Man. I’m loving April.. but I really loved March. Awesome weddings, Super cool Venues, some of the coolest people ever.. all about to hit the blog in a flurry of posts.
First up.. Amanda + Jason.. loved. this. wedding! Sun-sphere, amazing vintage Ebay gown [gasp!], grandparent’s pearls from Paris [yeah, i know], best personally written vows ever, cutest little girl on the planet… get ready for it.. it’s a whole lotta awesome.
a few weeks ago i trekked up to Johnson City [my second home] to shoot my dear sweet friends, the Nutters. i love these guys so much. we only shot for about 8 minutes before this crazy storm came rolling up on us.. but we still got a few good shots before ducking and running back to the car. after the shoot we head back to their house where i grabbed a few more shots of little Christian just being a boy in his backyard. all he wanted was for me to get a picture with him in his superman shirt… seriously, the cutest thing on the planet.
Meet my Ohio friends Courtney + Brad! These two love Tennessee so much their planning their wedding in the heart of it The Great Smokey Mountains. So, when they asked for a place to shoot that just screams Tennessee.. what better place to take them than Cades Cove. Take this outdoorsy girl into the woods + I come alive. The product, is one awesome shoot. boom.
Sarah + JT were married a few Saturdays ago in beaUtiful Williamsburg, KY. These two could not have been married at a more special time.. JT had just arrived back in the states from a military stay in Iraq.. where he spent much of 2011 and 2012. They were reunited just a few short weeks ago + married shortly after. So much to be thankful for in such a short time. Congrats Sarah + JT!!
Meet my friends Katherine + Matt! These two are about as happy + in love at two people can get. They worked together long ago at a daycare and didn’t really notice one another until one summer with a church retreat.. she realized he had actually been noticing her for a long time. There, at the retreat was the “meet cute” as they say in the movie biz. The rest is history!
The day we shot their engagements was one of those perfect days in Knoxville. The weather as of late has been insane! 65 degree weather is unheard-of in February around these parts. During the entire shoot I had to just pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and I am ACTUALLY doing what I love to do for a career. I really don’t deserve any of the blessings I’m surrounded with every day. This is the kind of day that reminds me of this.
The weather was perfect, the light was so warm and perfect. I kept ooing and awing over the light and how perfect it was. I kept expecting them to say “enough already about the light, it’s the sun, this is what it does!” Needless to say I was one happy photographer.
I’m so excited to share all this goodness. 
I had the awesome privilege this week of spending the day with a talented up-and-coming photographer Leah Price with Leah Nicole Photography. Leah is so full of life and passion that I’m certain she will take her photography dreams far.I look forward to keeping up with her work [and our new found friendship] with excitement!
Leah and I began our day with a shoot at Fountain City Park right down from my house where we talked about understanding natural light, natural reflectors and composition. We also talked lots about equipment and mechanics. Leah is a freaking rockstar because she has been shooting with an old school 50mm 1.4 [super awesome lens].. made long before the digital day which requires her to do everything manually. This girl is determined to take incredible pictures even when he equipment gives her challenges. She blows those challenges out of the water! I was so impressed.
After shooting her at the park we sat down for a meal over Panera Bread soup where we talked about dreams, goals and branding. I love to hear how photographers get started and hear them talk about their dreams. It’s inspiring to me to reach harder for me own. I heard it once said..
“REACHING FOR YOUR DREAMS
INSPIRES OTHERS TO REACH FOR THEIRS”
.. maybe I just saw it on Pinterest.. but either way it stuck with me. After lunch we headed back to my home office where we processed the images we took earlier, talked lots about workflow, editing tools and finding your own art/style. Our day flew by so fast and I didn’t get nearly enough time getting to know this awesome girl.. so I hope to see her super soon to just get to know one another away from the camera.
Here are some of the shots I took during our fun shoot.
