I was featured in Rangefinder Magazine!! :)

CLICK ON IMAGES TO READ THE FULL STORY:




www.rangefindermag.com

Winter Necessories

Styling-Rebecca Hargreaves
Makeup/Hair-Rocio Vielma aka Vi-Ve
Model-Cynthia with Campbell Agency
Lighting:
Mola Beauty Dish
Gold and Silver Reflectors

Paintings from Photographs

Would like to highlight the talent of a up and coming artist named Nicole Morrow. I just love the moody lounge feel of her work. She is an incredible artist! More of her paintings can be seen in The Rising Gallery as well as covering the walls of a new urban hot spot called Hotel Nylo. She did the above painting of a beautiful client of mine named Shaina. I am now excited to team up with her and offer paintings of photographs in addition to the normal prints. If interested, shoot me an email- dixiedixonphotography@gmail.com.

Darian Thomas Designs

We recently did a shoot at Hotel Nylo for a new and upcoming designer named Darian Thomas. You can expect these garments to be at a store near you soon. They are amazing! Feel free to contact her directly- www.darianthomas.com.

Credits:
Designer- Darian Thomas
Photog- Dixie Dixon
Makeup- Mia Jerray
Hair- Vintage Flair
Models- Lindsey Collins and Madison Fox with Campbell Agency

The Synonym for Happiness

Define happiness....

My personal definition of happiness changes according to the day, the hour, or even the minute depending on a variety of factors that change infinitely. To be quite honest, sometimes happiness can be found in a bottle of wine and photoshop... and sometimes in making beautiful photographs, or traveling to the islands, or listening to a good band on Saturday night, or in the simplest of terms- making someone smile. We often hear quotes like this one by Mark Twain, "Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and etc.etc."

So what exactly do people mean by those common phrases, "pursue your passions"or "follow your bliss" or "love like you've never been hurt".

Well, the past couple weeks, I've started reading "The Four Hour Work Week", a Wall-Street Journal best seller, love it by the way... the author brings up this point that I think defines happiness in understandable actionable terms. Think about this for a moment:
Why do we dance, why do we sing, and why do we love? The obvious answer is they bring happiness, yes, but what is it about these things that we really crave? Its EXCITEMENT! Yes! Excitement is the perfect synonym for happiness. The opposite of love is not hate (which are two sides of the same coin) but Indifference and the opposite of happiness is not sadness but boredom. When people suggest you follow your passion, they are in fact suggesting that you go for what excites you. Why else do we ride motorcycles, go skydiving, or kiss in the rain? Excitement! It is exactly what you should strive for in your life, for it is what settles that fire, passion, and spontaneity within our rebel souls. Think about it, it rings true in every aspect of life- the hobbies we pursue, the love interests. The feeling of excitement tells us that we are truely living. Go for what excites you, the risk is worth the reward!

THE SKY JUST GETS BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER....

THANK YOU

This year has been a dream so far... and I would just like to thank all of the wonderful people who have helped make that happen including those of you who continue to take time to view and comment on my work. I am both honored and flattered to meet each and every person who has made a connection with my photographs. It drives me even harder to hear how much a single photograph can arouse certain feelings and emotions. I put everything I have into that moment into that photograph into that subject and hearing your kind words lights up my life. Thank you for helping me to live the dream!

Behind every beautiful photograph is a team full of beautiful, passionate, and talented individuals. Cheers to YOU!

Get Glowed... Get Obagi Skincare

This is going to sound like one of those corny but convincing infomercials on late night TV but I just have to spread the word about this skin care line I've started using... its called the OBAGI NUDERM SYSTEM ...you just have to check out the before and after photos... results are incredible!

So here's my story.... I am a kid that loves the feeling of the sun on my cheeks and I love to surf, and kick it old school on the beach.. and in my past 20 yrs I have been really terrible about remembering to wear sunscreen everyday. A wake up call came last summer when a couple sunspots showed their ugly selves on my cheeks and was freakin out, (yea I'm silly).... so I decided to go see the dermatologist to check if there was anything that could be done to get rid of them nonsurgically... and guess what... There was- Obagi

You can read all about it on their website but basically this shiznit shed my sunspots and brought out this pink glow!!! It is totally worth the pretty penny you pay for it. Keep in mind that it is a prescription so you have to go see a doc to get it- a great Dallas Skin Doc is Dr. Fritz Barton (His Website Here). So if you do decide to try Obagi, keep in mind that in the beginning, you skin will appear to worsen for a couple weeks or so to get out the impurities, but eventually will bring out new young glowing skin, what more could you ask for?!!!

