I'm going to post some of my favorites from the senior sessions I have had the privilege of shooting this year. Some of these kiddos I haven't had the pleasure of having in class but I know they are incredible. 

KATELYN - CARROLLTON HIGH SCHOOL

SPENCER - MARQUETTE HIGH SCHOOL

 Now the following seniors from here on I have had the pleasure of having in class.

MADISON - JERSEY COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

Madi is a kind soul. She has a great outlook on life. I had Madi for my AP Environmental Science class. 

EMILY - JERSEY COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

I've had Emily for the past year in my Human Biology course. At first, you would think she is very quiet and reserved. But once you get to know this young lady, you can see the spirited young woman she is. She's so respectful and loves her puppers. That makes up kindred spirits! :)

STEPHANIE - JERSEY COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

Stephanie is one of the happiest people I have ever met in my entire life. She always wears a smile. She can giggle at the drop of a hat. I've had Stephanie for the past two years in Chemistry and now in Human Biology. I just love her to pieces. 

ZEKE - JERSEY COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

There is one word that comes to mind when describing this young man. Integrity. Zeke is mature beyond his years. He is a stand up young man. I have seen this in class where I had him in my AP Environmental Science class and throughout his wrestling career. Zeke did me a huge favor with this session. I approached him after he took 2nd place in the state wrestling championship about doing a session and he emphatically agreed. 

CLAIRE - CALHOUN HIGH SCHOOL

Claire is a beautiful soul. I have known Claire since she was a little girl but only had the opportunity to have her for 1 year in my Chemistry class. She has so much promise in her future. 

Thank you for sticking with me to this point. I love my seniors. I know they all have bright futures and are strong enough to get through this. Here's to you class of 2020!

These last few were taken by my second shooter Stephanie but I didn't want to deny you these!

Let me tell you about this cow. She was the only cow on the farm that my family ever successfully bottle raised when her mother died during birth. She became a bit of a pet to say the least. She and my grandfather had a special bond. Now for those who know me, you know I lost my grandfather St. Patrick's day of 2018. So we're nearing the two year anniversary. (In these images below, she is still a baby. This was maybe 15 years ago.) He'd put his arm around her and lead her around like a puppy dog. 

My husband and I have always had a special place in our hearts for this cow. This past summer, I really wanted some new artwork for my walls. What better artwork than my Daisy cow. So in the dead heat of the day, mind you it was July, we set off for the pasture to find her. She was always like a big puppy and would come without fail for a bucket of corn. (This image is from the same set as the very first in this post).

Armed with our bucket of golden deliciousness, we located her in a cool shady patch on top of the hillside. Perfect, I wanted an empty background. On top of the ridge is a clearing where I could get open sky. Kev used the corn as a decoy to finagle her into position. After an intense amount of time and having sweat through my clothes, I got the shot! I am so in love with it. It adorns my fireplace as a very large piece. It is even more dear to me today than when I took it originally because Daisy is no longer with us. She left this world to be with my grandfather this winter. Little did my husband and I know, this would be the last time we saw Daisy. This is the very last image I ever took of her. I am so thankful we did this. Seeing her was like visiting with my grandfather and an old friend at the same time. She led a good cow life (if you can imagine what a good cow life would be like) and remained on the farm she was born on throughout her entire life. She never left for slaughter. 

I love the simplicity of this image. Just a nice clean shot of our dear friend. (All artwork is available for print sale or digital download. If interested, message me). I hope you enjoyed getting to meet this very special creature and enjoyed the art side of it!

Photography for me was always something that was a creative escape without boundaries then I started to feel constrained and like nothing I did was good enough. At least in my own opinion. If you know me at all, you will know how something like that will eat at me as a person and make me question more than just whether or not the color balance is off in an image. I also had a few other life changes that didn't help matters.

