She Inspires 365
She Inspires 365 is a full color photography book filled with portraits and stories of everyday women and what inspires them. It is a beautiful gift to give the women in your life who inspire you.
The evolution of She Inspires 365: In October 2009 I started a yearlong project to photograph one woman a day. I had just moved from Washington, D.C. to Portland, Oregon and this project gave me the opportunity to redefine and grow my photography work and to meet hundreds of women in my new community.
I started off photographing the women in my life who inspired me, like my good friend, Sandra and my mentor, Tara. I asked them to recommenced women to me who inspired them and who might be interested in participating. I met entrepreneurs and chefs, teachers and filmmakers, circus performers and musicians.
At first when I shared their portraits on my blog I wrote about how they inspired me. Then on the 100th day I photographed a filmmaker named Beth Harrington and she made the suggestion to just choose just one question and ask each woman this same question. Because this project started with women who inspired me I decided to ask “what or who inspires you"?”.
Throughout this year I traveled around the country for my work as a documentary producer. Everywhere I went I asked women to participate in the project so in the book there are reflections of women throughout the United States. I tried to be inclusive and equitable. Many portraits were planned out and created in partnership with the subjects who were able to communicate the type of image they wanted representing them. Some portraits were street photography and very spontaneous. It really is an interesting collection of not just every day women, but the women who populated my life during that time.
While photographing this project many people expressed interest in seeing it as a book. So after completing 365 days of photographs I decided to pursue publishing it. I chose self publishing and educated myself on the process with a steep learning curve. I organized a successful Kickstarter campaign and raised $10,000 which helped me pay a book designer and offset some of the printing costs. In the design process I learned my dream of including all the images could not become a reality with the limits of my financial resources. I did my best to choose the images you will see in the book but it was a painful process of selection and elimination. I know some people are disappointed they weren't included and their story wasn’t shared. I agonized with how to make the book and afford to print it for many weeks. The end result is what it is. I’m proud of the work I did but of course now, years later, I wished I had included many photographs that were edited out. I hope those people will forgive me.
My hope for this book now is that it might show that we are more the same in our hopes and dreams than we are different. And if it brings a little inspiration your way I’m grateful. Please consider buying this book for yourself and a woman in your life who inspires you. (Click the link below.) Thank you so much for being here and supporting my work.