Love the skin you're in! :)

Just Do Yo Thang!

Find your passion. Feel what you love. Focus on the people who praise you for you and your work. Then continue growing in your craft the way you know how. The right people with find you. That is for certain!

~DD

Art of White

As artists, we are always on the look out for other artwork that we can identify with, relate to, and be inspired by. Personally, I draw a lot of inspiration from artists such as Jack Vettriano, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Salvador Dali, Van Gogh, and lastly my new fav.... Todd White. You can check out his work at www.artofwhite.com. I just love the surreal nature of his paintings and the way he depicts human form and interaction. Its quite comic really!

This is a quote I found under one of his paintings: "I get inspiration from everywhere but the places I seem to study the most are people in restaurants and since I eat out every night I find my self looking… no, staring, yea, I freaking will stare at someone and take in all the little mannerisms they do and put them in my drawings. This one was a woman eating with her friend and she was defiantly telling her something secretive and so damn seductive it was killing me, she caught me more that once staring and I think it was freaking her out.. ha, I felt like telling her “hey, I’m not a stalker I’m a artist” then I remembered most artists are stalkers." ~Todd White

Thats all for today! :)

The Most Fun I've ever Had with a Self Timer

If you haven't ever tried using your Digital SLR's self timer....you should give it shot, or two or ten! ;)

These Small Hours

As always I am up entirely too late because my mind will not stop. It decides to go into creative overdrive at 2am and will not rest until its recorded.

Sometimes I feel like Time is my biggest threat in life, creatively and personally.... days, hours, months pass me by in what seems like minutes.




There are so many things I have yet to do and so many things that I have yet to experience while I'm young and full of energy, but that damn clock just keeps on ticking. So what happens is I avoid time, all the clocks in my house read differently, my car clock is an hour fast, I never wear a watch, so basically the only thing keeping me somewhat sane is my cell phone, which I also avoid when at all possible. Its terrible I know, we all march to the beat of a different drummer, and my drummer just don't move very fast. This is why I am not able to take many days off. A photographers busiest days are on the weekends and the week is spent editing, emailing, and calling. Don't get me wrong, it is completely worth every minute, but it isn't always easy. Its just one beautiful mess, and I love it!



In three weeks I am off to the city of sin for the WPPI Trade Show and Convention. I was lucky enough to receive the Hy Sheanin Scholarship for emerging photographers, which enables me to stay there for 8 days, 8 nights, plus airfare FREE! Woohoo! I plan to do a fashion shoot there at the Neon Sign Museum so if you are a model or makeup artist in Vegas reading this, please shoot me an email. I have a talented NY designer (De La Roche) who has agreed to lend me an outrageous gown for the shoot. Should be a good time!

As always, I leave you with a quote: "There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don't be bitter because you can't record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is!" ~DeGriff

In fact, I am a true believer that the best moments in life aren't captured on camera... but instead captured within ones soul. ~dd

Model Call

I am going to be a guest judge at a model call coming up Feb 20 so if you would like to get your career started, this is the place. For more information, visit http://www.reignsuit.com/ModelSearch.html.

Peace!

Fashion is an Artform in Itself

This is one of the many images shot for Garland Drake International (www.garlanddrake.com) based out of Costa Mesa, California. Their hair has been worn by celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon and featured in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Vogue. Did you honestly think these celebs were born with such volumptuous and perfect hair? Ha, not so much!

