Best of 2021

Personal

I can’t believe I’m finally making this post! I’ve been following so many talented photographers for years and their year-end recap blog posts have always been my favorite. So it’s surreal that I get to make my own this year!

2021 was a huge year in my photography journey. While I’ve been dabbling with a camera for a few years, I’ve only ever shot landscapes and my pets. This year, I gathered the courage to shoot my first ever portrait session, which you can view here! The golden light from this session is still one of my favorites!

That first session confirmed my love of photography – I fell in love being behind the camera and knew that this is what I was meant to do. There is something so special about being able to freeze tangible moments that can be viewed for years to come. After that first session, I continued to shoot lots of sessions and even shot my first ever wedding.

To all of my clients, thank you so much for letting me capture these memories for you and for believing in me in this first year of my professional photography journey. I am so grateful to each and every one of you. I have loved every session and I can’t wait to capture more memories in 2022

Gelino Extended Family Session

Families

I had so much fun seeing this family again! I shot Amanda and Hector (John’s) wedding earlier this year so this session involved lots of familiar faces. I had so much fun talking about all of their life updates since the wedding, like Amanda and John moving into their new house! And of course, how big their toddler has gotten since I last saw them. They are just such a sweet family!

With extended family sessions, I love all the variety we’re able to create. I loved all their outfits and I think the photos turned out beautifully! Enjoy scrolling!

This little cutie stole the show with his mini-leaf session! His happiness was so contagious!

The park was decorated for Christmas, which was so fun! So we ended with some Christmas-themed photos!

Amanda and Hector | Downtown Houston Courthouse Wedding

Weddings

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on more micro/intimate weddings and I think they are so sweet. I had the chance to photograph Amanda and Hector’s downtown Houston wedding at the local courthouse. They had their parents and their son at their ceremony, followed by an intimate dinner with close family. I was so honored to a part of their special day.

Daniel’s 1st Grade Pictures | Bluebonnet Session

Families

This mini-session was super special for a few reasons.

First of all, this session involved our sweet neighbors that we met back in 2019.

In 2019, we graduated college and planned to move back to Houston since my husband had a job lined up and I had an internship. Since we were in Colorado and finishing up school, we didn’t have time to fly back to Houston to find a place to live. We knew we wanted to rent a house, which made things even more difficult. With one month before we were supposed to move (talk about cutting it close), we finally found a decent house online and decided to live there without ever seeing it in person!

We got SUPER lucky and when we moved in, we met Melissa and her son Daniel. Soon after, we also met Melissa’s fiancé, now husband, DJ. They were the nicest family and we loved having them as neighbors. Melissa and I bonded over our mutual love of cats. I mean don’t get us wrong, we are both animal lovers in general but there tend to be more dog lovers in the world than cat lovers.

We were so sad when we we moved away from them in 2020 but thankfully, we didn’t move far so we still get to see them from time to time. So recently, Melissa reached out to me because her son’s school wasn’t doing school pictures. When she contacted me, it just so happened to be bluebonnet season! We both agreed it would be fun to do!

So for the second reason, this session was special because it was my first ever bluebonnet session! I feel like a true Texas photographer now that I’ve done one. I definitely want to do more in the future so I can’t wait for next year!

Have fun scrolling through this session! We got the typical looking at the camera photos BUT we also got some fun ones where Daniel’s cute personality shined through.

Morgan and Dalton | Lake Inspired Couple Session

Couples

I met Morgan 15 years ago. Wow. I didn’t know quite how many years it had been until I sat down to write this blog post.

But yes, Morgan and I met 15 years ago way back in 2006. We were just tiny little 6th graders and had both picked band as our fine arts elective. We even picked the same instrument, so we got to know each other more and more. We didn’t pick your normal choices – like the flute or saxophone. No, we both picked the oboe lol. Y’all, I don’t think most of my college friends even know this about me because I’m personally so embarrassed to admit this!

We graduated together and then headed our separate ways to college in 2013. We lost touch through the years as we were both working on school and our careers. Fast forward 8 years later and I was so excited to reunite with Morgan during this shoot. Now we’re both married and have our own houses, which boggles my mind to think about. Like we’re both full blown #adulting. Fun fact, Morgan and Dalton got married within two weeks of Patrick and me, which I think is so fun!

These 2 are such a powerhouse couple. Dalton is a mechanical engineer (Patrick and I always love getting to meet fellow engineers!) and Morgan is a nurse. She’s been working directly with COVID patients all throughout the pandemic. So thank you, Morgan, for being on the frontlines fighting this pandemic!

Not only are these two super smart, they’re also the sweetest humans. They were so easy to talk to because they’re such down to earth people. We spent A LOT of the session just talking about life in between shooting and walking between locations. It was so nice to just talk and connect, something that we appreciate so much more after experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Morgan and Dalton, y’all have the most beautiful hearts and I was so honored to capture these memories for the two of you. I seriously had SO many favorites from your session!

Also, if this location looks familiar to you, you’d be right! Kristin and Derek’s session was here just the week before. Check out their session here!

Kristin and Derek | Memorial Park Couple Session

Couples

The day before this session, there was a 50% chance of rain so we ALMOST cancelled the whole shoot. But on the day of, there wasn’t a single drop of rain in sight – the 50% chance of rain went to 0! So we headed to Memorial Park Eastern Glades for the session and the weather ended up being beautiful. Spring in Houston is so nice (at least when it’s not raining haha)! It’s warm but not crazy hot yet like in the summer.

I’m so glad we got to do this shoot because Kristin and Derek are the sweetest couple. Seriously, they’re the nicest, most down to earth humans and you can tell just how much they care about each other. They were so fun – every time I had them look at each other, it always ended up in lots of giggles and laughter!

I can’t wait for you to see this session! Keep scrolling down below.

LOVED this black and white!

Favorite!!!! Like how cute are they?!?

Whitney’s Galveston Beach Session

Seniors

I LOVE the beach so I was excited to shoot Whitney at Galveston Island. Since Galveston is only about an hour south of Houston, it’s a great place to get a different vibe for your photos without traveling far.

It was pretty chilly on this February day but Whitney still rocked it! Who said you can only take beach photos in the summer? Taking photos during the off season has the advantage of being less crowded. The parking lot was empty and we had our whole section of the beach to ourselves!

Due to scheduling, we shot this session pretty close to high noon. From a photography standpoint, this can be challenging. Generally, I only like to shoot during golden hour (the hour right after sunrise or the hour right before sunset) because this is when lighting is best. It’s soft, glowy, and all around dreamy. When the sun is higher in the sky, the lighting can be really harsh, bright, and cast unflattering shadows. But despite all of these challenges, we made it work and got some GORGEOUS images.

I had SO many favorites from this session! Hope you enjoy!

How freakin’ STUNNING!!!!

This outfit, her smile! GAH!!! So pretty!

My First Blog Post | Golden Hour Session

Seniors

Hi, friend! Welcome to my first ever blog post! Yay – cue the confetti!!! I’m so excited that you’re here. For my first post, I wanted to share this GORGEOUS portrait session shot at golden hour. We headed to a park just west of Houston and the lighting was absolutely STUNNING!!!

I had so much fun on this shoot with April! Can you believe we shot this in January??? The awesome thing about living in Houston is that you can shoot year round. It was even warm enough for her to wear skirts and dresses!

I hope you enjoy scrolling through and seeing some of my favorites!