it’s monday and i’ve got my resolve out.
for some reason, i have this thing where i want to hide work i’m proud of. as if to protect it, maybe, so no one can say it’s not good and i’ll just privately think it is and never have to be vulnerable to anyone finger-shaking otherwise.
but i’m on a brene brown kick lately–if you haven’t had the uh, pleassssure of talking to me in the past week you don’t know this–but MAN that woman has figured some things OUT. or as she says is, puts words to things we all experience but don’t have language for. she says, without vulnerability there is no creativity. and: without vulnerability we completely lose our ability to connect.
i wish i could tell you all the ways i’ve found that to be true inside and outside in me in the people i love in strangers in life.
it happens with engagement sessions too, when it’s my first time meeting a couple. we’re both a little nervous at first but act cool. and then, as we start shooting, and i ask them to do the first crazy things (sit on a tree covered in ants, please?) and they don’t say no and then we snowball into this groove of making things that really represent the core of their relationship, because they let me see and they let me show it however i see it. that sounds kind of snotty–like ohhh, i’m an arrrtist, i do whatever i want and the best clients are the ones who just step aside–it’s not like that. it’s this beautiful dance of give and take. i give them something to do, and then they whisper to each other or touch each other’s faces so gently it makes the romantic in me want to break down and cry–and then, i just photograph it.
people tell me they’re terribly awkward in front of the camera. and i used to be, too–until i realized that it wasn’t about my body or looking perfect so much as it was about a willingness to be vulnerable and to GO THERE with a photographer. to give something to inspire them, to show myself and let myself be seen, for those agonizing moments before they click the shutter, second guess everything i’ve ever done and then know that nah, this is right, you are right where you need to be.
and now, meet these two gorgeous magnetic hearts who know all about what it is to love. i didn’t want to be all, “i can’t wait for their wedding!” because every photographer says that about every couple, but man–it’s for real right here. thank you, johnny and toni, for letting me be part of telling your love story.
Well hey, if you’re in Southern California (namely Orange County) and you’re about to get married to your favorite person and you want a chance to shout about it from the rooftops, an engagement session is your purrrfect chance. And I absolutely endorse love-shouting at all my engagement sessions, so if you want more details, drop me a line and let’s chat.
