A dreamy Colorado Elopement

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I’ve known Vanessa for over 15 years and when she asked me to photograph her elopement I couldn’t say no! We had so many places where we could go since she resides in Wisconsin and I’m in Texas…so why not go out of the box and go to Colorado? Just a little walk up a path and you get to overlook a lake and mountains. Sapphire Point Overlook is a popular destination in Colorado and we could not pass it up. Wait until you see this view! This elopement was intimate and unique, I highly recommend coming to Colorado to elope! Check out the magic below!

Who is HM Photography & Design?

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Hey! Glad you’re here! If you’ve stumbled upon this blog post, I’m sure you have seen the magic that I love to do! With over 70 weddings under my belt, countless engagements, family sessions, seniors and newborns, I truly love what I do. Not many people can say that about their job! This all started out as a hobby 14 yers ago with a point and shoot camera. All I took photos of were nature. I’d take a lot when I’d go up north in the woods in Wisconsin, originally where I’m from. Eventually I got my first DSLR and that was a game changer..however I still wanted to keep photographing nature. It wasn’t until about six years ago that I wanted to start photographing people.

My husband and I had just gotten married, built our house and were working hard to pursue our dreams at the time. My dream had always been to own my business but at the time it was to be an art director of a company since I do have a design background of over 15 years! He heard me talk about my photography a lot and gave me his credit card, he only had a couple hundred dollars left on it but said..”make your website, show who you are, let’s get this started and you can follow your dreams” and from then on I grew. I built my website (as you can see) then built up my clientele. I found my style of how I like to shoot and soon I started booking more and more and more. I was working full time and doing photos on the side for practice until I was confident to charge. One day at my full time job..I took a deep breath and applied for my LLC. I became a legal business within a couple days and it blew me away. I was the actual HM Photography & Design and I was my own boss!

What made me get into weddings? I know, it says I photograph a lot. Weddings, engagements to families and newborns, I just about do it all but my passion is weddings. Ever since I planned my own wedding, I was fascinated by the industry. Yes it can be stressful but its rewarding. I love capturing someone’s big day and just being there to help with the whole thing. I love the atmosphere. Last year when covid hit, I finally took it into consideration and went full time with my business, there was no turning back. It was hard but it was manageable. I’ve done elopements with just two people and I’ve done big weddings with over 200 people with a little of everything in between. I’ve watched myself grow as a person and as a photographer as the years have gone on. I also decided that since I’ve grown I wanted to start traveling for weddings. So far this year I’ve been to Colorado, next up is Wisconsin and Yosemite!

Whats your style? My style is candid. Photojournalistic, luxury and candid. I want to tell your story the way I see it through my eyes since you are busy all day being the queen you were meant to be. I get the laughs, smiles and happy tears.

So I hope you have had a great time getting to know me a little better, stick around or follow me on my social media platforms:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hmphotographyanddesign

Instagram: www.instagram.com/hmphotographyanddesign

The difference between CMYK & RGB

I have a lot of brides that get confused on where to print and why printing at Walmart, CVS and Walgreens or any other place is just not ideal. You should always go through your professionals.

Many people who are not creatives do not know what RGB & CMYK are. They believe they are the same thing but in reality, they are two different items. RGB is used for web (HTML, XHTML, CSS and others), computer screens, TV’s and your handy dandy smartphone that you’re probably reading this on. CMYK is used for print. When you break it down there is a significant difference between how the colors are. 

Let’s start with RGB: RGB stands for Red, Green & Blue. As stated, before RGB is used for the web and for the computer screen. Depending on your monitor and what they put out these days (I really think they make something new every day. Do you agree? There are millions of pixels on your screen that make up a photo or what you are seeing on the screen. When they are combined, they can make any color in the spectrum. I can name off hundreds of colors and hex codes (I’ll get into those later) but I do not want to bore you and then this would just get really long and you would stop reading, you’re still with me, right? I promise this is the coolest blog you will read today. There are some cool things that happen with RGB that are different than CMYK. For instance, when 100% of each color (are you ready for this?) 16,777,216 different colors all together, will make white. When none of these colors are combined you will get a solid black. Let’s talk about these 16 million different colors. There are 256 shades of red, 256 shades of green and 256 shades of blue. When we put the math together, we get 16,777,216. That is a heck of a lot of colors. Guess what though? Our eyes can only see about seven million of these colors. That is typically why only eight bits are used on fancy gadgets (tvs, computer screens…etc) instead of 24-bit. With RGB comes with hexadecimals.  

A color hex code aka hexadecimal describes the content of a certain color. To make this the easiest let’s break it up like this, remember how I mentioned that it was 3 colors? Red, Green, Blue. A hexadecimal will look like this (#RRGGBB) now that is an example. I’ll show you something pretty cool, so this makes sense. 

Hexcode.png

Pretty cool diagram, right? You can just about put it any number and you will get any color. I guess that’s why there is over 16 million colors! 