I am a very insecure and highly sensitive soul. This has been something that has been part of my journey that I've been working on. Trying to accept that I am enough, that I do have good to offer. Seeing a client that I value utilize another photographer without any acknowledgement to me would genuinely hurt me and make me question what did I do wrong. Were my photos not good enough? To escape the hurt, I shut myself away. I do realize I am being overly sensitive and ridiculous. Everyone has rights to go where they want and use who they want and it's not always something personal against me. That sentence right there has taken me a long to accept. 

I would always take these sorts of things personal, and not just in photography. It could have been anything really, the way someone said something to me, looked at me... My closest friends whom I'd confide in would always support me and talk me off the ledge but that incessant gnawing feeling was always present. But photography was something I could control and keep from getting hurt doing. So what did I do, I disappeared. I put my wall back up. That was one wall I was capable of building. I still have to go to my career job everyday but I didn't have to subject myself to other aspects of the pain. (I do realize that sentence was no grammatically correct...I teach science lol). 

This post is a huge step for me because one thing I don't like is opening myself up. I don't like to promote myself in any form and I most certainly don't like to be candid about the insecurities I face daily. The insecurities most people may think are silly. But I have come to realize that in building my wall and shutting myself away, I am only hurting myself in the end. I am choosing to shut myself away from something I do truly enjoy and love doing. In my journey to discover who I am and what makes me happy, I have come to realize that I need to be selective in the sessions I agree to. That I need to pursue aspects of photography that continue to push me as an artist because that makes me grow and learn.  I am an educator, learning is what I do. I need that in my life. I also need to share my gift. It's selfish not to. 

So please don't hold it against me. Any of it. Anything I've said in this post or being away for so long. I'm just trying to simply explain something very personal about me that often gets misinterpreted. I'm trying to explain why it was better for me to shut myself away for a while. I don't regret it. It was a much needed recharge time. Like I said, I'm still a work in progress. I struggle daily with anxiety, insecurity, not feeling good enough, and negative self talk. But...like I said, it's getting better. If you're still with me at this point through this long post, thank you. I'm looking forward to coming back strong in 2020!

So let me tell you about this wedding. There's so much to say so I appreciate your bearing with me. Firstly, let's talk about this beautiful young woman. I have known her since she was 8 years old. I can't believe she is old enough to be married now. It really makes me feel old and puts things into perspective. I was beyond ecstatic when she asked me to photograph her most special day. She is beautiful, intelligent, and driven. It was an honor to be held in high enough regard to be trusted with this delicate task. If you don't think being responsible for someone's wedding, something they've dreamed about since birth is a delicate task, then I don't even know what to say to that. Anyway, I digress. When she approached me, it was without any hesitation that I agreed. 

She and Tyler had met in college and had originally planned on a June wedding. Mother nature had intended otherwise. Which brings me to my second point. Jessica and I both grew up in the same community. It is a peninsula in Illinois (weird, I know). So when mother nature decides to bring about a cataclysmic flood, there's only one way in and out by car. Otherwise, you got it baby, you're boating..... Not ideal conditions for a wedding, especially when half of your wedding guests are not accustomed to such a life style. Jess and I are all too well familiar, no big deal for us. But for those outside the community, we're talking a good 2 hour commute just to get to the church, if that was even possible. This was the mother of all floods. Our little community hadn't seen the likes since 1993. We get the usual seasonal flooding, but nothing of this magnitude regularly. 

So Jessica and Tyler had some deciding and contemplating to do. With heavy hearts and utter disappointment, they elected to postpone their wedding in the best interest of their guests and everyone's safety. That brought about a whole 'nother set of issues. Now they needed to reschedule everything and make sure their wedding party, vendors, and family could all coordinate on another day. The odds of that happening on that short of notice are not good to say the least. Needless to say, this truly was a match made in Heaven because it somehow all worked out and they were able to settle on a date in August. 

Fast forward two months, the wedding of Jessica's dream went off without a hitch. The weather cooperated, the flooding receded, and everything was perfect. Even for August, the weather was a dream. So here we are in February and as I am dreaming of those balmy Summer days, I wanted to share some of her day with you! Enjoy!

