Your relationship with your clients

As a photographer I feel like you need to build a one on one relationship with your clients. They are trusting you to capture them as a couple or a family and for you to capture them as they really are in their true persona you have to bond with them. You can take amazing photographs but if you have no story to tell then what was the purpose of you taking that photograph? Was it for the money? Was it to build your portfolio? Those two things should be the last thing in your mind while photographing.

For many years I photographed as a hobby and nothing more. My husband who is my biggest fan purchased my very first camera and told me "I hope this brings you a little bit closer to your dream" I never thought that dream would come true because I didn't think at the time I was a fabulous photographer. I struggled along the way and I learned from mistakes I made but today I am successful and the reason why? Because my fabulous clients all of them have become some of the best friends I've made in my life. Just hearing their love stories makes me smile. I come home anxious from every photo shoot and as I download the photos I smile because I captured that couple just the way they are. I capture them and their love its priceless. I've heard you need to raise your prices- well no not really. I photograph because I LOVE to photograph not to make money. Yes, its nice to get paid to do something you love but when the focus becomes money you lose track of what was it that made you start to photograph in the first place. That's why I stay humble and count every session as a blessing rather than a paycheck. My mission and I've said this numerous times is to give you magazine worthy images for a fraction of the price. And since I have given my clients nothing but the BEST and have been HONEST with them they bless me in return by bringing business my way. An old employer of mine said it best before I went into this business she said to me "Lori, there will always be someone trying to outdo you and try to shatter your business down but you stay humble and you give them the real you the real Lori who cares and loves everyone and you will see the blessings that come out of being yourself" ...to this day I still remember that quote very clearly. I cherish it. I embrace it.

As your photographer I promise to always give you 350%! To always try to go above and beyond for you. I am not in this business for the money. I am in this business to capture your love and take you to that very moment in time 10, 20, 30, 40 years later and you can relive it by just looking at your photograph. That is my motto, my mission! This is who Lori Lee Photography is.

Chad & Sarah Are Married

It seems like its been forever since I've blogged but to be honest with y'all I've been very busy the past few weeks. I had the honor of photographing Chad & Sarah's wedding this past Labor Day weekend. What a fun wedding it was. If you don't remember Chad & Sarah just click on my Facebook link and you may view their engagement session there. They're an amazing couple. Chad & Sarah are high school sweethearts and Chad followed Sarah as she went off to college. These two are so in love you can just see it in the way they look at one another and in the way he kisses her and touches her. She loves him just as much. The day was absolutely beautiful for a September wedding not a cloud in the sky and the humidity was low.

Chad & Sarah wanted to see each other prior to going to the church and my what a moment it was. As a photographer I need to capture that moment that "AH HA" moment but honestly even tho I did capture it I was brought to tears the moment I heard Chad tell Sarah "My God you look so beautiful" and she just smiled from ear to ear. Their love is so unique so pure, so true. I wish them many more years of happiness and love and many blessings from our Lord above.

And finally here are some of the images I captured from their day. If you'd like to view more please go to my Facebook for more photographs and a slideshow.

Meet Andrew

So I've been MIA and honestly its because its been one busy Summer season. Andrew is my friend Cheryl's son and they live in Virginia. A few months ago Cheryl contacted me after having Andrews Senior photos taken by a local photographer she wasn't thrilled she called me up and wanted to know if I could redo his Senior pictures and of course I said absolutely. Cheryl and Andrew drove down 9 hours to our beautiful Charleston, SC. Andrew is joining the United States Navy as soon as he graduates High School this June and his parents couldn't be any prouder! I am proud of Andrew as well. I've watched him grow from this small innocent child to a very mature and resonsable young man. Andrew good luck in your future endeavours!

Andrew's photographs were done in downtown Charleston and others at Folly Beach during sunrise!

I hope y'all enjoy the photos!

Trash that dress!

That's what I told Kimberly once we got to the beach. Hey y'all! I had my very first trash the dress session and it was SO much fun! I really think every bride ought to do that!