How do you know when to use RGB? It’s short and simple. If you’re going to be doing something digitally, use RGB. There are no two types of colors, but they can be achieved. A digital monitor is made up of tiny unites called pixels. Millions of pixels that make up your colors. The RGB scheme has a greater range of colors than CMYK, which you will find out in a second because it has a full range of colors. You are very limited with CMYK. However, RGB will NOT always print out looking out on screen, and here is where CMYK comes in. 

So what is CMYK? What does it stand for? For simple terms, CMYK is used in the printing world. CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and key or also known as black. These four colors are used strictly for offset printing. CMYK is standard in the agency world. We use it a lot when we print out brochures, stickers, flyers…the list could go on. I know it do not make sense but the colors look much better when printed. When you mix the colors though, they all produce white, pretty interesting right? 

There are a select number of printers that can print RGB but they are extremely expensive and not accurate. While some could be used for “practical” reasons, when you layer RGB on top of other colors that are so close to each other, it produces even darker colors. Inks can only absorb so much and as we read before our eyes see them differently. However, when you have to print on different materials (stickers, photo paper, vinyl..etc) that is why you have to use CMYK.  

Is it important to convert your files to RGB to CMYK, yes and no. A printing company could do it but you will be in for a surprise when your work comes back looking totally different (you will see an example shortly).  Your color change from RGB to CMYK could be extremely dramatic. Almost looking dull and then you will not be happy with the results. Most printing places though require you to make your file into CMYK. My recommendation, that I have for sure learned at this digital agency since I do a lot of print is to start your project in CMYK if you know that you are making a brochure, business cards, stickers, flyers. There are crutial times where you have to use specific brand colors like an example, we have specific colors that work for RGB and CMYK because they know they will look good no matter how they are printed. However, I am not saying print in RGB, print in CMYK and save yourself the pain of having to go back into your file and transfer everything into CMYK – it can take hours (I’ve learned). 

 

CMYKdiagram1.jpg
CMYKandRGB.png

I suppose I should say there are cheats. If you are a designer like myself which you’ll meet some more of me in the next job with my many rolls, you can change your files in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. They got your back more than a printing place does that won’t tell you that they have to change it to CMYK when you were expecting deep rich colors. 

So now that I have explained the differences, you may have got a lot a little more information that you didn’t know!

But the rain didn't stop them..

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We were a little worried about the rain on this wedding day. Marissa had decided that she would have to move her wedding inside instead of it being at a park. However, this worked out in her favor! If you live in Texas and are looking for an apartment, check out Station 21 in Lewisville. Those are some luxury apartments for a fraction of a price...anyways, this isn't a sales pitch. The rain cleared as soon as I arrived to start photos with the bride! They do say that rain is good luck...

Friday The 13th...for real!

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This was by far the coolest wedding I have ever had a chance to shoot. Not only was the couple awesome..it was based on the movie Friday The 13th...even Michael Myers came in for some photos. See for yourself! Congrats to Katie & Marcus for tying the knot! 

Karen & Gabriel, The Castle at Rockwall Wedding

Karen and Gabriel's Wedding was nothing short of a fairy tale! They celebrated their big day at The Castle at Rockwall in Rockwall, Texas. I was fortunate enough to photograph these two in the beginning of their engagement and got to know them quite well. Gabriel lights up Karen's world every time she speaks. He surprised her during the reception by singing to her! The night was full of dancing, smiles and a great celebration! Take a look below!

The Pack is back!

I've known Kayla for a couple of years now. We got introduced by a band that we love, Avenged Sevenfold. She also lived in Wisconsin! She now resides in Arkansas with her wonderful boyfriend Greg and their adorable dogs. She knew she was going to be in Texas for a wedding in June and was so thrilled we could schedule a session for photos. A rainy day turned out to work in our favor as we went around the trails at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano. They had to represent The Packer's in Texas, go pack go!

A Texas Wedding

Wedding season is approaching, spring is in the air and I kicked off this wedding season with an awesome couple. Kim & Rick have known each other for over 40 years! While being able to chit chat with Kim a little bit before she walked down the aisle, she told me what seemed like a fairy tale come true. They knew each other from high school, fell out of touch and went their own ways, then found each other again years ago and look at them now. It truly was a beautiful day to photograph these two getting married. There were many laughs and tears of joy. The best part was the first look, that is a newer "thing" and I'm so glad they did it. We made the poor groom cry and I almost cried! Congrats on the happy couple!

 

 

 

Can you say creative?

The holidays are over and I have to say that I have met so many awesome people during my mini sessions! There is a reason why I have a passion for photography and it's because I love to capture everything, especially during family sessions. The Clasby's were by far the most entertaining family to work with. They made my job a cake walk and thought out of the box. This wasn't some ordinary sit down and pose session, this was filled with Chuck Taylors, laughs and incredible poses. Take a look and see for yourself!

 

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words..and that is exactly what this photoshoot was. Destiny just got her daughter back after 2 whole years. She has never been able to afford professional photos or have one professional photo of her daughter. I was honored to be able to shoot such a lovely family this past weekend in Wisconsin. This is why I do what I do.