SELFie | Nashville Photographer

Now I love a good selfie.  GOOD is the key word here.  And, trust me, there are some really bad ones out there.  You know what I am talking about... The girl with the duck lips trying to be super sexy.  The guy at the gym with his shirt off.  But the worst of all to me is when someone can look so much better than they look in their selfie.  Bad light and bad angles are the major causes for bad selfies.  So we need to stop this unnecessary dilemma now.  Below are my favorite tips on how to take a good selfie.  

1)  As I always say: FIND THE RIGHT LIGHT.  And, yes, I just screamed at you but you need to get that in your amazingly smart brain of yours.  Look for shade as close to the sun as possible.  But never stand in direct sunlight- that will only cause unnecessary dark shadows on your face making you look so much uglier than you really are.  Because YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL so let your selfie show it!  

2) MOVE AROUND.  The best way to do this with your iphone is to turn the camera around to face the screen and literally move your body around to see where the light flatters you most.  Now I love backlight with my subjects because I can control so much more on my camera but with an iphone selfies usually don't work well with backlight.  The most flattering is usually with the sun hitting your eyes while you are in the shade.

3)  YOUR CAR!  Your car is an amazing place to take selfies.  That is why you see so many girls with their seatbelts on looking amazing.  The light filters in through the windows creating a soft light that flatters anyone.  Now make sure you have your sunroof closed if the light is too bright from above.  Or open it if there are a lot of clouds.  The only rule here is to only take selfies while parked (or at a stoplight while your neighbor car watches on and laughs).  Who doesn't laugh at someone taking a selfie?  And who hasn't been caught taking a selfie?  Of course not me.  

4)  Go easy on the filters.  This is HUGE.  Many of you just pop a filter on your selfie and don't ease up on the opacity.  Always make sure you put the opacity at least to 50% or less.  Because you don't want to look like an orange.  

So, there are my tips for making yourself as beautiful as you really are.  I really do love seeing photos of you all on my instagram and not just your kids or dog or grandma.  It makes me happy.  So please keep posting and try these tips!  If you do let me know.  I would love to see!  Have a great weekend friends!!!  

This is a selfie(s) with my youngest boy... Love him so. 

Finding the Light | Nashville Photographer

I needed a bit of a break from my super intense personal blog posts so I thought I would start sharing with you all a few of my photography tricks.  If you follow me on instagram then you saw many of them in my video posts a few months ago.  I took them all down so thought I would write a lot of them out here so you can have them for reference if you want!

One of the first questions (besides what to wear) from my clients is usually, "where do we need to take the photos?"  In the beginning of my years as a photographer that was also a very important question to me.  I would spend hours scouting out the perfect locations and trying to find the exact right field or barn-like door.  Now I feel like I can go *almost anywhere and get the exact shot that I want.  How?  Looking for the light.  

The first thing I look at when I arrive at a location is where the sun is located in the sky and any area that is shaded in the vicinity.  Then I decide on which shaded area I want to try first.  I usually look for an area that has the sun behind it and is partially blocks out the sun if the sun is high in the sky.  If the sun is lower then I just find an open area and shoot with the sun behind me.  That gives my photos the dreamy, sun-washed look that you expect to see from me.  Now the one thing you must be careful of is the sun-rays can impact a photo by blocking out part of a head or an entire person.  So I always just move around until I get the exact right light that I want to fall on my subject.  MOVE AROUND- even with an iphone.  It makes such a difference!  

So next time you are taking photos with your camera or iphone, try looking for the light.  When I see beautiful light, I cannot help but take a photo.  Just ask my patient children!  Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have...

Here are a few photos that I took in the middle of Sevier Park with a tree and the sun behind my subjects.  There were many distractions behind the tree but the sun was able to wash those things out so the focus could fall on my subject and the beautiful light.

Fall | Nashville Photographer

I've been thinking a lot about seasons lately.  Honestly, I have always hated it when someone told that it was "just a season."  Especially when it came to my babies not sleeping.  It just seemed to diminish my painful sick exhaustion to mere seasonal allergies.  But the word "seasons" has been coming to me in a new way lately.  Fall has always been such a beautiful, yet also strangely aching time for me.  There is so much beauty in the smell and feel of the air yet there is so much loss experienced as the colorful leaves slowly fall to the ground leaving bareness all around.  

And my life seems to be in the midst of Fall itself.  Letting go of what I have held on to for so long through the Spring and Summer of my life.  Yet in the midst of the letting go, I am also learning to hope.  Knowing that Winter is coming and that the bareness will soon turn to beauty once again.  And isn't there some sort of odd beauty in the bareness as well?  You can see a bit more, right?  I am always amazed at being able to see things that I didn't see when the leaves hung on the trees: a neighbors house, the trail wrapping around the river, the sunset, the moon appearing a bit earlier through the bare branches.  And in this falling away of what I have known and held on to for so long, I am slowly learning to see a bit more.  More of myself.  More of my family.  More of God.  And the seeing isn't always pleasant or easy but it only gives way to growth.  And growth always leads to beauty.  Always.  

So, here I am on this path towards Winter and longing for Spring.  Yet I will stay in the falling away with my hands open knowing that this is where I am suppose to be and that soon my hands will be filled once again.  But I must keep them open and ready to hold whatever comes.  For it is in the openness that I can blossom.  

May wherever you are give you peace today.... 

The photo below is from one of my favorite places on earth, Onsite in Cumberland Furnace, TN.  If you are at a place that you feel like you need to hit a reset button on life, I would strongly suggest you looking into going here for a week.  It changed me and continues to change me today.  I am also happy to talk with anyone about my experience there as well.  Feel free to reach out.  

