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 

Autumn Mini Session with DC Yoga Teacher Charlotte Bowden!

Happy almost Friday world! 

I thought I would keep to my fall flashback theme from last week and share about another yoga mini session I had in October. I mean, who doesn't love looking at fall photos, #amiright?

On Halloween weekend, I had the pleasure of snapping some photos of local DC-area teacher Charlotte Bowden. If you're a local yogi, you may have seen her teaching at Grip the Mat events or at Corepower Yoga in DC.

Charlotte and I had an early morning session, which was absolutely magical. The fall colors contrasted perfectly with her outfit and the scenery of Rock Creek Park was stunning.

I think I'm going to let the photos speak for themselves...

Health and Wellness Shoot with MOARFIT (aka Homemade Health DC!)

When I first got into the freelance world of health and wellness multimedia back as a college student in 2012, I never could have imagined I'd meet all of the wonderful people I've had the pleasure of working with over the past few years.

Chatting with semi-famous yogis? Check. Interviewing intense Olympic athletes? Check check. Taking photos featured in national publications? Big huge check!

 
Yet despite all these big career milestones, the thing I'm the most proud of doing isn't something you'd come across on a big, national fitness website. See, my bread-and-butter freelance job is something more humble and something I'm really, really proud to spend my weekends and evenings doing:  working with local health and wellness professionals/brands/businesses in the Washington, DC-metro area to help them visually brand (or-rebrand) themselves without making them go broke.

My latest client? The fabulous Amy Rizzotto of MOARFIT (soon to be re-named Homemade Health DC!).

I first met Amy at a Detox2Retox yoga event she was teaching at Mr. Man's and my favorite spot for a pint, Hellbender Brewery. Not only was Amy's yoga class, fun, challenging and accessible (a must to be deemed a "good" class in my book), but even non-yogi Mr. Man seemed to enjoy himself, which, made me take notice of Amy and her business, MOARFIT.

So, after a few months of taking the occasional Detox2Retox class, and watching Mr. Man actually enjoy other yoga classes at Amy's studio, Yoga Heights, I was flattered when she approached me about taking photos and recording a promotional video for her health and wellness business rebrand.

Not only did we have a blast on the shoot (even though it was really hot outside), but I think the photos (video to come!) turned out wonderfully. What do you think?

Grip the Mat Bendy Brunch: Cuteness at 600F!

Unless you've been under a rock recently (or just haven't read my blog in the past year), you know that I do a lot of freelance photography for the awesome yoga event start up Grip the Mat.

I'm not going to harp on all the wonderful work I've done for them (you can scroll through my archives if you want to hear more about that), but I did want to share a few new images I have from another GTM event I worked at this spring at 600 F in Chinatown.

This was the first time I've ever shot an event for GTM where there was a cute little kid (co-founder Christy's nephew) participating in the yoga as well.

Needless to say, the shots were magical. Or at least, I thought so!

My First-Ever Live Event for Fiterazzi Magazine at Wonderbread Factory, DC!

Sundays are for waking up late, snuggling in bed with coffee and, of course, Grip the Mat's Bendy Brunch!

If you don't know what Bendy Brunch is ... think yoga, unlimited mimosas by Vinolovers, KIND Snacks, Buffalo and Bergen fresh juices and a gourmet brunch by Spike Mendelsohn. Noms.

Anyway.

A few weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Bendy Brunch at the Wonder Bread Factory in DC not as a photographer for Grip the Mat, but as an ambassador/booth host for Fiterazzi Magazine -- something I've never done before!

Let me explain.

We loved hanging out at our @fiterazzi social polaroid photo booth today at @gripthemat's #bendybrunch in #DC! Thanks @spikethechef, @buffalobergendc, @thevinolovers and @kindsnacks for the fab food & drink! Hugs our helpers and everyone who came to this awesome #yoga #fitness event!

A photo posted by Sandi Moynihan (@sandimoynihan) on Jan 25, 2015 at 11:57am PST

See, Fiterazzi had been wanted to partner with Grip the Mat ever since we found out about the company in the fall of 2014. After a bit of brainstorming, we decided that we would sponsor our very own Fiterazzi Social Polaroid Photo Booth at a Grip the Mat Bendy Brunch.

The idea was that people would leave with a fun Polaroid photo memory of the day -- but only if they took a photo of the booth, tagged Fiterazzi and Grip the Mat and shared the photo on Instagram and/or Twitter. We wanted to help boost both Fiterazzi and Grip the Mat's social footprint in a way that was still fun and not SO labor intensive that it turned people away, and I think we totally accomplished that.

Having so much fun at the @fiterazzi social photo booth at @gripthemat with @christynoele and @abraun2 #dc! #yoga #fitness #bendybrunch

A photo posted by Sandi Moynihan (@sandimoynihan) on Jan 25, 2015 at 9:44am PST

Besides playing host, handing out flyers and taking snaps of people, I also got to practice yoga at the event -- something I normally don't get to do when I'm busy taking photos. It also helped that my awesome buddy Alisha was there to help me out so I didn't go totally crazy brained during the day -- kudos girl.

Loving the @fiterazzi social photo booth at @gripthemat #bendybrunch in #dc! #yoga #fitness

A photo posted by Sandi Moynihan (@sandimoynihan) on Jan 25, 2015 at 9:12am PST

I think we had about 40 people come through the booth to take photos, which was totally awesome!

All in all, it was a really fun event and I can't wait for an opportunity to host a booth again for Fiterazzi. Here's to the next time!

@fiterazzi social photo booth is kicking off at @gripthemat #bendybrunch in #dc! #yoga #fitness

A photo posted by Sandi Moynihan (@sandimoynihan) on Jan 25, 2015 at 9:09am PST

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?