SarahRHOADS || promo2008 from Casey Warren on Vimeo.

SARAH RHOADS ROCKS MY FACE OFF. Okay this is the first official artist interview that you guys voted on. I am SOOo excited to have Sarah as our first one. I found Sarah a few weeks ago on ppmag. I am totally lame and only look at the blogs that stand out to me. And she among a lot of photographers and artists stands out. Everything from her fashion, to photos, to even her blog style is unique. Sarah brings energy and color to any online presence. I immediately felt drawn to her. Then a few coincidences, and a prompt from troy grover, and i decided to email her. She is crazy cool, we connected automatically, and even stayed up until the weee hours of the night ichatting about fashion, ideas, art, and inspirational resources. Sarah creatively balances artistic out of the box thinking, instructing, coloring, cropping, and post work, while maintaining such PROFESSIONALISM. I rarely see that level of abstraction mixed with such a finish of refinement. She rocks. Here are some questions I had for her. Let me know what you think of the questions and interview.

1. Who are you? What do you do?
Sarah Rhoads, owner of Sarah Rhoads Photographers, a husband and wife photography studio based in Seattle, WA. We are passionate about telling peoples’ stories fully and authentically from a unique artistic perspective

2. Describe your work
Honest, authentic and imaginative.

3. What photographers do you admire?
www.nicholashaggard.com Nicholas Haggard *for his eclectic view of the world
www.annawolf.com Anna Wolff *for her amazing lifestyle work
www.embryrucker.com Embry Rucker *for his energy and charisma he brings to his work
www.jamesnachtwey.com James Natchwey *for telling the stories that no one else has the guts to tell all the while honoring people with dignity and respect.

4. When and how did you start taking photos, did you go to school for it?
I started telling stories before I ever got a camera. I was always the over-curious child, asking people a million questions; I have always had an interest in humanity and why people do the things that they do. I wanted to tell stories about humanity, about real people. A hopeless romantic at heart, telling love stories was where I found myself coming to life. I never went to school for photography, I actually got my BA in journalism. I got my first camera when I was 13 and have been shooting ever since but became very serious about it after a life changing trip to Togo Africa while I was in college.

5. Was there a particular moment in which you realized you could do this for a living?
The first time someone paid for any of my art I knew that I was creating something that someone deemed as valuable.

6. Who, if anyone, really encouraged you to pursue your dream?
My husband, best friend and soul-mate, Chris. And he still continues to love and support me more than anyone. He sees potential in me that most times I never see in myself.

8. What is the deep ultimate message you want people to get from you and your work?
Love…..in all it’s quirky audacity’s and beautiful idiosyncrasies. Life is nothing without love.

9. What is the thing you enjoy most about photography?
It was like I was made to do this. I love people, digging into their lives, hearing their stories and allowing them to share their hearts. My total fascination with the human psyche; why people do the the things that they do, how our journey’s shape who we are is what I’m interested in. The camera has always allowed me to embrace all of my quirky gifts; taking on the role of the explorer, the hopeless romantic, the risk taker, the adventurer, the journalist, the curious kid & the artist…… The camera is the perfect means to an end for me.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT HER ROCKIN BLOG

10. What is one mistake you wish you could take back?
Listening to all the people who told us to shy away from the risks we have taken for our business and our art. At the end of the day the best decisions we have made have always been from the heart, a gut feeling and ironically enough the ones that are initially disliked by the most people.

12. If you were not a photographer..what would you be doing?
I would be exploring something,,, somewhere. I have always wanted to live and explore a foreign country, I would probably be doing that in some capacity. I am an explorer at heart.

13. What challenges in photography do you enjoy conquering??
The biggest challenge for any photographer/storyteller and artist is trust with our subjects,
Being a photographer is intimate work…it requires vulnerability and ultimately I have always thought that in order to photograph someone well you must love them well first. This is always a fun challenge to overcome… some people are more willing to let you in than others.

14. Do you have a business schedule? office hours? do you work at home? studio?
We have studio hours between 9:30am-6:00 pm however, those who are entrepreneurs know how difficult it is to actually stop working at any point:) We work out of our home office in Queen Anne in Seattle.

15. What is your most used gear? favorites??
5D Mark II’s and my 35mm f/1.4 and my 85mm f/1.2

16. Hmmm… where do you shop?
Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Etsy, Anthropologie, & local seattle thrift stores

17. Besides art and photography… what does your heart ache for?
for people to find their passion and live it out.

18.What breaks your heart?
I long for my heart to break for the things that break the heart of God….

19. What do you think of Promise?? is she AWESOME?? AHAHA jk
Promise is soo totally awesome. She has introduced me to a world of imagination and whimsy! I love her design, and her style! oh her style! Heaven’s to Betsy it is just out of this world! I think I have found my first official girl crush. it’s true, I’m crushing on a girl and her name is Promise.

20. ahh anything else?
The most successful people in life are the ones who walk in love and step out in faith…. they are the ones who aren’t afraid to take big risks.