Power Couple Status

So I wasn't able to take my friends engagement pictures this weekend because it was either down pouring or sprinkling, boo! But we had a great visit and I decided to write a blog post anyways but on a different topic.

I was going through my SD-cards last night and found my cousin's husband's retirement ceremony photos from last November, he retired from the Army. Many of you might have already heard about him, Travis Mills, was injured in Afghanistan on April 10th, 2012 which changed the rest of his life by becoming a quadruple amputee. If you haven't heard the full story please visit www.travismills.org because I'm going to focus on what has come from this - not what's happened.

First off, check out that picture. I've spent a good chunk of time trying to say something about it but to me that picture says it all. A few words that do come to mind though: No excuses, honor, commitment, courage, strength, and of course "Never give up. Never Quit.".

When I look at Travis now I'm focused on the people around him and how his positive spirit seems to spread over everyone he meets. Travis is the definition of an American Family Man. He's moved passed what's happened to him and looks forward to providing for his family and helping out other Veterans and Wounded Warriors. In under two years he's literally gotten back up on two feet, gotten out of the hospital, has his own foundation in place - Travis Mills Foundation, a house is being built for his family, he travels around the U.S. giving motivational speeches, and he also has a documentary:  "Travis: A Soldier's Story" that is being featured all around the country. Travis has also set an extremely high bar for any boy Chloe, his daughter, ever brings home in the far future - God help that poor kid! Ha!

When I look at Kelsey, his wife, who I've always considered to be my big sister figure, I can never get over how strong SHE is. She was 23 years old on April 10, 2012... 23 years old!! And not only was she focused on helping Travis recover but their daughter at the time was about 6 months old (she's now 2 1/2), so she not only had to be strong for Travis but she had to raise their daughter Chloe and also set a high bar. Chloe only knows true strength and how to give 110% and she doesn't even know it yet. Kelsey is such an amazing example for being a committed and loyal mother & wife. In "Travis: A Soldier's Story" Kelsey quotes that a high percentage of marriages that go through something like this don't make it, but it doesn't make sense to her because it's only brought them closer. How awesome is that? 

And Chloe, if you've met that little cutie she has definitely won your heart. Who knows what she will decide to do with her life but in my eyes that little girl could conquer the world with the examples she's seen in her life, all 2 1/2 years of it! 

Bottom line, Kelsey & Travis should be named a power couple. Not Beyonce & Jay-Z or Giselle & Tom Brady. We live in a country where people know more about their "Hollywood Icons" than the men and women actually serving their country and giving them the freedom that they have now. Making a story like this more public will make all the difference. So share this blog post, share these links, and start thinking more positively - for your own good. 

Chloe, Me, Kelsey, Travis & my husband, Bobby at our rehearsal dinner back in June 2013!

Travis Mills Website - http://www.travismills.org

Check out the movie trailer to Travis: A Soldiers Story - http://travisthemovie.com

Happy Clients Are Returning Clients!

When I first started photographing people I always took everything as an opportunity. For example, my first family session came from a conversation with friends in Maine about how they hadn't had actual family portraits done in years, I saw this as an opportunity to not only practice directing and communicating behind the camera - but also I saw that I could make people happy. They ended up loving the photos, printing them and putting them in frames in their house and my friend even had a framed collage in her dorm room. This sparked something inside me because I loved seeing that they displayed my work. To them the pictures were family portraits that they could look at for years but to me it was such a compliment! I'm not one to really gloat out loud, in my head? Absolutely. So when I see the photos I've taken of people framed in their houses, or on my refrigerator because they've put the photos on Christmas cards, it's a sense of accomplishment and something to be proud of!

All that being said, a while back my first couples session was in Virginia. I was at a friends' checking out her new house that her & her boyfriend were fixing up to move into and I was so amazed at the amount of work that they were putting into this place. As I was walking around it dawned on me that this would be the first time that they would live by themselves, they had always lived with roommates, and they had put so much TLC into this house that I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have portraits of them to hang once they're moved in? I quickly introduced the idea to them and we scheduled a couples session right away! It was so much fun. Since we were all friends I brought my husband along with me (mostly to make her boyfriend more comfortable and to get them to laugh) and we went to a beautiful park where there was a stream, forest, and a board walk looking over a little private harbor off the river. The lighting couldn't have been more perfect and I quickly got to work.  Every photo I'd take I'd get a little more excited and hope that once I processed & delivered the images they'd be just as happy as I was. They sure were! 

A few months later he proposed on Christmas and they hired me as their wedding photographer right away, I am so happy for them and I'm so excited to be able to capture their special day this fall!! They are heading down here to North Carolina this weekend where I'll be taking their engagement photos on the beach and we'll be able to just hang out :) Here are some of the photos I took of them at their first couples session, I will be sure to share the engagement ones next week (her ring is absolutely gorgeous!).

©Victoria Johnson Photography

www.victoriajohnsonphoto.smugmug.com

victoriajohnsonphoto@gmail.com

You Find Out Who Your Friends Are

A little background on myself: I never really had any friends (by choice) in school, middle school & high school I mean. When I say I had no friends I mean that I never really wanted to be close to the people in my class because to be honest, they weren't very nice. Sure I had acquaintances, people I would hang out with, for the most part I got along with them because I had to - I was with them 5 days/week! But everything was fake. I saw a lot of back stabbing, jealousy, and cliques and I wanted no part in that. My parents always told me it would get better when I got older, yes - yes it did!

