Portrait « Missoula Wedding Photographer Jacilyn M

Archive: ‘Portrait’

Laura – Hamilton MT Trash the Dress | Portraits

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

AH! This session was so so so good for me. I’ve recently felt like I was in this rut. Photography became solely work, going through the motions. Started to feel like I was doing the same things over and over and I had lost this creative touch. I’d pick up my camera for a session and then set it down not to be picked up until another session. I stopped shooting for ME. And us creative folk we need an outlet! So late fall I knew it was time to start working on personal projects, not just sessions for clients. One of the things I really wanted was a girl in wedding dress who would tromp around and let it get dirty. So I posted it up on FB and Laura JUMPED on the opportunity. I was STOKED. A gorgeous girl, a fellow photog, a new friend, could this get any better? Then she said she had horses.

Yesterday was a crazy day and truely, it wasn’t going well. The morning was all over the place, I kind of wasn’t in the mood, I definitely wasn’t feeling it. I hated it. And it lingered the whole drive, this isn’t how I wanted to start this session. This was supposed to be fun, adventurous, and an opportunity to step out of my rut. Hey, guess what?! YOU CHOOSE HOW YOU REACT TO OR IN A SITUATION! Ya I know, no brainer. But sometimes I need to pep talk myself, and by sometimes I mean VERY often A quick reminder that how this time went was something I would determine. You wanna know how to start a shoot of right? HUGS! Hugs make everything better. And from there we were off.

I’m so jacked about how these images turned out. We were freezing but in my opinion, it was worth it. So check them out! Then you should head over to Laura’s Facebook Page and leave her some love. Cause, that’s what awesome people do

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Posted in Engagement, Portrait, Weddings | No Comments »

Wait, whaaaaat is happening with family portraits?

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Recently I made an announcement regarding family and children portraits. I’ve come to realize through conversations with others that people were very confused by this and I want to clear it up! I have heard a few different versions of how people interpreted what was happening. Not just from clients, but also from friends, and even family. Some read it as I don’t do, nor will I ever, do family portraits again. Some even understood it as I’m not doing portraits at all anymore JUST weddings. Neither of these is true and I realize I definitely need to clarify!

I started my business just over a year ago and through this first year I photographed anything that anyone would let me photograph. Over that time I’ve come to realize where my strengths lie. Photography is much different than the corporate world in that large businesses look at where they are weak and how they can make that better, focusing on that. As a photographer I look at my strengths and build on how I can make them even better. So I sat down and looked at what I’m good at, how I can continue doing it and where I ultimately want to take my business this year. In that time I found that my strengths lie with weddings, couples, seniors, fashion, and helping other photographers. Because of this I have started some larger projects that I’m very excited about. But because I’m taking on larger projects, I have less time for other things. I don’t hate family photos, or children, or newborn. I’m just stronger somewhere else in my field. I have MANY clients that I have done family photos for and they have mentioned how much they want me to continue doing them. I LOVE that. And, I’m open to that. So my final decision has been made that I will not take on family or any children photos throughout the year at any time. INSTEAD twice a year I will offer mini-sessions. Mini sessions are just as session that is shorter than a regular session, therefore a few less images, and most definitely a great bang for your buck. This way I can still spend some time with families, yet devote most of time to these larger projects I dream of.

I understand this might be slightly confusing as yesterday I posted a family session. This one had been planned out prior to my changes. But also the husband/father is in the military and currently deployed to Afghanistan. His leave schedule didn’t correspond with my mini-session dates. I have a big heart for military and would NEVER say sorry only on a mini-session days if in this situation. So while he was home I gladly photographed their family. SO if you are someone who wants family photos with a situation similar to theirs but mini-session dates do not work please do not hesitate to ask!

Right now I have 2 days before the end of the year for family photos. It’s the perfect chance to get in photos for those holiday cards! You have the choice of no snow (hopefully no rain) October 22nd, or hopefully snow on December 3rd. There are limited sessions and they have already started to book so if interested contact me right away to block your space! These sessions are 30 minutes. Just enough time to get some photos of the whole family, some photos of the kids together, individual and even sneak in a few of just mom & dad at the end! Then you will receive 20 digital images that you can download to your own computer, cell phone, share with family and friends, etc. You can even have them printed yourself, or order your prints through me and receive a 20% discount on print prices!

I hope that is of some clarification. Family and children will have 2 designated days per year, and a limited availability. Through out the year I will still be accepting weddings, couple sessions, senior portraits, and fashion shoots!

