I'm back!

Wow! So it's been a little while since I last blogged, as in almost 2 years. Blogging obviously wasn't a priority, and it didn't help that I wasn't getting any feedback on my posts from anyone other than my bestie and my mother! :) My shoots are spread out just enough, that I feel like a can give each session some special attention, more than what goes on Facebook, at least. Over the last 2 years, lots of things have changed! My knowledge, my ability, my equipment, my editing techniques, my business sense, and brand have all changed so dramatically! I'm in such a good place right now with my work, feeling great about the final product that I hand off to the client, that in itself is a huge change. If you haven't seen it on FB yet, my new logo is above! I needed something that was me, and when I saw this design, I knew it was me. It's a little classic, fun, fresh, and playful. And that is exactly how my work is portrayed. With all that official business being said, here is some of my recent shoots!

Wedding season is over!

On my last post, I had 3 weddings ahead of me. All three were SO completely different!

The second wedding I shot this summer was at a park, very small, 50ish people. So informal in fact, that we did pictures before the ceremony! Here are a few from July 16th...






August 3rd, I traveled north to Monterey to shoot another super small wedding over looking the beach. I love these pictures, especially since there was absolutely NO sun that day!














August 20th, was my last wedding of the summer, which also happened to be my uncle's wedding! It was a long day, but it was so, so, so much fun. Each time I shoot a wedding, it's such an honor, and this was no exception. I love being a part of a day that has so much meaning. I think these show why...













Well that's a rap on my summer recap!

Oh, and I'm on Twitter now, @photo_nat, so come follow me!

No fear.

Yep, that's me.

Last October, when I decided to try my hand at wedding photography, my reasoning behind it was "why not, I absolutely love weddings, and I love photography, why not do both?". So I posted my first ad on Craigslist. I chose to do the first 3 weddings to book, would be for free. EVERYONE thought I was crazy. Everyone thought I should at least charge a few hundred, but that literally made no sense to me. The only wedding I had ever shot, was my sister's, and it was very informal and unconventional, nothing like your everyday wedding.

So I did the first wedding, a 10 hour day as the second shooter to an obnoxious and very unpersonable professional wedding photographer. I was exhausted. I had taken well over 1000 pictures. The very next day, a Sunday, I shot my second wedding. This one was more laid back than the first, but I was in the lead. I loved it. However, it was just too much. Too much editing, too many pictures, too many things I should have done, too many things I didn't speak up to, it just wasn't my time.

In December, my uncle proposed to his girlfriend (love her) and I was asked to shoot their wedding. I had initially said yes, but was really re-thinking that answer in the following days. I felt like I didn't have the confidence, knowledge, experience, or gumption to shoot a full blown 200 person, traditional, practical, 12+ person wedding party, wedding. However, I did WANT it. In the back of my mind and/or heart, I wanted it. Something or someone was telling me it was my time. That I would be ready.

That was in December. Since then, I completed a Professional Photography course (see last post) that I had assumed I would never finish. That in itself, was HUGE. Completing this course, this online course that I had to teach MYSELF, was such boost that I needed. I took a 6+ month "break" during the beginning of the course because I could not comprehend for the life of me, one of my assignments. When I re-read that assignment months later, something clicked. I blew through that course and launch a new found confidence that I needed.

Since then, I've booked 4 weddings!!! I have one this weekend, another informal, but a PAID, wedding! :)

I have no fear.

None.

I'm so excited! I know I can take great pictures. I know my style is different. I know that my editing skills have done a complete 180 in the last 18 months. I know I can produce some fantastic images to a bride, groom, and their family and friends.

That is what keeps the fear away. That is what keeps the desire in my heart.

It is now my time.

Have I mentioned how blessed I am? Cause I am :)

3 months.

Hello again. It has been three months, a quarter of a year, since I posted last. SO much as happened!

I've had lots of shoots, and for the first time in a really, really long time, I am the most confident in my shooting, the most comfortable. That may be because...

I GRADUATED!!!

Ok, so not anything formal like university status, but the Professional Photography course I enrolled in last year. The one I hadn't even looked at in 6+ months, and was pretty certain I would never finish. Then one day, I realized that I had nothing to lose, and that I had learned a lot over the past year, so I jumped in. Ok, more liked LEAPED! I finished 8 assignments, which usually takes 4-8 months, in less than THREE weeks! I've never been this proud of myself. I was sure I had wasted my money once again, but proved myself wrong!

In March, I did Maddie's First birthday pictures. Here are a few that from that shoot, which were also on display at her party!




Not long after Maddie's pictures, I did a shoot in Shell Beach with the Gonzalez family, along with an asthma attack! Luckily they are friends, so it wasn't TOO embarassing, but still, not fun. Not to be cocky, but THESE pictures, I knew would be gorgeous, not because of me, but because they are a gorgeous family, AND since I was still a student, I was able to purchase Photoshop CS5 (the big one) and Photoshop Lightroom 3, two amazing, and very needed programs. Purchasing them as a student allowed be to get them at 80+% off! I'm so lucky. And I was so lucky to get THESE shots...







...Told you, GORGEOUS! :)

A few weeks later, I did Amanda & Henry's engagement shoot! Their wedding is this weekend! :)









I also went to Texas again, and finally got to meet Rylan! Of course I took pictures of him :)







Oh! And before I went to Texas, I did a surprise 4 month shoot with Miss Poppy M...here are a few of her too! :)








So I have a shoot with kids at the beach this Friday. Amanda & Henry's wedding on Saturday. I also have a wedding in July, and TWO in August! :)

So. Blessed.

***UPDATE***I've had this blog saved because it wouldn't post!

So...it has been almost two weeks since the beach shoot and Amanda & Henry's wedding. I was so super stoked on the pictures I got from both shoots, I'm feeling pretty confident in my skills...FINALLY.Here are a few from my beach shoot with Angel and Sammy:







And of course, a "few" from Amanda & Henry's wedding! I just love LOVE! :)







So that's it, that's been my last few months...and I still have 3 more weddings to go! :)

-NS