An Editorial Debut: Reign Magazine, Lead Photographer

I am a firm believer in the law of attraction.  Specifically, the things we focus our attention on are the things that we attract into our lives.  Several years ago I created a collage with words and images that I cut out of various magazines that were ideas that inspired me, things that I was naturally attracted too.  When I was finished, I put it in a frame and hung it next to my kitchen where I would walk by it and see it every day.  I was imagining how my business would grow and how it, and I, would evolve.  At the time it seemed like a pretty major stretch to fantasize that I would have much to do with editorial photography as I was a wedding photographer and had built my entire business around the wedding industry.  Perhaps I just hoped I would get the cover of a wedding magazine, but still, the words “magazine/editorial” were among the words I cut out and placed in the middle of my board.

As the years went on and I kept up my focus on wedding photography, things started to evolve and change in my personal life and as a result, in my business too.  In 2010 I went through a traumatic divorce that was incredibly difficult and while that was happening I started to imagine other things I could do with my photographic talents.  Mainly, I was concerned that I would wind up a jaded wedding photographer because at the time it seemed unlikely that my personal tragedy would not interfere in my work.  I didn’t want to risk sabotaging the career that I had worked so diligently to build up.  So I took some time off and distanced myself a little from the wedding scene.  At the same time, many of the couples I had photographed weddings for began starting their families and the requests began to pile up for maternity and baby portraits.  It was a welcome change of pace.  In February of the same year I also had an epiphany while being on the other side of the lens when a friend offered to do a boudoir for me, so that I could be reminded of my own beauty and strength.  In the years leading up to that, I had actually photographed a few boudoir sessions of my own. They were mostly for brides that had requested them, but it wasn’t until I had that experience that I realized how powerful these images could truly be. And so began the expansion of my business to include a varied range of portraiture.  I redesigned my website and started to market myself into these new arenas.

Given that most people plan their weddings well in advance, I wasn’t completely removed from weddings as I still had a few obligations to clients that had already booked me.  It was a good thing too because slowly but surely I started to remember where the passion for my wedding photography came from in the first place.  I started to get better and so did my work. It didn’t take long before I realized that I wanted to continue photographing weddings.  The joy and love and truths that I was able to witness with my own eyes and capture through my lenses had the opposite effect of what I had feared.  They brought me peace and hope, not sadness and pain. And all of a sudden, not only was I a wedding photographer, but I had also opened up Pandora’s box of the unexpected in other areas of photography as well.

Last year I met a wonderful, bright, and visionary woman named Betsy Martin who was launching a new fashion and lifestyle magazine in Denver called Reign.  We hit it off immediately and the kindred spirit effect began to take hold.  She started asking me to help her on some smaller projects, and though I didn’t have any clue where it would lead, I just knew that I was having fun and it was something new and interesting for me to focus on.  I’m a sucker for a good challenge; for anything that forces me to “stretch.” And little by little we built a repertoire that lead to me taking another major leap in my career.  Specifically, that of becoming one of two lead photographers for the magazine.  In a matter of only a few months, I photographed a fashion shoot that produced a beautiful cover shot, among a myriad of other editorials.  And in Oct. of 2012, I realized another personal and professional goal.  Only it wasn’t just a “cover” shot, it was a whole new adventure that seemingly overnight, emerged into my life.

I am very proud of this new venture.  It’s one of ultimate trust and belief in the Universe at work for our highest good.  It’s an adventure in passion for art and a quest into the nature of my own creative spirit.   And finally, it’s a new-found love for my photography that doesn’t begin or end with weddings, but that instead includes them.

Being a photographic artist gives me a wide breadth to harness my creativity into a number of channels, and as time goes on, I am discovering new ways to enjoy it; new ways to practice and hone my craft.  The latest of which includes editorial photography.

Thank you to you Betsy Martin-Marr for helping me to refocus this unquenchable fire I have for creative expression into another new direction.  I am thrilled with how far we have come and I look forward to seeing where this adventure will lead.  Perhaps it’s time for a new “vision board.”  I think I’ll cut out lots of clocks so that I can focus on time.  Specifically, having enough of it to fit in all the things I have told the Universe I want included in my life.  I must now focus on having enough time to DO IT ALL!

Look for the next issue of Reign this week, with my second cover shot and my second run as a lead photographer in not only Reign, but in her newest little sister, Aisle Style.  It’s a special double issue that is sure to rock the Denver magazine scene![oqeygallery id=275]