Speaking of magazines and celebs, this brings up an uber important issue today about the unrealistic body image most of us have because of the constant perpetuation of the media. I mean really, who have you seen lately that looks like these plastic people in major magazines??? Nobody! Thats because these models have loads of professionals doing their makeup, hair, and styling. Then comes the perfect lighting and millions of pictures taken to get that one perfect shot. And wait, still not done..... EVERY SINGLE IMAGE YOU SEE PUBLISHED IN A MAGAZINE HAS BEEN PHOTOSHOPPED..... the skin airbrushed, the body slimmed and enhanced, the eyes brightened, etc. etc. to make that normal person look perfect. In fact, anyone can look like these images with the right combination of makeup, lighting, hair, photography, and photoshop. So you people (including me, I am just as guilty) stop trying to live up the to perfection of these surreal people you see in the media. Chances are, you wouldn't even recognize them on the street.



That being said, I'm sure you are curious what kind of editing I do to my images. I do walk the line when it comes to fine tuning photographs. First, a little philosophy behind my editing process:

I believe that fashion photography is art in itself. It is not meant to be real... It is meant to be more of an illusion. It depicts an imaginary state in which romance, love, and dreams come to life. In fact, it is the surreality of fashion photography that makes us not only see but feel these emotions that the models in fashion photographs evoke. Its sort of like reading a fiction romance novel, not that I've ever read one, but I'm fairly positive that real life is nothing close to a real raw romance. It can be this at times maybe, but not as a whole. In my opinion, fashion photography should not contribute the the ever growing problem of low self esteem, but instead should be accepted as an art form like painting, a tangible piece of creativity straight out of the human mind. There are no rules in fashion photography, just good fashion photographs.



Back to my editing process: Okay so I shoot hundreds of RAW photographs from each photoshoot. I then select a group of images that reflect the unique beauty and personality of the client or in an advertisng perspective, the unique aspect/idea of the fashion/product. These images go through a detailed editing process: Each photograph is carefully cropped to enhance composition and expertly adjusted for tone, contrast, highlight, and shadow. Then the best few images are professionally retouched to enhance the natural shape and features of each person, as it is done in the major magazines. So yes, I do photoshop my images to enhance the natural beauty of each subject. That is my style and my way of editing. Photoshop can go a long way, but it cannot ultimately change what was captured through the lens, it can only enhance it. As always, I leave you with a quote:

"Everything has it's beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

For me, finding that beauty in every person/thing I photograph is an adventure in itself!

(The amazing team behind these images: MUA- Josi Lauritzen and Kay Catro/ Models- Christine Quinn and Jenn Davis/ Hair-Tony Greenleaf/ Wardrobe Stylist- Jasmine Anderson/ Photographer- Dixie Dixon)

Good Industry. Great People.

This month I have had the pleasure of working with so many wonderful artists. Josi, Mat, Mark, Soulever Lift, and the entire JCPenney team, you rock my world! A few comments:

From Talented Model/Actor Mat Beadroux above:
"OMG! Dixie! You are a bonafide rockstar! I could just feel the magic as we were shooting. Ive never felt so free to experiment or been able to visualize the shot as I did with you. Besides your obvious talent, your sincerity and manner that you express your ideas will take you to the top. Can't wait to show the world our magic! Xoxo" (that made my day!)

Also this month I have begun assisting at the photo studio in JcPenney's headquarters. Its is a great lesson on studio lighting and a rare find as a freelancer. There aren't many photography jobs that are 8 to 5. Basically, we work on the shoots for the company's catalogs and advertising materials. I just love this industry. I am constantly surrounded by creative, interesting, and passionate people.

Life is a Winding Road. Cali is far from Home.

What's a girl to do? Part of me is yearning to make the plunge- drop everything, move to LA, and try my wings in the high fashion world while the other side of me is completely content with my current state of southern comfort. (No pun intended) I mean what more could I ask for really? I live just minutes away from the most amazing people in my life and am making beautiful pictures full time for a living.

However, a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to pay a visit to LA and work with Matthew Jordan Smith, a world renowned fashion and beauty photographer who has recently been featured on AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL. I could not have asked for a better week, he was such a down-to-earth individual, who unlike many top photographers was completely willing to help out the little people who are new to the industry.

No only that, I was able to visit some of the sweetest spots in sunny California. We cruised down Pacific Coast Highway with the windows down all the way to Malibu. Talk about one fine ride. It was invigorating. Also, made it up to the Getty museum and braved night surfing for the first time. Somehow I sqeezed myself into a wetsuit, ha, that was a sight.

LA was such a tease, leaves me unsatisfied and craving more.... more of the dream