pepper in some highlights

the off season is the time we photographers do all the things we try to do all year, but - for me - something’s gotta give, and it’s always the blogging and website updating!

and, as it’s Monday, there’s an advent calendar to attend to (anyone else out there scramble to get their activity in each morning before their kids wake up!?), and so I’m going to give this a little update here with some images I’m digging….hope your eyes enjoy this little visual party!

a summer wedding at North 4th Corridor Revery

One of my favorite spots in the city to shoot: Revery! I love it in all the weather…and honestly that’s the most important thing to me on a wedding day. When my couple can relax and not be stressed out about what it’s going to be doing from the sky, as in: when they’re not checking their weather app 200 times between each minute…that’s a luxury that’s WELL WORTH it when it comes to picking a venue!!

Hannah + Dan are the sweetest couple - and they spent one of the longest days of 2022 celebrating each other + their love - enjoy seeing what I saw on their wedding day!

now is a good time to pause and say what a fun this year was for couples who wanted almost totally ONLY candid photos throughout their wedding day. I don’t know if it’s my vibe, what I share, or just the shift in how people want to enjoy their wedding day: but this year I had so many couples who just wanted to make sure I was there to capture EVERYTHING in an authentic, photojournalistic way….and it RULED! Five years ago I would’ve doubted my ability to deliver a complete gallery without taking time to make art portraits together…but now. phew. Man YES! If this resonates to you, let’s talk - never have I been more sure of my ability to capture your wedding day the way YOU want to experience it. Your wedding day - YOUR rules! I am shooting only what you want - it’s been so freeing to leave my ego at home when I show up for a shoot. Wow, could keep going on this for DAYS!

SLOAN + HAYLEY / SHARE WHAT YOU WANNA SHOOT!

I should know this, I’ve been doing this for long enough that I’ve definitely been through this cycle of learning before. Now giving it a permanent place on the blog will hopefully remind myself not to lose sight of it again!

What’s the lesson? Making art for art’s sake, that’s the goal! My newest reminder came in the form of reconnecting with Hayley over, what else? flowers! and ended with a late summer night spent with their dahlia patch.

I’m endlessly inspired by my couples - and it sounds silly because everyone is just a little bit the same, aren’t we? But getting to come into a space, and read your vibes, energy, love - it’s the thing that changes from shoot to shoot.

so the point, beyond the awesome time I had shooting with them is that mid summer I decided, I’m going to share what makes me happy - not the algorithm, not what I “should” share….and that’s what got Sloane, Hayley + me reconnected.

a beautiful Friday elopement

There are a million (or mainly one really great) alternatives to eloping that don’t include thee stuffy, dark, conference room of a courthouse. These two women had one of them. If you’re considering this as a way of honoring your love + commitment to each other, having an officiant, picking a meaningful place, and doing some beautiful photos with your partner is a low key, wonderful way to make a day really special…even if it’s just a few hours of really special.

What an honor to be witness to a love story like this. Less talk + more images is all I can think to give honor to this beautiful day!

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!!

a tale of two seasons!

This will go down as the shortest blog post of all time, maybe. I’m chatty so I’m sure I’ll say more than I planned.

I spent a late spring night at one of my favorite places in this city: North 4th Corridor’s Revery venue…and then just recently spent an early fall night there, too. Well, leave it to me to be absolutely mesmerized by the change - but similarities - in the absolutely magnificent sunset we witnessed both days.

an almost summer sunset:

an early fall sunset:

Now here we go on my education and absolute promise to do YOU on your wedding day. On Saturday, my dudes were NOT feeling going out for yet another photo session. If you were in Columbus this past Saturday - you’ll remember the absolute glow of the sunset….and think I was crazy not to make them get out there. But do you know what I did? I showed them a photo of Dad giving a speech, and I said, THIS is the moment. This - your most loved people - gathered in this brilliant buttery light while you enjoy your wedding meal together. THIS is your wedding day memory you want to relive!! And that was that.

if you’re here and searching for a photographer for your event, I hope you’re getting all my signals that your wedding day is your day. I’ll be with you each step of the way, helping when I’m needed, but following your lead and giving you the best experience AND photos!