Kimberly is an Air Force wife and served in the United States Navy and is now a veteran. She is an amazing person. She's super funny, smart and loves history! Her husband Allan and her share the same passions in life for history and traveling. Kimberly had contacted me to photograph her and her husband since they had not had any professional photographs taken since their engagement and so we scheduled her and Allan but right before our session I get a text saying Allan was not feeling well therefore we would have to re-schedule. Then Kimberly asked me- would I mind turning her couples session into a bridal/trash the dress session. I told her absolutely we could change the session for her. We started off her session in beautiful downtown Charleston where everyone who saw her just awed because she looked beautiful in her gown. We finished our session there- and may I add something? OMG was it HOT! I told her I had NO idea how she did not melt in her gown. It was extra hot outside- awful. We headed down to Folly Beach and to our surprise it was high tide! So yes, you guessed it the beach was gone. The waves were rolling in extremely hard and super fast I had never seen the ocean that angry before. We decided to go a bit further down and finish her session there so she could trash her dress. We got some amazing shots and we even had a lady come up and ask "Dear what are you doing to your gown" and I explained we were trashing the dress she replied "I'm making a bon fire outta mine since I just got divorced" I couldn't help but to laugh at her response! She was an older lady who still had lots of spunk to her. Kimberly did an awesome job posing! She is a trooper. She stood there and took a beat down from the waves as they threw her from side to side.

Enough chattin' for now huh? OK, I'll shut up and post the pics :) Thanks for lookin' y'all.

Keeping my promise

So you see the tomatoes right? Well, this may be a silly post but so what I want to share this anyway. :) A few months back before my husband was deployed to Afghanistan he decided to try to grow some tomatoes. Now we've tried to grow them before but no luck, as we both say we don't have a green thumb. He was so determined to grow his tomatoes he would go out everyday and water them with Miracle Grow and treat the plant with such love. I thought to myself "Wow he's taking this growing tomatoes thing way too far"- to our surprise the darn plant BLOOMED and I mean bloomed! We must have about 45 tomatoes on it. Before he deployed he was able to eat a few and OMG if you've never had home grown tomatoes you are so missing out! They taste NOTHING like the ones sold at your local grocery store. He asked me to please after he left keep watering the tomatoes go out there and treat the plant nice and it will reproduce the most fabulous tomatoes I've ever ate. I went outside yesterday because I had not watered the plant in 3 days (do to massive rain) and to my surprise 6 tomatoes were ready to be picked! They were nice and red and I felt SO proud that my husband had nursed this plant and now its giving us the most delicious tomatoes we've ever ate. I emailed him a picture of the tomatoes I picked to Afghanistan and all he said was "You kept your promise" I promised him I'd take care of his plant and make sure we kept growing some fabulous tomatoes.

It is really amazing what a military wife will promise to a husband and keep her promise while he's away. Its the little things. This isn't something major for a lot of you and some may be like why in the world would she post this- I am posting it because I am proud that I've kept my promise to my husband. So here it is folks the fruits of our labor.

"Mommy its Sandy"

Yes, that's what my two year old thought! That it was Sandy from SpongeBob. I am still laughing about it this morning. It was not only adorable but so innocent. I took him to the park yesterday and he found Sandy eating a piece of watermelon and I whipped out my camera and snapped this great image. I thought I'd share it with y'all- whoever is reading this.....maybe you can use the laugh as well?

As for what's going on well my husband is now gone. He is in Afghanistan for the next 6 months and how we miss him already! But hopefully time will move right along and we can get through this deployment rather quickly? That is my hope and that is my prayer.

I have a boudoir session tomorrow. Stay tunned to see those photos :) I'm sure they'll turn out amazing since the woman is absolutely drop dead gorgeous.

I am currently booking weddings so if y'all know anyone who is getting married and want amazing photographs but can't afford to pay a whole lot send them my way :) I have to say here on my blog how I have ran into some people who call themselves "Photographers" and their prices are super low but their quality of work is poor! They book weddings left and right but how can any bride be content with mediocracy? So here I am to put all those "Pro" photographers to shame!

Here we are again....

Another deployment is fast approaching. In less than 72 hours my husband will be leaving for 6 months once again. You may ask yourself why am I sharing this with the world? Why am I putting my personal life out there? Well, its all very simple. I want to share with my friends and my fellow readers what it is to be an Air Force wife left behind to play Mommy and Daddy, take care of everything, manage to keep her sanity while taking care of 3 kids and running a full time photography bussiness. Trust me folks its not as easy as it sounds.

So here's the deal. I will update this blog often to update y'all on how I am doing, our kids and my photography business. I am also embarking on a journey that I am looking forward to and I will share with y'all once the time is right! When you hear from me next time my husband will have already boarded his flight heading to his awful "home" for the next 6 months.

Check back often! I am sure it will be one bumpy ride alone the way.