Somewhere out there is a very lucky band who might actually have been the first to discover Michelle Moore’s incredible talent. Add a year of taking drama student headshots, a quick mid-college major switch from atmospheric science to art, and about seven years later you have Michelle, one of the area’s top senior portrait photographers with an eye for fashion. In fact, her career has turned itself to full time photography of a younger age bracket, focusing on natural beauty rather than artificial. You might recognize her work as the eye behind TEU’s latest swimwear collection, a stunning shoot featuring swimwear modeled by a dancer amongst harbor boats and sailing equipment. Oh, and ofcourse there was that little shoot she did for Zooey Magazine, spotlighting the beautiful Jessica Lowndes of Fox’s modernized 90120 series. This shoot is actually what Michelle would call her proudest career moment to date, and not for the starry-eyed reasons you’d think:

“The magazine let me come up with the concepts and produce the shoot myself so there were so many elements I sought to make happen. I missed it by two months but I had a goal written down that I wanted my first magazine cover by age 25 and I think I pretty much reached that goal! I really put so much blood sweat and tears and it came out and I’m so happy with the images.”

Zooey seemed just as pleased, putting the shoot on the cover of the magazine in October of last year. (And notice she said wanted her first magazine cover by 25, not wished for it. Michelle is confident, fiercely so. After the personal struggles her early 20′s brought her, Michelle says now is the time she truly understands herself.) So how does one wind up combining senior photos and fashion photography into such a successful career? Well, for Michelle, it was much more organic than it was masterminded. And she creates with a heart equally as passionate about fashion as it is about inspiring growing girls to see their inner beauty.

“I think the most important message I want to put out there is really toward making people feel good about themselves-especially the teen market-I feel that that’s my passion and strength. Even when I’m doing a fashion shoot I’m very picky about picking models that look healthy and normal. I don’t want a shoot to contradict my message, which is everyone is beautiful and everyone should be healthy…
Girls these days have so much pressure from media and magazines and celebrities that’s telling them they need to be skinny and perfect; I feel like what I do is I get to help these girls see that they are truly amazing and gorgeous inside and out. [My work] allows me to help these girls, through photography, feel good about themselves.”

With all that inspiring information packed into our first five minutes of the interview, I had to find out more about Michelle outside of her work. To find out what inspired her, I asked what she thought was the most beautiful thing in the world:

“I grew up riding horses. We used to go down to this horse show every January in Indio. I have this vivid memory of watching the sun rise in the desert. You’re down there and its flat but there are rocky mountains right there, and watching the sun rise and the way the light hit the colors of the rock, and in the depths of the shadows it had this purple-orange glow. It’s a memory that’s always stuck with me and when I see things like that, that remind me of that memory, those are the beautiful things.”

And if she hadn’t chosen photography as her job?

“I would want to be a backup dancer to a good singer! In high school I took hip hop for three years. I love dancing, I’m not the greatest at it (she laughs at herself). It’s the funny Gemini side of me. I also have the talent of telling a funny story that doesn’t end or have a punch line and everyone just sits there waiting for it and I just say, ‘that’s it. There is no funny part.’ ”

Michelle certainly makes it hard not to absolutely love her. With her career growing steadily in a promising direction, it will also be hard for Seattle to keep its eyes off of her. Thankfully, Michelle is a self-proclaimed “Northwest girl at heart”, and has no intention of leaving the Emerald city any time soon. This may be something she has recently come to terms with, but we here in Seattle’s fashion community are relieved. With fall approaching, it is her busiest time for senior portrait work. September will also see the release of Michelle’s latest fashion shoot. The shoot was also filmed, giving viewers an inside look to how Michelle’s photographs come to life. If that wasn’t enough, she’s also in the beginning stages of creating a new shoot for her website Salt and Prep, a fashion blog aimed an inspiring teens in every arena from prom to portraits. (http://saltprep.com/ )

It’s almost hard to believe that Michelle is only 27 with so much success under her belt. And don’t expect the next decade of her career to be any less exciting. Though currently working out of Seattle, work often takes her to much bigger markets including Los Angeles. She plans to continue senior portrait work (“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to
let that go!” she admits) while allowing her fashion photography work to grow.

“The thing I’m realizing now is that magazines like Teen Vogue and brands like Roxy and those beachy surfer-girl brands, those are the clients I want and the things I want to shoot. It’s a natural extension of senior photos and young celebrities that are up and coming…
I think my dream job would be being able to make living here in the Northwest, and having one of those great badass lofts in New York working for magazines and shooting celebrities and fun fashion editorials. If I’m going to be dreaming I’m going to dream big.”

We can’t blame you, Michelle. Just be sure to wave at us from the front row when you get there.

For now, you can find Michelle out in Seattle in her signature look:
“I pretty much live in high-waisted skinny jeans or my black jeans. So when I go out I tend to just dress those up
with killer heels and a louse blouse tucked in. I am obsessed with tucking things in!”

Get more Michelle at her links:

http://michellemoore.com
http://facebook.com/iammichellemoore
http://twitter.com/iammoorephoto

Michelle’s favorite Seattle designers:

http://kimberlybaker.com
http://jamiejoseph.com
http://jesicamilton.com