Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I actually want my work to feel like.
Not what I should be posting more of. Not how many sessions I can squeeze onto my calendar. Not how much content I can turn one shoot into. Just… what do I actually want to make? Photography started as an emotional outlet for me long before it became the thing that pays my bills. And naturally, when something becomes your job, your relationship with it changes. There are timelines and shot lists and emails and galleries to deliver. There’s social media and marketing and the constant feeling that you should be creating more.
More sessions. More content. More photographs. More everything.
I want deeper.
And this engagement session in downtown Atlanta with Kathryn and Jacob reminded me exactly what that can look like.
Four Hours Wandering Around Atlanta
There wasn’t a huge rush to get from one photograph to the next. We spent about four hours together, walking around downtown Atlanta, talking, exploring, stopping when something caught my eye and letting the city become part of their photographs instead of treating it like a backdrop we needed to conquer. And that’s becoming increasingly important to me. I don’t want an engagement session to feel like we’re racing through a Pinterest board. I don’t want every second to be, Okay, now stand here. Now look at me. Now kiss. Next location. Of course I’ll direct you. I’m an editorial photographer at heart, and I love creating an intentional frame. I’ll move a hand, change an angle, chase better light or completely rearrange something when I know there’s a photograph hiding there. But I also want enough room for things to happen without me manufacturing them.
The weird little in-between moments.
The imperfect frame.
Movement.
Blur.
The photograph where you’re looking somewhere completely different than I expected, but somehow it feels more like you than the photograph I originally had in my head. That’s the good stuff.
Editorial Doesn’t Have to Mean Perfect
I think sometimes people hear editorial photography and imagine something incredibly polished and posed. And I love that world. But I’m realizing more and more that my favorite photographs live somewhere between editorial and documentary. I want to intentionally create something beautiful without controlling every single thing that happens inside of it. That’s where film has changed the way I photograph, too. Shooting 35mm forces me to pay attention differently. There are only so many frames on a roll. I can’t fire off hundreds of photographs hoping one works.
I have to notice.
Wait.
And then commit.
There’s something incredibly freeing about that.
I’ve started bringing more of that mentality into the way I shoot digitally, too. Instead of asking myself how many photographs I can make, I’m much more interested in asking:
What is actually worth remembering here?
Engagement Photos That Feel Like an Experience
Kathryn and Jacob’s session felt less like a traditional engagement shoot and more like spending an afternoon together in Atlanta with cameras involved. That’s what I want more of. Sessions where we have time. Time to walk somewhere we didn’t originally plan. Time to change our minds. Time to grab a drink or wander into somewhere interesting. Time to shoot digital and 35mm. Time to make something a little strange just because we want to see if it works. And most importantly, enough time for you to stop thinking quite so much about the fact that you’re having your picture taken. Because somewhere in there, the session becomes part of the memory too. Years from now, I don’t only want you to remember what your engagement photographs looked like.
I want you to remember what that day felt like.
Maybe Growth Doesn’t Always Mean More
That’s probably the biggest thing this Atlanta engagement session brought home with me. I’ve spent years thinking that growing a photography business meant doing more. And maybe sometimes it does. But I’m starting to think growth can also look like becoming more intentional about what I say yes to. Making fewer things simply for the sake of making them. Giving myself room to experiment. Shooting more film. Creating photographs that aren’t technically perfect but make me feel something. Letting sessions breathe. And caring deeply about the work I’m putting into the world. I’m still figuring out exactly where all of this leads Highland Film + Photo, and I actually think that’s part of the fun. But I know I want more days like this one. Slow. Intentional. A little imperfect. Photographs that don’t just show you what something looked like.
Photographs that remind you how it felt.
Planning an engagement session in Atlanta, Mobile, along the Gulf Coast, or somewhere completely different? I’m based in Mobile, Alabama and travel for weddings, elopements and couples who want their photographs to feel less like a checklist and more like an experience.
My engagement sessions begin at $500 and include both digital and 35mm film photography. Super 8 can also be added beginning at $600 for a two-minute highlight film.
Come with an idea, a place you love, or absolutely no idea at all.
We’ll make something that feels like you.
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