The Portrait of Joseph Herbst And His Alto Sax

I love shooting portraits. They’re always different. One is never the same as the next, because people are so unique! I love finding my own way to tell each person’s story, showcasing their special traits on film. It’s boundless.

When Joseph Herbst asked me to work with him to capture his musical portrait I was thrilled. I love working with musicians because they are, of course, artists themselves so it’s fun to work with a fellow kindred spirit. Plus they usually like to do crazy, fun or weird stuff; which is totally up my alley! Joseph wanted dark and moody meets artsy and creative. So we did some photography in the studio setting with lighting and some creative color work and some outside in the River Arts District using the graffiti and urban settings as a color pop with natural light. I tried some of my favorite styles that feel very “me” like the very contrasted black and white, which I love, and also some stuff that I’ve NEVER done, like a slow motion capture mixed with a portrait. He was game for all of it which makes it super fun and adventurous. Some of the photographs might make an eventual album cover for music that he’s currently working on.

So if you love adventure and want a creative boost in your photography or marketing, CONTACT ME for your next portrait session. I’d love to work with you.

Tina and Adam- A Backyard Wedding in Asheville with Unicorns, Dragons, and Love

Tina and Adam were not my typical wedding couple. When we did their engagement session, it involved a nerdy portrait session, remaking a romance cover novel, and just a slew of silly pics outside in their backyard. Which was soon to be the site of their union, also once the site of the wedding of the previous home owners in the 1960s. So it was laced with tradition and wedding history. They know what they want, and it was all about fun and each other. So of course…I was on board!

The decorations were all made by Tina and her family and friends. The flowers, put together by her mom. All the decorations and accoutrements were put together by loved ones the night before. It was so special how everyone came together to make this happen. This is what weddings are all about.

I love seeing diversity in weddings. Especially here in Asheville. Food trucks at weddings is becoming a fast growing popularity, for so many reasons. Smash Box Mobile Kitchen parked in their driveway and served up hot plates of chicken and waffles, fish tacos, and other crowd favorites. Cakes by Grey supplied amazing cupcakes, which I have to say tasted superb. I haven’t seen cupcakes with filling inside and I’ve been to many a wedding with cupcakes I tell you! I had something with pineapple inside and a whip cream frosting! There was a photo booth in the garage, and a never ending stream of friends wanting to hug and congratulate and have their picture taken with the bride and groom.

Music played into the night from Westsound band and DJ Tommy See played the Bride and Grooms favorites, inspiring them to dance the night away. We ended the night with Dirty Dancing’s Time of My Life, and it was EPIC! Fog machine and laser lights topped it off.

Congratulations to Tina and Adam. Your freak flags can now fly together in this life. I wish you so many years of blissful joy and laughter.

Vendor Love

Photographer- Studio Misha Photography

Makeup and Hair-Ginger with Posh Lash Lounge and Beauty Bar

Cupcakes- Cakes by Melissa Gray- Cakesbygray.com

Catering- Smash Box Mobile Kitchen

Live Band- Westsound

Officiant- Wyman Tannehill

DJ- DJ Mad Sci

Day of Coordinator- Sarah the Extraordinary

Candice and Charlie Maternity Session- The Hunt For Flowers & Ferns

Candice and Charlie are some of my favorite clients and people!  From head shots, to wedding photography, to maternity photo shoots, and soon....baby photography!  I've photographed their lives and watched as it's all progressed.  I feel so honored to have been there for these momentous occasions and captured it for them to relive forever.

Candice knew she wanted flowers and ferns.  Having pre-hiked Pink Beds in Pisgah and seeing field upon field of wild flowers and sunflowers, we planned to go there the following week.  Unfortunately in that time all the flowers got murdered!  Actually mowed down, you could see nothing but empty, mowed fields.  It was odd!  We continued hiking for about an hour finding some ferns and made the best of the natural forest. 

Just so happened that it's sunflower season at Biltmore!  So when I saw these amazing fields during a run I knew we had to do a whole new shoot just for fun.  I just knew she wanted flowers, especially sunflowers for her vision.  And so we got our flowers, finally.

The world is about to be + 2 amazing, caring and super loving parents and +1 lucky baby boy.  I can't wait to meet him.  Congratulations on your amazing next chapter you two! 

We finally found a small patch of ferns that was just perfect for this forest mother

The Celebration of a Family Moment

I LOVE family photo shoots.  I don't think people do them enough.  Time passes quickly, and if friends, family, or pets are at all important to you, then why wouldn't you want to document that. Especially if you have a family, and your children are young. 

Kids grow up fast!  I would say plan for a photoshoot 2x a year the first year, then once a year up until 4 or 5 years old, and then maybe every 1-3 years up until mid teens or they graduate from high school.  

Leslie and McLane shared celebrated 9 months with their precious Avery with a family photoshoot.  I brought a balloon, which Avery loved, and we went into the river and played in the water.   Was able to catch a few tender, candid moments when Avery was getting her hair brushed and having a new outfit put on.  I love being able to show those real family moments, since that's what they're going to look back on and remember with love.  And of course, she got to keep the balloon! 

When was the last time you had a family photoshoot to document your loved ones?

Spring into Love - Kristine and James Engagement

Spring brings beautiful blooms, sunshine, and creates the perfect setting for the celebration of love!  Kristine and James joined me and Myriah Wood, now working together as Falcon and Wolf Weddings for combined Photo and Video Wedding Bookings, for a fun and intimate session amidst the greenery and flowers.

