20 on Tuesdays | Sarah Cornish | and A Giveaway

Sarah Cornish of My Four Hens Photography embodies three of my favorite things;  She is the sweetest person I have never met in person, she lives and photographs in my home state of Connecticut, and she created some of my very favorite “go-to” editing actions.    Sarah and I got waaaaay back to the days we frequented a large and popular photography forum.  She always had the sweetest, most sincere comments, and still does.  She has the most endearing way of calling me (and many others) “sweetie” and “honey”.  Sarah is passionate, spiritual, grounded, and gifted.  I loved reading through her interview.  I’m completely inspired and hope to one day meet her in person because I have a feeling we would be good friends.

 

Hi, Sarah!

Tell us a few things we should know about Sarah.

I am a total homebody. I love family time and always put my husband and children first. It helps me balance out the chaos and gives me a place to retreat to when I am feeling overwhelmed or burnt out. I am also a creative soul and love to dabble. I love to take on a million projects at once and love to stay busy. Photography has give me something so special. I have a creative outlet while making a means to help support my family and I am so grateful for that. I also am  a spiritual woman and honestly believe that everything that is good and positive in my life is attributed to God. He gets all the credit! I am a mother of four children. Sometimes people are fairly surprised to hear this since I am super young (okay not super but youngish lol!) and am only 28 years old. I am married to my amazing high school sweetheart and just got a jump start on the best part of life is all ;)! He is my number one supporter (and totally hot!!) and seriously inspires and motivates me to strive for all my goals!

How long have you been in business?
I started my Photoshop actions business years a go but just celebrated my second anniversary for my photography business. I feel incredibly blessed it has grown in the ways it did! I would have never began to dream it could reach the potential it has. I hope to only do better and get better as time goes on!

How did your journey to photography begin?
Oh this is tough. I had a tough childhood. My father was a bipolar addict (of many varieties) and I always had the strong urge to make everything around me “pretty.”  I found quickly that with some of my creative outlets ( Such as writing and photography) this was totally attainable. I lived in my own fantasy world as a means of survival. When I turned 15 my aunt who is a awesome nature photographer gave me thee biggest gift possible. She let me back pack all over the US with her and taught me some of the basics of film photography. I was INSPIRED to say the least. Being a young mother I couldn’t fund everything necessary to continue the hobby but when my son Noah was born in 2006 I purchased a Canon s3is and rediscovered my love! I upgraded to my first dslr in 2007 and haven’t put one down since then! I am a slow and steady kinda gal though and didn’t hang my shingle right away. I studied and practiced and waited until the right moment to really put myself out there and I am happy I did!

Tell me about your ideal session.
Oh man. Being a gemini I am sure you can all relate that this can change on any given day LOL! I am always a million miles an hour. Today I would say I would love PURE lifestyle. A day in the life. Being so centered around my own family my favorite photos are always the ones of my children. The unsolicited, pure, fun, moody emotive, happy, sad type photos. The REAL raw ins and outs of life. I would love to just shadow a family and caputre genuine moments. I hope to seriously be able to offer this one day. On the other end of the spectrum though I would love to be able to do a totally styled session with lots of fun props just oozing with whimsy. Told ya I am all over the place LOL!

When you were just starting out, is there an image that cemented your decision to become a photographer?
We were struggling. I mean REALLY struggling. Anyone that is coping with this economy right now knows that it is just hard for a family to really make ends meet, especially on one income. For years I have been told to go in business but I wanted to know EVERYTHING I could about not only photography but business so I held off. We eventually reached the place though where it was sink or swim and I knew I had the tools so I put myself out there and was blown away with the response. I am so happy I took those steps because its been a total dream. I am not getting rich off my income but we have enough to finally support our family in a comfortable manor and I get to do something I REALLY love so it is doubly special!

I am in love with your lifestyle approach to family sessions.  How much direction do you give your clients before, and during a session?
I do the least amount of posing I can possibly get away with! I will direct a bit or move them to one particular area and basically tell them to stand how they feel comfy. My philosophy is if they look uncomfortable in person its definitely going to shine through in the photos. There are times when a family will NEED to be posed because they don’t know what to do with themselves and I will accommodate then but my goal is to keep things moving. I talk a lot too and sometimes it takes their mind off what they are doing so they don’t realize that they are even posing. It also helps loosen up their expressions.

Shooting in Connecticut, do you ever get tired of all the trees and your lush surroundings?  Do you ever long for the desert?
I don’t! Which is funny because I guess maybe I should lol! But I LOVE CT. I love the landscape, the gorgeous colors (especially in fall) the shore and the beach and most of all the old buildings. I am surprised I wasn’t a total history buff growing up because now I am absolutely fascinated with it all. I will say that I did get to shoot in Las Vegas at Red Rock while out there (an engagement session) and it was a BLAST. I do hope to eventually travel and take photos at some point though because I do love variety and think it would be a blast to shoot in different areas all over the country (and maybe the world!)

Not only are you an amazing photographer, but you also have a successful line of editing tools for other photographers.  Tell me how that came to fruition.
The Photoshop and editing tools I sell have been SO much fun! I have gotten to connect with so many amazing people and photographers in all different stages and areas of the business. I actually was (wish I still had time to be) a avid digital scrapbooker and always got a ton of compliments on my photos. It was one of my favorite parts of my page and in my opinion the most important part obviously. I always had my own way of doing things and people would ask how I edited my pictures. I started a project 365 years back and peaked some interest with a small following and decided to start selling photoshop actions then because people would ask if I did all the time! I would have never guessed it would be what it is today. I am in total awe!