This was shot a month or so ago. I've been absent for a while trying to recoop and reinvigorate. I needed to step away for a bit and just breathe. I am back and trying to forge a new path for myself. I would like to add some commercial and creative work to repertoire of offerings. This fellow was kind enough to allow me some time to try some new techniques. You may remember him from an engagement shoot I did a few years back. I couldn't help myself. When I was thinking of things that I wanted to do, this was one of the first that popped into my mind. I've loved the vibe of this establishment since I shot his engagement photos there and I knew he would be a trooper for another round! I wanted to share this work with you.

CLINICA Testimonial Stills_ Norma Quinones - by Jay Weise-43 PB020060 _DW13785 1541

SGE_8635 www.nattakan.com 2016 VET D10-12-9940

C-SH-10835

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2016-08-02 Lauren and Josh Wedding0258Shy Photography 1 IMG_1872 16CS-1567

If you aren't familiar with Jeffrey City, I highly recommend doing a little research on it. But here's the main idea, Jeffrey City was a uranium mining boom town. When the uranium mines were closed up and uranium was imported from other countries, towns like Jeff City dried up. They literally died almost overnight. When Jeff City was in it's hay day, people were flocking to the city for work. To prepare for this, the city worked on building up it's infrastructure to accommodate the influx of people. They built roads for planned subdivisions, ran underground water and sewer, built a new community center, etc. The sad part was, much of this was never realized. The subdivisions were never built. The closure of the mines left the town destitute. Over a 5 year span, the city went from several thousand people to a handful. The entire school took place in one classroom. After the people had left, many of the homes that were in good shape were lifted from their foundations and relocated to other cities. Now when you drive on the streets of Jeff City, there is grass growing up the middle of the road, there are foundations lain barren where a home once sat. There are light poles and chain linked fences surrounding yards where families once played and are no longer even occupied by a physical house. It's quite eerie really.

This is an old gas station for sale in Jeff City. I'm sure for cheap!

This is a street where there used to be houses. If you look in the bottom corner, you can see grass growing up through the streets.

While I understand that these next two images are not a work of technical artistry, I did want to impose upon you the image of the standing foundations and the chain linked fences and light poles surrounding yards where homes once occupied. 

My husband's uncle, aunt, and their two children had their start in Wyoming in this city and watched it fall from grace. While there, his uncle purchased a plot on one of the roads built for a planned subdivision. He called it his ranch. His uncle was a collector of anything and everything and as a photographer, this was a dream for me. I got an opportunity to take some killer HDRs (high dynamic range) photos. A storm was rolling through so I had an incredibly awesome moody sky that added to the mystique of it. 

Down the street from "the ranch" was another plot purchased by an individual. This gentleman's story is a grim one. I don't feel it's my place to share that but just know that his property is now abandoned.

We also ventured through Yellowstone and down in the Jackson Hole. Here are some images of the Grand Teton Mountains and a view from Jackson Lake Lodge. It was absolutely breathtaking. I think a part of me is still there. One evening, we sat out at the bar at Jackson Lake Lodge and watched the sun set on the Grand Tetons. There was a one man band playing and the drinks were tasting good, it was like Heaven. 

My husband is a huge gun enthusiast. He was given a gift from his Aunt. It's a black powder gun put together by his uncle. While there, a neighbor of her's, Frank, took Keven to teach him how to operate and shoot this gun. He was in his happy place. Frank is unique individual. He is an artist in his own right capable of producing beautiful knives and restoring guns. He was a very interesting man to spend the day with and I know you could learn a ton from him. These images are not HDRs but they capture the essence of the day in a beautiful way. 

There are many many photos I took while out in Wyoming. A ton more from Jeffrey City, but I wanted to share my experience and HDRs with you and my most favorite HDRs at that. So to wrap things up, here are two of my favorites taken throughout Wyoming. It truly is a beautiful place. 

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Green53Tennis Action After we finished up at the ballpark, we headed to another location to get some more rocking images!

JASON TEY PHOTOGRAPHY - www.jasontey.com