Dirty Thirties HANDLED

“Stella, I’m 37. What a completely lame age to be.” I said out loud to my golden retriever this morning as I slurped shrimp-flavored ramen for breakfast at 11:15am.

I stayed up really late last night migrating images from my personal Instagram with the business name to a business Instagram with the business name per the instruction of my cousin slash best friend slash marketing consultant, Rachel Hyde. She thinks my personal life is too tied up in the business and it’s difficult for first-time clients to navigate the social media platforms. She’s right.

So, to completely defy all reason, I have decided to use this particular platform to … tell a completely hypothetical story about something that could happen to anyone (it’s totally about me.)

A stand-out, sure fire way to tell that you’re plummeting into the depths of mid-life crisis is looking in the mirror to find that the head of hair that frames your face is grey. NOT the natural kind that you get from living a pure and decent life but a grey that started out grey but was covered up with brown followed by a more striking black, stripped down to a ginger color, tortured into an ashish blond, covered in royal purple, faded to a yellowish lavender, bleached of all remaining dignity and strength, tapped, foiled and woven into a frenzy, coaxed back into a periwinkle color and finally DYED grey for the low, low price of roughly $1,300. THAT is when you re-evaluate your beauty standards. And your life.

March 9, 2017March 9, 2017 by hottomatopinupacademy8 Categories: ContemporaryTags: Contemporary, Hot Tomato, Hot Tomato Pinup Academy, Instagram, late thirties, Marietta, MOV, o, Ohio, Photography, sexy, vintage Leave a comment

Dirty Thirties HANDLED

“Stella, I’m 37. What a completely lame age to be.” I said out loud to my golden retriever this morning as I slurped shrimp-flavored ramen for breakfast at 11:15am.

I stayed up really late last night migrating images from my personal Instagram with the business name to a business Instagram with the business name per the instruction of my cousin slash best friend slash marketing consultant, Rachel Hyde. She thinks my personal life is too tied up in the business and it’s difficult for first-time clients to navigate the social media platforms. She’s right.

So, to completely defy all reason, I have decided to use this particular platform to … tell a completely hypothetical story about something that could happen to anyone (it’s totally about me.)

A stand-out, sure fire way to tell that you’re plummeting into the depths of mid-life crisis is looking in the mirror to find that the head of hair that frames your face is grey. NOT the natural kind that you get from living a pure and decent life but a grey that started out grey but was covered up with brown followed by a more striking black, stripped down to a ginger color, tortured into an ashish blond, covered in royal purple, faded to a yellowish lavender, bleached of all remaining dignity and strength, tapped, foiled and woven into a frenzy, coaxed back into a periwinkle color and finally DYED grey for the low, low price of roughly $1,300. THAT is when you re-evaluate your beauty standards. And your life.

March 7, 2016March 7, 2016 by hottomatopinupacademy8 Categories: ContemporaryTags: Contemporary, Hot Tomato, Hot Tomato Pinup Academy, Instagram, late thirties, Marietta, MOV, o, Ohio, Photography, sexy, vintage 2 Comments

Mood Lighting

I’ve been looking through past sessions recently, collecting some of our very favorites and incorporating them into posts in an attempt to revive some of my favorite sets.

I realized pretty quickly that what spoke to me most, weren’t sets at all. Light and shadow, that’s where the drama is. That’s where the secrets are, just out of focus or lurking in the blackness.

February 21, 2016March 6, 2016 by hottomatopinupacademy8 Categories: ContemporaryTags: black and white, deer antlers, dramatic lighting, Hot Tomato, Marietta, mirror, Mood, Nightshade Photo Shoots, nude, Ohio, Photography, photography studio, vintage Leave a comment

Parlormaid Sessions

Okay, so there are a few things wrong here.

First, this incredible word is among the bottom 20% of all words. We’re fixing that today.

Secondly, we simply must change the duties to something more like “attending to her lipstick, stockings and the drink in her hand”. Yes, that’s much better indeed.

Finally, we’re ditching the second definition altogether. That one looks more like your average maid and there is nothing average about Hot Tomato. A word only needs multiple definitions if the first one is inadequate. At least in this case ;)

“I’m in. How do I become a Parlormaid?”

December 17, 2015July 7, 2016 by hottomatopinupacademy8 Categories: ContemporaryTags: Contemporary, Hot Tomato, parlor, parlormaid, Photography, vintage 1 Comment

Hot Tomato Cover Girl 2015

Just Wondering…

Have you dreamed of a big picture, bucket list portrait session but thought it was too crazy? too involved? too bizarre? too sexy? too kitchy? too dark?  tooooo…fill in the blank. The team at Hot Tomato Pinup Academy are your gals! We have the space and we have the resources but, most importantly, this is what we LOVE. If you can dream it up, we can pull it together. We will plan for a year if that’s what it takes!

I want to introduce you to a sweet gal that had a pretty fabulous vision!

This is Amanda.  Is she a showgirl, a model, an actress? No. She is a small town sweetheart who tells me she has never had professional photos taken. She quietly and politely pulled out a small box at her consultation and slid them across the table to me. “I was hoping maybe we could incorporate these” she said. I pulled a pouch out of the box and slowly unrolled it to reveal 12 shining throwing knives! And just like that, I knew we were about to make magic!

January 13, 2015March 6, 2016 by hottomatopinupacademy8 Categories: PortraitTags: Burlesque, circus, Contemporary, Hot Tomato, Hot Tomato Pinup Academy, loft, natural light, Photography, Portrait, twenties, vintage 1 Comment