Do you have a “go to” action that you use more than any others?
I usually do! Or a few anyway I keep in my back pocket! It changes a lot, because as you know in Connecticut the lighting, the seasons and even the locations can make for vastly different types of photos. Right now I am totally digging Pish Posh and Whimsy from Vintage Crush. I also use Just Love from Hippy Dippy Trippy a lot on newborn photos and Fiddlesticks from Fable Action set on indoor pictures. A lot of depends on my mood to of course though! That whole being a Gemini thing again 😉 LOL!

Of course we all want to know what equipment you shoot with.
I have been shooting with two camera bodies lately and they are my Canon 5d Mark II and my classic Canon 5d! I use just about ALL My lenses on any given shoot because I am a total prime girl and so I love all the different focal lengths! I have a Canon 35L, 85L, 24L, 15mm Fish Eye, 100L macro, 50 1.4 (which I never use sadly for some odd reason) Canon 90mm Tilt Shift, and a Lens Baby. I hope to get the 135L next!

Tell me about personal projects.  Are they important and what have you done lately?
I tried a project 365 and then a project 52 and crashed and burned terribly. I do think if you can pull them off they are AMAZING though and I think I will honestly try every.single. year until I get it!
A lot of people do not know this but my oldest daughter has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Its controlled with medication and she does amazing but I have seen the dark side of this disability and it is heartbreaking watching her cope with some of the things she has to at times. I would love to eventually start offering free sessions to those that are dealing with the same thing in hopes of bringing more awareness and hopefully more funding to it.
Another personal project I hope to eventually take on is to photograph the homeless and battered women. It will have to wait until my children are older as I know it can be a very dangerous project but I would like to try to bring more awareness to this as well.

Photography workshops? Classes?  Books?
I have never taken a class or read a book but I am a strong supporter of photography communities. I learned just about everything I know from them. The first one I ever utilized was Ilovephotography.com I wasn’t brave enough to post but I read and just absorbed everything and the caliber of amazingness over there is staggering. I have started to come out of my shell a bit and post now and then but really its free, and AMAZING. I highly recommend them! I also love The Bloom Forum. SO.MUCH.TALENT. and so tight knit. Once my busy season is over I will be stalking them regularly lol! And last but not least is clickinmoms.com Also no shortage of talent and with such a nice range of photographers you really have the opportunity to connect and learn in a non judgmental setting!

If you could be invisible with your camera for a day, what would you shoot?
Oh that would be amazing!
Homelessness. Coming from a background like mine where it wasn’t all peaches and cream I think that it would be amazing to show that these people are indeed people. They are real. They need help. And I think when people think of homelessness they think of drunks and drug addicted angry old men but really a lot of the homeless population are children and pregnant women and families that just couldn’t get their feet underneath them and need help. I really just want to capture what they live with and experience and maybe even help a little in the process.

Name a photographer you’d love to take a portrait of…
Katie from Claire Alyse Photography or Desiree Hayes. Not only are they GORGEOUS and talented but they have the most amazing personalities!

The last meal you ate …
MMmm being the four packets of fruit snacks I just downed for breakfast probably doesn’t classify as a “meal” lol! It would have to be my Steak and Cheese wrap I had for dinner from Mystic Pizza last night. Yum!

Your three favorite songs to edit to at the moment …
Lovely from Sara Haze, How to Love from Lil Wayne, and Rolling in the Deep by Adele. There are really SO many though. Those just popped into my head. I am a big fan of Spotify and Pandora and usually just have that going while I work.

Your guilty pleasure…
Wine… LOL

The last movie you saw in the theater…
The new Transformers flick. AMAZING.

The last book you read…
Are you my mother by Dr. Seuss. My kids can’t get enough!

The quote that best represents you right now…

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4”

 

What did I tell you?  Inspiring, huh?

Sarah’s photography can be found HERE.

Sarah’s Tools for photographers can be found HERE.  (My very most favorite action is ‘Stained‘ from her Hippy Dippy Trippy set)

Sarah was spotlighted on The Bloom Blog yesterday.  You can read that HERE.

Sarah’s FB Fan page can be found HERE.

Thank you, Sarah!

 

Have I told you lately how much I love The Bloom Forum?  I thought so!  It’s my virtual home.  I’ve been a moderator now for most of the year and I can attest to Brenda and Kristy’s genuine passion for creating an atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement and sharing and learning and most of all, growing.  Bloom is a community of photographers with varying levels of experience and knowledge but who share a passion for capturing a moment of life and creating a lasting memory.  Wanna know one of my favorite parts of the Forum? We  have some of the industry’s leading photographers teaching mini workshops throughout the year exclusively for our members!  Not to mention having some of the best vendors who offer member discounts regularly.  Sound good?

I am such a fan of Bloom that I’m giving away a 1 year membership to one lucky reader!

You have three chances to win.  All you need to do is:

1) leave a comment below with a little blog love for Sarah

2) Comment and tell me one way you’ve “Bloomed” this year as a photographer.

3) Mention this contest on your FB page.

(Winner must not currently be a member of The Bloom Forum)

I will leave the contest open until Friday August 12th at 11:59pm and announce the winner on Saturday morning August 13th.  Good luck!