Cheers!

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Posted in Babies, Children, Family, Portrait | No Comments »

Stacey | Santa Barbara California Portrait Photography

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Recently I was chillin’ in California with AMAZING people. One night we headed out to do an engagement session with a couple friends (that session to come later!). Well they were changing clothes before we headed to the beach and the sun was going down fast so Stacey and I ran ahead to the beach to take some photos of her. We did these so fast and when I first looked at them I thought man I sucked it! But after I came home and spent a little more time with them I saw them a bit differently than other images. I have a set way that I usually run through editing and this time that just didn’t feel good enough. I decided to stick with what felt good and continued working on this session like I had never worked on another session before. Anyways, in the end, I love the way they make me feel. I hope Stacey likes them. If not then I guess we’ll have to meet in the middle in Chicago at Lauren’s (Stacey lives in Ohio, we were just together in Cali).

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New Directions!

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

I’m sooooo excited where my business is going. And it’s definitely taking a new direction. I am a dreamer. The type of person that lays awake at night dreaming of all kinds of places I could be, things I could do, just only if…. The dreams you don’t ever imagine coming true. Things you “can only dream of.” That’s who I am.

Recently I told some of my dear friends one of my dreams. Something I’d love to do (that involved my business) and how amazing it would be if only I could do it. Their response to me was…. “Well, do it!” I realized I often spend too much time dreaming and not enough time putting effort into these dreams and taking steps toward them to make them goals rather than dreams. So I took a risk made some contacts and I’m excited to say that it’s happening. You’ll have to wait to find out what exactly I’m up to, but I’m excited to make this turn in a new direction and live out a dream.

With that I have to make some changes. Starting now I am only booking weddings and senior portrait sessions. I am no longer accepting family or children sessions throughout the year. AH! ALTHOUGH!!!! I will be doing 2 family mini-sessions each year in the fall and winter for the holidays. I know the holidays are a time when everyone needs a new family photo for those great Christmas cards so I’ll be offering the mini-sessions which may be more bang for your buck!

This years 2 mini-sessions will be held October 22nd and December 3rd. I wanted to give everyone the option of snow or no snow images The mini-session will last 30 minutes and includes 20 images available for you to download to your computer, smartphone, share with family and friends, share on Facebook, etc. And along with that you get a discount of 20% of prints if you are in need of that photo printed and in your hand, cards, or even framed on the wall! The openings for each day are VERY limited. December will have even less openings than October as we move a bit slower when it’s colder out! So if you are interested in booking a mini-session I encourage you do so right away as there aren’t many available! Even better, the session only costs $85!!!!! Interested? Contact me!

Can you believe we’re already talking about the holidays?! Can’t believe September snuck up on us! Keep checking back as I will continue to share more about my new direction If you’re like me and a dreamer, I challenge you to stop dreaming and make it a reality Just try it!

Posted in Babies, Children, Family, Personal, Portrait | No Comments »

Kelly | Missoula Montana Senior Portrait Photography

Monday, August 15th, 2011

On Friday I had my second senior session of the summer, with Kelly. And she is GORGEOUS! She’s a senior at Sentinel and just getting ready for Soccer tryouts. I wish I could do sessions over and over and over with girls this lovely! She was water skiing all day only hours before the session…. she cleans up GOOOOOD!

Kelly, thank you, thank you, thank you! You were so much fun! Good luck with soccer and your senior year. I know you’ll do great when you go off to college next year…. even if you are going to Bozeman

Interested in a senior session?

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Posted in Portrait, Seniors | No Comments »

Emilie | Missoula Montana Senior Portrait Photography

Friday, August 12th, 2011

Oh ya, 2 posts in one day, you betcha! So, Wednesday I went out for a mid-afternoon session with my AWESOME Senior Rep, Emilie. She’s pretty much amazing. Her photos are the first senior photos of the season and I’m jacked about them. I’ll be doing another session with Emilie soon, can’t wait! But for now, check out my girl from Sentinel High School.

Interested in becoming a Senior Rep check out more details here.

You have the opportunity for free sessions, free prints, and a chance at an iPad or Macbook!

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Posted in Portrait, Seniors | No Comments »

DVD’s… BYE BYE!!!!!

