I can say, unequivocally, that I am in love with light.

Dreamy backlit shots:And flare-filled shots:Sunset shots:And the soft, romantic shots we get when the sky is overcast:I love how learning how to use light to our advantage shaped our photography, and our photographic identity. It defines what we shoot, the way we shoot, and it makes our shoots a lot less stressful — for us, and for our couples.

Now, we don’t go hunting for great backdrops (although they’re really cool, too). We chase good light instead. Wherever we find great light, we can create great images. We don’t want to overpower the natural light with flash; some photographers do, and some do it with panache and a great sense of style. That just isn’t the way we want to create photographs — except for wedding receptions, and those rare occasions when we’re shooting after dusk or inside a venue that’s too dark without flash, of course. Then we’re excited to bring out the lights (five of them, to be exact!) and play with light in a different way. But when it comes to portraits, our preference is to work with the light all around us. We pay attention to the direction of light and place our subjects so the light is most flattering. And then the magic happens.

I’ve always loved rich, golden, glowing light, ever since I was a little kid. I just wanted to bottle it — like Frodo’s Light of Earendil in Lord of the Rings. Now I get to do something even better with it.

~ Laura