Anyways, I had one really good friend all through my childhood until now and far into the future. The kind of friend that we could hang out with each other for hours on end and not get sick of each other, or sometimes barely say a word the whole time. We can go weeks & months without seeing each other now but when we do we pick right back up where we left off. We both lead two completely different lives but the fact that that hasn't changed anything between us is awesome. Effortless, and that is what I love about it and I know she does too.

Now fast forward 2 years after graduation when I got married and moved to Virginia! My husband is a Marine and at the time was stationed in Quantico. Once I moved I quickly got a job and started meeting new people. I had heard so many times that the military is full of "see you laters", I don't call them goodbyes, and boy were they right! My husband of course already had a lot of his own friends there, and thankfully a handful of them were married as well! He introduced me to a lot of couples, I called them "Meet & Greets" (haha), and all of them worked out. Soon I was having girls night once a week with all of them where we just made food and drank wine - perfect right? We'd talk about where we came from, where we are now, and where we're going to be, lightly, but when the day came for the Marine Corps to tell one of us to pack up and move it was a harsh reality. Slowly our group got smaller and smaller and our conversations turned to those that we miss and who we can't wait to see again. What was awesome though when we were all together was hearing where everyone had come from, sometimes it was just their hometown - others had stories of packing up and leaving home just like I did before getting married and settling down a bit. But it was also stories of growing up. I couldn't get over the fact that I had finally found a group of friends, all women mind you, that I could truly call friends. There was no backstabbing - instead we would pick each other back up, no jealousy - we were all married and in the same boat, and we didn't act like a clique - everyone was welcome and we were more than happy to see another bottle of wine added to the group ;) 

But mostly we were all in the same boat, we all live at the mercy of the military telling our husbands what to do, when to do it, but never why. The word "why" isn't even in our vocabulary because the reason is.. because. I had surrounded myself with women that no matter where I came from or where I was going they  were going to be there for me, as was I for them, no matter what. Because that's just what you do. You need help packing at 11:30pm or 8 am? Ok, I'll be there. You're husband just got a call that he has to go on trip tomorrow? Ok, come over for dinner so you're not alone. You're running out of wine? I have 4 bottles in my refrigerator. Just kidding.. but seriously I'll be over ;). Anyway, you get the point. Once you marry someone in the military you're not only marrying him/her but you're marrying the military. Another family that no one understands unless you're a part of it.

I have now moved to North Carolina and appreciate that group even more. We all keep in touch through our moves, some are in California, some in Virginia still, some even in North Carolina! But I can't wait for the day that we can all be in the same room again with our wine glasses being filled to the rim and eating delicious food! Mind you that may be when we're all old in wrinkly but think of the stories we will be able to share then! 

I guess my point in all of this is that I'm thankful for the military for bringing some pretty awesome people into my life. True, genuine, people. Given my background with "friends" I would have never thought that I would cross paths with any one of these women (and their husbands) but I'm more than grateful that I did. 

And for any of you women (you know who you are) that I've been talking about - I miss you, I love you, and I can't wait to see your faces again! 

Here are just a few of those women with their men/family that I've practiced some photography on, thanks for being my models :) 

How I started out & what's in my camera bag!

I'll be sharing how I started out with photography in this blog post so if you are a beginner here's what I did and has worked well so far! If you are experienced and have any tips please feel free to share! 

I would consider myself a self-taught photographer. I started with a Nikon D3000 which was the perfect SLR camera to start out with! Without knowing it, I had purchased one of the best investments of my life. If you are thinking about purchasing an SLR camera I would definitely recommend starting out with either the D3000 or D3100, that's in Nikon terms and it's the easiest to figure out in Manual Mode and on the cheaper end of SLR cameras! And I'm pretty sure if you're looking at Canon cameras it's the Rebel you want to look at? Someone comment to correct me if I'm wrong please! I'm not familiar with Canon although, I've toyed with the idea of switching from Nikon… anyone have thoughts on that? 

ANYWAYS, unfortunately this time last year we lost our house to a fire and what was sitting in the corner where the fire started? You guessed it, my camera AND both of our laptops. Awesome. With our insurance policy money I stepped up in the world and bought a Nikon D90 (which I love) and a brand new Macbook Pro (which I also love)! To figure out both of my cameras I used my resources, I read the manuals, watched Youtube tutorials, and played with every setting I could find on my camera. The other resource I used was the outdoors, landscape photography is the easiest (in my opinion) tool to use when trying to figure out your camera in manual mode. You have one scene in front of you which is what makes it easy, but the light is constantly changing so it's challenging at the same time. 