In 2012 I have found myself knee-deep in mentor sessions. Its quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do with this photography career I have going. A mentor session is where I sit down with a brand new photographer or someone who has been in the business for a small time and is just “hitting brick walls around every curve” as one mentee put it. In the last 3 years I have learned sooo much [mostly through trial + error] and if I can share my mistakes and “ah-ha” moments with those just getting started.. I feel like it was all worth it. In these mentor session we talk about shooting, mechanics, equipment, vendors, post processing + workflow and branding [websites, logos, and the general perception of your business others have]. Branding is HUGE! Perception is EVERYTHING both when you’re starting out and as your growing.
While at WPPI last year in Vegas I was sitting in on a talk when the conversation moved to the importance of branding. One of my favorite photographers put it like this
[paraphrase]
“It’s like this.. Mac vs PC.. Folks have a certain perception of these brands.. and when you’re a creative these perceptions are very intense.. for example, I want you to raise your hand if you’re a Mac [in a room of 500-800 photographers/creatives, everyone I could see raised their hand].. okay now raise your hand, mac people, if you would ever buy a PC [1 personal.... I repeat ONE person.. an older gentleman with his logo on his polo raised his hand]… my point exactly… that is called brand power”
This is one of the BIGGEST things I talk about during mentor sessions. It’s ALL ABOUT your brand power. There are some incredible books out there about this.. most of which from Seth Godin. Purple Cow is a personal favorite [the idea here is to see what everyone in your industry/market are doing.. and do the opposite.. oh yeah it will ruffle their feathers... but that means it's working].
Anyway.. when I sat down to type this post I was merely going to showcase the amazing branding I had created for me from the amazing KATE MOORE CREATIVE —> CLICK HERE FOR SITE
I highly, HIGHLY recommend her.
Don’t have a brand or a clue where to start? I created a folder on my desktop called “inspiration” and just dragged images I found I gravitated towards.. fonts, logos, patterns and I began to see a pattern. There is a nifty new social network that makes this way easier and causes me to have logo ADD.. perhaps you’ve heard of Pinterest? If not, you can find me here CLICK HERE FOR MY PINTREST to see what all the fuss is about.
I took a few shots of the branding Kate created for me + the packaging I purchased from Craft + Jute.. love!
Thank You cards, Biz Cards + a glossy book of info/portfolio I give out at my meetings.. love that thing!
These are the envelopes I use when folks order prints from me… I ordered them from Kraft + Jute with a few of my logos.. one [the better one] that Kate created and the other [lamer one] I put together
These are the cases that house the digital negatives from weddings… I LOOOOVE these!
my sweet Thank You’s… favorite part!
Alright-chall… I MUST take a moment to tell you about one of the coolest things we’ve gotten ourselves into lately.. it’s call the Food For All or Food Share.
So here’s the deal.. 6 Families.. 12 adults, 3 kids. Each family gets one night a week [or sometimes every two weeks] to cook a meal for all 15 people [not as hard and scarey as it sounds]. We all live here in Fountain City and live about 1-2 miles from one another. Each night those who didn’t cook come to the house that did with their Tupperware, scoop out what they need and either stay to eat or slip out the door and take it home.
BENEFITS [this is huge!] //
1. There is a $30 limit on each meal.. so one night your not having beanie-weenies and the next filet minion = $30 grocery/dinner budget for 1-2 weeks! Whhhat? Amazing, I know.
2. We get to see all of these amazing folks that have come into our lives every night! We’ve seen most of them almost every night for going on 3 weeks and it’s already building this neat community. Gosh.. it’s the coolest thing
Last night it was the Hensley’s night to cook. I knew I wanted to make a killer chili since it was getting colder… so I searched and searched the web for and great new recipe and ran across one that just made me laugh:
“did you buy a pack of McCormick chili seasoning.. cool.. now through that **** away”
haha
I knew it would be a good recipe or at least I would enjoy making it. Here is a link to the chili recipe of dreams
CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE
Fast forward a few hours later and there are 15 people laughing around our kitchen table… our hearts were so full. So thankful for this little adventure and hoping your encouraged to do the same with your group of friends!!
Here’s a few pics I snapped during the cooking + a few of some of my friends.
Here are my onion cutting glasses.. hehe.. truth be told they probably don’t do much good, obviously.. but I feel they may help delay the tears..
The engagement pics are BEAUTIFUL. These two were definitely made for each other. Congratulations Sarah and JT.