an otherworld engagement session

AH! I guess I haven’t blogged this yet!? It’s been shown over on Columbus Monthly, but here’s my quick take on some images I love from Cat + Chris’ engagement session at Otherworld…in preparation for their wedding this weekend! Cannot wait to travel to Saint Elle in Nashville (traveling! we haven’t since FOREVER!)

whenever I look back at their images I’m reminded, ooooh yeah they don’t let you use flash in there! I catch myself thinking why didn’t I…._____ excited for full creative allowance this weekend + can’t wait to see what C+C do to LED up their wedding decor!

a post of favorites - film favorites Part 1 of ?

I shared on my Insta how I had over 300 favorite of film photos, and like, who even would want to look at that many images PLUS most of them are my family (I’m biased, but those are my best work!) PLUS why would I make them into a reel. I’m nobody to just do something because the social media world says I have to! SO here’s part 1 of ??? to share my favorite, but not oversized heavy on images favorites of the year.

each roll (ish) I try to take a nice portrait of most kids, because they’ll still let me!

so that batch was within the January - August…what happened in august. Well. We have had the same photographer shoot our family photos since 2016 - because I’m a big enough believer in practicing what I preach: we go the extra mile + do whatever it takes to get Yan Palmer to our house when she travels. If you don’t know Yan, you should. She is a force. She’s part photographer part family therapist part magic! Once that session happened, I had a new found, re-woken NEED to shoot all the beauty and find all the light. Part 2 will come soon with the photos living on the coattails of Yan’s inspiration!

2022 in (wedding) florals

I’ll have to recap my dahlia flowers in another post closer to when I know if I have tubers to share. And, if that’s all nonsense to you, then just stay for the wedding images and forget it :)

The thing I love about weddings, besides everything, is seeing a color theme and design come together with the florals. A recap of all my favorites from this year below, enjoy!

truth be told I’m taking a detour and reliving those images for a second! What a fun statehouse shoot!

cannot possibly talk flowers without putting into here these amazing floral dresses that Sarah encouraged her guests to wear!

and again, full stop for Old Slate / Auburn and Ivory and their absolute genius!

phew! you made it!! wanna talk flowers!? I’m always down for that :)

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.