I have such a special place in my heart for story shoots. Every shoot I do, I am looking for the best way to reveal and document the heart of what’s being communicated… an authentic look at the people involved. Story shoots get directly to the heart of that. Elizabeth is a newer friend of mine, but my goodness our friendship quickly turned into a deep one. The way that Elizabeth opened up the door to their story as we collaborated for this story shoot created pure magic.

The way we choose to photograph people is collaborative. We want to get to know you, learn little things about you and your loved ones in order for us to photograph you well and authentically. The beautiful thing about story photoshoots is that I get to go deeper with you about who you are and how you want to express that in your photos. I met Stephanie at a wedding that I was photographing and we connected on Facebook. I loved seeing the photoshoots she would do where she would set up her camera in a park and create whimsical images in these beautiful dresses.

When Stephanie reached out and asked to do a shoot with me, I was so honored. I knew that establishing trust would be important, since this was a way that Stephanie usually expresses herself alone. Ahead of time we talked about her vision, the outfits she had chosen, what she was looking for in a location. During the shoot we collaborated about poses, different spots, etc. It was just such a lovely afternoon capturing this important part of Stephanie’s self expression. Stephanie has been kind enough to share about the shoot and her love for fancy formal dresses in her own words…

It has been YEARS since Ashley did a themed mini shoot moment like this, so she wanted to try some things out for this one. She went with two different locations for the Christmas-themed shoot day because, honestly, she wasn’t sure what would work best. Ashley was feeling the pressure of picking holiday decorations that lots of different people would appreciate the style of. That is tough, y’all!… But she totally nailed it!

What a great time Becca had with this crew for their 2021 Fall Short Stories! This group was mostly annual regulars with the exception of one new family (hello, Millers!). Becca also got to photograph one of Ashley’s regulars for the first time and it was so fun! After worrying all week about the weather, the rain never came and the slightly cloudy day worked out just fine for these fall mini shoots! This was the first time Becca shot at this new, tiny park she discovered near North Hills in Raleigh. Needless to say, she’ll be heading back there more because it worked so well and the backdrops were perfect!

Y’all, we absolutely feel so blessed to see these same faces each year! What an honor to be trusted over and over again! ❤️

We love our friends the Gurleys and how kind they are to share their BEAUTIFUL land with us for these fall minis! Through some last minute sickness cancellations (please please please know we will reschedule you if you are sick!!), Ashley ended up photographing these three families that have all been regulars for different lengths of time. It was the perfect little group for these Fall Short Stories on the Gurley Dairy Farm. Ashley had lots of laughs with this crew. And, those horses?!... They had this great sense of always moving to be perfectly in the background of the photos. Along with a gorgeous sunset and tons of cute kiddos, what more could we ask for?!

The leaves were perfection, the weather was perfection, and the people were absolute perfection!! Ashley started off this day of fall mini shoots with one new client — which, oh my goodness, is always so meaningful for us — and then the rest of her day felt like a Story Photographers homecoming! We just love love love shoot days like this where we get to reconnect with you and your families. Ashley photographed a lot of kids in different age groups on this one day. One thing that photographing kiddos their entire lives has shown her is a study in what the different photography challenges are at different ages. Photographing people as long as we have, we’ve learned how to navigate those challenges…