Erica: A Collaborative Yoga Session

I’m fond of quiet yoga sessions I maintain at home, but I can’t even come close to the skill Erica has built over years of dedicated practice. We met on Instagram, but her patience in finding the pose she wants and her utter bravery can’t break through the screen on your phone - trust me. She literally laughs in the face of danger, and our session at this local park was a joy.

Except for the fire ant colony I stepped on. No joy there. #fieldphotography 

It’s such a delight to capture someone as they do what they are most passionate about. Collaborative sessions like these are some of my favorites.

If you’ve got a passion like this, please reach out to me. Creators, artists, hobbyists of all sorts - it’s an honor to find the vision of your process. Let’s work together.

Wild + Sweet: Graduate Session with Julia

“i think photography is trying to find the poetry in people.”

- Wyn Wiley, Photographer

Just before Christmas, I had the joy of photographing a truly poetic soul. Julia graduated high school a semester early, and the story we told together during her senior portrait session was beautiful. It was layered with story, with deep courage, and with the buzz of final achievement. Julia is bookish and quiet, with a touch of the rebel soul and a healthy dose of hidden depths. It was truly a privilege to work with her.

It’s a real treat to photograph someone in such a transitory season. I love capturing this time of life, when identities are solidifying and we really come into our own. Many thanks to Julia for trusting me with her session.

Interested in some portraits of your own? Contact me and we can chat!

Winter Session: Brandon, Meg, and the Kids

It’s December in Tennessee, which means it’s raining.

I pulled up to the house on the end of the street at 9:00am on a Saturday to the chime of barking dogs and a rooster’s crow. I was let into a cozy, circa 1900 farmhouse that smelled like peppermint and got hugs all around (even from Will, the barefoot redhead that instantly became my shadow, which I loved).

It was so easy to see how these people lived as a unit and loved on each other daily. It was so easy to capture Will’s constant curiosity, sweet Noah’s newness and concern, and the ebb-and-flow of dad taking over, now mom, now dad again.

Light trickled in through drops of rain, and I began my process. In telling this family’s story, I wanted to shape something that said, “This is what it looks like to have deep, muddy roots. This is what it feels like to be many and one at the same time. It feels like color, like everything goes together on accident, like you can’t tell if something is warm or cool but it’s good and rich and tastes like chocolate.”

My favorite shoot to date, this family inspired me to dig deeper in my work. I also realized how it feels when the right clients find you. There is a genuine chemistry, that ignites between client and photographer when the right people find each other, and it just makes for comfy, deep photography when it happens.

And it’s pure magic.

Enjoy the season, folks. If you’ve been wanting a hearty, rainy photo session and you’re in the Nashville area, please feel free to contact me. Let’s make some magic.

xo,

MarQuella: University Portrait Session

Do you ever meet someone who just exists in a state of balance, making you feel like a ball of chaos by comparison? Because I did.

MarQuella is collected, demure, and humble, despite her amazing sense of fashion and high professional ambitions. Her passions are widespread, but her centered energy bleeds through these images like ink on paper, focusing her creativity into pure, elegant lines.

To capture someone on camera is to interpret who they truly are into a creative product, causing reality and art to collide. That’s what happened in these spaces with this bright spirit. Can't you feel it?

Interested in a portrait session of your own? Get in touch via the contact page.

xo,

Newborn Session: Cadence Ivory

A week ago I showed up at my long-time friends' home (I passed it twice) with a large pot and several fluffy blankets. With a name inspired by her parents' mutual love of music, Cadie unsurprisingly responded best to auditory prompts like light music, white noise, and lullabies from Dad. It was a sweet morning paced by meal time, nap time, and poop time. I'm grateful to have been there for this lovely, muggy day to photograph Cadence Ivory as she gets to know her family and her new home.

My favorite part of these shoots is when I snag the in-between moments. My hope with my work is to preserve not only the creative, styled ideas we find online, but also the way it all feels. The process of expansion, making room for the newness, the raw introduction and gradual growth into one unit we call "family" - this is the magic I want to find and capture. Your light, your space, your unique, collective being - it's what I work for. It's worth preserving. If this sounds like something you'd like to do, too, please feel free to contact me. In the meantime, enjoy these beautiful images of one beautiful family!

xo,