Hayley is no stranger to my business. You have seen her probably a lot on my feed and all over the place, she’s pretty much my mascott for my business, haha! I love this girl. She is essentially the perfect model because she trusts me enough to do what I ask knowing it’s going to be awesome and she is just super chill. Hayley and her sisters have grown up right before my eyes and I truly love any moment I get to be around them!

This was a styled session that I had envisioned and reached out to Hayley about, this was just a session purely for me to stretch some creative muscles and get out shooting again. I love doing sessions for no other reason than to practice and to not have the stress that comes with having a paid client to make sure everything is perfect, it helps you grow as an artist. I wanted something super ethereal and soft and pretty so we found a dress through a rental business and it was perfect. I went to Michael’s arts and crafts business and threw together some branches and leaves to make her head wreath. I also did her hair and makeup and we headed out to a new part of one of my favorite places to shoot: Saltair. For those who haven’t been to Saltair, you’re missing out. Saltair is a diamond in the rough for sure, it’s kind of sketchy because of the kind of events that happen out there BUT the building has some interesting architecture, you have the salt flats and we drove a little further down the road to get to the marina which was absolutely perfect! I love the light out at Saltair, it is just so open and beautiful and it just so happened the day we went for this session, there were several fires in the area so the air was smokey which made for the most amazing sunset and diffused, warm, glowy light. I wish I could get that kind of lighting without having to destroy our state in the process but what do you do? This is still one of my most favorite sessions to date. Everything came together exactly how I had envisioned it and I am super proud of it, you could say it really started a turning point in my work to become more intentional about what I am doing as a photographer. For those photographers reading this, this was the first session that I actually used Mastin Labs presets and I was totally hooked with the results. Maybe in a future blog I will talk more about presets and editing and explain my process of it all.

For now, enjoy all the beauty that is Hayley!