I’ve been composing photographs my entire life. When I was a young girl, my father bought a single-lens reflex camera to capture my family’s upbringing. Looking back on those old photos now, pictures of me as a girl laying on the family’s shag carpet in the living room, I’m reminded not just of what I looked like at the time, but of the house I grew up in— how it looked, its texture, what it felt like to spend my childhood there.
Recognizing the power of imagery to elicit such strong emotions, it wasn’t long before I took the SLR from my dad and began shooting my own photos. Fast forward, and I’m now married to an awesome husband and have two beautiful children of my own. I’m a nurse by formal training, but my passion for photography has never left me. For six years now, I’ve been producing what I hope are powerful, unique photographs for families and couples looking to remember the essence of a time in their lives.
Those old family photos that my dad took also gave me an ethos and an esthetic to aim for in my work. When I deliver photos to my subjects, I want them to have not just a beautiful photograph, but a totem for a time in their lives, something they can always return to to know what it felt like to be that person, at that stage of their lives, in that moment.
To that end, I shoot informally—I show up to my sessions with enthusiasm, not asking my subjects to pose too formally, but rather following them around in their environment, listening and learning from them what’s important, trying to capture the essence of who they are. I’ve found that this renders photos that are authentic, not manufactured, genuine and timeless reminders of a given time in a person’s life. Technically, I look to accomplish this by using natural light, real expressions, and to catch my subjects in their most comfortable environments. I try to shoot clean, pure photographs and go light on the photoshop to make sure that each image maintains its integrity.
There’s no one way to shoot a picture, which is why I offer customized photo sessions to meet every client’s unique needs and desires. Shooting families with young kids in particular can be a challenge, but as a mom myself, I work well with kids and don’t try to force them into forced smiles and awkward postures. Instead, I try to make them laugh, follow them through their play and nab that perfect fraction-of-a-second image that will serve as a family record, forever, of who that child was at that time. When you look at a photograph, I want you to see more than the pretty face, but feel the spirit, hear the laughter, feel the breeze. It’s the connections and emotions that make these images special. I want you to look back at these photos in 20 years and remember the feeling you had on that day.
Click through the images on this blog, and I hope you’ll see the spirit of my work. If you’re interested in a consultation, I’d love to speak with you.
Enjoy browsing and I look forward to talking with you!
Hillary
858.583.9664
www.arcimagery.com
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