Mike & Michelle: married love || mckinney, tx engagement & wedding photographer

Last week Mike & Michelle were the fabulous couple that jumped in last minute to help me with a secret project I'm working on ;)  (cue the drama..)  It's a long story (and I would have to reveal details about the secret to explain it all) but it wasn't until about 10AM Friday morning that I even realized I needed a couple to model for me so I sent out txts to several people and posted on FB about it...and within an hour a photographer friend of mine had sent me Michelle's number and we had it all set up!
They were darlings to work with, and I had to post just a few of my favorites.
















p.s. the secret project?  oh man...I really can't wait to share it with you ;)
Much Love.Jessica Shae

A forever kind of love || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

I'm a bit of a romantic.  If were to ask my family they would actually tell you that I'm a-whole-lot-of-a-bit-of-a-romantic :)  And while I guess it's nice to have a specific day of the year to remind those around you how much you love and appreciate them, it's sometimes feels a little bit forced and cheesy.  Don't get me wrong, I like flowers and chocolate as much as any other girl, but it's the day to day servant love that always catches my eye and makes my heart flutter.  In a world filled with hollywood kisses and breathtaking love stories, it's easy to forget what love actually is.  We been taught to scorn simple love that serves selflessly, loves tirelessly, and sticks with you through all the gritty messiness of life, because it doesn't always have the flash and make-your-heart-skip a beat kind of feel to it.

And so on this "day of love" I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite love stories.  Not hollywood, or Kardashian kinds of love stories, (thank goodness theres something more than that!) but little peeks into what was obviously a life of committed selfless love for their best friend.

A letter from Ronald Reagan to Nancy on their 20th anniversary.

In case you can't read the small print and curly handwriting, I've written it out here for you to read:

My Darling Wife

This not is to warn you of a diabolical plot entered into by some of our so called friends --(ha!) calendar makers and even out own children.  These and other would have you believe we've been married 20 years.

20 Minutes maybe -- but never 20 years.  In the first place it is a known fact that a human cannot sustain the high level of happiness I feel, for more than a few minutes -- and my happiness keeps on increasing.

I will confess to one puzzlement but I'm sure it is just some trick perpetrated by our friends --(Ha again!) I can't remember ever being without you and I know I was born more than 20 minutes ago.

Oh well -- that isn't important.  The important thing is I don't want to be without you for the next 20 years, or 40, or however many there are.  I've goten very used to being happy and I love you very much indeed.

Your Husband of 20 something or other.

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I've posted this video before I think...but I just keep coming back to it.  It is an excerpt from Robert McQuilkin's resignation speech, when he resigned as president of Columbia Bible College so that he could stay home and take care of his wife.  I tear up every time I hear it.

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"They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that great Being who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him—that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with his love and delight forever…. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and singular purity in her affections; is most just and conscientious in all her conduct; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after this great God has manifested himself to her mind…. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her."

--A love letter written from Jonathan Edwards to his wife-to-be, Sarah.

Happy Valentines Day!

Much Love,

Jessica Shae

Celebrating firsts: personal || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

I've always been a great lover of "firsts."  I dream about them, sometimes for years, and when I finally experience a "first" I want to remember how it felt for a million years.  Playing it over and over again in my head, looking at pictures, journaling every memory...  And I'm not just talking huge kinds of firsts--I pretty much celebrate them all.  First pair of cowgirl boots.  First mac computer. First wedding booked and first wedding shot.  First time driving a huge truck.  First time holding his hand.  First time out of the country, and first time shooting a gun.  First 3D movie, and first time riding the train.  I have an endless list of them.  Realizing and thinking about the little day to day accomplishments and firsts in my life makes it a continual celebration of sorts.  And I'm all about celebrating. :)

Last night The Boy and I celebrated a birthday together for the first time.  Dinner and dessert downtown, walking around in the cold laughing, talking, and celebrating the fact that 23 years ago the handsomest boy in the world was born :)

So those last two weren't taken last night...but I just couldn't resist throwing them in.  He's really the funnest person ever :)  Oh, and one more thing, we've made it to 1,300 on the Facebook fan page, hooray!  Thanks to all you lovely people I'm looking forward to another aweeesome year of photography adventures!  

Much Love.

