Fall 2013

I am so honored and flattered that so many of you have been drawn to my work. I truly LOVE what I do! However, being a mother of four means that my availability is limited. I am waiting on just a few more deposits and then I will be booked through November 2nd. If you would like an appointment with me after then, please let me know so I can get you on my calendar. I really hate turning people away!

Baby {E} | Kingsport newborn photographer

This sweet mom contacted me about a week before our session.  She'd had a C-section (which is incredibly difficult to recover from, by the way) and hadn't been able to contact me earlier.  Her baby was a month old!  I have shot "older" babies before, and they are quite different from newborns.  They're not as curly and sleepy and this little gal was STRONG!  She kept straightening out her legs and wriggling ALL over the place.  I didn't dare put her inside a prop because I was afraid she'd jump out.  She had some bad reflux and it was obvious that her little tummy wasn't feeling good.  It was really sad, actually.  She cried a lot.  But that was okay because she was GORGEOUS and I really loved photographing her.  Her parents were so proud and so in love and I think we got some great shots. 

 

 

 

My favorite things | Kingsport photographer

I am often asked what my favorite thing is to photograph.  It's such a hard question to answer.  I LOVE photographing families and seeing the bond that they have with each other.  I adore photographing couples.  My engagement session was so fun.  I love photographing newborns and my favorite photos are always the ones of the parents just beaming with pride while holding their sweet little infant in their arms.  So how do I answer that question?  My favorite thing to photograph is RELATIONSHIPS.  That is why I do what I do.  I am not nearly as concerned about everyone looking at the camera as I am about showing how much people love each other. 

That being said, I do have a lot of little kids of my own (four to be exact) and I'd really love to convince my husband to let me have another.  Because photography takes quite a bit of time away from my family, my dream is to one day do exclusive newborn photography.  This is much more conducive to my lifestyle and I can do it while my children are at school.  This won't be for about 5 years, though...and who knows?  I'm really not ready to give up families and couples and children just yet.  So we'll see. 

The {G} Twins are 9 months old! | Kingsport photographer

I can't believe these little guys are already 9 months old!  You can see their 3 month session here and their 6 month session here.  They were having a rough morning and we got started a little late, which was totally fine.  I RARELY schedule more than one shoot per day for that very reason.  Especially when we're talking about twins.  See that sweet smiling face?  The last photo?  That picture was taken about 2 minutes before he conked out ASLEEP in the van.  Turns out that he was REALLY sick.  Poor little guy.  He just really wanted his mother.  So even though she wasn't planning on being on the photos, we snapped some with her anyway.  And I truly love these.  She is such a good mother and so sweet with these babies.  I'm really excited to do their 1 year photos!

What you need to know about wedding photography

Okay.  I'm going to start this by saying I am NOT a wedding photographer.  Not yet, anyway.  Would I like to be?  Absolutely!  The truth is, wedding photography is completely different than any other kind of photography.  In order to get good quality photos, you really need professional gear (which I recently purchased).  Why is this important?  You need a camera with excellent performance at high ISO numbers.  If you hire someone using a camera that costs less than $2,000, chances are that they will not have this quality.  Why is this number important?  High ISO numbers increase the camera's sensitivity to light.  The problem is that when a non-professional camera has the ISO cranked up, the photo will then create "noise."  Noise is grain.  And it's not necessarily good. 

This is a photo I took of my husband and son at bedtime.  If you zoom in, you can see that it is NOT a high quality photo.  For lots of reasons.  I took this with my canon T2i and 50 mm 1.4 lens.  Most obviously there is a LOT of grain.  If you look at this photo of my baby taken with my Canon 6D with the SAME lens, you can see that there is no grain, the photo is clear and beautiful.  And the ISO is DOUBLE what it was in the photo of my husband and son. 

While this difference may not be obvious in a 4x6 print, it WILL be obvious in something that you want to blow up really big on your walls.

