It’s that time of year again– the time to look back and reflect on all the ridiculous things we did over the course of the year and show our behind the scenes photos!  But first, we’ve never actually introduced our team, so let’s start with that!  We don’t have any pictures of everyone together because we never all work together.  Here’s four of us at this years Christmas party– after two had already left and after I hand changed out of my dress into leggings.  😀

Left to Right: Dillon (video + editing), Susan (photos), Josh (video + editing), Eddie (video)

And above we have JoEllen + Jim (video- and they’ve been married for 30 years!), and Emily (photo– she has her own business, but helps us out and will be doing some shooting in my place next year!).

As we’ve grown, Josh and I have worked really hard to replace ourselves.  We love doing our jobs, but what if one day we weren’t here and there was a wedding the next day?  This crew (along with a few others locally) could jump in and make it happen like we weren’t even missing, and that is awesome for us and our clients!  The scary thing is finding people you can truly trust that have a heart for people, and every single person in the pictures above have the biggest hearts in the whole world.

Okay, I’ll go on more about that one day, but for now just know what we absolutely adore our team.  Also, they all have other jobs, all centered around serving other people.  I love it.

Oh, and there’s one other piece to our crew that will make some appearances…

“Now let me tell you all about it.”  And make a fool of myself.

Probably the most memorable behind the scenes from this year– Caitlyn + Sean’s wedding!  I threw my back out a few days before.  Like, legitimately, was completely on my back and couldn’t move.  Josh had to physically pick me up when I needed to go to the restroom.  But I had a wedding that Saturday and I was going to do my best!  I normally shoot weddings all by myself and love it, but this wedding changed all that.  I hired Emily as my second shooter since I knew she could do the whole day by herself if I ended up in the hospital.  I also hired an assistant to literally carry everything for me, and I wore a back brace the whole day (you can see it in this photo).  The day went beautifully and I couldn’t be more thankful for the supportive team we have!Also, I have no clue why my flash was on my camera while outside, and pointed all the way backwards.  All I can say is: Strong pain meds.  🙂

We do a lot of walking backwards in this job…Hey there Eddie!
Here’s my favorite assortment of Josh’s serious faces…

I love it when my hair matches the decor at a wedding!“So Taylor, then I said…”
I prep a lot of things.  Hair, dresses, etc.  I try to make sure every detail is perfect before we take the picture!
And I also giggle a little when I go to take a behind the scenes shot and see this!  Contrary to many people, we don’t mind when guests take photo and video.  So long as they aren’t in our way (which 98% of the time they aren’t), we’re totally fine!  It’s a moment worth capturing, and we’d be silly to think we can capture every single second at a wedding.And this section is full of us not working.

Where’s Waldo?  Where’s Susan?
Josh runs a lot… mainly backward.Hey babe, you’re in my shot…You’re in my shot…Your microphone is in my shot…You are definitely still in my shot.But his shots are pretty epic so I’ll let it slide.

We’ve also done a few last minute weddings this year.  Multiple times, we’ve been hired the day before (or day OF) a wedding!  I find myself heading to a wedding and all I have is an address and a time.  No bride + groom names, no schedule.  I kind of love it.  I love that my skill set allows me to jump in a random situation and run with it.  This particular wedding below took three (or four?) photographers. I covered details, ceremony, and portraits!

We strive to be incognito, and that’s what many of the brides and guests comment on after the wedding.  “How did you get all that– we barely saw you!!!”  We love that because the day is all about the couple and we don’t want people remembering us– just remembering our work!  But sometimes, we kind of have to take over, especially during portraits.  That’s when we get those dreamy sunset shots and those core pieces to the film!Can you spot the drone below?A big part of what we do is commercial work!  We’ve done photo and video for banks, credit unions, medical offices, bakeries, marketing companies, and several magazines.  It’s a lot of fun and we absolutely love building up local businesses, too.  We almost always shoot on location at their offices, showing off what they do best.

It always surprises companies a little when Josh doesn’t actually man a camera during a lot of our commercial shoots!  We switch up jobs all the time based on who is best at what.  I’m great at manning stationary cameras, checking color profiles, and making sure that end is running smoothly.  Josh is fantastic at interviewing and making people feel comfortable.  He checks the settings and audio to make sure they’re where he wants them, and then Dillon, JoEllen, or myself will keep everything running steady while Josh sits down to interview.One of my favorite shots from this year.  We filmed a promo film for The American Legion Tar Heel Boys State and we had so much fun running around the Catawba College campus in golf carts all week!Hazel was also with us that week. At four years old, she stood on stage in front of 300+ high school boys and sang an acoustic set including The ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Girlfriend killed it and got a standing ovation and those teenage boys sang their hearts out to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star right along with her.  Afterwards she face planted hard while exiting the stage. A hush fell over the audience until she jumped back up with a huge smile on her face.  I believe we have a performer on our hands!
But let’s be real.  She’s four.She also very much enjoys photography and video……from both sides of the camera!And she makes friends wherever she goes.  Given, the guy in the red shirt is her grandpa, but the others were just an endless sea of random men and she treated them all like they were her very best friends.And when she’s done, she’s done.All around, we like to have fun, jump in each others shots, goof off, and I’m just really glad they haven’t made a video compilation yet. “Hey Taylor, can you hold my lens?”
“Huh?”
Another Where’s Waldo: Can you find Josh and Hazel?And then there are the times where we look like we have it altogether.  Look at us, just filming like a boss.Emily is a bit famous for her test shots.  She is a professional lighting tester, I swear, but she doesn’t get paid extra for it.  😉  Her attitude is always on point, though!This year we went to Bulgaria to meet our son!  Unexpectedly, we had to miss a wedding.  🙁  But because we’d been so diligent about being replaceable in a pinch, we had exactly the right people to call on for help!  Ashley + Emily jumped in and handled this wedding day exactly like I would have.  I couldn’t possibly be more grateful for them!
“Can you hold the veil?  And my flash?  And my lenses?  Can you check my phone to see what time it is?”
Perhaps my very favorite behind the scenes from this year!  The video team and Emily totally jammin’ out during a reception.And sometimes I ask guests to help me out a bit…  and they’re nice enough to oblige!Oh Emily, we love you so much!  You make every wedding day brighter.Second shooting or assisting for me is quite the random job title, I assure you.  You might be photographing, you might be holding my sweater by a window…And I second shoot for others, too!  It’s not as often these days, but I absolutely love it and it’s so fun to see how others handle a wedding day.  When you’re the lead shooter you just don’t see all that second shooters do.It’s been a fun year, and I couldn’t be more thankful to do it with this guy by my side.