Dancer!!

I'm not sure how much y'all know about me but I thought I'd share what dance means to me!!

I've been dancing since I was about eight years old. I took ballet then because my step mom at the time didn't thing that I was girly enough. Liking to read and playing with boys said that! I think that I just had to grow up faster than most kids and she didn't know how to deal with it.

Anyway, she sent me to cheer leading camp......which I hated! I am not loud, I can be excited but I am not peppy by any stretch of the imagination, and I am not the friendliest person all in all. So cheer leading camp was anything but my cup of tea! However, the ballet class she sent me to not too long later was right up my alley!!

So long story short I started ballet at eight. I didn't get to spend too much time there because I was 'too big'. Meaning that my height was a problem, I was too much taller than the other girls. That was the end of those ballet classes and my childhood love affair with dance!!

Fast forward seven years......

As a high school sophomore I tried out for the dance team and made it. I spent my Junior and Senior year dancing with my high school dance team. It was a blur of practice, competitions and game day performances. We placed a lot higher than we should have for a second and third year team! And we placed with both Varsity and JV girls, making us one of the best teams around........

I was so sad to leave and go to college. But while I was there I did take some hip hop classes, my favorite type of dance. When you have a frame like mine it actually works quite well ^.^ Either way that is as far my dancing has gone. Now I just dance when I want to dance.....

I dance because dance expresses things that I couldn't say in person

I dance to stay in shape.

I dance because when I dance its the truest form of who I am. 

Hopes for the Future!!

I know earlier this week I shared what I would consider my motto for the year and if you're interested in you can read that here. But what I really wanted to add to that and write about today is what I'm hoping to achieve this year! So lets get to this......

This year I want to finish my AA degree in Bookkeeping and start my art degree. Finishing the one degree isn't going to be too hard. But getting into art school is looking a little scary. 

Another goal for this coming year is the big move!! I'm going to move to a town a little over two hours away from me where my art school is located. It's two hours away from most my friends and family, though I do have a decent amount of friends up there. And it's a much bigger town compared with where I currently live! I'm both excited and scared about this.

I also hope to find love this year. There is no telling if I actually will find love but I would really like to. I want to start setting up a life and just to settle down. But I can't really do that all too well without someone special.

Other than those I just have a bunch of smaller hopes for getting back into shape and eating healthier or just being more active, whether it be photo shoots, parties, get together, events, and just whatever I can do. I have plans to go to a breakdancing or bboy competition in February.

These are my hopes for the 2014 year!!

-Much Love Belle

The Price of Time!!

What is the price of time? In reality, how do you judge if a day was spent wisely or just squandered away?

Today, I spent most my day playing Farmville and watching episodes of Millionaire Matchmaker. I managed to shoot a new image for the self portrait a day challenge. My room looks cleaner and neater. And I'm thinking I'll have some nice clean clothes to wear over the next week! 

To tell the truth this is a pretty normal day off for me, filled with mind numbing things that don't really stress me out. But I think that while it feels nice to just relax like this, I also feel like this is me squandering away my days rather than doing something productive with life.

This day could have been spent taking my dog for a walk or giving her a bath, which is kind of needed. Or fully cleaning my room rather than just most the way getting my room clean. I could have also gotten in some real exercises or prepared my meals for the next week. And those are just things in my house. I could have also been doing so many things on line to update profiles or reply to fan messages. 

Pretty much anything else I could have done today would have been a better use of my time.

So what is the price of time not wisely used? This year I plan on reducing the amount of time spent wasting whole days and trying to get everything out of my year that I can. In other words: Work Bitch!!

-Much Love Belle

Bringing in the New Year!!

2014 is upon us and I for one feel like it snuck up on my.......

This last year has been full of ups and downs. But really has taught me one thing, that I need to look out for myself at the moment!

I spent my New Year's Eve with my mom, my pappy and little sister watching a show called Girl Code, only New Year's Code. It was pretty awesome and relaxing, and best of all I didn't have to get all dressed up or worry about having someone to kiss at midnight.

But what's most important here, of course, are the new year resolutions!! And instead of taking on a list of resolutions, I chose to go with a motto for this coming year!! This video should give you some idea of what it is:




Yep....that's right! It's Work Bitch! And here are a few things I'm going to work at this year:

Getting good grades.
Getting back in shape and healthy.
Getting more hours at work.
Getting published and just shooting more.
Moving to Portland.

