Hello!
I want to thank you for continuing to stick with me as this blog develops. In all honesty, this took a little longer to get out than I would have liked. It’s okay though; part of taking on this responsibility is allowing myself to go at my own pace. I’m still finding my blog legs, if that’s a thing. It’s probably not. You may know me well or not at all, so I wanted to take just a little bit of time to overshare.
I’m Whitney, which may come as a shock to you unless you read my name at the top of this page. I am quite small, but I am capable of large noises and feats. I also have a dog who is quite small. Her name is Lou, she is the Mayor of Poopytown, and she is often dressed as a dinosaur. She is a solid cuddle buddy, but she makes for a terrible assistant. I don’t enjoy telling her this.
Lou, as a dinosaur, gazing out of a window.
Action: Lou attacking a piece of chard.
When I’m not bowing to Lou’s every command or eating something, I’m creating, with (hopefully) the most obvious of those creations being photographs. I’ve considered myself a photography enthusiast ever since the days I squawked “let me see” repeatedly as my father pointed any camera at me. Or I was eating. Either way, we can imagine that it took me a lot longer to get used to being in front of the camera with my mouth closed than it did for me to just take the pictures.
My first point-and-shoot broke so badly that I had to manually pull the lens out myself; the digital screen was broken, so I wasn’t even able to see what I was shooting. Bonus: the camera was stuck in black and white mode, which left all of my photographs looking very abstract and artistic. This accidental hands-on relationship with my camera made me want to pursue an actual manual photography experience. I graduated from VCU with my BFA in Photography, which gave me a delightfully complicated relationship with being a professional in the field (more on that in an upcoming post). I have since held various exciting jobs relating to photography or eating. Old habits die hard.
One of my favorite endeavors to emerge from a life of collecting and making photographs has been the opportunity to make beautiful images of others’ most special milestones. I think that being exposed (ha) to literal numbered albums of family photos and family history primed me to find every moment extraordinary. When woven with a fine art education and a quirky sense of humor, you end up with a beautifully composed image of someone ripping their pants. That’s only slightly hyperbolic; I find accidents and outtakes to be some of the most intriguing photographs. They feel the most like home to me. After the decorations and the formalwear are gone, the person you pledged your life to remains in all of their unkempt, idiosyncratic glory. That is what I love catching glimpses of, even during the most formal celebrations.
When I’m not nurturing this little wedding photography business, I’m working full time as a product photographer, pursuing other creative endeavors like embroidery and illustration, snuggling with the littlest dinosaur, or eating dollar tacos. Or eating anything, really.
Thanks again for taking some virtual time with me. If you’d like to see some of the photographs I enjoy taking of my clients, you can pop over to my wedding gallery, or stay tuned for more in-depth overviews of some of my weddings and sessions from 2018. Is there anything else you’d like to know about me? Leave a comment below or shoot me an email. I’m always happy to talk.
-WMC