I also went to a couple of photography workshops. One was in the Smoky Mountain National Park with Richard Bernabe, a professional landscape photographer. I was the only person that went alone, everyone else brought a friend/family member, and I didn't have car so I got to carpool all around the National Park for 4 days with Richard Bernabe, talk about getting your moneys worth! I completely picked his brain apart and learned a tremendous amount of information. The second photography workshop I attended was Introduction to Digital Photography at Maine Media College in Rockport, Maine which was a week long. Although I already knew how to run my camera in Manual Mode, which they touch on in the beginning of the days, I didn't know a thing about Lightroom and was ecstatic to learn the in's and out's of it. My instructor, Tom Griscom, was super cool. He kept the class lively and even had us all go to Monhegan Island for an entire day. 

The Maine Media Workshop is also where I met Molly Breton, of Molly Breton Photography. We got to know each other during the time of the workshop and kept in touch during the next year. In early August of 2013 I received a message from Molly, I was currently living in Fredericksburg, VA, and she was inquiring about hiring ME as a second shooter for the weddings she does in Virginia. Molly Breton is based out of Maine but often travels to Virginia for weddings and it just so happened that I was living where she grew up! I quickly and very eagerly accepted her offer. I can't say enough how thankful I am for Molly! She has been so helpful when it comes to starting out as a small business. 

So what's in my bag?

I will warn you people, photography is an expensive business and hobby to get into so take your time. Do your research, rent equipment, and ask questions. It's truly the best way to do it. I purchase all of my equipment from B&H Photo online. It's a store based out of NYC and I love their quality of products and the fact that if you purchase a USA made product they give you a percentage back in store rewards!

(Please forgive me for some of the poor quality photos, I only have one SLR camera so I had to use an older point & shoot camera to take pictures of my camera)

Camera: Nikon D90.

Lenses: 

AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8G - this is my baby & absolute favorite lens. It is perfect for portraits but I've found that I only like using it for 1 to 2 people in the shot and no more than that. So no family portraits!

AF-S Nikkor 18-105mm 1:3.5-5.6G - this is the standard lens that I use and also the lens that came with my camera.

AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm 1:4.5-5.6G - this is my zoom lens for now. It's great for beginners but hopefully I will be stepping up to a higher quality zoom lens in the future!

Tripod: Manfrotto is the brand. A tripod is an absolute must in my opinion if you want to get clear shots and have longer exposure times. If you want night shots you must have a tripod because as still as you think you can hold your camera it's never still enough with how delicate and sensitive it is!

External Flash: Nikon Speedlight SB-700 - besides for my lenses this external flash was one of my biggest investments. When it comes to lenses & external flashes I always feel that you should get the high quality one which is where you need to save your pennies! An external flash is a must if you are getting into wedding photography.

Laptop: Newest Macbook Pro - Although I love my computer, beware! These laptop do not have CD drives, you will have to purchase one if you are still putting photos on discs.

Extra equipment I always have on me:

Extra AA batteries for my external flash, 2-16GB PNY Pro-Elite Scards, camera charger with an extra charged battery, business cards, and an external hard drive because you can't trust to put your photos on just your computer!

And last but certainly not least, my beautiful genuine leather camera bag that my husband bought me for my 22nd birthday and had embossed with real gold! He did good huh? I am in love with it!

Check out this beauty:

KEY ADVICE: Networking is your best way to get places and know people in not just the photography world, but anywhere! 

Here are some websites to check out:

Molly Breton Photography - http://professionalmaineweddingphotographer.com

Tom Griscom Photography - http://www.tomgriscom.com

Richard Bernabe Photography - http://www.richardbernabe.com

B & H Photo - http://www.bhphotovideo.com

Introduction!

I never thought I'd be the "type" to write a blog. Although I have a lot to say, I tend to keep things to myself unless I've been asked. But it makes sense now to write one, create one, post one (however you use this terminology) because even though most of it may be about photography I still have a lot going on in my own life that some may be able to relate to. 
A little bit about myself.. I'm a walking contradiction. I'm an introvert that loves adventures, I'm independent & strong willed who married into the military (where you get no say at all), I'm a planner that loves change, I like having a routine but I get bored easily, and I love having things in order but have nothing in order. I get so many comments from people who say that I "have it all together" but in my mind I'm running around with my head cut off. And I'm also a huge believer in Him. I was raised Episcopalian and am thankful for that every day. I don't go to church every Sunday and I barely pray but seem to feel like I have a connection with Him - what that is I haven't discovered yet but I feel that it will happen soon. Church isn't where I feel that connection though, being on a mountain is. But this is a whole other conversation and possibly a future blog post? Maybe. 
Recently we have moved to North Carolina which has once again given me the opportunity to meet new people and discover new places. I grew up in one house my entire life in Pittston, Maine and moved to Powell, Wyoming right after high school to scratch that itch for independence and adventure. Did I forget to mention I'm an only child? Talk about shocking everyone. I was always labeled for being the one to stay home, finish college, and continue working at the pub as a waitress. But that just wasn't for me after my plane landed in Jackson, Wyoming, summer 2010. Once again, this is a whole other story which is why I love my life. I have roots in Maine, Wyoming, Virginia, and now North Carolina - look at how many stories I can tell! Oh yeah, and I'm only 22 ;)

So here goes nothing, writing/posting/creating this blog to put my photography, thoughts, opinions, out there for everyone.

Tory