I’m excited to announce that my photograph of the lovely bride Tami was chosen as the Best of Weddings & Engagements in the print competition at the BLINK Conference!! My peers – all amazing photographers – chose this photo as their favorite, so I’m even more honored and humbled.

The photography conference in Austin, Texas, was life-changing. I learned from some of the most amazing photographers in the industry, including Jean Smith Photograhy, Justin and Mary Marantz, Katelyn James, Spanki Mills – and many more!

I’ll be writing some of my thoughts from the conference – and there are many!  – but first I thought I would tell a little bit about the story behind this image…

Photographing the bride getting into her dress is a big deal for me because it makes for beautiful and important images with the bride’s friends or family. It’s part of the story of her day, and I’m there to tell her story in photographs that she and her husband will be able to enjoy for generations.  I strive to have beautiful window light for these shots because it’s always so lovely.

In this case, the bride and her bridesmaids were getting ready in a cabin that was kind of dark. After searching through the rooms, I decided to move everyone upstairs to a small bedroom loft that just happened to have gorgeous light spilling in. Moving upstairs took a little bit of time and work, but Tami and her wonderful bridesmaids were on board with doing whatever we needed to do to get great photographs. So we all tromped upstairs, and she started getting into her dress. I immediately noticed the mirror – yes!! Mirrors are the best!- and was able to move to the other side and capture this image as the bridesmaids were helping to fluff her dress.

In short, I was able to create this image because Tami and her bridesmaids trusted my judgment, which gave me the freedom to create something wonderful for her.

By the way, she’s getting a large print of this image as a little celebration and thank you from me!! 🙂

Here are a few more photos from Tami’s getting-ready part of the day. Thanks for checking in!