In another life I'll be a musician!

If I wasn't a photographer, I'd be a musician.

Actually that's a lie, I have no musical abilities whatsoever.  But I love music and secretly wish I had more musical talent!

So when Michael Myers, a local musician, called looking to set up a shoot to get some promo shots for himself and his daughter, I was stoked! I love doing new things and musicians are creative which means I can get a little more creative!

We headed out to Willow Creek where they had lived for many years. It was a gorgeous day and Michael and Cierra were naturals. I love how the same shot can look so different by smiling or not or turning it to black and white.

I listened to their CD while I edited this session, Cierra has an amazing voice and Michael compliments her very well. And that's all I have to say because my knowledge of music is pathetic other than I know what I like and I liked their sound!

Liberating

If ten years ago, you told me “you will be a portrait photographer” I would have laughed and said, “no way!” I loved (and still do) landscape, wildlife, and fine art photography. (In fact, I’ve been craving some of those shoots so I will have to plan some road trips this spring !) Since I started this journey of becoming a professional photographer it’s been interesting to me to see how I have evolved and continue grow. In the last few years I have been focusing on families, children, and high school Seniors and I didn’t really expect to start venturing into the world of fashion, glamour and Boudoir photography; yet, here I sit and that is exactly what I am doing!

This post is about my experience venturing into Boudoir photography! It’s something that I’ve been interested in for about a year, but due to my commitments for families, kids and seniors it just wasn’t something I was ready to pursue. However, in September I had the honor of photographing a friend and fellow photographer’s maternity portraits. A boudoir photographer herself, we spent some time at her house playing with lighting and doing some light boudoir maternity shots. I loved how they turned out and decided then that I would make the time to pursue this niche.

Venturing into something new is always exciting as well as nerve wracking. In preparation I did lots of research, studied countless boudoir images, and attended an online workshop. I knew what I wanted my Boudoir shoots to be like. I wanted the images to be classy, tasteful and timeless. Most importantly, I want my clients to feel comfortable and walk away having had a good experience. I expected my clients to be nervous, who wouldn’t be, letting themselves be completely vulnerable, often times in front of a complete stranger?  I expected clients’ confidence in themselves and their trust in me to grow as each session went on. What I didn’t expect was how liberating the shoots would be for not only the client but for me as well.

To watch someone, who absolutely doesn’t want an area of their body to be photographed, by the end of the shoot posing for full body shots and wearing less clothing than they originally intended, is inspiring and rewarding. To watch someone begin to embrace their body, flaws and all, and to see them walk out as a more confident person is why I am doing this. It may not be why I started doing it, but it is why I will continue to do it. I want women to feel comfortable with themselves and to embrace their bodies the way they are and to feel beautiful! We all deserve that.

I’ve had several women say to me, “I’d love to do one of your boudoir sessions, but I need to lose 10lbs.” I can relate. After my first shoot, I texted Sam (my above photographer friend) and said “I want you to do my Boudoir portraits, but I want to lose 5lbs”.  Now, after doing several shots, I say screw the 5lbs, screw the extra skin around the belly, screw the stretch marks. There’s so much my body can do, and has done, and let’s embrace that.

Part of my job as a professional photographer is to understand the human body and the angles and poses that most flatter a person; how the bend of the knee or a slight change in angle makes the legs look longer or the waist narrower. I believe on the power of posing and lighting instead of adjustments in Photoshop. I do, of course, edit my images, but I do not believe in altering a person completely

A few of my beautiful and courageous clients have approved images that I can share.  Enjoy!

Contact me to schedule your own liberating experience of a Boudoir Shoot.

Rissa's Senior Session - New Location

I love shooting at new locations! I'm constantly looking for new places to shoot, sometimes I see something that I look at every single day and it suddenly looks different and is a photo shoot backdrop! Sometimes I just stumble upon a place. In July my friend and I ran a 5k brew run in Bozeman, starting and ending at the Bozeman Brewery.  As we ran along I was looking at all these buildings and thinking "wow these would be great for a photo shoot!". Later that week Rissa's mom contacted me about doing her Senior Portraits and I said oh I have such a great place.
We didn't get to the shoot until just last week, so I had to revisit the neighborhood to make sure I wasn't in a delusional state while I was running!  I even arrived to the area early for the shoot and found more buildings to use.  We had to make some adjustments to my original vision because of the sun that evening and it was not giving us very many shady areas at the buildings.  The other side of the train depot had amazing colorful graffiti. The second building was proving very frustrating for me. I was doing the best I could but just wasn't happy with the light. I suddenly turned and looked across the street and the building with the tin sides and wooden steps was sitting right there just inviting us to come over!
We decided to head back to the train depot to see if we could use the green doors. The sun was so close to getting to the point that we could shoot we decided to wait it out. Just 15 minutes later it was perfect. Some of my favorite shots are from those last 15 min of shooting! It pays to be patient.

Mike Senior Session - Clouds are good!

