Summertime Mini Session Fun for Yoga Heights DC - Bethany VanderSluis

Another day, another week and another awesome mini session to share with you! 

Meet Bethany VanderSluis -- another yogi from the Yoga Heights family that had the privilege of photographing a few months ago.

I'm totally in love with this mini session -- I think Bethany totally nailed every aspect of her mini shoot. From her outfit choice to her poses, this session looks absolutely gorgeous!

Stay tuned for more posts from my Yoga Heights mini session marathon 

That Time I did Artoga for Spright...

Art + Yoga, it's a thing. I know, I had no idea either. It's okay. :)

A few months ago, I stumbled across a listing for an Art + Yoga, aka "Artoga" class right here in Washington, DC and decided that I, as an area fitness writer and yogi, needed to try it out. You know, for professional purposes.

Anyway, I ended up signing up for a class earlier this fall and reviewed the whole experience for Spright and even got a chance to snap some half-decent photos. I won't give you my full review of the creative, bendy expereince, but here's a snippet of my review:

When I first saw an Artoga (art + yoga) workshop pop up on Greg’s List DC (a Washington, D.C. events site), I laughed out loud. It seemed a little bit ridiculous, but I was also curious. I decided to investigate and try it out.

After a bit of digital digging, I discovered that Artoga was co-founded by Nichole Friday and Marta Staudinger in 2014. Staudinger, an artist and yoga instructor, says it all began when she started brainstorming for an innovative activity to feature at her curatorial space, which was scheduled to open soon. Staudinger wanted to find a way to blend her two passions, art and yoga, and reached out to Friday for some creative and logistical help...

Read the full story here!

Finding My Balance: SUP Yoga Reviewing for Spright with Ebb + Flow

Okay. You caught me. I haven't updated my blog in a while. I blame laziness and vacation... erm, mostly vacation. But everyone deserves a little break from the interwebs every now and then, right? Anyway, here's a little update, from before I headed off on my wonderful week of vacation in the Canadian Rockies with Mr. Man (I'll talk more about that in another post).

A few weeks ago, I got to spend a wonderful evening reviewing a SUP (stand-up paddleboard) yoga class for Spright.com.

Now, let me be perfectly clear. I had never done regular SUP -- let alone SUP yoga -- before I headed down to the Key Bridge Boathouse to take one of Ebb + Flow's SUP yoga classes a few weeks ago, so I was a little nervous.

Looking back on it now, I probably wouldn't have ever thought to try the class in the first place if it wasn't for the Ebb + Flow founder, Jane Daly. Earlier in 2015, Jane introduced herself to me at a Grip the Mat yoga event, where I was working a Fiterazzi photo-booth. Even though the weather at the time was too chilly for SUP, Jane encouraged me to follow up with her in the summertime and come and try out a class.

So, after a few weeks of seeing all the paddleboarders out on the Potomac, enjoying the warm summer weather, I decided to follow up with Jane and take her up on her offer.

Now, I won't give away too much of my review (you should go read it on Spright!), but I will show you some pictures I took (with just my GoPro 3) and leave you with an excerpt to enjoy.

.... Our class started with stand-up paddleboarding demos to help any SUP newbies in the class (cough, me, cough) feel more comfortable on the water.

Then, once everyone was given their boards, personal floatation devices, anchors, and paddles, we were off, making our way to a small cove of calm water on Theodore Roosevelt Island.

Once we reached the cove, everyone put down their anchors and settled into child’s pose before starting the practice. As the hour passed, we flowed through a series of modified vinyasa moves including downward facing dog, warrior three and, aptly, boat pose....

Read more here!

Side-note: I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed with the quality of my GoPro shots -- for such a little thing, it did a pretty good job. Maybe next time I'll take my Canon out on the water -- or not. It is my non-waterproof baby, after all.

Happy Cinco De Mayo & My Photoshoot With The Fabulous Alexi Tetrault!

Happy Cinco de Mayo all you fajita-eating, margarita-drinking kids! Make sure to take an extra sip of that lime-ey goodness or eat a sopapilla (or five) today for me!

Anyway.

In other news, I've been super duper busy the past few weeks. Between regular work for the USO (I'm getting trained in AfterEffects, woo!), side-gigs, writing for Spright, my birthday and social obligations, it's truly been a whirlwind.

In all of my busyness, however, I've had the opportunity to work with some really fantastic people, including the awesome Alexi Tetrault.

After seeing some of my photos of the Grip the Mat girls at one of their events, Alexi, who knows both of the ladies from yoga teacher training, reached out to me to take some photos of her for her new yoga and nutrition busines.

