el paso portrait photographer

Kaitlin Family | Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

Who is ready for more photos of Kaitlin and her family?  I shared the film portion of their images in a previous post, but now it's time for the rest.  

Y'all, what can I even say about these images.  It was a beautiful family, in a beautiful location, with gorgeous light.  The whole family was fun, upbeat, and ready to have fun.  This was pretty much an ideal session for me.  I loved working with this family and am so excited with how the images turned out!  I hope I can work with them again in the future.

You can check out the images from this session below: 


If you'd like to schedule your own family portrait session, please contact me for more information and to schedule a complimentary consultation

Diana- The First Roll: Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

Diana- The First Roll: Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

I've been loving my holga, so when I came across a good deal on another Lomography style camera, I thought why not?  Let's play.

So for $25, I picked up a used Diana camera.  

At a basic level, Dianas are pretty much the same as holgas.  They use medium format film, are made entirely of plastic, and have very limited settings options.

Shelly Glamour | Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

Morning light, mountains, and beautiful dresses.  These are some of my favorite things and they all came together for Shelly's glamour session.  We had so much fun for this one.  Shelly showed up with a trunk full of gorgeous dresses and shoes and was excited to shoot.  We ended up laughing for most of the session and had a really great time! 

Check out the photos below!

 

If you are interested in booking your own glamour session please contact me to schedule your complimentary consultation!

Our Life in Instax: Mikaela Joy | El Paso Portrait Photographer

Y'all, I've been dying for one of these little cameras basically since they came out. 

These days basically everything is digital.  We record our day to day life on our phones, where we fill up SD cards with pictures we never look at.  We hire photographers for our special moments, photographers who send us USB's filled with beautiful photos- beautiful photos that we post on facebook and then toss into a drawer and never look at.  I'm tired of everything digital.

So there is a major draw for me to an instax camera.  Instead of creating a file, a instax creates an instant print of your image- a print that can be passed around and shared and displayed.  Granted, it's a tiny print the size of a business card, but it's something real.  And it's really fun to play with too!

I spent an entire day chasing little man and all the animals around with my instax camera to test it out and I had so much fun!  This little camera is definitely going to become a staple in my tools to capture my day to day life!

Holga- The First Two Rolls: Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

I think I have a new favorite camera.  

It's funny, I've invested thousands of dollars into all the amazing equipment that I own, the equipment that helps me to nail shot after shot exactly how I've envisioned it. 

But the camera that is making my heart sing these days is nothing like that gear.  It cost me $30 and is made entirely of plastic. This camera is a holga.

Holgas are funny cameras.  They were made to be a cheap option for a consumer camera back in the film days.  Optically, they are one of the worst cameras ever made.  Yet they are loved by film photographers around the world.  

Why?  Well they have a very distinctive look.  They are known for light leaks and blurry edges, and not being very sharp, all the things that are technically terrible in a photograph.  But they create really interesting photographs.

  Holgas are very basic, which means the photographer has very little control.  There are three settings for light, and three settings for focus. All you can really do with a holga is to pick up a roll of 120 film and go shoot.

And that's exactly what I did.  There is definitely some trial and error in learning how to shoot a Holga, so I've mostly been practicing on my son.  Here's a bit of what I've done so far: 

I've been having a lot of fun with this little camera.  I can't wait to try it out for some more serious uses!

Cassy Maternity | Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

Isn't motherhood beautiful?

I absolutely love shooting maternity portraits.  Being pregnant is such a fleeting moment.  It doesn't feel like it at the time, with the morning sickness, the Braxton hicks, and the incredible exhaustion, but looking back afterwards you'll realize, pregnancy is gone in the blink of an eye. 

And there's really nothing else like it.  There is no other moment in life where a mother and her child are that together, bonded by the fact that they, for a while, share the same body.  The more I learn about pregnancy and how a mother's body adapts to grow a child, the more I realize how amazing it is.  

Pregnancy is also a moment that women often forget to capture on camera.  

Understandably so, being pregnant is hard work.  Getting dressed up with hair and makeup can feel impossible when all you want to do is sit on the couch and drink a slushie. I've definitely been there, and I get that.  But it's so worth it.  Photos from my pregnancy are some of my favorites.  I look at back at them in awe.  Unless I have more children I will never look like that again, my body will never perform those amazing feats again.  But I will always have photos to remember.

So needless to say, when Cassy wanted to have maternity portraits done, I was excited.  She has other children, but has never done photos while she was pregnant.  I was thrilled to be able to finally capture that for her.  

We made our way into the mountains on a foggy morning with a threat of rain.  It was a risky day to shoot, for fear of a sudden downpour, but it was so worth it.  The fog rolled over the mountains in such a beautiful way, it was absolutely gorgeous.

But why explain when I can show- have a look for yourselves!

Isn't she stunning? 

I also brought my Holga for some experimental film portraits.  This one's a bit different, but I'm absolutely in love with the looks that this little plastic camera can create.  

If you are interested in your own portrait session please contact me to schedule your complimentary consultation.

Sara on Film | Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

The thing I love most about shooting in downtown El Paso is the color.  There are all kinds of colorful walls and buildings that make amazing backdrops.  So It seemed like a fun challenge that instead of bringing a roll of Ektar (my absolute favorite color film), I would bring a roll of black and white film for this downtown shoot. 
And it was.  When I stopped looking for color I started noticing all the amazing textures and light patterns instead.  Sara met me downtown for a lifestyle type portrait session, and instead of planning ahead which specific locations I wanted to use, we just explored.  Sara was pretty much up for whatever and was totally cool with following me aimlessly around El Paso.  It ended up being a really fun session!

Since I wasn't super happy with the fomapan film I used for my last session, I decided to go with the tried and true Tri-x 400.  I had never used it myself, but according to basically everyone online it's one of the best films out there, so I figured I'd give it a go.

This session was shot on a Nikon FM.

Check out the photos below:


If you are interested in your own portrait session with Mikaela Joy, please contact me to schedule your complimentary consultation.

Sarah Glamour | Mikaela Joy: El Paso Portrait Photographer

Into the archives! I can't believe I haven't shared this session yet!  This was my first studio session after the move to El Paso, and it was such a fun session!

I met Sarah while working a military ball.  She was wearing this beautiful dress and looking all around gorgeous and all I could think was how great she would be to photograph.  When we got to talking and I found out that she is a makeup artist as well, I knew we had to work together. 

We had a great time with this shoot, and I feel like it really shows in the photos.  Doesn't she look gorgeous?

If you are interested in your own glamour portrait session, please contact me to schedule your complimentary consultation