My journey to becoming a photographer of love, i.e. a wedding, elopement, engagement photographer, first started with my own wedding, nearly 10 years ago, and the incredible photos that followed. Not only was that day absolutely breathtaking, but the photos captured by my photographer left me awestruck. I remember thinking to myself, “These look like they belong in a f***ing magazine!” I could not believe that my tiny wedding looked that incredible. It was in that moment that I was inspired to start a photography journey of my own. I wanted others to experience the same jaw-dropping feeling I had, and that’s where it all began.
What I Seek to Capture
My style typically translates to the type of clients I love working with. As someone who isn’t distracted by norms, I am drawn to the couple who puts aside traditions to do their wedding and love story in a way that suits their personality. With that said, my specialty is not simply who I photograph, but how I do it. As a person who is drawn to the raw and real, I seek to capture a couple’s one of a kind story.
During a wedding or elopement, the vows couples tell each other on their wedding day attempt to express an indescribable love and emotion, but the truth is, there’s so much we cannot express. There’s so much unspoken emotion and love and personality between couples, and photography allows me to capture some of the inexpressible.
I love capturing the things I see as being really integral to a couple’s personality and who they are, things we wouldn’t see in ourselves, and I love being a part of those unique moments. On wedding days, I get to spend time with the couple and see them in a really raw, unfiltered, genuine way that no one else does, and it’s amazing because those are really the times people let their guard down and emanate who they really are and the love they have for one another. Being a part of those unseen moments and being able to tell a couple’s love story through those moments is truly one of my favorite parts of what I do.
I also LOVE showing people how fucking gorgeous they really are. Most people are uncomfortable with the camera, which makes it so fun to surprise people and show them how amazing they look. We all have these negative perceptions of ourselves, and I, in some way, get the privilege to break some of that down by capturing my clients in the best way possible.
My Experience
and Style
I shot my first wedding nearly 8 years ago and, since then, have continued to evolve the creativity I take behind the lens. For as long as I can remember, I have felt a deep draw to the arts and have always felt a massive appreciation for creativity. During college, I was lucky enough to explore different mediums and discovered that I f**king love all kinds of art and made the decision to never stop exploring different kinds. In a way, dabbling in multiple mediums has truly shaped the way I photograph because I’m not approaching it from a photographer’s point of view alone, I’m coming from a painter’s point of view, and a figure drawing point of view, and so much more.
I’m also massively in love with film photography, and that really and truly is a different way of photographing the world. It’s unpredictable, imperfect, raw, and I fucking love it. In a way, my film photography influence translates in my professional photography. I love grain and add that to most of my digital images. I also love the warm, soft look film has, so I tend to edit that way digitally. I’m also in love with the “imperfect” so I use a lot of motion and blur to better display the inner nature of my subject rather than simply displaying the outer shell. There’s an intentionality but also a freeness about my style whereas most photographers are concerned with perfection and the technical specs. Instead, I blend the type-A personality and desire for perfection with the messy, hazy, imperfectness of film photography, painting, drawing and other mediums.
It Isn’t a Job, It’s Part of Who I Am
Photography isn’t just a job for me; it’s also a massive portion of who I am. It’s something I need to do, not something I have to do. There’s something incredibly fulfilling about having a space in my life that I can freely capture and interpret and understand the world around me and then share it with others, and I do that through my camera.
In a way, I get to be a part of art’s history. I’m so moved by painters, photographers, sculpturers, and artists that came hundreds of years before me, and, in a lot of ways, they remain a huge inspiration to me and my work. Most of all, I love that my voice is just as valid and important as those people and in some small way, I get to be a part of the history that was, is, and always will be.
Education
- Bachelor of Arts with an Emphasis in Photography
- Associate of Arts in Photography