Jessica Shae

Mentorships || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with this darling couple for a mentorship session.  Erin is a photographer in the DFW area, and wrote me a while back asking about the possibility of a mentor session because she was wanting to hone her manual shooting skills :)  I was happy to meet up with her and her husband so we spent an afternoon last week at starbucks and a local park talking photography and having some hands on practice time shooting.  They're a fun couple who despite the fact that they look suuuper adorably young, are coming up on their 3rd wedding anniversary!  We had so much fun together and I was happy to take a few pictures of them as a couple and of just Erin to use for bio shots.  So enjoy the pictures and when you're done go check out her fb page and leave her some love!

Oh, and you should definitely scroll to the bottom to check out a rather lengthy (sorry, I just have somany words) announcement about mentor sessions this spring!

While we're on the topic of mentorships, I have an announcement to make about mentor sessions this year!  I get emails weekly with questions from all of you sweet blog readers about everything from how to start a photography business, what camera/lenses you should buy, how to advertise, how did I design my blog, how to shoot in manual...etc.  I currently have about 20 emails sitting in my inbox that are just questions from you all waiting to be answered.  They come in so frequently and are so often the same (kinds of) questions over and over that I feel like I'm writing the same emails back to you all over and over.  And seeing as my mantra for my business this year is simplify I have buckled down and tried to think through all the ways that I'm spending my time in my business and ask myself if I'm doing it the most efficient simple way.

And so, because I dearly love to help young just starting out photographers (Hey--I was there not to long ago, and I'm super grateful for those who helped me!) I've come up with several solutions.  One, I'm planning on posting FAQ blogs on a monthly basis from here on out.  Oh gracious, quite honestly this is the scariest one of them all...but I'm determined to do them.  Not because I think I'm brilliant, but because I think that it will be the most helpful way to answer a lot of peoples questions in one fell swoop.  Then, I'm going to create a FAQ/for photographers tab on my blog where you can go and read all the archives (once I have them) of the different FAQ posts I've written.

And then the last one that I'm most excited about is that I'm going to be offering FREE mentor sessions again this year.  A lot of you may remember that I offered these last year, and here's what the offer was: You take me out for coffee or lunch, and you get 1-2 hours of my time to ask me as many questions as you like!  I also said that I would be open to doing them over the phone for those of you who lived too far away to meet up in person.  Well, the results were faaarrr greater than I expected.  I received over 30 applications for mentor sessions and more than 2/3 of them were from girls who lived far away and wanted to do phone sessions.  Needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed and started making my way through the list, meeting with girls in my area when I could, and then doing a few via phone call...but I never could figure out a way to schedule all the girls who applied from far away.  And I felt terrible about leaving you all hanging!

So here's the newest plan :)  I'm going to be doing group video chats!  I love talking face to face about a thousand million times more than I like writing emails, and getting to answer your questions in a group setting will be a more efficient way to handle them I think!  I'll probably have them once a month, and accept 5-6 applicants each time.  And the first one is scheduled for February 17th, at 12PM central time!  All you have to do to apply is shoot me an email at: jessica@jessicashae.com with your name, link to your fb business page/blog/flickr/website or wherever you post your pictures, and the three biggest questions you need answered right now!  I'm really excited about it, so shoot me an email asap, the deadline for you to apply for the February date is a week from today, the 14th!

p.s. I'm also currently working on details for a new improved internship program this summer.  I can hardly wait to share it with y'all!  Seriously...it's going to be the best thing ever, this is not just hype :)

Much Love.

Jessica Shae

Best of 2011: part II || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

"To find the universal elements enough: to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed

by a morning walk or an evening saunter...to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated

over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring--

these are some of the rewards of the simple life."

john burroughs

For those of you who haven't seen part I of this two part series, you can go here to check it out.When I got my very first camera and my interest in taking pictures began, it had nothing to do with people, and everything to do with flowers, mountains, rivers, skies, forests and fields.  My family was living in Colorado at the time and we spent a lot of time in the mountains hiking, skiing, camping, etc.  And so, for about the first year of taking pictures, 85% of them were of nature and landscapes.  And I loved it.  Obviously my tastes and preferences in photography have evolved a bit since then.  But every now and then I look back at old pictures and wish that I took more time to take pictures, sans people.  This year I tried make a point of doing more of that as I traveled and shot weddings and portraits.  So these are just a random assortment of favorite pictures from the last year, that don't really fit in anywhere else.  And a majority of them are people-less :)
Hope you enjoy!















































Much Love.Jessica Shae