The doggie is very comfortable in front of the camera, I must admire. Behind-the-scenes video from our Goldie Hawn ‘Laugh In’ styled photo shoot. Photography by Melissa Schwartz and styling by Mitzi Spallas.
I started performing professionally when I was 15 in Detroit, MI. It seemed like torture waiting to graduate and get that high school thing out of the way – I had passion and talent and was ready to go! So I collected my Valedictorian honors and … moved in with my boyfriend’s entire band in a farmtown in Indiana where I subsequently did all sorts of drugs, got fired from 13 factory jobs, attended a lot of metal shows and wound up getting arrested. I had passion and talent, but no idea how to make them my reality and (obviously) had a really hard time fitting into the 9-5 world. All it took was me moving to Chicago, a major city just big enough to realistically make a career as a full-time performer, for me to realize I was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole: I get fired when 9-5ing but get applause when performing. That very moment I committed myself fully to the artist’s lifestyle and never looked back. Some personalities wouldn’t thrive with the instability of the arts. Some personalities would be in jail without it.
body shapes
model, Tonya Kay photography, Melissa Schwartz graphic design, Stephen Newell
More about Tonya Kay: IMDB, tonyakay.com, themostdangerouswomaninhollywood.com
Svargadvijasana Yoga Bird Of Paradise
Prasarita Padottanasana Yoga Standing Forward Wide Leg Bend
Seated Prasarita Padottanasana
Dhanurasana Yoga Bow Pose
Ustrasana Yoga Camel
floating yoga deck at Selva Armonia, Costa Rica yogini Tonya Kay photography Teddy Yonenaka
I love Hollywood. Because all my neighbors are in the entertainment industry, the folk I meet at the farmer’s market are in the industry, the people in line at the post office are in the industry. And they really are. When my neighbor says he’s an artist, his art is actually on the current cover of the latest DC comic. When my dining partner says he’s a video editor, he’s actually cutting next year’s A-list blockbuster. And I knew when the gorgeous woman I had just taken Moksha Yoga next to chased me onto the sidewalk after class, saying “I love your look, I’m a stylist and I want to make you into Twiggy for a photoshoot” – I knew she was serious and I needed to embrace this interaction. Five days later, we are shooting.
Her make up and wardrobe styling is outstanding. And I can’t help but feel this modeling shoot was foreshadowing for the lead role I am currently filming in Oakland: a Twiggy-styled 1968 revolutionary. Cosmic.
My parents gifted me a GoPro cam for the holidays and I asked Jennel, the stylist, to wear the GoPro on her head during the styling session. I set it to capture a still photograph every 5 seconds. It makes for a delightful behind-the-scenes video. Please enjoy my modeling work in the Twiggy 1968 photo shoot and my behind-the-scenes video below.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
Twiggy 1968 tribute shoot. Model, Tonya Kay. Stylist, Jennel Brooks. Photography, Byrd’s Eye http://www.byrdseyeviewphotography.com. Graphic design, Stephen Newell.
I met the legendary photographer Glen Wexler when he hired me to model for the True Nature album cover. Subsequently, he produced some of the most stunning photography I’ve ever been a part of and used our work in his fine art shows at ArcLight and other galleries.
This year he called me in to model for the new Liquid Mind X: Meditation album cover and this blissfully peaceful photo resulted. AND the Liquid Mind X: Meditation album skyrocketed to #1 on the iTunes New Age chart the week it was released! Here’s to many more projects with photographer, Glen Wexler.
It’s my favorite kind of photography: art photography. A lot of my modeling work is personality or physique based, which is more pin-up or commercial if you had to call it something. Still nothing compares to the power shadows, lines and shapes have to express emotion. There is a full story, an archetypal history, relationships, disasters and triumphs in these art photos. They could be you. They could be me. They are collective and that’s why art touches us so.
Photography by Schwartz Studios. Graphic design by Stephen Newell.
Raw Vegan Dance Shadows
If I were an animal, I’d be a bird. A crow, probably. There aren’t many birds who actually walk on the ground. Crows hang out in groups, they communicate, socialize and honestly, I can see they are comedians. They have a sense of humor. And what other animal, when gathered in a group is called none other than a ‘murder’. A murder of crows. Crows are so rock and roll.
It’s not that I wish I were a crow. I kind of wish I were panther or dolphin or something other people think is magnificent and regal. But I’m a crow. So these are my wings. For flying. Bringing me creatively closer to my spirit animal:
graphic design by Stephen Newell
graphic design by Stephen Newell
I wouldn’t trade anything to be 18 again. Life really does get better and better.
Raw vegan muscle and moxie pin up shoot:
Thank you to the talented Stephen Newell, graphic designer on all finals!
Please support me by voting for me in the Best of Raw Awards 2011 in the “Sexiest Raw Woman” and “Favorite Raw Female Athlete” categories. Thank you.
It was Kate Magic‘s birthday! I scouted the Gower St. graffiti location in my brain and snagged Phatteddy to photograph so we could give Miss Magic a birthday gift she’d remember. The sun didn’t shine that day, ironically, so we didn’t have to worry about getting a burn, but alas, we didn’t have to worry about good lighting, either:-( Thank goodness for graphic designer, Stephen Newell’s supreme post-production lighting effects – those colors really pop! My late grammy made those tube dresses for me some time ago – isn’t mi grandma the coolest? And our sexy pin up shoot on the streets of Hollywood garnered a fantastic audience of construction workers across the street from our location – seriously, these guys were getting paid to do nothing because for over an hour, they were straight up watching us and some even had cameras of their own – how many photographers do two girls need! Ladies and gents, this is what two healthy, long-term raw vegan bodies look like! Some of my favorite pics are posted below from the shoot and even a little video I chopped up – yogis, just TRY your standing bow in stilettos!
Our photographer …
Our audience …
More pics from the shoot …
