Jessica Lemmons Photography Blog, Longview Washington (Wa.) photographer.

Couldn’t help myself, I had to make these guys a slideshow!  Their wedding was just too much fun.

[youtube width="640" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KssyexsiSPk[/youtube]

Several months ago Deva e-mailed me and asked me to be her wedding photographer, being that she lived over 5 hours away we did all of contracts and booking via mail and phone, so my first time ever meeting her was the day of the wedding.  When I walked in to introduce myself to her while she was getting ready, she immediately bypassed shaking my hand and said “I just want to hug you!  Thank you so much for being here for my wedding!”   From that moment on, even though it was our first time meeting Deva, Terran and their families, we were treated like honored guests instead of hired help.   I felt so welcome being there, and even though I got dreadfully sunburnt (I forgot that Walla Walla has a LOT more sun than Longview) I had an amazing time.

Their wedding was a beautiful affair – but it always is when you have two people totally and completely in love with each other like Terran and Deva are.

I also want to give a huge shout-out to my awesome assistant Nate (I think I may have forgotten to thank him for the last several weddings….rude!) he once again did a wonderful job as my second shooter!  I especially appreciate him doing the drive over to Walla Walla – his car has a much better stereo than mine, and it’s faster, and looks cooler…..and I don’t have to be the one driving!  So…..for all of the above Nate, THANK YOU!!!

Deva getting ready and some detail shots.

Their first look and the “formals.”

The ceremony:

The reception:

(side note here – Deva’s father owns a restaurant in Walla Walla – this equaled for the MOST delicious food at a wedding…ever!   They were very generous and offered us a meal…..and I just wanted to keep eating and eating, it was SO good!!!!!!  I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!)

Happily ever after…….  

This blog post has been a long time in coming.  But before I make the announcement I want to share something.

Photography to me has been one of the most amazing learning experiences of my life.  I started out without even having a camera.   I actually used to play “photo-studio” when I was just 5 years old.   A gal that babysat me and my siblings would play it with us…..we posed each other, added props (all the knick-knacks laying around the room) and pretended to crank this camera (apparently our invisible camera had to be wound up with a huge crank?) I loved it.   My babysitter got bored with it really quickly.

When I was 12 I got my first little film camera….it didn’t even have the option of shooting in manual.  I could only light things to the best of my ability and hope it turned out.  With no clue what I was doing – I hung sheets up in my bedroom, dressed my poor little sisters up in tutus and attempted to take photos of them using only window light.    The images are less than amazing.  But I LOVED them.

When I was a teenager I can remember taking my camera with me everywhere.  I once I remember taking photos all the last week of school of our fun and craziness – sumu suit fights, bowling and bonfires.  I was very frugal and wanted to get it all on my one last roll of film.   Sadly I opened up my camera after all of this and discovered there was no film in my camera.    I cried.

About a year after that I had my son (I started young….what can I say!) and as a birthday gift that year I was given my first digital camera – it’s been a love affair since then.   However I didn’t get from “first digital camera” to “professional photographer” all at once.   That was the real journey there – I’ve had a lot of help and put a TON of effort into it.   I couldn’t be where I am today without the help of other professionals out there.   The photography community I discovered is one of the most giving communities of people out there.    I love it!

Keeping with the spirit of giving that goes with being a photographer I’ve tried my absolute best to help others out with their own photography journeys.  Unfortunately (or fortunately…depending on how you look at it) I am one busy lady!  My business always keeps me on my toes and working my tail off.   I love it, but it leaves me little time for family and friends and even less time to respond to the dozens of e-mails I get asking me questions about photography and photoshop.  SO…….this is where my big announcement comes into play!

Starting in August I’m going to be offering beginning and intermediate level photography classes!

As of right now, I’ll only be offering the first “Beginning-level” class.  I’m going to wait and see how the response is before I add more classes, but I would imagine an intermediate and some more beginning classes will soon follow!

The first class is going to be held at my studio Monday August 9th, August 16th, and August 23rd from 7:00 to 8:30 in the evening.    This is going to be a first come, first serve type of thing, and I’m only going to be able to take a small handful of students due to space limitations (my studio is only 1000 sq. feet).

