Meet Erin | Partner Photographer

Erin and I have been friends for more than 6 years. I met her originally at a photo networking group and we hit it off, and have been good friends since. She has been working for another company for the past 3 years or so and I had been bugging her about coming to work with me (probably quite incessantly). I am super picky about the photographers I have work under my brand and I knew Erin was the best. Great with clients, loves the mountains, an amazing photographer, carefree spirited and she brings with her 10+ years of experience with photographing weddings. She was such a good fit. So when the other company she was working for decided not to offer partner photographers anymore she called me up and it didn’t even take me two seconds to consider. I am so excited to announce the addition of Erin to my team!  She will take amazing care of whoever is lucky enough to have her. She can’t wait to work with our clients and brings so much knowledge and perspective to our team.  Here is a little post so you can get to know Erin a little better. Want to find out more about having Erin photograph your wedding? Click here to visit her page and fill out a contact form.

XO,

Sarah

How long have you been a photographer? How did you start? My love for photography started really young. My dad is a hobbiest and collects cameras. I didn’t really appreciate it as much when I was a kid and he’d turn our only bathroom into a darkroom and inform me that if I needed to pee, to go to the neighbors. haha. But I had my first real SLR at 12, and started really playing with it in High School. I was never involved with the Yearbook or Newspaper, (I was more of a drama nerd myself) and we didn’t have any photo classes, but when they both started asking me for my pictures because they knew I had better stuff just by showing up, my friends started telling me that I should look into doing it for real. And that’s the time it really began to take hold. I carried my camera everywhere. Very late in my senior year, it dawned on me that I really wanted to do it as a profession, and I applied to a photography program. I was so late to this realization that I was put on a waiting list for a very full program, and even went to orientation not even knowing if I’d make it in. I was the last one off the list to make it that year just a couple weeks before classes started (and it’s a good thing I did, because I hadn’t even registered at my other choices!) My love for people and photography turned out to show me how much I loved portrait work (which I would have never guessed going into it. Which is silly considering what I know about myself now!). Just a couple years after graduating, I saw a photo studio and business up for sale. 14 Days later, I signed the paperwork and was the owner of my very own business at 23. Talk about diving in head first. But I’ve been doing it full time ever since. That was 11 years ago! And I still love it every day.

What’s your favorite part of a wedding? My favorite part is actually the people. I love meeting people, hearing their stories, making a connection, and it may sound cliche, but I will never tire being a part of a really special time for a relative stranger, and knowing I get to immortalize it for them and their families. I love being a positive influence to someone’s day and giving them a gift that lets them re-live it, over and over. It’s really special.

Where is the favorite place you have traveled?  I have to pick just one place?! That is so hard. I am the kind of indecisive person that has a really hard time naming a favorite anything because it’s too hard to choose! Well let’s see… my husband and I spent my 30th birthday in Japan. It was an extremely special trip and we saw and experienced so many amazing things. But we also took a trip to Glacier National Park that will always stand out to me. The mountains are always a place that makes my heart sing, which is why I live here, and that was an epic mountain trip. The waterfalls, the rainforest, and the towering peaks all in one place. I’ve wanted to back ever since. But, alas, we always pick a new place to go because there are just too many places we want to see!

What are your guilty pleasures? I will watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer every. single. day. I heart Joss Whedon. I was very late to jump on board, but love Harry Potter. I also read silly Vampire books and YA series. I think I’m 28 books or so deep into a series that I found by accidentally clicking on a facebook ad. It opened the amazon preview page for it where it shows you the first few chapters? I didn’t even know what the title was or what I had even clicked and before I knew it, I had read the preview and just had to know what happened. And that was 20-some books ago. Haha. Needless to say, I’m easily distracted. Oh, and every time I go to Whole Foods, I buy some of their mini cheesecakes. They are super yummy. I can’t help it!

Are you a morning or night person? I am most definitely a night person. The closest I’ve ever become to changing that was when I had a baby. My body wouldn’t allow me to stay up late when I was pregnant and my newborn afforded me the opportunity to see more sunrises than I’ve seen in my whole life. I did fine, and actually enjoyed it, but just recently have slipped back into my old nighttime ways. Lucky for me, my daughter seems to like to sleep in as well. It’s a huge chore for me to force myself to wake up early. (It takes many a snooze button.) But staying up to 2 or 3am? Never been an issue.

Which do you prefer, sweet or salty foods? Again, I have to pick just one? I’ll admit I am a self-proclaimed salt-o-holic.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  If I could, I think I would make the world my home. I’m not saying that to be cliche, but I’ve always dreamed of living in a million different places. Not just visiting, but staying just long enough to get to know the locals and truly feeling the heart of a place in a way you can only do by staying awhile. I’d love to have the freedom to hope from place to place, be a nomad, and experience the world, and as long as I had my family with me, I’d be very happy.

Name 1 thing you miss about being a kid. I miss the feeling of endless summers. I remember summer feeling SO LONG when I was a kid, and now it just flys by! While I love all 4 seasons, I wish those seasons felt as long as they did when we were kids.

When was the last time you cried? Since having my daughter, I’m an even bigger sap than I was before! (which I didn’t think was even possible!) But it actually may have been at a recent wedding! I’ve become so close to these clients in such a short amount of time, that listening to their vows totally made me choke up. It was either that or watching the Notebook for the 100th time. I know what happens, but I can’t help it! I can’t remember in which order those happened, but I cry at least once a week. haha.

What’s your favorite junk food? I love Smashburger. Love. Truffle Mushroom Swiss and Smash Fries. mmmmmmmm.

What’s your favorite song? Right now it’s Can’t Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake. My daughter LOVES it and I love JT and we laugh and sing and dance to it almost every day.

What’s your favorite inspirational life quote? It may be the current political climate influencing my answer but…. “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr.

What’s your go-to drink at a bar? Depends on my mood, but I’d drink a hard cider every day.

What are you afraid of? I’ve always been deeply afraid of loss. Losing my husband or daughter… I just don’t want to imagine a world without them. I’m also afraid of not getting a chance to see enough of the world.

What’s one thing you’ll never eat or drink? I actually don’t think there is anything! I love food and being adventurous and I think if prepared in a tempting way, I’d try pretty much anything!


Want more information about Erin? Visit her page by clicking here!