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

YES! I’m so excited to share this! And ya you read that right. See ya later DVD’s! I am no longer offering DVD’s of your images. I know some of my brides right now are like, wait what?! But you said!! Don’t you worry! I have something MUCH better for ya

I’ve never really like the idea of DVD’s. I feel like movies, cd’s, games, they all go missing ALL the time. Or they get scratched and they’re ruined. Every time I deliver a DVD to a client in my mind I think, “Man I hope they don’t lose it or scratch it” I do keep wedding images for a while but not forever and I would hate the thought that some day down the road that disc would not work and they would only be able to access their tiny images they posted to facebook. And Facebook just ruins photos and resizes them and they’d never be able to print them. That might just sound crazy, I don’t know. But I have a fun new solution!

The rad crew at Showit (the awesome folks who host my website and make my life somewhat easier) have build this awesome software that I can upload your images to and “pass” them to you to view, download, pick your favorites, post to facebook, etc. And even better your images are hosted with the cloud technology for a year for you to view. You can access your images on ANY device that you can get the internet. So you’re chillin in the airport talking with some great people on your way home from your honeymoon about how awesome your wedding was and all ya gotta do is pull out your phone, or ipod, or ipad and without having to save them to that device you can pull them up and share. Now you can download them and save them to any device that you have so no worries there. And when you share the images on Facebook your friends and fam can see them at full-resolution rather than Facebooks terrible way of resizing them and ruining the quality of the image. IT’S SO AWESOME!

Okay you may not have even caught all of that as I rambled off in excitement. I promise you it’s killer and it’s so easy! A few weeks ago I did Christina & Shawn’s engagement photos and used them as my “guinea pigs” for PASS. Well they loved and said it was so easy to access their images and download and that couldn’t make me any happier! So for them I put together real quick this +site to share with their friends and fam to see all of their images Check it out!!! You can view the images full screen, pick your favs, share them to facebook, download them. Who needs DVD’s?

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT A PASS SITE

And no blog post is complete without a photo so I’ll give you a little sneak-a-peek at the next post….. CALIFOOOORRRNNNIIIAAAAAAAAAAAA

Posted in Engagement, Photographers, Portrait, Weddings | No Comments »

TGIF!! And upcoming special!

Friday, June 17th, 2011

It’s Friday, awesome people!!! I’m so excited. I wish this weather was more awesome and that it would start to look like summer. I’m beginning to get really tired of this gloominess! I have an engagement session tomorrow and I am STOKED! Can’t wait. Sooo……

Next Thursday is my 25th birthday! I have been afraid of 25 for years! I don’t know. Just have. Before I started this photography business I was just a stay at home mom. 25 was scary. I was married, had a child, didn’t finish my degree I kind of felt like I was turning 25 (supposed to be an adult at this age or something) and hadn’t accomplished anything. This year I am so excited for my birthday!!! Last year I started my own business and I’ve realized that yup at 25 I’m still allowed to be a child at heart so bring it on! And because it’s my birthday next week, I’m gonna run a special for you!

Starting on my birthday, Thursday, June 23rd, and ending on Sunday, June 26th all of my prices are 25% off! Ya, even wedding packages. So book whatever kind of session or event you want during those 4 days (book, not take place) and you get 25% off.

Portrait sessions will start at $135!
Senior sessions will start at $150!
Wedding Collections will start at $1312.50!

I may have lost my mind. Not sure. Don’t care. It’s MY birthday and I can do what I want. Right?!

Next week I’ll be back on track with blogging Including our California trip

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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Posted in Engagement, Personal, Portrait, Weddings | No Comments »

Julie + Dave – Hamilton Engagement

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Wow, I must have checked out on vacation a week early! It was never my intention to step away from the blog this entire time, it just happened. So now, it’s time to catch up!! May was a busy month with holidays, family graduations, vacation, I managed to find a little time one Saturday to drive down to Hamilton and meet up with Julie & Dave. They are my first wedding this summer and I can’t wait for the next few weeks to fly by so I can photograph their wedding. I met them at their venue to check it out and spend a few minutes taking some engagement photos of them. The venue is the incredible home hidden on the side of a mountain. I’m so excited about it!!! The property is huge so of the 26 minutes we wandered around a part of it we probably only really spent 10 minutes taking photos. Can’t wait to go back up there with them! Til then. Enjoy a few of the photos from that afternoon

And I just LOVE her custom ring. LOVE IT! So unique.

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Posted in Engagement, Portrait | No Comments »

Spring Special!

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Oh yes, Spring is definitely here. So let’s have some fun with it Book your session by May 8th and receive the Spring Special Session DOES NOT have to take place by May 8th, just booked to receive this great deal!

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