Tell us a bit about your approach to the work you do, your time in the business and a few personal facts about you.
Every time I go into a session I am really striving to create something unique for each client that speaks to who they are. I take a very relaxed, storytelling approach to each of my sessions. With every session, I aim to create something unique whether it’s a unique angle, layering and playing with depth of field, composing an image in an atypical way, etc. I resist limitations and I resist having too much of a checklist because it is in the freedom that I can create my best work. I have been a photographer for a little over 12 years now. I started shooting nature, flowers, etc with film (digital was brand new at the time) and have evolved into really loving documentary photography. I shoot digital now but have started introducing black and white film into some of my sessions again because there is just nothing that beats the depth, detail, texture, and mood that comes with black and white film.
What makes you the most nervous during a session?
I always get a little nervous that I’m going to blank out and not have any good ideas with posing, composition, and that I’ll seem like I don’t know what I’m doing. I try to avoid too much posing and anything that I feel like is cheesy, but people usually need a little bit of direction, especially at first to come out of their shells a bit. So I study posing like crazy beforehand so I have some ideas in my mind that I can play off of during my sessions to help with the flow. I like for my images not to feel too posed and to have a very natural feel to them, but I feel like I am a bit of a narrator and need to offer direction here and there.
What about this session was most memorable?
The rain! The rain brought such a beautiful mood to this session. There was steam coming off the lake right when we got there and the little droplets hitting the lake with the foggy mountain backdrop made for such a beautiful setting. It literally felt like a scene from The Notebook.
Were there any hurdles?
The rain! Haha. Because of the rain, we had a lot of mud, so we were slipping all over the place trying to walk around. And, because of the rain, we were soaking wet and freezing cold. We did this session in like 15-20 minutes. So we were rushing but I had studied a lot of posing and composition leading up to this shoot so I just pulled from that and we got done quick. I don’t think I warmed up until an hour or two later when I got back to the hotel and jumped in the hot tub.
Your best photographer/session advice?
I’ve got a lot of different things! But I’ll keep it simple to a few things that have been big for me this past year.
1 | Stop trying to be like every other photographer you see on Instagram! Find yourself. Your personality. And tap into that when you shoot. Your voice will come through and that is when you will create work that stands out and is unlike anyone else’s. That is when your work will resonate with others and that is when you will get your “ideal clients”.
2 | Know your numbers. Too many photographers are either guessing at their pricing, finding another photographer’s pricing and copying it, or giving out low pricing because they don’t dare ask for enough money to make their business profitable.
3 | From the Hustle and Flow Workshop, “Forget trying to get the “ideal client”–how about be the ideal photographer.” Ideal clients will come to you when you are the ideal photographer.
What is one goal for your business ?
I’d love to be able to support my family with my income exclusively. I’m married and my husband mainly supports us but I feel like it would really prove something to myself if I was able to do that.
What gear was used to achieve these?
Nikon D850 and Sigma Art 35 mm 1.4. I don’t love the sigma art though and am hoping to replace it soon with the Nikon 35 mm 1.8.
Any presets used or hand editing?
I used G Presets to edit these images but I used the fader plugin for Lightroom. I use the fader almost every time I apply a preset because a lot of them are too harsh for me.
ABOUT THE ARTIST :
I’M AN ADVENTUROUS HOMEBODY, IF SUCH A THING EXISTS. I’VE WORKED FOR 9 YEARS AS A NURSE AND HAVE BEEN A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER FOR 12 YEARS. READING, PHOTOGRAPHY, AND DISNEYLAND ARE MY JAM. I’M NATURALLY AN INTROVERT BUT I LOVE GETTING TO KNOW PEOPLE. COUNTERINTUITIVE? MAYBE. BUT SOMEHOW I FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE IT WORK. MY HUSBAND AND I HAVE BEEN TOGETHER MORE THAN HALF MY LIFE AND WE’RE IN 14 YEARS OF MARRIAGE + 4 KIDS. I LIKE TO SPEND MY SPARE TIME LISTENING TO 80’S MUSIC, FIGURING OUT HOW TO GET RICH, AND MAKE SERIOUS PLANS EVERY WINTER TO MOVE SOMEWHERE THAT IT DOESN’T SNOW.
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST