Michele Whitacre Photography

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Amanda's Sneak Peek {Maternity Session}

I seriously cannot believe that it has been so long since I've posted! When I announced that I was closing my photography business, I never meant to completely disappear. I fully intended to continue on with my monthly self-portrait series, and I figured I would still be doing a session every once in a while. At a bare minimum I figured I'd be sharing occasional photos of my fur babies. However life just took a turn into insanity the past few years and the truth is that I haven't even touched my camera since the last session I photographed. When Amanda contacted me about doing her maternity photos, I wasn't sure if I'd even remember how to turn the thing on. Luckily, it all came back to me like not a day had passed, and the result is some pretty amazing photos, if I do say so myself!

Amanda is an absolute dream to photograph! She has enough experience with posing for photos that she requires almost no direction, and she's been in front of my cameras multiple times, so she's used to my crazy ways behind the camera. The result was absolute perfection...

I adore this image! I'm not sure I could narrow it down to just one favorite, but this one is definitely at the top of the faves list...

I absolutely adore the image on the right of this next set! Amanda and I were talking and laughing about something, (I can't remember what) and I was snapping images along the way. She looks so happy and carefree in the photo, just seeing her smile makes me smile...

I was showing some of Amanda's images to my co-workers earlier and one of them commented that she looks so peaceful and serene in her photos, and I couldn't agree more! Especially in these next few...

Eeeeek! Baby. Shoes. I'm dying of cuteness over here...

This one ranks high on the favorites list, too! Is she not absolutely radiant?...

Doesn't she have the most gorgeous smile you've ever seen?

Amanda's entire session looks stunning in black and white, and I easily could have posted the entire thing without sharing a single color image. I know not everyone loves black and white like I do, and I wanted to give Amanda a variety of images in her sneak peek. However, this next series of photos is so stunning there was no way I could resist sharing them all in black and white...

This one is another favorite!...

Simply beautiful!...

I love this one! She looks like a goddess...

I was having a ton of fun playing with the light coming through Amanda's dress in these next few images. I think poor Amanda probably stood there without moving for a good 15 minutes while I amused myself playing with the lighting and sun flare.

Can you believe she's in Arizona? I was so excited when Amanda picked one of my all time favorite locations for her session!...

Amanda's dress could not be more perfect. The color of it is amazing against the trees and background greenery...

Another stunning image...

These photographs are of special people in Amanda and Gentry's (her husband) lives and she wanted photos taken with them. I love it when people bring things like this to personalize their photo sessions...

Another favorite...

Even though I hadn't touched my camera in forever prior to Amanda's session, I've still been shooting for quite a while and it really is second nature to me. I can often look at my surroundings and see a final edited image before I've ever even lifted the viewfinder to my eye. Those individuals who have ever been in front of my camera know that this can sometimes turn a session into a wild ride, as I veer off the beaten path towards something that catches my eye. While this next image didn't take us too far off the path, it was one of those times where I saw exactly how this was going to look as a final image before I even started shooting it. And it did not disappoint!...

This image, on the other hand, had both Amanda and I climbing in a tree to capture it. Well worth it, wouldn't you say?

Amanda, as always you were an absolute joy to photograph. I am so glad that you reached out to me to take these images for you. It was wonderful to see you again and to catch up during our little photo adventure. Congrats to you and Gentry on the new addition to your family. It's been an honor and a pleasure being included in your journey!

P.S. If Amanda looks familiar to you, it's because you've seen her before:
Trash the Dress
With the Ducati
Engagement
And as one of the Zombies in this Trash the Dress

I told you she's had a lot experience in front of the camera. I wasn't kidding!

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona. Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, May 25, 2015

Self-Portrait | May 2015

I usually don't title my self-portraits (basically because I'm just not that creative!), but if I were to title this one my title would be "Saying Goodbye".

You know how every woman has that one thing that they despise about themselves? That thing that they would choose to change about themselves if given the chance? For me that thing is my hair. Hands down my worst feature ever! I've lamented about my hair in a self-portrait a few years ago, and I'm right back in the same place: completely sick of it and trying to decide what to do with it.

For the vast majority of my adult life I have kept my hair length somewhere between my chin and my shoulders, and kept my hair color blonde. I've always liked it like that, but I've ventured away from my usual here and there just to spice things up when I get bored. But I always end up going back to the same familiar style that just feels like 'me'.

A few years ago, I decided that I needed to grow my hair out. Don't ask me why. Every. single. time. I allow my hair to get long I realize just how much I hate it and end up cutting it back off again. In my head I envision long, thick gorgeous waves. Instead I get a thin, stringy mop. I probably should have cut my hair shorter a long time ago, but life got busy and stressful and finances were tight and I kept it long because it was easy and inexpensive. I also can't seem to find a hairstylist here who can get my hair the blonde color that I like, so I gave up and started coloring it myself close to my natural color for the same reasons.