I, of course, jumped at the chance! Shooting health and fitness photos is right up my alley and much more in my comfort zone than shooting posed head shots (although, I'm working on that!).

Because I had a jam-packed schedule, Alexi and did did a double-session split shoot -- half in the morning and half in the afternoon, and it was so much fun!

In the morning, we headed to the OpenCity cafe at the National Cathedral, as well as the Bishop's Garden on the cathedral grounds. You'd never know it was freezing outside by how sunny and gorgeous the photos look though!

In the afternoon, we headed to a few murals round Adams Morgan. Alexi really wanted to incorporate the colorful fruits and vegetables on the mural in her photos, and I think we acheievd a really nice result.

Either way, I had a blast doing this shoot and am totally pleased with the results! What do you think of my shots?

Behind the Shoot: Grip the Mat Cover Shoot for Fiterazzi

In the creative world schedules are never predictable. Shoots happen at 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. People are late. Cameras break. Things go wrong.

But sometimes, just sometimes, everything goes right.

That was exactly the case for my recent (well, sort of, late-January kind of recent) photo shoot with the lovely ladies of Grip The Mat for their recent February cover on Fiterazzi.

Now that the cover is finally published, I can share my awesome photos with you and tell you a little bit about the shoot.

I've blogged about Grip the Mat before and how I've photographed their yoga social events, but this shoot was extra special. See, although I've written and photographed for Fiterazzi for over a year, I've never had a cover photo or cover story before.

Add that excitement to the fact that I totally love the concept behind Grip the Mat and you've got the formula for awesomeness.

 

We toyed around with the idea of doing the shoot outside in the winter cold (stupid, I know), going to an art gallery or doing it in someone's apartment, but none of those seemed fitting. As the deadline of the cover story loomed closer, I realized the perfect place for the shoot: Tryst Coffeehouse and Bar in Adam's Morgan.

Bingo.

The ladies of Grip the Mat and I arrived bright and early at Tryst at 7 a.m. morning before work and basically struck gold.

I mean. The lighting. The colors. Everything was spot on, for the most part. In retrospective, some of angles are a bit off, but hey, I can't win everytime.

... or can I?

That Time I Shot an Event at Hierarchy DC for Grip The Mat

Happy Monday! I hope you're having a fabulous & warm start to your week, especially if you're in the Northeast area (stay save in this crazy blizzard weather!).

I'm coming off quite a high from last week's craziness. Not only did I have a bunch of my stories for the USO publish, but I hosted my first-ever booth for Fiterazzi at a Grip the Mat Bendy Brunch event -- but more about those things in later posts.

First, I want to take you back in time. Back before New Years toasts and Christmas morning hugs to those sweet weeks of anticipation before December 25th...

Before I headed off on my amazing tropical Christmas vacation, I had the privilege of shooting another yoga event for Grip The Mat. 

One of the duo's signature events is called Vinyasa to Vino, which is essentially a combined happy hour and yoga class.

I believe they've hosted all of these at Hierarchy DC (where I was at), which is a hip little art gallery in Adams Morgan.

While the space was tight and the lights were few and dim, I managed to capture some really nice moments and even got to whip out my new Canon 7d (woop!) for its inaugural run.

I know it's not a Mark III, but hey, I'm progressing as fast as my bank account will allow me.

I'll admit, I don't have shooting a yoga event down pat. I'm still learning which poses and angles are fabulous in pictures and which ones are super awakard for both the shooter and the shootee. I'm pretty confident I'll get there though.

In the meantime, I'll keep snapping pics and you, my friends, will give me all the feedback in the world.

Behind the Shoot: Snaps for Grip the Mat

DC is a really, really small town. Trust me on that one.

While living in so small of a town can be a drag sometimes, it does have it's perks -- namely knowing someone who knows someone who knows someone almost everywhere you go.

This past Sunday, a dear photographer friend of mine, Sara Snyder, asked me to be her double at a wonderful Bendy Brunch social yoga event hosted by Grip the Mat -- a company co-founded by a GW Alpha Delta Pi sorority sister of mine, Christy Skarulis.

See what I mean? Small town.

The event was at a wonderfully colorful venue, Blind Whino, which is a refurbished church-turned-into-art-gallery in Southwest DC.

Sara warned me that I was going to love taking pictures here, but she didn't do the place justice. The painting, the stained glass, the moody stained glass lighting -- it was a photographer's paradise!

Add a bunch of synchronized yogis into the mix and you'd be hard pressed not to get a fabulous shot.

Here's a slideshow of my Flicker gallery with all my shots.

Yeah... I'm totally going back here to do a shoot for Fiterazzi.