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In this editing post, my purpose isn’t to discuss how editing can make your subject’s skin look softer, or eye pop, we have all seen posts on how much better photos look after that is done. I want to show how I infuse drama into my imagery through editing. You’ll notice I often tend to favor a bit of blue in my shadows and a warm hint of gold in my highlights, this is just a personal preference. I also love a lot of detail, so I bring up some of the mid-range tones, lightening a bit. Burning in the sky is also important for drama. Overall, contrast is a big component to images that pop. You’ll notice sometimes I’ll add in an element that wasn’t there in the original image. I don’t do this often, but I really feel it can add to something to the right photo, like the sky in the Sorrento Hotel shot, or the background texture in the portrait of China Forbes. At the end, sometimes I’ll add some texture, I only do this when I want a bit of a grunge/edgy feel. That’s it, basically. Ha! Of course if retouching is required on the skin, fly-aways ect, that all get taken out, but that’s automatic.

I know when I shoot anything that my image is only half made. Granted, you need a solid photo to work with in the first place, I like to use a bit of off-camera flash, or studio strobes on location to highlight my subject. It’s when I take the images into editing that the magic happens. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the before and afters.

This is a collection of my favorite bridal portraits over the past few years. I know that candid shots are all the rage in wedding photography, and I totally agree that they are very important to telling the story of your day, I love the truth to them, but you can’t deny the beauty in the portraits. The portraits are what drive my interest in wedding photography, they are what I look forward to the most on your day. Often couples think of wedding day portraits like they were 20 years ago, some cheesy smiles at the alter of a church. Times have changed, natural looking portraits are in, I love creating a totally unique portrait of each bride I photograph. There are never two alike.

I don’t photograph babies or kids all that often, not having kids myself, it’s just a genre I never really fell into. My friends and family though are having babies, so I am finding myself shooting their kids and am really liking it.

This is Sawyer, my nephew, my ADORABLE nephew. I mean look at those eyes. I’m not the kind of person that thinks every baby in this world is cute… I’m slightly more discerning, but Sawyer wins my heart. He’s 6 months now, last I saw him, he was about 6 weeks old. It’s really cool to see how much they change in such a short amount of time. He couldn’t smile at 6 weeks, and now he’s making all sorts of great faces.

Every once in a while I’ll get asked, “what’s the deal with shoe shots?” It’s usually as I’m shooting a shoe shot. Well…we photographers want you to remember everything about your day… dress, bouquet, rings, the ambiance and of course your shoes! They are something that may not get photographed all day unless we make a point to shoot them. I love getting a little creative with my shoe shots. Thought I’d put a little tribute together of some of my favorite shoes and shoe shots I’ve taken over the past few years. Happy Tuesday!

Wow. My first post of my new blog. I promise that the rest to follow won’t include snapshots of me and my loved ones over the years, somehow they were the only photos that seemed appropriate for this introductory post. If you’re reading this, you might be wondering… where did this chick come from and why do I care? Perhaps you’re searching for a photographer – and lucky me, you’ve stumbled upon my work and liked it enough to get this far. Or maybe you know me… and are just bored, either way, here’s what’s up. The purpose of this post is to officially announce the start of my new business. My goal for the blog is transparency, if you’re thinking of hiring me, I want you to have a feel of who I am and what I’m all about. The reason for the new business launch? My husband Cole and I just moved to Denver, Colorado. He moved in August, I arrived in November, 2011. We previously lived in Portland, Oregon, where I co-owned and operated Studio ESS, a modern wedding and portrait studio. I also shot a good amount of weddings for Powers Studios. Occasionally, I freelanced for a few Oregon Magazines. I was having fun, but my husband began pursuing a career in education and in Portland the outlook for job prospects was grim. We began our search elsewhere and were thrilled when he was hired at Prairie View High in Brighton, Co.

Once I learned that we’d be relocating, and based on the experiences I had in Portland, I knew I was ready to go into business for myself. So, I’m taking all of the knowledge, experience, failures, and successes that have gotten me to this point, and am stuffing them into making my new business that much more refined. I know exactly who I am as a photographer, a business owner, and a person. It feels pretty great to get to this point in my life. When I began my pursuit in this field I was so unsure where it’d all go, I’d spent a good amount of time focusing on photojournalism. In fact, my first job out of college was as a staff photographer for a daily newspaper in Eureka, Ca. Once the paper shut down, it was obvious to me that if I followed that road, at this point in time, it would be a bumpy one.

We moved to Portland, and I chose to seek out wedding work. I shot my entire first season with a couple who had their own business, for FREE! I’ve always considered a good work ethic to be important, and a necessity for any kind of success. I was not about to jump into wedding photography without knowing my stuff. That first season wasn’t specifically about me learning how to shoot a wedding, I was a decent shooter at that point, it was about me learning how to run a wedding. I’m not saying everyone interested in shooting weddings should work for free, I’m actually a huge proponent of paying my assistants and 2nds a competitive wage, but it’s also important to understand the value of real-world experience. It’s what separates the pros from the wannabes. It’s not just about the work, it about knowing what to do, when to do it, and dealing with the stressful situations that can often occur at weddings. Documenting the day is, of course, the most important part, but it’s also vital to learn the ins and outs of weddings and how the photography plays a role in all of it. In my 4 years in Portland, I was a part of over 100 weddings. I’ve seen a lot of stressed out brides, brides in tears because of things gone wrong, and I’ve seen some family drama. I’ve also teared up during numerous speeches and touching ceremonies, I’ve made some amazing friends from past brides, and I’ve been more than a vendor to these couples. I spend all day with my clients -and it’s not just any day, it’s THE day… by the end of it, it’s almost impossible to not feel connected to them. It’s what I love most about my job. Ok… I know I’m getting a little sappy here, but it’s all true.

Embarking on this new chapter of my life, starting a business of my own, I’m thrilled. My connection with my clients will be the driving force to my success. I will turn down a wedding if I don’t feel I’m the right match, because it needs to work for everyone involved. This isn’t a job to me, it’s my life’s work. I want to be excited to work with my clients, and it’s very important that they feel exactly the same way about me. We are investing in each other. As a client, yes, you’ll be investing your hard earned dollars into my work, but I put a lot of effort into my images,  and I can’t pull that from nowhere – I’m relying on my years of experience and previous mistakes and successes to deliver the quality of work my clients are expecting. You’ll have the images forever, they will be cherished by you’re loved ones for all time, that means a lot to me.  Therefore I will be honest with my clients about locations, lighting, clothing, poses, expressions and everything else that goes into creating photos that have a little something extra. That’s the reason they are choosing me to photograph them. They will see the difference in my imagery. My photos aim to evoke emotion. I hate boring photos, so I will do everything in my mental toolbox to avoid them. You can count on that.

In my business, I’m proud to be a true “mom and pop” shop. People will always know who they will be working with directly when they hire me. My clients will get to know me, and know that I am in this business because I’m passionate about it. Yes, the money made from it needs to pay my bills, but I’m charging prices that I feel are fair, and doable for my clients. I will stand behind my work and my word. No bullshit here.

If you’re into my work and need some photos this year, I hope you’ll get in touch. I’m excited to make some new images and some new friends in Denver.