 

 

Your photographer really should be setting a custom white balance.  White balance is the camera's ability to read the color of the light around you.  This is especially important in a church where there may be different light bulbs emitting different colored lights as well as daylight coming through the windows.  An experienced photographer will often bring their own lighting to a ceremony to make sure that the photos of the ceremony are the most flattering (while this is highly recommended, I can't help but think that it might be distracting from the beauty of the ceremony itself.  Personally, I have never attended a wedding that has had the photographer's own lighting center stage.  I'm not sure that I would want my wedding ceremony looking like a photo studio.  Just today I started experimenting with flash and am looking more into soft boxes (I have one, but am working on figuring out how to use it) and may change my mind about it's importance.  Only you can decide if this is something you'd like.  But I will say that nearly all of the $15,000 wedding photographers bring their own lighting and your photos will be stunning.)

 

Also, weddings can be stressful.  You want your photographer to work as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Photography shouldn't be a stressful experience. 

 

If you want me to photograph your wedding, I can do a good job.  Will every photo be perfect?  No.  I can not pretend to do the same job as someone with 20 years experience.  But they will certainly be better than your Aunt with a nice camera who is experimenting with photography.  If you can not afford a seasoned wedding photographer, make sure that your photographer is, at least, a photographer.  For my wedding, we hired a professional photographer.  But also asked my husband's aunt to take some photos for us.  She did a good job!  In fact, at the time, we saw no need to purchase any of the professional photographer's photos because we had hers.  Now, 13 years later, I regret that decision so badly.  His photos were perfect.  Extremely high quality.  I just didn't see that.  I am much more interested in making sure that you have the BEST photos you can afford than I am in you hiring me.  I am more than happy to help you find someone if you'd like some help!

 

If you are on a budget, for example, and like someone's work but they haven't shot a wedding, make sure that their photos show a variety of different situations.  Are they only good at making beautiful photos the hour before sunset in a golden field?  If so, just plan your wedding an hour before sunset in a beautiful field.  How do their photos look indoors?  Have they ever shot professionally indoors?   Have they ever shot an event?  These are all questions to consider!

 

That being said, I have compiled a few blog posts of wedding photographers that you might find helpful. 

 

 

This one is about trying to recreate photos from pinterest.

 

 

This one is about the importance of trusting your photographer and asking your guests to leave their cameras at home.

 

This is a great list of questions that you should be asking your photographer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





My gear.

I've had a few questions about my gear.  I'm happy to share!  I am currently shooting with a Canon 6D, the 50 mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, and the 100 mm 2.8 macro lens.   Why did I choose this camera?  Mostly for the incredible quality of photos in low light situations.  Secondly, I chose this one because it is full frame, which means I can get more of the scene in my camera.  I shoot with prime (lenses that have no zoom) lenses.  My macro lens is incredible.  It's main purpose is to take close up detail shots of things like baby toes :)  But I also use it when I need some distance between me and my subjects (little kids running and playing).  I love the canon 50 mm 1.4 and the canon 85 mm 1.8.  Both of these lenses were recommended to me by Stephanie Klein Photography and are used by many many photographers throughout the world.  Despite owning other lenses that are worth thousands, these are Stephanie's go to lenses.  That is what convinced me to purchase them.  And they're gorgeous.  What is the difference between the two lenses?  Let me demonstrate....I try not to bug my family while I'm learning new things about my gear, so I take photos of my feet.  If I had thought about it, I would have painted my nails or something.  But I didn't, so bear with me.

 This lovely image was taken with my 85 mm.  What the 85 does is throw the background out of focus and "compress" it, or bring it closer to the subject.  It creates fewer distractions in the background and is really great for portraits.  Some people call this "skinny lens" because it is very flattering. 

 

This is the 50 mm lens.  You can obviously see more of my leg because of the shorter focal length, but you might notice that it is a little distorted.   Anything less than an 85 mm will often do that (My calves aren't really that large).  You can also see more of the background, which is good when you WANT to see the background (like at a wedding).  In the case of both photos, the background is blurry because of the low aperture I used (It is possible to have a not blurry background, but who wants to see my messy mantle in great detail?  Although my new camera bag looks pretty awesome up there...)

 

Speaking of my new bag, I have an Epiphanie Ginger bag.  And it's great. 

I use photoshop CS6 for all of my editing.  I do shoot RAW.  I always take a reflector or two with me on photoshoots. 

I also have a Canon 480ex flash, macro extension tubes, and a few protective filters as well as a circular polarized filter.  I set a custom white balance (and I'll show you how to do that, too in my one-on-one mentoring session).  I think that just about covers it!  Let me know if there is anything else you'd like me to share!