"The Out of Doors" with Natalie

Man, I am pumped that I am still able to write daily. I know it is still only a few days in, but this is harder than it looks. I do think that it will be beneficial, and maybe even a little therapeutic. Today I want to brag about a young lady that I had the pleasure of meeting because her parents are true MVP’s. Sam and Kate are truly some of the greatest, funniest, most competitive people I have ever met in my life. We don’t even call them friends anymore, they are family. Sam has taking care of one of my boys in the E.R. and since Jaryn knew Sam he knew he was safe and in the best hands possible. Kate and Sam went out of there way multiple times to deliver things to our house when Natasha was at her sickest, cussed me and laughed with us in our years of doing life together via CrossFit and Spartan races. We even had memberships to the same pool. Hell Sam and I were both incapacitated when I tore my achilles and he had to one up me and blow his knee out. I say that because that is how I met their girls, and today I am specifically talking about Natalie! She is a senior ( with bad knees of her own lol ) at Science Hill and truly a joy to spend time with. She loves vintage music, I mean 60s, and 70’s and love what she has aptly names, “The out of doors”.

Since she and I share the love for being outside I offered up some of my favorite outdoor spots, and she quickly chose my favorite.. wanna guess? Carvers Gap! We had a fantastic time laughing, hiking, taking photos, and catching sunset while feeling like we were on top of the world! She truly is one of a kind and man I am so glad to have got to spend this time with her. Getting to know her deeper and seeing her unfiltered and truly herself. I picked her up, so I could see her mom because Sam was out of state and stood our other friend Matt and I up for dinner. LOL Just kidding, he was in OH helping his mother in law who had hurt herself but still, jerk move dude.

Ok, photos, lets go!!

I love senior sessions and portrait sessions in general. I am pumped to share other images soon! What do you wanna see next??

Lilly and Carvers Gap

I had the pleasure of growing up in a small town in Tennessee as most of you reading this know. Growing up in Roan Mountain had its up’s and down’s as I suspect growing up anywhere would. It is still a small place in today’s average of community and being raised there led me to meet some of the most incredible people of my life. Growing up and having the blessing of a deep desire to play sports, and just enough athletic ability to fake it enough to play, and getting to do so with people like my friend Chad “Terry” Guinn is still a favorite memory of mine. Chad was a year younger than me in school but that’s close enough to keep us on the same team, almost our entire stint at Cloudland. I can’t recall which sport it was but it was obvious pretty early on, that Chad was one of the good one’s at the risk of sounding cliche. I bring him up because this post is about his daughter Lilly. I had only had the pleasure of meeting her, when I met the rest of their family when I did their family photos a few years ago. Never did I expect her to show up for her senior session and have such a connection to the camera, to movement, and to knowing exactly who she is. I have said this in the past, but this is the driving reason I love working with Senior’s so much. They are finding out who they are, and I get to have a small part in capturing that time for them, for their family, and for them to have a lifetime.

Lilly is a dancer, and though I have never seen her perform, I am confident she is very good at her craft as you can see in her movement, dancing among the literal clouds on top of Carves Gap, in Roan Mountain. We all know this is my favorite place, and sharing these moments there, with people I enjoy means so much more to me that I know how to express.

Fall is quickly adn thankfully approaching, and this brings the flood of work for those “fall colors'“ so if you like the images I have shared here with you, and you would like to discuss how we can create something for you, now is the time to let me know. Email me and lets start that conversation!

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Colby Senior Portraits

As we are just 3 months into 2020, I can say for the first time in a very long time that I am pleased with my work. I am pleased with the fact that my artistic vision is pushing past my insecurities. I am so humbled that my work is being printed and shared. That alone will mean this calendar year is a success as far as my work is considered. That also means, I only have to create bigger goals starting now. I am very blessed to work with some of the most amazing people in different settings. I have made so many friends because of my photography, and vise versa, meaning I have friends that have also allowed me to capture moments for them, and their families. This post is about that specifically.  I had the pleasure of shooting some of my favorite session this weekend, a senior session, for my friend Betty. Her son is soon to graduate and I was honored to be asked, and even more so to have been apart of this milestone for her son Colby. 

Rocking his Dads belt buckle for his session.

I am persistent when getting to work with high school seniors. I know its not always comfortable to have your photo taken. I know that 17-18 years of age can be a difficult time for some. I always want to make our sessions relaxed but more importantly I need them to be genuine. Genuine to the individual. I want to capture them for who they are, not how the parents want them to look. I know this is a touchy area since parents are paying for the session but I need to capture the real personality. Lucky for my people, I am pretty laid back but also have a vision once I have spent a few minutes getting to know them. Colby is a great young man from where I stand, and even though guys tend to be a little more rigid in front of the camera, it wasn’t long before he was relaxed enough to make some amazing images. I will start below with my favorites, and then share more than usual as well. I never want to over share but I think its time I turn off some of the nagging voices in my head and just create. Whatever that looks like to me. So lets toss our mullets in the wind and Let Freedom Ring. ‘Merica

Make sure and scroll through those images of the Mullet in the wind HAHA.