Fundraising Mini Sessions

From December 14-January 4 I held free mini sessions for clients who wished to donate to my mission trip instead. After the mini session, clients will get 3 free photos. My mission trip is this May and I'll be going with a church group to work with Habitat for Humanity in Lafayette, Louisiana. I am really excited for this trip because I have never been on an actual mission trip before. Thank you to everyone who donated and supported me in this fundraising process.



Ryan and Cathy took up on this offer and had me shoot them in a completely new place. We went to Perry Homestead and it is now one of my favorite rustic places. I loved how there was a gorgeous barn to shoot with. I will definitely recommend this location to clients in the Carrolton area!

The Thomas's have an annual Christmas party and asked me to be the party photographer for the evening! It was a lot of fun because I knew a lot of the families attending and everyone was fun and silly. There was amazing food served, including my mama's famous mushroom rice. 

Two families of the Thomas clan!

Megan and Adam

Brown family including newly engaged Lauren Brown and Nelson Simpson

Mr. Martin has a very large hat collection. He wanted to some how document it and catalogue every hat. Then he plans on making a slideshow and putting it to music. Here are just some of his hats.

The entire collection!

My cousins also wanted some pictures of themselves!

My cousins Joe and Mallery, and Mallery's husband Josh

Mallery and Joe coordinated so well 

Austin K

I met Austin through my church. We went to this park with outdoor public pool (there's a few of those around Austin). I have never been there before, so it was a new experience for me. When we got to the site, I learned from Austin that the place was actually where the church held baptisms a year ago. There was a dock leading out to the river. While we were shooting, UT rowers were practicing and came by. They were practicing for a regatta and actually asked us who won because it was so close. Sadly we weren't paying enough attention to it. I now found one of my new favorite places to shoot in Austin.

Holly C

Holly is in my Photo 1 Film class. For our final projects we took portraits of each other as part of it. It's a tit-for-tat thing. When I asked Holly to not smile and just look serious, she jumped right into the character! Most others that I shot for the project kept laughing and could not stay serious, which I understand. When Holly took my photos, I kept laughing. We walked around campus for a bit and she took me down to a place that I have never been before. It was a little alcove with a cross and some candles. It was like a little prayer area.

Everyone in class sees the photos during the critique. This will be interesting since they know one of the models in my project.

Ashley R

Sunset provides the perfect lighting. Sadly sunset is always changing, and you have to adjust in order to shoot in that perfect light. Luckily, I was able to shoot Ashley in this light. We met during Transfer Student Orientation and just started hanging out. She became one of my closest friends here in Austin. Ashley is a photo major, so being in front of the camera was a little different for her. :D I wish I could post some of things we say and joke about, but they're too random to try and organize it into this post.

Alex H

This is Alex, he is the brother of Josie (who I posted about a little before). I met them both through the same Bible study. I took him to the graffiti park in Austin. It is the only place in Austin where it is legal to actually do graffiti. Personally, I believe graffiti is wonderful artwork. Sadly it's associated with acts of violence or illegal activity. This place has many levels and you can actually try and climb up it. At the very top is an amazing view of downtown that ill take your breath away. Once a week graffiti artists come together and change the entire landscape. It is amazing.

That is where I took Alex. I would like to warn anyone who tries to go after reading this, there is no parking lot and you have to park on the side of the street. This is not too bad, but it is hazardous for those of us who can not parallel park easily and efficiently.

We just climbed around for about an hour. Actually Alex was more interested in exploring the area rather than me taking his picture. Haha. I had to be very careful though because I was carrying to cameras around my neck and did not something to happen to them. Overall it was very successful and we made it almost all the way to the top.

I went back to the graffiti park before Thanksgiving and made it to the very top. The view is amazing and you feel like anything is possible while you're on top  of the hill.

Josie H

So for my final film photography project, I chose to do portraits (surprise right?). I enlisted my friends to help and bribed them with candy. Josie was one of those lucky friends. For her shoot, I chose to go to the Austin Botanical Gardens. It pleased me that it only cost $2 to get into the gardens. The Dallas Botanical Gardens cost $15 to get in. There is a huge difference though. From what I can tell, Dallas Botanical Gardens is much more extravagant than Austin's, but I am completely ok with that since admission is only $2. Right before I started taking her pictures, Josie told me she was so bad at having her picture taken. She lied and these pictures show how she is a natural.

John W

Here are some pictures of my friend John. I took some pictures of him for my film class and brought my DSLR with me to our shoot. He would not stop laughing! It's ok though cause the photos look more like him.