Want to know if I’m the photographer for you? In addition to the boring stuff like prices and packages and availability, it’s important to know who you’re having take those pictures.  Here we go.

I’ve always been an artsy person. I’ve drawn and or painted, sometimes on stuff I shouldn’t have, for as long as I can remember. I recall Day One of kindergarten. I was scared half outta my wits. I cried when my mom dropped me off. This was some heavy stuff for a not-quite-five year old. Kids, lots of strange kids. But guess what? We finger painted. Next thing you know I was all zen, and naptime hit on my brand new mat and I realized it was going to all be ok.

Such has been the rest of my life. Uptight? Bust out the oils. Brain fried? Go take pictures of something. So, photography is my ‘happy place’. I read about other photographers getting stressed about shoots and editing and whether they nailed a wedding or not, and maybe I’m just weird? I don’t get those feelings. (well, when I’ve got a boatload of shoots to edit and want to make all my clients happy and have them edited ASAP, I will admit to getting a bit wound.) I could go on and on and wax poetic about how satisfying it is to shoot – it is. It’s beyond satisfying. The entire world is a canvas waiting to be composed instantaneously. And it’s up to me to find that fraction of a second, where everything is perfect, where everything is right where it should be in the frame – before it’s gone. I’ve taken classes. I have an art degree. I know the technical stuff like the back of my hand. That’s all a given (and if it’s not, you shouldn’t be shooting for income!) – but the ability to see and capture in the literal blink of an eye before that perfect shot is gone – that is something that can’t be taught. You either have it (and continue to develop it), or you don’t. THAT is the true challenge of photography, from an artistic standpoint.

What else? Well, in addition to my love of photography, I ride horses, dressage specifically which is one of those obscure Olympic sports that no one watches. But I love it. I’ve ridden nearly all my life – from my first horse show in 1984 (I got a first place in the costume class – I made my white horse a unicorn, which he was SO thrilled about when he had to wear the horn thing I fashioned and affixed to his bridle straps to hold it in place, and I wore a robin-egg blue dress with lace that I thought made me look like a princess, but in reality it was the candle-lighter dress I wore in my cousin’s wedding earlier that year. In a western saddle. I don’t think princesses ride unicorns in western saddles, and I almost fell off when the announcer asked us to canter and I thought it was a walk trot class only – I was just learning how to canter – but darn it, we won!) to the thrill of winning national awards as a teen and young adult and training my own horse up to the upper levels of dressage, it’s a hobby that I’ve threatened to quit many a time but just can’t. I also fly. I always wanted to be a pilot and wanted to be an airline pilot when I was in high school but a) girls didn’t do that and b) I’d have to give up the horses and go off to school. I finally said it’s now or never when I hit my late 20s, and saved up the money and started taking lessons. I’d never been so excited in my entire life. Until, that is, the day my instructor stepped out of the airplane and sent me off to fly the plane around the airport traffic pattern. By myself. I thought of hundreds of excuses but I had none. I’d done all the required stuff. He’d endorsed my medical and my logbook. And I had just ticked off four landings with him in the airplane that were darn near perfect. So, I taxied off by myself. Yeah, there were some expletives uttered. Luckily, my mic was not stuck (I don’t think?). The moment the airplane broke ground and I realized that I was the only person that was going to put it back on the ground was one of the most terrifying yet amazing moments of my life. Three landings later (all great), I was really, truly, a pilot. Several ratings and a number of years later, I now teach people how to fly. The only thing more terrifying than your first solo is sending your students out for their first solos. Actually, I kid. It’s the only thing more SATISFYING than soloing yourself. It’s amazing.

My husband and I (yeah, I haven’t mentioned my amazing husband Jim yet!) co-own a 1947 Cessna 120. It’s our pride and joy. We love to go to fly-ins and show it off, and the only thing more relaxing to me than photography is setting out in it at sunset for a few landings and to just fly along, low and slow over the ground, and take in the sights as the sun casts long golden shadows across the hills and trees of Missouri. Seriously, it’s magical.

Now on to Jim. He has helped me SO MUCH with this business and he’s my go-to guy when I have questions or need advice and I need that a LOT. He also assists me at weddings and occasionally at horse shows and really, has a pretty darn good eye! During the formals at your wedding, there is a good chance he’ll be there directing traffic, making it go quickly and smoothy and undoubtedly cracking one of his really dorky jokes that makes everyone laugh. We share a certain level of dorkiness, in fact, that and silliness that makes us two peas in a pod. We’re just plain different but we’d have it no other way.

Besides all of the aforementioned, I enjoy geeking out on weather (I mean REALLY geeking out, seriously, when does the next season of Storm Chasers come on?), being outdoors in any capacity, spending time with family, a good dinner (Piropos, anyone?), a good beverage, reading (preferably, by poolside), working out within reason (you marathon peeps are NUTS), cooking, and just about everything else your average person enjoys doing.

I hope to meet and learn all about YOU soon!! 

Sarah