Alright, y’all - Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and I know a lot of you are boo’d up and might get engaged soon if you aren’t already. :) Basic Invite is definitely a wedding vendor to add to your list for print products.
What?!?! These are wonderful for adding those personal touches. Every part of your wedding should be 100% you! The save the date creator gives you lovely templates to start with or the option to upload your own save the date. This is a must-have for printing save the dates!
Hire more female photographers and there will be less sexual assault.
Photography is a male-dominated industry but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of talented women with cameras ready for work. It means that white men are disproportionally overrepresented in the photography industry. White men are the ones hired for the majority of the jobs. They receive the awards, the ambassadorships, the assignments for publications, etc. And they are far more often perpetrators of sexual harassment and assault. So instead of giving models a list of rules and "safe” photographers to work with, how about a simple rule of thumb: Work with and hire female photographers.
Can I tell you about something that really irks me? When wedding vendors use fake couples for styled shoots. This morning just after I woke up I was scrolling instagram and I saw yet another styled photoshoot with a “couple” that isn’t actually a couple. Now, I know that it is easy to get excited about a vision and want to see it come to fruition but there has to be some form of authenticity even in a styled photoshoot.
My mom is the biggest sweetheart. She raised me with love and acceptance. I knew that whatever I chose to do or be in life she would support that. She has just really always wanted to best for me and my siblings. Our dad died when we were pretty young and she suddenly had to raise three kids alone. She did the very best that she could. Things were not easy. We had to grow up pretty fast and she had to face a harsh new reality alone. I can’t imagine what she went through. Through all of it she made sure we knew she loved us. Now, she is so proud of each of us.
I got to hang out with my crazy talented sister-in-law this evening. She found this 1970s dress that was her mom’s from yearrrrs ago. It was perfect for a quick sunset shoot. These photos are a preview of our evening. Emily knocked it out of the park! I am so excited to edit the rest :) Here are a couple for now. Check out Emily’s music at www.emilynance.com.
This photo was taken at the beginning of the pandemic in South Beach. It was a ghost town outside and I was walking to get groceries. I happen to have my camera with me. I really like that the curtains were flowing out of the top window. I had forgotten about this photo until today when I was cleaning out my computer.
Food has been a big talking point since the pandemic began. Many people at home are baking, cooking and trying the newest coffee trend, Dalgona (whipped coffee). I am no exception to this. Since the pandemic began, I have made homemade flour tortillas, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookie dough, various forms of whipped coffee, avocado toast, poached eggs, and many other things that I can’t recall at the moment.
I met up with Drew and Mary in Bentonville and we had a physically distant friend date. We got dinner to-go, sprayed sanitizer on some outdoor seating and chatted for an hour. It was so nice to meet up with them. ❤️I snapped a few photos of them in this alley before we ate our dinner.
Part one of Joshua and Caleb’s greenhouse engagement photos was at Matkins Flowers and Greenhouse in Bentonville, Arkansas. Part two of their engagement photos was featured yesterday for day 50 of uplifting blog posts during the pandemic. It was a cuddly, in-home session with their sweet pups. Part one was equally adorable! We met up at the greenhouse and worked our way through each area. Joshua and Caleb cracked jokes and had each other (and me) laughing throughout the photoshoot.
What better place to have your engagement photos than in your own house with your pups! :)
Caleb and Joshua are goofy, sweet and they love Beyonce! What more could you want from a couple? Plus, they had me crackin’ up the whole photoshoot! We started the photoshoot in the greenhouses at Matkins Flower & Greenhouse in Bentonville, Arkansas. Then part two of the shoot, featured in this post, was at their home in Northwest Arkansas with their two adorable pups.
At the beginning of the physical distancing measures, my boyfriend took a few portraits of me with my new red bodysuit that I ordered from Glam Expressway in DUMBO, Brooklyn. I absolutely love it! I can’t wait to wear it out with high-waisted jeans when it is safer to do so. The plaid skirt I am wearing in the photos is from Goodwill. I am a huge thrift shopper and I love finding vintage clothes on the cheap! I think I paid $4 for the skirt. Such a steal!
Morgan and John are always amazing to be around! ❤️The chemistry and love they have together is a beautiful thing to witness. ❤️❤️❤️We did Morgan’s maternity photos a couple of years ago and it is still one that I love to look back on.
Greenhouse photos are some of my favorites! They really provide a lot of advantages to clients. There are great colors, a huge variety of plants and flowers and there is usually a greenhouse cat. You will see an example of one when you scroll down a bit. Nurseries like this one usually have a few different greenhouses with various plants in each. There are also some gorgeous plants outside as well. For sessions like these I like to move all throughout the property and get photos in each area.
Natasa has become such a close friend of mine in a really short time. We have chatted about how amazing women can be as forms of support for each other. She is the definition of this. We have had cocktails and great conversations on many occasions. This is one of the pre-pandemic things I miss the most. We have went on long walks up and down Miami Beach. And now we have done a few photo sessions together. When I first started considering doing virtual sessions I immediately messaged her and asked if she would test model for my first one. She knocked it out of the park! She had an amazing outfit and energy throughout the virtual facetime session. She even happened to have a rose handy as a prop. Check out that session here.
When she showed up for the session, she was wearing the PERFECT dress! The dress was purple and flowy and it just looked gorgeous on her! We walked around the greenhouse chatting, laughing and dancing. I had such a great time with her! The greenhouse was perfect too! So many varieties of flowers and plants. Each time we moved to a different area it looked like we were in an entirely different location. I will say, if you plan to check out Matkins Greenhouse make sure you have plenty of extra cash to spend because it will be hard to leave without any of their gorgeous plants and flowers.
Bianca! This woman is going to be hella famous one day. I am absolutely sure of it! She has already done some big things too. She was featured in a Third Love commercial and she absolutely killed it singing and acting in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. Her voice gives me the chills when she hits some of those notes. She is crazy talented and just a lovely person. We did this session back in early February and I was hyped up throughout the entire session. We were working together to create so awesome shots that just felt really natural. I can’t wait to see what she does when the world resumes. ❤️❤️❤️
Lily. Just wow. Lily is a multi-talented artist. Watching her act and direct for The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover at Faena in Miami Beach, Florida was truly unforgettable. She sang, she dance, she led, she inspired! ❤️See more of her work on her website.
I am so grateful that I got to see this production so many times and witness the greatness of that cast. Every single person on that cast was so talented! Truly, I loved watching them all. They all impressed me so much from day one.
Every once in a while I will feel the need for something different. The need for something inspiring. I think most artists go through phases like this. This feeling is what sparks growth. It is yourself telling you, you need something different because you need to grow. You need to experiment. You need to try new things pertaining to your field. And Picasso himself said,” Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
A few summers ago, I lived in Wahiawa, Hawaii for a few months. ❤️While I was there I did a photo-a-day photo challenge. Most of the photos below are from that challenge plus a couple extras just for fun. 😃
I am a coffee fanatic so the Dalgona coffee trend was right up my alley. Plus I think we could all use something fun to keep us busy for a minute or so. I have made Dalgona coffee several different ways and posted in my instagram stories a ton about this.
I think now is a great time to share in-home sessions since we are all spending a lot more time in pajamas at home. This in-home session was from when I visited my brother and his sweet wife, Hannah, in Bend, Oregon. They were being super sweet after a day of being out of the house. So I grabbed my camera and got these. ❤️
