Being Photographed by Chad Estes

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: 

http://www.chadestes.com/2011/12/capturing-lisas-essence/

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/

Painting on People's Lives with Words: A Night with Dean Estes

 At this month's ENVISION meeting, founder Sherri Coffield introduced us to sculptor/painter/teacher/mentor Dean Estes. What does it mean to be an "art minister"? Dean shared with us stories dedicated to speaking life into people in creative ways and how creativity can be a language to speak that life.

 Dean (wearing the hat) interviewed myself and Chad Estes (his son who is a writer and photographer) about how we reach people through creativity. Chad shared with us how he connects with people and tells their stories through photography and I shared some about how I travel doing art ministry and also connect with people through peformance art.

 Chris White and Sam Flowers added some atmosphere to the evening with some hand drum rhythm while singer Iris Gallegos sang some acapella songs.

 Dean demonstrated to us through visual art what it's like when we paint on people's lives with words. Many times we don't know how our words can affect others, but if our hearts are focused on encouraging and inspiring others we can make a difference. Dean painted an image upside down on a large canvas with both hands (challenging himself to work without knowing the outcome).

 Then Dean turned the canvas rightside up. Myself and Jessie Nilo (art teacher/founder of VineArts) came forward and painted together on the canvas. We had not planned ahead of time what we were going to paint, we worked side by side spontaneously working off of each other. We added color and texture to bring the image to life. This was a representation of how we can be influential in each other's lives. Oftentimes we're not the only one who gets to speak life, we work together in collaboration.

 After we finished, Mike Freeman (teacher/pastor/writer) joined in to complete the painting by including the Hebrew word for "soul" (this is what happens once life is spoken into someone...life is breathed into the soul).

Here is the final painting created in collaboration...a demonstration of painting on people's lives with words. This is allowing creativity to be the language of life.

photos by Jessie Nilo and Chele Shepherd