Photographer and Writer, Chad Estes has a way with telling stories with a camera that leaves you moved and even changed. His stunning camera work has been shown locally and nationally and his writing has been featured on-line through blogs and articles. I have myself been a subject for his lens many a time. I've known Chad for close to 15 years and have the wonderful honor of calling him my friend. He's one of my fav's!
Chad does portrait photography, street photography, action photography, landscape photography, and so much more!
I wanted to share here some of the photos that Chad has taken of me over the years.
The following photos were taken by Chad Estes and are copyrighted by Starry Night Media and are used here with permission. They are the property of Chad Estes, myself and Marten Evergreen performance art company.
The following photos were taken within my art studio while I painted and are used for promotional purposes for my revelatorART business:
Chad has also written a blogpost featuring his experience of photographing me in my work environment as I created. You can read and see more from this photoshoot here:
The following action photos were taken during live performances with Marten Evergreen (the performance art company I am co-owner of with artist Lukas Evergreen):
Having Chad present at some of our performances has been such a blessing, as Chad is able to capture moments that others might miss. Oftentimes later when we get the chance to sit down with the images we are amazed by the combination of the quality of composition and depth of emotion frozen within them for all time.
The following photos are from a private photoshoot taken with me as I pursued an aspect of my own personal journey (this was a study for one of my self portrait paintings):
As you can see, Chad's photography is emotive, inspirational, full of depth, eye catching, and it leads you into a story. There's more to the person or persons in the photo than just outward appearance, there's a world of life waiting to be told. And Chad Estes has a way of making that happen with sensitivity, patience, creativity, and spontaneity that is both professional and relational.
I want to make you aware of some pretty amazing projects that Chad is involved with combining photography and writing in a unique way of storytelling.
The Reveal Mission and Raw Beauty Projects
The Reveal Mission, led by photographer and writer Chad Estes, is a multifaceted approach to share the stories of individuals in an effort to bring healing, reduce shame, and create empathy and awareness. Sometimes what best tells a story is revealing what we usually cover up – emotions, scars, inadequacies, etc. A couple of examples are a teenage girl that has lost her hair due to allergies who wanted photos without wearing her wig; a mom who wanted pictures of her baby next to her stretch marked stomach; a woman who wanted a new portrait as she had come to terms with her new look after nerve damage to her face made parts of it sag.
One project is focused on breast cancer patients and survivors, using portraits that reveal the reality of their treatments set in the context of their lives and written stories. These stories are currently available as an art show.
The Reveal Mission art show will be going up at Boise State University starting on the 13th of October and taken down on November 1st. The location is on the 2nd floor of the Student Union Building at BSU, in the connecting hallways in front of the Simplot Ballroom. The hours for the SUB are Monday – Friday 6:00 am to 12:00 am, Saturday – Sunday: 7:00 am to 12:00 am.
Another project, “Raw Beauty:Me,” focuses on body image stories that are being put together in a coffee table book.
Chad also volunteers his time at hospitals capturing professional portraits for parents of their infants who have passed away. For some families, these will be the only images they will have of their child.
You can see Chad's photography at: http://chadestes.500px.com and read more of his stories at: www.revealmission.org and http://www.chadestes.com/category/photography/