Just Keep Going | Nashville Photographer

I never planned to be a photographer.  My dream as a child was to be on the news.  It's true.  I wanted to be on The Today Show someday.  Katie Couric was my hero.  So I went into college as one of the only girls with a Speech Communications major.  Many of my friends were art/design majors so I spent a ton of time in that building.  But I just never thought it was really for me.  

Years later my daughter was born and I pulled out an old film camera that I used a few times on vacations and started playing with it.  After a year or so of taking photos of Bella, friends started asking me to take photos of their children.  From there I started my business slowly but surely.  I can remember going to an art fair and bringing samples of my work.  Looking back I realize how brave I was because that work is pretty embarrassing.  Or maybe I was just oblivious to how bad those photos really were.  But whatever it was, I put myself out there.  

And to all of you who are just starting or who want to start but don't think you have the natural talent- you can get better.  You will get better if you just keep going.  I wanted to quit more times than I could count because I failed more times than I could count.  Like really failed.  Like I can remember one session where every photo was blown out completely.  And I can remember writing notes on my hand on how to use the manual setting.  Every session felt like the first day of school: a mixture of nerves and excitement.  And then there was the comparing.  I was constantly looking at other photographers blogs and trying to copy their work.  They were the pinnacle to who I wanted to be as an artist.  

Now I wish there was some major aha moment that I can recall that I had the big turning point.  I just kept going.  And I got better.  At some point it just became second nature to know exactly what settings my camera needs to be on to get the right shot.  The comparing stopped.  I started to ask myself: what do you like?  What represents who you are?  And I began to get my inspiration from other sources than from fellow photographers.  I truly don't believe I became an artist until I allowed my work to be my work.  

So to all of you who want to give up, just keep going.  Keep painting.  Keep taking pictures.  Keep dreaming.  Sometimes it is staying in the mediocrity of the everyday that makes you great.  

So just to keep it real... Here are a few of my first photo sessions ever with my digital camera. These are around 10 years old... 

Challenges are a Challenge | Nashville Photographer

So when I wrote the post below I had absolutely no clue how hard the fashion challenge was going to be.  I originally thought it would be hard because I would have to wear things I was not use to wearing.  Ummmm, no, not even close.  By day 3, I had so much anxiety posting photos of myself that I dreaded the moment when I would push post.  I would talk to friends and tell them I wanted to quit.  I couldn't put myself out there anymore.  My group of friends, near and far, cheered me on.  They would not let me quit.  So onward I went.  But let me tell you- it was HARD.  Some days I would get tons of likes.  Other days the likes were low and it was hard not to take it personally.  When you post a photo of yourself it is vulnerable.  So if you are one of those who like to make fun of selfies and think it is some narcissistic approach to life then you might want to try posting a few yourself.  Do you feel full of yourself when you do it?  Because I sure didn't.  It actually made me feel less of myself on certain days.  I became pretty self conscious and I usually consider myself someone who has a healthy self esteem.  So I encourage you to stop your judging of selfies.  When you see a photo of someone, please like it.  They need you to like it.  They need a touch from someone, even if it is as distant as a little heart popping up on their screen.  It is hard to remember that it is a true, genuine person behind the hard, impersonal screen.  They have feelings and they need your love. 

So what I actually learned is not what I thought I would learn but it was a good lesson and I am thankful for the chance to grow and learn.   Now on to the really FUN part!  I want to give back to all of you that cheered me on in this journey.  I am giving you the chance to post a photo of yourself in your favorite challenge of mine from the last 30 days.  First place will win a mini session with me valued at $250.  Second place will receive a $50 gift card to Nordstrom and third place a $25 gift card to Nordstrom.  All you need to do is post your photo on your instagram account and tag Trone Photography.  I will have someone on the outside judging so there will not be any biased opinions from me.  The giveaway ends Sunday evening at midnight.  

I can't wait to now like, no not like, LOVE all of your beautiful selves.  Here's to challenges and learning to love ourselves just the way we are, selfies and all.  

Home | Nashville Engagement Photographer

Life can be so strange and amazing sometimes.  I was around 14 and would babysit a cute little boy named Bradley in the small town of Benton, Arkansas.  One of the memories I have from those days is the time Bradley pushed his golden retriever into their pool and I had to jump in to get it out.  And also the time a big tornado came through town and their house flooded as I hid in the bathroom with his baby sister, Melodye.  Who would have thought over 20 years later that I would be photographing his wedding in Nashville, TN to a beautiful girl?  Sometimes you just can't imagine where life will take you and the stories it will tell.  But I am so glad that this story is being told and that I get it be apart of it.  

Brad + Brittany are such a sweet, fun couple!  I can't wait to photograph their wedding in a few months.  I have a feeling that it is going to be quite a fun night!  Here are a few of my favorite images from our time together...

Receiving | Nashville Engagement Photography

I love it when an idea I have had for a while comes to fruition.  Every time that I eat at Burger Up (which is more than I would like to admit), I glance longingly at the loading dock next door at the bookstore.  I have wanted to photograph someone below the "receive" for a while.  Kind of like I have wanted to photograph Taylor Swift on top of one of the "Swift" 18 wheelers for a while now too.  Well you know which one was more likely to happen.  So a few weekends ago, I made it happen.  Kara + Justin were such great sports and hopped right up on the dirty loading deck.  I love it when my clients are not afraid of my weird ideas.  I loved the outcome and the poem I found by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver... 

The world is more than the beating of a single heart.  It's praising.  It's giving until the giving feels like receiving.