Laura Shapovalov

By Alan at Pierced Hearts Tattoo Parlor in Seattle.

Seattle band, Hand in the Attic, performing for the Sultan Boys and Girls Club

Missing my Creators project lately. With paying gigs and life in general I’ve been losing track of it lately and it makes me sad. Here is Charlie Nelson in the summer of 2015. Nelson Treehouse and Supply is accomplishing some amazing things and Treehouse Point will soon be expanding, which is so rad for them! Plus Charlie is just a super neat human being. 

I was hired by Ballet Bellevue to shoot the Sunday matinee of Opera+Ballet in the City at the Meydenbauer Center. It was a really beautiful mix of contemporary and classical ballet. HUGE thanks to the extraordinarily talented Christina Stockdale (brunette in the white and gold tutu) for recommending me for the job! 

I was really excited when I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with a welder. I met Tom Cox through his daughter, Laurel, who I am friends with. Tom has a really cool space in his garage where he works on various projects, including these succulent plant holders that he plans on selling. I was fascinated by the process and was pleasantly surprised how well the photos turned out! Tom is a super nice guy, so hilarious, and very welcoming. He also works on bicycles and I plan on going back to take more photos when he is doing a bike project!

Katy Hagelin asked me to shoot her show, WAIT, REPEAT at the Meydenbauer Center Theatre in Bellevue. This was another new experience for me that presented new challenges. I had previously shot the preview show for this event, which was a completely different environment. I was stoked going into it, though, because I really enjoyed shooting the dancers before and I couldn’t wait to see them perform again. The show was a two-night event which I also appreciated because it gave me the chance to get familiar with the pieces on the first night and have more confidence in what was coming on the second night. The talent of these dancers is absolutely incredible. The strength and discipline combined with the intense, and sometimes dark, themes in the choreography was just mesmerizing. I kept the majority of the shots close, partially because the light was so tricky, but also to convey the real emotion of the pieces.

I have a complicated, unconventional family. I became pregnant at age 21 by my long-time, on-again/off-again boyfriend. Things didn’t work out between us and we have both since gotten married to amazing people. My son is now 6 years old and has 2 sets of parents, and 4 sets of grandparents who love him to the moon and back. My son’s step-mom (my ex’s/baby daddy’s wife) and I have become best friends (don’t ask how that even happened). My husband and I had a daughter together, who is now 3 years old. We are all a family. It started out as getting along for the sake of my son, but over the years it has evolved into loving each other because we just do, and because we help each other out and all benefit from having each other in our lives. My daughter is just as much of a grandchild to the other side of my son’s family as he is. These photos are from a family trip we took to Stockton, CA to visit my son’s step-mom’s parents (confusing enough for you? haha). They include my daughter in everything they do for my son and I just adore them. I feel so lucky to have them in my life and for my children to be so surrounded in love. Also they have horses and their house is like Disney Land for my kids.

My Friend Kendal asked me to take photos at a dance event she was involved with. This is where my project started evolving into “artists/creators” as opposed to just tattooers. I went into this experience having no idea what I was doing but it turned out really great and inspired me to expand my vision. This particular event was a preview for the Katy Hagelin Dance Project’s show WAIT, REPEAT that I would shoot several months later. Kendal was a guest choreographer and she performed a few original pieces. The Katy Hagelin Dance Project also performed a couple pieces that would be in WAIT, REPEAT. This was an opportunity for donors to get a preview of the show and encourage others to donate to help the show come together. I fell in love with Katy Hagelin’s style of choreography and the way she mixes several different dance styles into one. There is a lot of raw emotion and heavy messages in her choreography and I tried to capture that in my photos.

Shooting these tattooers at Tattoo Nouveau in Hamburg, Germany was my first photography experience of drastically stepping out of my comfort zone. Doing this shoot was one of the top goals for my trip and I feel so fortunate that I was able to accomplish it. I had exchanged emails with Robert, the owner, leading up to the trip and when I walked into the shop and met him, I can’t lie, I was pretty intimidated. The guy is at least 6’5”, was wearing cowboy boots, slicked-back hair, big beard…this guy makes his presence known. The intimidation was gone within 5 minutes because the guy is seriously so nice. I know he could tell that I was super nervous and when he started joking around with me it made me feel so much more at ease and it was easy to get into the flow of shooting. I started out with Andrea (Bizzo San) who was working on a Jim Lee sleeve project. From the beginning everything about him stands out; his personal style, his style of tattoos, and his style in the tattooing process. Seeing the differences between each tattooer’s process might be my favorite part about photographing them. I went back and forth between Andrea and Robert while they were working. Robert was giving a young guy his first tattoo, a tribal symbol on his forearm. If I’m lucky enough to return to Hamburg someday, I want to go back and get a tattoo at Tattoo Nouveau. The people who work there are very kind, talented artists and I will always look back on this experience as one of my favorite shoots.