The Image Visionaries of Iowa

What are the chances? Does déjà vu ring true for you? What happens when truth literally is stranger than fiction? Well, what would you say if we were to tell you that our dynamo duo, long time online friends, were entirely unaware they actually only lived a 3 minute walk from one another?

And so it was, that Whitney and Kim’s paths eventually crossed, a friendship cemented ‘in real life’, and a thriving business set up. Their individual backgrounds and skillsets combined with much style and grace make for an extraordinarily accomplished take on the Art of Portraiture. Their flair for the fantastic and penchant for the peculiar underpin their striking work.

But it would be remiss of me not to dish some behind the scenes bits and bobs that contribute to the success of their images. Our talented twosome’s prepping for shoots comes from very different, yet oh so very complimentary angles. Whitney is all about using her lighting skills to make cover girl out of us all. Kim is a de facto badass ex-kickboxing babe turned award-winning burlesque queen who loves to share her movement skills. With all her performance skills and experience, she is able to puts her clients at ease, tell them how much she’s got their back, directs their poses extremely precisely and so has had more than one person cry at how amazing they look.

There are other stars in the show. The backgrounds and props have their very own backstory. Whitney was always about ‘the weird’ starting from her obligatory Goth stage and believes that their spooky babe clients represent a mysterious darkness of the American psyche. This is someone who used to take four weeks to decorate her House for Halloween and welcomed her annual visitors from far and wide. Unsurprisingly she was prop-ready well ahead of the Season.

You would be correct in your assumption that our image-making artistes are retro clothes fans for many reasons. They are particularly keen on the fact that period apparel looks good on everybody. Clothes were made to fit. They were also made to last. Shopping was an enriching experience. Department stores would have people on hand to custom fit one’s own individual shape, whatever that would be, but most importantly, to tailor to flatter womanly curves.

It may well take mastery of moving parts to create their portraits of note, yet I believe the secret ingredient of Whitney and Kim’s success over and above their talent is their wonderful warmth and keen desire to make people happy with they way their image tangibly is mirrored back to them.

(www.photographybyfocalpoints.com)