Shannon Sewell

‘only when I’m dancing can I feel this free’

SS — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:43:36 +0000

I think it was the early 80′s when I first heard Madonna. I saw her mixed-dance-attire-sudo-street clothes, black rubber bracelets, rags tying her hair back… it was the Borderline video… and I was hooked. Apparently, as a little girl, I thought that dancing down the street looking like you just rolled out of bed was the thing to attain to. I proceeded to memorize and copy every single dance move & lyric I could behind the security of my closed bedroom door. And I’m pretty sure I was really good. No really. I mean, I still have some of them memorized (not that I would still do it to know of course) ;) For some reason (the painfully shy part of me most likely) I never actually asked to go to a dance class or entered a dance studio more than once in my childhood. Yep, it was kept for me alone (& my poor little sister that I made join in when back-up dancers were necessary). As I grew older I kept my love for dance. Read books & drooled over pictures of Martha Graham, Twyla Tharp, Alvin Ailey… so, of course, when I had my own little girl I assumed (k- kinda hoped & prayed) that she would love dance like I did. As soon as she hit the magic age of 3 we signed up for ballet. All I can say is that seeing that little 3 year old cutie with her buns, leotard & leg warmers was all I ever needed and I was good then & there. And, lucky us, she had the most fabulous teacher- Ms. Candace. So, you can’t imagine how excited I was when Ms. Candace emailed telling me her daughter needed Senior pictures aaaand… yes- she is a dancer. And yes.. she arrived with leg warmers & a tutu in hand. Me? oh-so-happy (mighta done a little dance even) ;)

‘oh it never lies, it can’t surprise any good advice’

SS — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:43:28 +0000

In this day and age we all have a lot of friends. A lot. Hundreds (some of you even thousands)… Facebook. Twitter. It’s amazing though… all those friends & there are days I feel so lonely. I crave hearing another voice give me more than 140 characters to fill in the blanks to.. hear the stuff that is just too special to post on a wall. Those are the days that I am grateful (blessed-loved-thankful-heartwarmed-kinda-grateful) for the ‘real life’ friends. You know the ones… you can call day or night, happy or sad and they are always there to be your listening ear and comfy shoulder. I can count those kinda friends on my fingers so when one of them came for a long anticipated visit it was time to capture that moment. Grab a few images of her beautiful face to tide me over til the next time…

ps… she is an amazing photographer btw (I try to stand really close to my friends in hopes their talent oozes onto me) Gonna take her to Detroit with me next month for some styling yumminess at my workshop… can’t wait!!

vancouver | WASHINGTON

‘just a dot.. on a map.. of a world..’

SS — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:17:26 +0000

August was about travel.. new experiences.. miles upon miles with just four wheels to take me where I needed to go. It was a good month. A great month. A month that I would put on repeat in my iTunes for hours on end if i could.

I tried to breathe in each moment, travel light & SEE. My iPhone was my main camera…

with some polaroids thrown in for good measure…

(my Instaback is horribly temperamental but this trip is was absolute perfection except for the four images I took at the border of Area 51… hmmm… true story)

And, of course, there was some real camera time to be had. I stopped in Carlsbad to hang out with Renee. We had a quick 4 hours to talk, talk, talk & a mini-session (gotta do that)…

and MORE…

deserts | NEVADA

southern | CALIFORNIA

‘I love to watch you do it just your own way’

SS — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 05:49:43 +0000

I had a perfect weekend last week… hung out with a fabulous group of girls (hosted by one of my fav’s… Stephanie). We talked about forging new business paths, feeding our inspiration, finding the guts to bushwhack our own paths in this awesome little photo journey. Oh yeah.. and we took some pictures too ;) Thank you ladies… can’t wait to see your images!

salt lake city | UTAH

‘bright eyes and subtle variations of blue’

SS — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:17:43 +0000

marfa[trip] part three…

Lake houses. Double rainbows. Pretty faces. Desert radness.

moab | UTAH

‘you wanna be where everybody knows your name’

SS — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:40:19 +0000

marfa[trip] part two…

A big ‘ole cabin filled with some of the most amazing women I know. Too many dead animals. And stars that feel like you just got swallowed up into the Milky Way.

moad | UTAH

‘i have seen so much beauty it could make you cry’

SS — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:52:52 +0000

marfa[trip] part one…

I spent last week here. I’m still going through withdrawal… missing the adventure, missing the girls. Lots more to show, I’ll be back soon…

moab | UTAH

'i'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden with you'

SS — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:35:17 +0000

Pretty sure this is my favorite session I’ve ever done. I was giddy as I was building the set… each layer of white undersea adventure just made me smile bigger & bigger. White is my absolute favorite ever so to be able to do something like this is soooo up my alley (I would probably decorate in complete white if I could somehow make it work. yep- I’ve even gone so far as to have a white family room couch. 2 kids and all.. totally worth it). Then these vintage swim caps… *sigh* I wanted to buy ALL of them- every style, every color. Too tooo cute (can we bring this style back- please?). Then let’s add to this amazingness that I got to wear my bikini as my shoot attire. Honestly couldn’t have told you during the shoot if I was at a pool party or a crazy-fun-cute photo session… that, my friends, is what you call work ;)

'who's that chick that's rockin' kicks? she's gotta be from out of town'

SS — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 06:06:36 +0000

Hi! k… little travel/business talk (no pics- yawn)…

I have a few cities I am traveling to in the next couple of months and I want to get interest & schedule any shoots/workshops/mentoring I can while I’m already on the road…

Salt Lake City: August 14th- all day workshop. VERY limited availability.

Southern California/LA: 3rd & 4th week of August- open for shoots & half-day mentoring only.

San Francisco: September 16-19th (18th is already booked) Available for shoots & half-day mentoring the other days.

Detroit: October 21st- still figuring out if this is going to be an all day or a mini (concept shoot only) workshop. I’d love feedback from people in the area that are interested in coming!

NE coast (Boston/NYC): October/November-ish.. I’ve had quite a few inquiries from this area and would LOVE to put something together in the fall.

Just email me at shannon@shannonsewell.com with your city in the subject line and what you are interested in booking. Thanks so much and I canNOT wait to meet all the fabulous people in these cities!!

xoxo ~S

'you spin me right round, baby'

SS — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:59:45 +0000

So what do you do when one of your fellow photographer friends has a beyond cute little girl? You steal her away for some studio time of course ;)