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!!

another round of things I'm digging

there’s like a constant pressure to do all the things, and you know, I’m just not ready to blog some of the sessions I’ve recently shot because I feel like I certainly haven’t hyped them up enough. SO here we are on a Tuesday and we’re going to look through some of the things my eyeballs are getting stuck on - with awe + deep desire for warmer weather (!) through these last few cold weeks. ENJOY!

sweet William

Well hello! It’s been a while! It seems right to update my blog to include a new family session as I’ve revamped + put in work on my family section of this space. WHY THO? Because I’ve mostly spent the past 3 years overloaded with wedding work…reluctantly saying no to extra families…but I’m back. As my own family life changes, and I want to be more present on weekends, but still work, families present a great option. But, let’s be real, who will hire a lady without work to show for it! I was connected to this sweet family through flowers - she took some of my tuber babies last summer + we’ve shot two sessions since. I love this family + keep mentioning it, but it’s just so fun to revisit the “baby years” now that we’re “out of them” haha. Spent the last few minutes once we had stopped shooting reading a book to Grace because, while being a big sister is fun? It’s also nice to get some individual attention from a new person in your house :)

as you can see, my newborn sessions are VERY lifestyle and organic. I will get sweet photos of you + your baby, but I will not stuff your baby into a basket or physically impossible - photoshopped only - poses :) If you’re interested in chatting about newborn sessions, get in touch!

pretty little details

sometimes, (ahem, January, February, March in the northern hemisphere) it’s just nice to look at a few unrelated, but equally gorgeous, styled details. Let your brain stop thinking and just enjoy it with your eyes. For me, it’s often my flowers I am scrolling through (one of those kinda posts coming soon so you can see the glory of THAT)..but here’s some wedding pretty for no other reason that maybe you need a mid week grey winter pick me up!

my kids, on film

It's more infrequent, because, let's face it the #gobrokeshootfilm is a very real thing, but every roll I get back from The Darkroom Lab I fall in love more and more with film (and wish I had an endless bank account to supply my habit!). Here're some of my favorite from this spring!

And, obviously I can't let a blog post go without promoting something....I don't have a lot of time, but I'll tell you what wedding season makes me miss like crazy: FAMILY SESSIONS.

SO. If you're out there experiencing a NEED for a family session, please get in touch! I'm likely to be able to squeeze you in over the next few months!

Deanna + Cory | a backyard wedding

When I'm asked what my "favorite venue" is, it's never an easy answer. One thing that I find brings about happy couples, happy guests, and a great atmosphere to spend a day shooting is at a venue that people don't have to leave. That the ceremony leads to cocktail hour, leads to reception. My feelings are that it lets guests flow into each other. You're not moving from place to place within your own group, you have all night to spend getting to know family members from "the other side" and get into casual (awesome) conversations with once strangers. It's my favorite thing to be a part of, the energy is kinetic, and it's just so happy.

Deanna + Cory are adventurers, their story is anything but normal....and, true to themselves, they had a wedding that was just perfect for them.

Enjoy reliving their hot (remember summer?) July wedding day!