Downtown Rogers and Secret Barn Engagement

When it comes to awkwardness and being natural in front of the camera, we like to take a very "hands off" approach. In other words, we try not to pose our couples and families unless needed.  We tell our clients to be themselves in front of the camera. Too much directing causes them to be very posed and our style is more non-traditional. Of course, this will feel a little awkward at first, but eventually you will get used to the flow of things. This is exactly what we told Chadia and Tom for their engagement shoot in Downtown Rogers and Bella Vista, AR. I could tell Chadia felt this way because she would tell me, "I don't know what to do" a few times during their session. But when it came down to the end result, she didn't have a thing to worry about because they both looked natural and great the entire time. They loved them all and couldn't even chose a favorite. I ordered a custom guest book for them for their wedding and I can't wait to see the images printed in a book. It was very windy that day, and two of my heart balloons got away and floated into the sky. Here are a few samples from the shoot:

An Introduction...

Here we go, my first blog post. Ever. Photography + Me will be a big part of my life from now on. The honest truth for everyone to read is that I have never written a blog before. I am also not much of a writer. Futhermore, I don't read other people's blogs at all so I am not exactly sure where to begin. I do want to start blogging about my photoshoots however because they are just too much fun to keep it all to myself and my husband. I usually want my photographs to speak for themselves, however I believe they deserve captions from now on. Another goal I want to achieve for my blog is not just to blog about my photos. I want to help brides plan their weddings with the wisdom I have gained from the industry and from planning my own wedding 3 years ago. I'm very excited to say that I will be writing mini-articles on how to turn Cheap into Chic!

Here is a little info about me. I live in Springdale, Arkansas with my hubby, Joel Martin. He is my second photographer and comes on practically all my shoots with me. We both have digital media degrees as well as a photography degree for me. For the record, we are very thankful that we were able to actually use our degrees in real life, because how many people do that anyway? 

As you can tell from meeting my husband and I, we are laid back artsy hippies. And we have a ferocious yet lovable cat named Max. We don't have a lot of other distractions or children to prevent us from shooting destination weddings and we love to travel. And when we travel, we like the hole-in-the-wall places. I highly recommend them to any honeymooners reading this. I think for now that is everything on my mind at the moment this late, and please share our blogs to your friends as we are just starting out.  We will be offering specials only available on our blog for Angela J Martin Photography.  Check back later for photos and updates both Joel and I will be blogging about!