Authentic Family Photography
Just bopping in here to remind you: I primarily shoot weddings, but my heart + eyes are trained to capture your family moments in ways that are as authentic + beautiful as they can be. I’d love to get you in front of my camera this fall.
This’ll be the first year I won’t shoot any “mini session” day - but I will make time to get your family on my schedule in a way that works for both of us!
a return to myself
You know how, in life, you never know what you’re missing until you find it? Being a mom felt like that, for me. Finding a film camera (obviously not to the same extent) felt like that to me. When I picked up a film camera and shot ALL THE THINGS in 2016, it felt like I had finally started living a true version of who I was supposed to be. As I type it, it’s weird to feel such a sense of self entangled in this job that I do…but here we are.
I feel most like myself when I can tell a story. My mode isn’t paper and pencil or computer..it’s my camera. Not my phone, man I hated when the pandemic hit, and I stopped shooting film. It’s the dark ages of our family’s history. And there’s nothing wrong with digitally recording life, it just isn’t my mode of doing it. As I’ve been feeling something shift in the past few months, it’s felt like home. Picking up a camera and working to get the light reading in my head, getting the shutter stop and aperture set before I look through the viewfinder..that is a meditation sort of exercise that keeps me present in moments, in ways I didn’t even begin to understand!
from a “work” point of view, what I love about film is that it lets me feel like I’m capturing the feel of my clients. It doesn’t have to always be clean and bright…because sometimes life, and love, are blurry and fuzzy and remind you of the way the warmth was in that moment…plus, now that I’m developing at Midwest Photo Exchange (vs. sending to a lab across the country, holla for supporting local!), I have my film scans back the next day. THE NEXT DAY! WILD!!
So while I know digital is still queen, I’m so glad to once again WANT to see your world through a film camera + hope you see the light in that, and bring me along!!
the best coast!
Big news for us! We're traveling (on an airplane) for the first time as a family of FIVE. Our kids are used to traveling and being out of their comfort zone, BUT doing anything involving an airplane, with three children all in big old car seats felt really overwhelming. Till now!
So as we're planning our trip, I am opening up some time to get to schedule in some sessions (family! couples! engagement!) while we're there. Here are the details:
Early February, LA area, all film sessions. Do you think you're interested? Know someone who just got engaged and would love to shoot with me? Want to get a late Christmas present for a family member who'd love a family session!? Email me! I'll go through all the details with you!
jessicalovephoto@gmail.com
December Sun | in home film newborn session
It's one thing to be shooting film for families, in home, it's quite another to have to navigate through this GREY and bleak Ohio winter while shooting in new homes, with film. I'm managing to learn quite a lot, and still incredibly happy with the session results. I've gone from spending a session shooting a 32 g memory card almost full to slowing down, and filling just 5 rolls with a family. It's nice to put the camera down more, chat with my couples/family, and have an amazing quality over quantity.
I've recently been developing with The Darkroom Lab, and I am so so happy with them.
Here's some of my favorite from this newborn session on Fuji400H with my Canon eos 3:
more film, more my kids!
it's my blog, so while, technically I can do whatever I want, I kiiinda feel like I should be sharing weddings. I'm about booked up for 2017, though, so I am just going to do what feels awesome and share some personal work I've been shooting.
I don't know what crazy thing made me fall head over heels into film. Oh wait. I do. I have fallen for film because, as a wedding photographer, it's incredibly easy to come away from a wedding with 2000 photos shot, only to cull those down to anywhere from 800-1200 for a final gallery for a couple (which is still an insane amount of images!). It felt inauthentic. I needed a way to get back to really being present. To understanding that each moment I get to capture should be worth pushing that shutter.
That being said, I'm blowing through film like crazy each week trying to get better and better. BUT! it's still slowed me in a way I'm deeply grateful for. Sawyer on the floor playing with Coco? How many options do I really need? One, the answer is one.
I'm so so excited to get to offering clients film sessions. To be present in each moment with my wonderful couples and families (I'll start with families and engagement sessions!). Stay tuned for some of those coming soon!
For now, check out how we'd spent some of the last weeks of summer!
