Goodbye, 2022…

Wow, guys! It’s been an incredible year, to say the least, and I can’t believe a new one is just around the corner!

At the end of every year, I tend to get a bit sentimental and emotional looking back and thinking of all of the amazing things accomplished, places traveled to, new people met, and memories made. This year was no exception! 2022 has been a bit of a rollercoaster— definitely been one of the busiest but also most rewarding years in my business yet. All in all, I’m just so incredibly grateful.

Summer is in full swing over here in Northeast Tennessee and I am absolutely loving it! It has me reminiscing back on this beautiful styled shoot that I was able to organize with some of the best wedding vendors here in Johnson City, Tennessee!

Full transparency— last year, I felt myself feeling quite burnt out. It comes and goes in waves and usually when creatives are stressed out or doing things repetitively. To help fight the burnout and increase creativity, photographers will often try to get out of their normal rhythm and will shoot something for themselves or start personal projects. For me, I had never set up my own styled shoot— I had only attended ones organized and created by others. This was definitely a bit out of my comfort zone, but was such a fun experience!

I met Lakyn through a local photography group and asked her to second shoot a wedding with me out of town. We spent the weekend chatting about all of our favorite things and have since become close friends! I was incredibly honored (and ecstatic) when she asked me to be her wedding photographer!

I met up with Lakyn and Neal for their engagement session at Lakyn's father's land in Kingsport that happens to be at the base of Bay's Mountain. Needless to say, it was right up my alley! We hiked through the fields and chased the sun, touched some questionable weeds and laughed the entire evening. We ended the session at her dad’s private pond and sat around a campfire as the stars came out.

Ben and Hillary are getting married here in the mountains of Tennessee, so we decided to change up the scenery and have their engagement session at Mead’s Quarry and Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, Tennessee! We met up the day before the Fourth of July and found that it’s quite the popular place, but that didn’t stop us from having a great time! We explored the quarry with their dog, Sequoia and ended the session at the Forks of the River Wilderness Management Area where there is currently a huge field of sunflowers!