Those are just a couple things that come to mind. Overall, I'm just going to work really hard this year to achieve something and overall just be happy with myself. I figure that this year I'm just going to work on me!!

-Much Love Belle!!

Hermit Mode!!

Hello lovely readers,

I hope y'all haven't given up on me! I know that I've been absent for awhile now! With school and work and all the traveling back and forth to my place out of town, I just haven't had the time to shoot or post. But I'm hoping to change that now!! I have finals next week and then I have a month off to figure out how to make it possible to post at least once a month!!

Just wait and see.....I'll be up and posting again in no time!!

-Much <3!!!! Belle!!

Photo Finish: Belle Photographie!

I wanted to start something new....basically I just kind of want to showcase local photographers.

Or photographers and other artists that I've worked with!!

Starting of course with my own photography as the guinea pig!

So here we go!

Introduce yourself : 

My name is Belle and my photography falls under Belle Photographie!

I've been shooting for about a year or so.....

And mainly just everyday situations though I have shot a few models.....

And have been working on planning shoots and such in the last couple months to build on my portfolio!!

Kassandra Wilson at an ISO meet up!!

What would you consider to be your photography style?

I don't think that I have a style yet. I've only been shooting for a little over a year and haven't shot a lot. So I feel like I haven't had time to develop a style. I am trying to find my style at the moment but I do love the more moody and more high end kind of photography. Things where a lot of thought and planning have gone into every part of the shoot!!

Why did you take up photography?

I took up photography because they were offering it at my collage and I thought that for once I should try to be on the other side of the camera.

I also love any sort of artistic outlet! And this just lets me do that!

Where do you draw inspiration from for your photography?

I draw most my inspiration from art and nature. Like I just found the coolest butterfly that imitates bees. And I think that it is just so cool that it would be great to do something inspired by things that aren't exactly what they seem. Though I'm not sure if I'll do it through just photography or by also designing clothing that goes along......either way photography will be involved!!

Alexis Myles at an ISO meet up!!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I see myself designing clothing and other such things for my store. I hope by that time I will have mastered product photography to a point that I can produce my own catalogs for my store. I would love to be living in a major city of some sort in either a beautiful studio or a house if I have a family.

I also hope to have a family and plenty of reasons to take photos. 

Where do you hope to take your photography?

I would really love to get better at shooting. As of right now I really just want to learn all the things I need to learn to be a better photographer and get a lot of experience in. I'm hoping to go towards my visual inspirations of just darker themes and fully planned out concepts.

What kinds of projects do you have coming up?

Right now I don't have any projects coming up. This summer I hope to shoot once a week! And just get myself to a point that I'm shooting constantly good work!

Kassandra Wilson at an ISO meet up!!

What photography rules do you break? And which ones would you never break?

I feel like I don't  know the rules well enough to break them. And at the moment I just kind of shoot and figure out what I love and what I hate!!

What do you think of the photography scene in Eugene?

I think that the scene in Eugene is great. There are a lot of photographers around. And you'd think that would be a bad thing but I don't think so because there are so many willing to help with the learning process. 

I do feel at times that it can be a bit much to keep up with with all the different groups and shoots. But I feel that its rewarding as well.

What would you suggest I ask the next interviewee?

What photographers that they admire and why do they admire them.

So there is the first interview!! Let me know what you think?

Leave comments down below to let me know if you want me to continue doing this!!
Much <3!! Belle

Test shoot for location scouting!!

Ruffles, Mask and Dark Kisses

Welcome back wonderful people!!

I shot recently with Tammie Harris Photography!

A wonderful local female photographer......

And she wanted to try something new and a little different 

As she felt that her work was getting a little too safe....

So we played with the lighting!!

For this first one we build a little fort in the studio out of some pretty fabrics......

And then we covered it with some Christmas lights 

Which created little twinkles of lights behind the fabric......

And super stark lighting!!

My skin looks super flawless in this image ^.^

This one was shot a little later in the evening with just a very bright light on my face!!

It made a sort of framing on all the pictures.....

With a very nice affect on my skin I think!!

This last one was closer to the end of the night!! 

We ditched the stark backgrounds and thought to play a little with this nice area!

Thinking it would be a nice change.....

I think that it was a great idea!

Overall I think that Tammie and I did a great job with these images!!

All clothing and styling was done by me!

Thank you so much for reading.....

<3 Belle