Happy Saturday, Y'all! It has been a wonderfully long week, and today is all the longer. I did think a little art might help the day along, so I wanted to share these images of our new friend, Sommer.

Bill Cunningham, the recently deceased New York Times fashion photographer, is quoted to have been searching for "birds of paradise" in and around Manhattan. He searched for women of "daring styles" instead of women with "cookie cutter sameness" for the subjects of his art. Young, old, poor, wealthy- his selection was based entirely on his artistic perception.

Patrick and I have often thought that we need some little booklet that says, "Hi. You have "it." Let us shoot you, please," as we travel around what would be a fashion wasteland compared to Manhattan. And our "it factor" doesn't necessarily pertain to whether or not a woman is fashionable at all. Our "it" factor is that beautiful gift God has given a woman- a striking set of eyebrows, a particularly long and graceful neck, a sweeping head of curls- it can be different for anyone. We have been gambling heavily on the notion that walking up to a complete stranger to tell her she has the loveliest jawline isn't going to land a drink in our faces ("Well I never! In your biggest southern accent), or worse! Because we usually get the blank stare, or the creeped out brow-furrow, we have been relying heavily on building relationship.

In the case of Sommer, it was building a customer relationship with her as I often visit the store in which she works. After a month or more, I finally stole a moment with her to ask if she had ever modeled, or would ever be interested. And the rest is art!

I hope you enjoy the result of the time we spent with her, and please don't get creeped out if someone thinks you have something special!