In an engagement session, I always try and capture a couples personality as well as show off the best of themselves.  So they can look back and say "Remember when...".  I always start by asking couples to show me their Cuddle Culture.  Every couple has one.  It's your basic "go to" for holding each other, snuggling, nuzzling, or even fun playful rough housing.  Whatever it is for each couple, that's what I want to see and capture, then we go from there.  If a couple is silly, then we are cute and playful, and if a couple is more serious and quiet, then I allow room for that to happen naturally.  Basically, anything that is true to them during their Engagement Photo Shoot, goes.

Kristine and James were super sweet together, and you didn't have to tell James twice to wrap his arms around her. He couldn't get enough and their love truly radiated.  I can't wait to see them on their wedding day!

A Roaring Product Shoot

I love fashion photography and product photography, so when I get to work with a designer or a store to help feature their clothing it's a treat for my creative soul.  Coming up with the concept, figuring out how and what to feature, finding models and creative team, location scouting...it's a lot of planning but when it comes together it's magic.

I'd worked with Va Va Vooom a few years ago and was so honored to do another project with them.  I saw a grey, silk lingerie jumper in their store that inspired the whole shoot, the roaring 20's.  I wanted fur, silk, jewels, champagne and sexy strong women to show off this amazing and iconic time period, my dear models, Jillian Summers and Emma Dubin.

We were able to use the Crow and Quill for a shooting space, which worked out so perfectly.  After scouting through various locations that didn't quite fit, I went there for drinks one night and fell in love with their eclectic furniture selections and vintage wallpaper backdrop.  You just can't stage this stuff!

Thank you to my amazing team that came together on Easter to make this happen!! If you haven't worked with any of them, you're missing out! Check them out here in town.  I adore them!!

Have some fashions that need photographing, or a look book put together?  Contact me and let's see what we can create together.

Model- Jillian Summers

Model- Emma Dubin

Hair Styling- Britton at Lola

Make Up- Vanessa Sogan with Vanessa Sogan Beauty FX

Fashions and Styles by Va Va Vooom located at 57 Broadway St, Asheville, NC 28801, https://www.vavavooom.com/

Falling in to Yoga

Sometime one needs an excuse to get off their butt and get out to a beautiful waterfall.  So shooting a yoga portrait in Dupont Nation Forest was a yes YES YeeeeeS!  

Carley Wilson-Cesar is a new upcoming Yogi just graduation from school at Asheville Yoga Center.  We had a great time coming up with poses and pairing it with all the beautiful locations around Hooker Falls area.  Keep in mind that it was FREEZING, so kudos to Carley for being such a trooper.  Nothing like connecting with nature in the 20s wearing yoga clothes.  Hard Core!

If you're a Yogi and interested in working with me on your Yoga Portrait, please contact me!

The Power of Creative Women

I love shooting portraits, and I especially love shooting artist portraits, but I have to say Molly Courcelle and Bee Sieburg gave me a new favorite...photographing Mother / Daughter Artist duos.  Although I bet their amazing relationship and history is a special and unique one that you don't find often.

Molly and Bee asked me to photograph them for an upcoming show, and I was deeply honored I got the privilege to work with them!  They have been painting together at the Wedge Building in the River Arts District for over 10 years.  And before that they owned the Gardener’s Cottage together in Biltmore Village.  So this show at Wedge Foundation is a celebration of their 10 years of painting together.  I love nothing more then sharing this sort of history with our local community, empowering artists in the community and especially women in the community. 

Check out their websites and if you live in the area or ever visit make sure to stop in and see them.  In person, their artwork is beautiful and powerfully moving and their creativity, along with them personally, brings a warmth to your heart. 

Mother/Daughter Exhibit Celebrates a Decade of Painting in Asheville

The opening reception will be March 01, 2018, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.  The exhibit will be on display until April 1, 2018.  Wedge Foundation, 5 Foundy Street, Asheville, NC 28801

Molly Courcelle   -   www.mollycourcelle.com

Bee Sieburg           -  www.beesieburg.com

Studio Misha Featured in Sophie Magazine for Jan/Feb 2018

I still get giddy when I see myself in print! It's such an honor and I don't think I'll ever get over the feeling of it.

Sophie Magazine did a feature on the most recent Fashmob X-Something Simple.  Three of my photos were chosen to be included, one of them making the back Photo Finish full page feature!  SO cool. 

If you've never been to or heard of Fashmob, basically it's a event where photographers, models, designers, stylists, and artists all converge to photograph and play with fashion.  Lots of local designers and boutiques get involved and team up with models, make up artists, and hair stylists to put together looks for models.  Then they walk around and wait to be discovered and photographed. 

It's almost like a fashion scavenger hunt.  Sometimes I'm walking around on the street looking for stylish people and asking them, "Are you a model?"  This gets me some strange looks if they happen to NOT be part of Fashmob.  But there's no way to tell sometimes!! There are some pretty fashionable, gorgeous people around town. Anyway, when you meet up with a participant, you create magic for a few clicks and then on to the next. 

I always enjoy doing this event for many reasons: It gets me out of my comfort zone of talking to and meeting people I don't know, I get to work with new people I never might have met otherwise, and you really have to be spontaneous! You find someone, and have to look around for a place that works.  There's no preset lighting or studio setting. The CITY IS YOUR STUDIO NOW! 

So enjoy my Sophie article and some other photos from the event I've included as well.  And if you're an amateur photographer or model, consider checking out the next Fashmob Event!

Models and Vendor Credits: Misty Brooke wearing Royal Peasantry with MU by Color me Kay, Christine Garvin wearing Honeypot, Jessica Lyn Carter wearing VIRTUE, Wendy Adams wearing Honeypot, Kayla Morgan Beavers wearing Carina Lopez Design inside of Side Show Sweets, Francia Laguerre wearing VIRTUE, Ella Marie Tretter wearing VIRTUE, Christopher Hewitt, Brittany Elizabeth wearing Royal Peasantry,