In the Beginning class we will be covering the subjects:

1. Getting out of Auto (full instructions on shooting in manual, the photographic triangle, and “which settings” to use for your photos)

2. Finding the light (outdoor photography).

3. Working with available light and on camera flash (indoor lighting).

4. Interacting with your subject.

5. Composition.

All the classes will include me as your instructor with 4.5 hours total of interactive instruction, handouts of all the subjects we will be covering in detail, homework assignment for the in-between weeks, 1-2 mini-shoots (either in my studio or downtown) for practice and a mini-critique session in the last week.

It is not required, but I highly recommend that all attendees own or at least have the ability to borrow a DSLR, as most of the instruction will involve shooting in manual which is difficult to do with a point and shoot camera.   If your not sure what a DLSR is, it stands for “Digital single lens reflex”  in other words it’s a digital camera with a detachable lens or lenses – examples would be cameras like the Nikon d40, d90, d200, d300 etc, or the Canon Rebel XT, XS, 30d, 40d 5d etc.

Being that I am a “homeschool grad” I have a slightly different approach to teaching – this will not just be a “Jessica telling you how to take pictures” class, this will be us all interacting with each other, discussing, practicing, etc.  I hope to cater to all learning styles – the visual, the auditory, and the kinesthetic, by speaking, showing and doing.   My goal is that you can all not only learn something new and fun, but also create some friendships and perhaps even your own photographic community of sorts.

The intermediate class with be covering things like shooting in raw, photoshop and lightroom workflow, techniques for portrait editing, beginning-level off camera lighting, posing and more!  However I’m not going to announce all the details of that one yet – let me get through the first one first!

Want to sign up?   Cost for the class will be $55, and this includes everything listed above, plus access to me throughout the class for all of your questions!  Call me at 360-431-9265 or e-mail me at jessicalemmonsphoto@gmail.com to get signed up today!  

Last week was my precious daughter’s 4th birthday – I seriously can’t believe it!  SHE’S 4!!!!!   For her birthday she was given an adorable little Tinkerbell costume, straight from Disneyland.  My family and I got to go to Disneyworld last year, and ever since then my kids have wanted to go back (either there or to Disneyland).  Just last week at the breakfast table we were all talking about geography (I’m kind of a nerd and have giant maps next to my dining room table….geography fascinates me!) when my daughter out of nowhere says “I’m just TIRED of living here….I think our family should live in Disneyworld from now on!!!”  Yeah….they love it, but what kid doesn’t?    Being that about 3 weeks ago she decided to chop off her hair (big brother helped) I thought a Tinkerbell shoot would work out just fine for her – she’s got the pixie cut and the pixie costume and is completely obsessed with everything Disney and especially Tinkerbell so why not?

I had fun putting together this collage – I always love to show the out-takes, and being that she was born with her father’s sense of humor, there were plenty!

5 years ago today I married my best friend, my lover, my encourager, my biggest fan, and the future father of my children.  My dear husband – Bryce.   It’s been an amazing five years, and we’ve already experienced our fair share of joys and sorrows, happiness and heartbreak, and all just flat-out crazy life experiences.  I can honestly say I’m more deeply in love the man today than I was the day I married him – we had a great love for each other when we got married, but that love has truly been strengthened through time and trials.  I’m greatly looking forward to the rest of our life together – if it’s anything like the last five years, it’s going to be a crazy ride, but  SO worth it in the end!

He’s a man to be jealous of ladies…..he’s cute, funny, in incredible shape, cooks, cleans, changes diapers, is far more romantic than I am, has an AMAZING singing voice, has hot tattoos, can put a baby to sleep in five minutes flat, and oh yeah….he loves God.   Does it get any sexier?   Yep…..He’s MINE!

Sadly…I have no super-recent photos of the two of us (that’s about to change though!) so these are some in-takes and out-takes from our family session nearly two years back, taken by my wonderful sister-in-law -Jenica.