I've decided that I just can't stand it any longer and I've made an appointment with a new hairstylist to get it cut. I'm hoping that in addition to a new hairstyle, the haircut will help me start feeling like me again, which is something I've really been struggling to do since moving to Arizona. While I'm sure I'll still have a long way to go, I'm hoping that cutting my hair back into a more familiar style will be a good start towards regaining what has been missing from my world lately.

So for this month's self-portrait, I decided to take one last photo with my long hair before I cut it off soon. Hopefully it will serve as a memory of why I should never. never. never. grow it out past my shoulders again! If you know me IRL and I mention that I'm considering growing my hair out, please force me to look at this photo and tell me to reconsider!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits? Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Self-Portrait | April 2015

We have still been slowly working on turning our house into our home, one small step at a time. While this month's project doesn't do much to change the appearance of our house, it is something that has been long over due! I can't remember when our old mattress was purchased but I think it was back in 2001 or 2002. While it may have been a high quality mattress at the time, let me tell you... it still wasn't designed to last for 13 or 14 years and my lower back has been letting me know about it! I'd finally reached my tolerance limit of waking up stiff and sore, so we decided to splurge on a new mattress. It was delivered a few days ago, and the past few nights have been bliss!

Here I am all smiles, with our new mattress...

It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for your attitude and outlook. (It's also sad what makes you happy when you're an adult!)

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits? Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Self-Portrait | March 2015

This month has been a doozy!

The defining part of it for me was getting my butt kicked by some sort of horrific illness that I self-diagnosed as the flu (since the last time I was that sick was when I had the flu 8-9 years ago and this felt the same). I spent the better part of two weeks crashed out on the couch trying to fight my way back to heath. I even missed a couple days of work. I probably should have missed a few more, but it's hard to pay those bills without getting up off the couch. Even now I am still trying to get rid of a lingering cough that has taken hold and just won't let up.

I spent the remainder of the month working on painting Kevin's office and doing other random house updates, since my parents are here for the winter and willing to help us with some improvements and changes we want to make. We were on a time crunch trying to get everything finished before they leave early next month, and before one of my old college roommates (Jen) came to visit.

This month's self-portrait probably should have been one of me crashed out on the couch, but quite frankly while I was sick I was too wiped out to even think about setting up to take a photo and recreating it after the fact would have induced too many bad memories. A runner up option could have been a photo of me painting or doing work on the house, but after last month's image that seemed a little redundant.

So, instead I opted to use one of the photos of myself taken during Jen's trip to Phoenix when we went to visit the gorgeous Botanical Gardens. Even though Jen's visit only covered the last few days of the month, it was the most pleasant part of it - hands down - and definitely the part that I want to remember going forward!

So, I give you March's 'self-portrait' (which is a term I'm using very loosely here, as Jen actually took this photo of me)...

I have to admit that I have been feeling uninspired with my self-portraits lately and I have been getting ridiculously lazy with them in recent months - resorting to cell phone shots that happened to be captured somewhere along the way instead of taking true self-portraits.

I've been so busy recently that I blink and another month is coming to a close and I can't quite face the fact that it's time to brainstorm a new self-portrait idea once again. There are some months where it takes everything I have to toss up a photo of myself and I wonder why I ever started this project. But when I think about quitting, I can't bring myself to do it. I know I would end up angry at myself and filled with regret.

I really do love having these monthly memories of my life since relocating to Arizona! So even on the months that I really, really don't feel like going all out with my self-portrait I force myself to at least post something - which has more or less been my new mantra since moving here! Instead of my usual perfectionist tendencies, the past few years I've been leaning more towards the life motto of "Something is better than nothing!"

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits? Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Self-Portrait | February 2015

As I mentioned in last month's self-portrait post, one of our goals for 2015 is to begin working on our house. So my February was consumed with painting two of our upstairs rooms. The first half of the month was spent picking a color for our guest bedroom and painting it, and the second half was spent doing the same for my office. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of painting, but I love the results of freshly painted walls in colors that we selected!

So here I am doing a little final touch up on my office before my new office furniture is delivered...

I know. I know. You can't see the color of the walls in a black and white photo. You'll just have to stay tuned for next month's Snippets + Snapshots post to see the color I selected.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits? Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Heba + Walid + Jad's Sneak Peek

I work with Heba at my day job, and when she shared the big news that she was expecting baby number two this fall, I offered to take some photos in honor of the special occasion. The session ended up being a combination of pregnancy reveal and Jad's two year old portraits, with a few family portraits thrown in for good measure. So please allow me to introduce you to Heba, Walid, and Jad, and share their adorable photos.

First, a few of the adorable Jad, who just turned 2 years old at the end of January. This first one is one of my favorites. I just can't get enough of that amazing light streaming through the trees behind him....

I ADORE this photo of Heba! Gorgeous!...

Sweetness...

There's nothing like the love between mother and son...

Is Jad adorable or what?...

I just love these next two, as well. So much love...

Announcing the big news!...

A few of the family....

Another favorite!...

Heba is so beautiful, and she has absolute NO IDEA how stunning she is! I've been dying to get her in front of my camera for months. I just knew she would be a dream to photograph, and I was right!...