Photographers talk about "the light" all the time and everyone loves to see those hazy, sunny images.  But what most people don't know is that working in that light isn't easy. Yes its gorgeous...when you have a reflector to bounce light back into your subjects face so its not in shadow. But it's also a challenge..finding the right place to put your subject so there's no shadows across their face, changing your angle every time the light moves a bit...just to name a few :)!
So when I have a shoot scheduled and its a cloudy day, I'm happy. Clouds are nature's soft box. It diffuses the light, it gives a more even light. It allows me as a photographer a lot more "room to move" without having to worry about where the sun is. Cloudy days also make colors pop, so I love a cloudy day in the fall for a shoot!
Mike was lucky to get one of those cloudy days. Actually we were lucky to have a dry shoot. I don't like to cancel due to weather until the last minute if at all possible (unless its windy, cold and miserable). It'd been pouring for a good hour and about 10 min before the shoot it stopped! I think it started to sprinkle as we finished up, but sometimes Mother Nature Cooperates.
Guys aren't always really into their portraits, but Mike did a great job and I really feel like I was able to get a lot expression and emotion out of our shoot!

On a side note....I usually pick out my favorites from a shoot pretty quickly as I'm culling them. But every once in awhile when I go back to get them to clients or create my blog, I see one that I can't believe I didn't LOVE the first time around! That happened today with Mike's....I'm really loving the middle B&W one below! 

Grooms Family

I do quite a bit to prepare for my photo sessions. I talk to my clients, find out their expectations, learn names, ages and interests of everyone involved so I can relate to them on a personal level. I hate to be a "stranger" putting a camera in their face and expecting them to smile and feel comfortable. So I like to take that time to make them feel comfortable. If I don't get to meet everyone before our shoot, I like to spend the first few minutes talking to everyone and getting to know a little about them.
I'm constantly looking for inspiration for new locations, poses and ideas.  I subscribe to countless blogs and newsletters with tips and tricks so that I'm constantly learning and becoming better at my craft. Before a shoot, I make notes on poses I want to do and try, I draw stick figure diagrams and I refer to it often each shoot. That's not to say I don't go off on spontaneous tangents during shoots, because believe me I do that too. I just like to have a little bit of a plan, whether any of it happens or not!
So Sunday morning before Cindy's shoot, I was prepared....and then I went to pick something up off the floor and gracefully poked myself in the eye with the piece of paper in my other hand and immediately I knew, I scraped my cornea!!! And the first thing that I said "NO!!!! I have a shoot in 2 hours!!!" I thought about trying to reschedule but I knew that one of her son's was only in town for the weekend and I also knew that it being adult children and I already had my preparations done that I could persevere and get it done!
I actually didn't feel too awful, I would just randomly have episodes where my eye would start watering profusely and I couldn't open it....so luckily I only had one during the shoot! Thank you Grooms Family for putting up with my slight disability that morning and allowing me a few moments to get myself back together!

It was a beautiful morning at the Headwaters State Park and we were able to utilize a couple different locations there to get some great shot!  Cindy is the owner of The Foxy Lady Salon in Bozeman. She believed in my vision for a shoot with her stylists and I'm so very thankful for that!

A Girl and her Horse - KD's Senior Session

When I met KD for our pre-consultation she was pretty laid back about our upcoming session, she knew exactly what she wanted,  some shots in a field and in the river, all with Rita, her horse! I told her we had to do some with just her as well! The day of the shoot was once again beautiful and we were getting some amazing golden hour light. We started in the field where I played with the light and how it was coming through the trees, using it to get that hazy light and then changing my angle to get less haze and more direct light. There was an old shed that was perfect (remember I'm a sucker for any kind of an old building!). KD is so comfortable with her horse, its as if she completes her. Actually its like they  complete each other.  This image is one of my favorites from this session...and its not just KD's love for Rita, it's the emotion that just radiates off of Rita. It gives me the chills every time I look at it. I did add a quote to this blog version of it.

 The light was fading quickly so we had to hurry down to the river. KD spends a lot of time here with Rita so they cruised in gracefully, meanwhile  I was trying not to fall down the embankment or drop my camera into water :)! I think we got some fantastic shots and even managed a few of KD alone! My daughter Lily was my "assistant" that evening and she equally amazed me with her horse skills. When we did solo shots, Lily took over Rita...I think maybe I need to get her lessons...KD?

Family - Ashley's Senior Portraits

A day before Ashley's shoot a friend of the hers offered the use of some old buildings on some private property and we were both pretty stoked. I had driven by them the night before but because they were on private property I behaved and did not trespass (this is not always the case for me ;)). When I pulled up to location on the day of the shoot, I may or may not have squealed in pure delight, did a little dance and kept say "OMG THIS IS AWESOME!"! I was in my own little photographer heaven. I love old buildings and random old things and then to be shooting as Senior as well? Heaven! Just a few minutes later Ashley and her mom and dad pulled up and Ashley was doing the same thing...this was definitely a good match!
I could have done the entire shoot at this location, in fact I had to tell her mom to keep me in line. I tend to get lost in my shooting and lose all track of time and we needed to get to our next location before we lost the light!

Once I forced myself to stop shooting at the old homestead, we headed to the river and Williams Bridge. We got there for the perfect Golden hour light! I loved that Ashley had some definite things she wanted to do, but was also very open to suggestions I had.  As I was lying down on the bridge getting some of my shots, her dad laughed and said she does the same thing. I'm hoping she'll tag along on some shoots with me so she can start learning more and someday follow her passion as well!

Every Senior shoot is different, some Seniors want their parents there, some don't. Ashley had both her mom and dad with her and she wanted to do some shots with them as well. Family is huge for Ashley  and that was very apparent thought out the evening.
Thanks Ashley, Melissa and Ron for allowing me into your lives and to capture Ashley's beautiful spirit!