Hey Everyone! Welcome back or welcome if you’re new! I just had my second wedding of the year on Friday and it was absolutely wonderful! But that blog will come later! Today I wanna talk about how I prepare the morning of a wedding to get into the right mindset.

     The morning of a wedding I will make sure first and foremost my batteries are fully charged. Even if I spent the night before putting them on the charger, I like to double check to be completely sure. This is just erring on the side of caution for myself. I’ll even through some of my rechargeable batteries on their charger to recheck them. This might seem useless but it’s just another check on my checklist. 

      I like to go back down my list to make I have everything on it. As you can guess I’m a double checker for everything! And odds are, I’m still going to misplace or forget something minor. Chances are I will leave my camera straps behind. At this point if I’ve gone over the list, I will then load everything into the car to have it all ready to go.

     After I’ve double checked everything more than once, I will print the form that I have the couples fill out before that day. I do print mine in three copies, one for myself as the main shooter, one for the second shooter, and a third clean copy in case something happens to one of the others. After this I will go through and highlight everything in three different shades. One shade is what my second shooter should be focusing on. I like them to keep busy while helping out to make sure we cover every single possible shot. The second color is what the main shooter is focusing on. And finally the third shade is what both shooters can capture different versions of it at different times. The final step in this is to hole punch these and put them into binders for each shooter. The third copy goes in it’s own binder in the car.

      Sometimes the morning of a wedding I’ll jump on Pinterest and look at different styles of wedding photos and new creative ideas that I could turn into my own. This way I get inspired for the day and see where this leads me. Sometimes I’ll even look back at old wedding photos I’ve taken to see if I really liked any one certain type of photos to try again.

      Mostly I really think about how everything is going to be covered and getting into the mind set of where I’d like to be and staying positive throughout the day. Weddings are stressful for everyone involved but they are also an absolutely wonderful thing to capture. 

      If you’re married, let me know what your favorite photograph you received from your wedding. If you’re not married, let me know what photograph you hope is covered from your wedding day.

      Hopefully you all have a wonderful weekend! 

~Ashley  

    Hello there fellow readers. Thank you for stopping in if you’ve been here before and welcome here if you’re new. I hope you all having a wonderful day! Today I want to talk about the reason I love editing. Some people don’t find any joy in any editing. I find that it can work miracles in situations with unpredictable weather. From adding in beautiful sunsets, to editing out power lines or trees that just look strange.

    You can change the entire scene behind someone with a few clicks if you’re using a green screen. The possibilities are absolutely endless. With photoshop these days you can achieve even the craziest sky swap if you play with it. Creativity is a wonderful thing to play with when you have the chance to!

      Being able to create different things or achievements. I love being able to add unseen things to an image or change what’s already there to a different spot in the image or remove something that shouldn’t be there.  Even just adding the simple touch of a filter or vignette.  

     I’ve always took my time editing images so they can live up to the highest potential and vision in my head. I have really high expectations for myself while I’m creating the photos. I want to create beautiful images that can come across as a piece of art.  

       What’s your favorite thing to photograph? Let me know down below!

~Ashley

    Hey Everyone! Welcome back if you’ve been here before and thank you for stopping in if you’re new!

    Currently I have been prepping for my second wedding of the year. Making sure that I have my checklist created and everything set up and ready to load into the car. I try to have everything prepped a few days before the wedding in case I am missing anything that could be needed. This way I have enough time to find it and add it to the items. One thing I’ve learned is always learned is always bring 2-3 of everything. So if one fails there will be a back up. Always have back ups.

    I am a list person. I have a checklist for every single type of photo shoot because it’s easier to make sure you have everything and can gather it into one place. This way it is quite fast and simple to gather everything needed for a shoot on short notice if need be.. For weddings, it seems my list is even longer just to make sure that I have everything for any unforeseen circumstances.

    I decided to share my list today since I’ve been getting ready for a few days. The first thing I like to gather is everything that has to do with the cameras.

• Camera(s)

• Camera Batteries

• Camera Battery Chargers

• Camera Lenses

• Go Pro

• Go Pro Batteries

• Go Pro Battery Chargers

• SD Cards

    The next things that I gather are anything that has to do with the off camera flashes.

• Off Camera Flashes

• Receivers

• Transmitters

• Flash Brackets

• Light Stands

• Double A Batteries

• Triple A Batteries

    Then after this I will gather any props that may be needed during photos.

• Chalkboard

• Chalkboard Arrows

• Liquid Chalk

• Tiara

• Photo Frame

Next I will put together every that could potentially be needed for a backdrop if there is no possible way to take photos outside.

• Backdrop Stands

• Backdrops

     The last step of gathering things for me is just odds and ends that I will need or may need throughout the day. 

• Binder with shot list and info

• Pens

• Highlighters

• Clipboard

• Extension cord

• Power Strip

• Laptop

• Laptop Charging Cord

The night before the wedding I will gather all my batteries together and throw them on chargers to make sure everything is ready to go. I will check all of the SD cards to see if they are clean and ready to be used. I will run through my whole checklist again to make sure everything on the list is ready to be loaded in the car the next day.

What is your favorite part of a wedding? Let me know in the comments below!

~Ashley

      Hey Everyone! Welcome if you’re new here and thank you to everyone who’s come back for another post!

     I’ve done a lot of photos in the past four years and I’ve been extremely lucky over the last few years! I put my heart behind all my photos and love to share them all as often as possible. 

     I’ve been lucky enough to photograph some very cool bands perform and some very beautiful places in the United States. I’ve captured the portraits of people who were taking their next step in life whether it was leaving high school or making their family bigger.  

      I want to share these photos with the world as often as possible, I’ve been very lucky. I strive to work hard to continue to show off new work as it comes. Thank you all for the support!

~Ashley

Hello everyone!

Welcome back and thank you if you’ve been here before. Welcome to my writings if you’re new and thank you for being here!

I am going to keep this post short and simple and putting out a huge thank you to the clients I’ve had over the past month. And another huge thank you to The Q & Z Expo Center for putting on the amazing shows that I get to capture there! These photos are some of my favorites from the month of May. I’m so grateful for being able to do something I love to do as frequently as I get to do it! 

Please take a moment to comment below and let me know what your favorite photo in this group is!

Hope you all have a great evening and stay safe! 

Ashley

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back if you’ve been here, and thank you for coming if you’re new here! I was welcomed into photographing Kirsten and Jim’s beautiful wedding day on May 18, 2019 at City Park. Although it was a very rainy day, the wedding went on without a hitch! The inside of Log Pavilion was decorated in black, blue, and white themed designs! Everything fit perfectly together throughout the entire venue and it gave off an almost rustic feeling to the day. The rustic feeling always has been such a simple yet stunning way to set up.

The cake looked absolutely stunning along with all of the cupcakes! A custom top designed to be the Bride and Groom with their handsome doggos! The cake fit right along with the color scheme being blue and white with gorgeous designs all along it’s 3 tiers! Each tier of the cake was also in a different flavor which gave the guests a ton of different options to choose from!

The ceremony was intimate and meaningful. Friends and family were gathered all around to join the couple on the day that they start their life together.

Everything throughout the entire day seem to fall together as the night came and everyone was ready to eat, dance, and congratulate the newly wed couple throughout the night! There we're lots of laughs and moments that will never be forgotten. Two families have become one. There were lots of dances and lots of smiles throughout the reception!

Congratulations to Kirsten and Jim on their wonderful wedding. I want to also put a huge thank you out to Kirsten and Jim for inviting me to be a part of their big day! I had a wonderful day catching all the moments to turn them into memories that can be viewed forever!

Ashley