The importance of art

I just wanted to share a little bit of my thoughts on photography as an art. Photography is an expression of art. All photographers have their own style. Some are struggling to find their own style but they find it in time. I know that my style is getting more refined every day. 

For me, I feel like my style is more "real". I try not to overly edit (which I admit I've done in the past - I look back now at those edits and are embarrassed by them, but I was learning). I try to keep images clean and fresh looking. One of my main reasons for doing this is to preserve these images in their reality. I'm not super trendy and I don't have a huge fashion sense.. my taste for clothing is very simple and clean. I want my photography to reflect that. I want my clients to be able to look back at their photos from me and not feel embarrassed by the "old school", "ghetto", or "2010" look of their photos. My goal is to have these photos last through time. I want these photos to be able to last very long on my client's walls. I don't want to be laughable in the future because of the silly props I used or even editing I used. That is why I go for a clean, fresh, real look in my photos.

Photography is super important to me. It is my passion. I love to capture faces. Real faces. And true personalities. Before I became a photographer I was lucky to have the importance of photographs instilled within me. When I got married I told my parents that I wanted a certain photographer because he reflected the clean, fresh style that I am drawn to, but also because he knew what he was doing and had a track record of successful photographs. He was over $2000 dollars. And well worth it. That is the ONLY thing I specifically asked for in my wedding planning: great photography. I got it (I have awesome parents!). And I love my results and quality I received from those photographs. 

Please don't skimp on your photographs. Don't put them off because it's too expensive. It. is. worth. it. I promise. You won't regret it.

St. George Utah Children Photographer - Mariah's St. Patty's modeling photo-shoot

Over the weekend I did a quick shoot with sweet Mariah. She is modeling a green St. Patrick's day bow. I'm excited about how these turned out. 

Southern Utah Winter Landscapes

It snowed overnight here in Southern Utah. I took the opportunity to get out and take some photographs of the beautiful red mountains and snow. I wouldn't categorize myself as a landscape photographer, so these are just for fun.

 I have a few more to upload but the coloring is being messed up when I upload so I'll have to try that later.

As I was driving up the road back towards town I thought the power lines looked so neat, so I grabbed my camera in the seat next to me and snapped this real quick :)

**updated

Since yesterday's photos wasn't uploading properly in Chrome, I'm doing it in Mozilla. If you are using Google Chrome web browser and these photos look purple and dull to you, please check them out in Mozilla instead. Sometimes I can't stand technology.

Happy Valentines Day

I'm not doing very well on my New Year's goal to consistently put content on this blog. I've made some goals for myself, one of which is two participate in the iheartfaces photo challenges. This week's theme was "hearts". I don't think I will be entering the challenge, but I still took the photos. I had this idea to draw with chalk a heart on the wood fence and cement wall in my backyard, and then take a portrait of my son with the heart blurred in the background. The first image is basically what I had in mind (except I didn't want to be in it). I had to have my husband take it because I couldn't focus by myself. My son didn't want to be cooperate so this was the best I could muster. 

This edit is slightly different than the first. I need more subjects to photograph other than myself! 

So there it is.. my attempt at "hearts" this week.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day!

silhouette

This month for the SUPG meeting, we had a theme to bring a "silhouette" photo. I don't take many silhouettes. I don't love them. I searched for anything worthy to bring to the meeting and the only thing I liked was the photo posted below. I didn't get it printed to bring to the meeting..

This photo is special and has a memory for me. We were working on our house and it had began to rain and storm outside. Dayten (my son) was out of patience that day and so I sat him on the windowsill to watch the rain and listen for the thunder. He loved it. I loved that he loved it. Every time he would hear thunder he would gasp loudly and his eyes would get wide. 

Every photo has a memory.

Free Card Design/WPPI

I'm currently offering a few of my card designs: for free.

You can find them here at my design blog.

I'm excited to say that I am going to WPPI this year!! Holy moly I'm so stoked!

Last year, I remember reading my favorite photography blogs and seeing all of the fun pictures that everyone posted about the fun they had at WPPI. I remember this post in particular. 

Well now this year, that will be me! AH! I will be going with 4 other women in the Southern Utah Photography Guild and it's going to be a blast. I need some motivation and instruction on how to better myself as a photographer and get my business rolling!

And to end it off, a favorite photo of my son this past weekend. 

Bryce Canyon

Over the weekend, my family and I spend time near Bryce Canyon, Utah. 

Here are a few favorite photos of the canyon: