My husband and I recently moved BACK to NorCal. Myself for the 4th time! This time we are committed to staying here for at least two years. There is something about Redding. The mountains, lakes, the adventurous spirit in the air. It really makes me feel so alive and free!

I connected with the sweetest married couple here last week. They also happen to be rad photographers themselves!! We set off in the mountains, not really knowing where we were going, but I had a vision in mind! Due to the weather, the vision didn't really come true.. but we made some awesome images happen in the process anyways and I would love to share them with you!

We started in the mountains of a tiny town called French Gulch, right outside of Redding. There isn't much to see there besides, uhm, THESE MOUNTAINS!! The trek there is full of windy, narrow roads with loose rocks from the mountains (4WD will come in handy) But the views are definitely worth it! Once we were finished there we made a little stop at Whiskeytown Lake. Ya'll, I could live at this place. It is so stunning! And to finish it off, I took my cute couple downtown Redding and snapped some unconventional images just for funzies. I really love having these fun, unpaid sessions where I can just create and have my own vision.

Well, im done typing... gaze on my friends!

So, its not difficult to see that photography is a business that operates off of 1st impressions. A potential client clicks on your website, Instagram, Facebook, whatever it may be, and you can either pull them in or turn them away in the matter of seconds. The question is, "How do you make sure to pull them in?" Yes its true, everyone has a different taste as far as what they want from a photograph, but if a client clicks on your site for a reason, we want them to stay for a while!

There are a few tips that I learned along the way on how to make your photographs stand out & to make your viewers want to see more.

And what kind of person would I be if I withheld those from you? Not the nicest one.. and I actually am quite nice. So, lets begin!

1) Find your style & stick to it!

This goes for the aesthetics of your website as well as just the consistency of your work. Put yourself in your clients shoes. If you LOVED one image from an artist because of its crisp, beautiful colors, but then saw other images of theirs that were gritty and dulled down, you would probably be afraid of what photos they would send you, right? There is the overused saying of "consistency is key". But it is so true. Your trademark is your editing style. People will come to you because they love that style! You may not know what style you want that to be from the beginning, in may take some time to discover one that feels like YOU. But once you do, it will be so rewarding, and people will begin to recognize your work just from your edits! Personally, I have adapted my work to have vivid colors and candid captures... Thats just what I LOVE and it helps so much knowing what my style is, coming into a shoot and being able to picture what the final edit is going to look like, even while it is still on my camera.

2) Work that angle, girl! (And guys)

I challenge you- take one photo at eye level and then take that same photo either 3 feet higher or 3 feet lower.. check out the difference! This technique can change ordinary into "editorial". One of my favorite things to do within my work is to see how much I can manipulate (in a good way) my models body just by using unique angles. Take this image to the left, for example, Imagine if I was standing up normally and captured it.. this photo wouldn't have NEARLY as much "UMPH" to it! Get down REAL low and it suddenly feels like you are about to be stepped on. But even more than that.. it is UNIQUE! It will catch the eyes of your viewers and leave them wanting more.

3) Shoot through shtuff

Lets be real, you don't even have to shoot THROUGH stuff.. just add in a little 'summin summin" to create an artistic flare to your photo. Try using a prism, a broken piece of glass (be careful), a curtain, or even just a solid object up close to your lens to create a blur effect or even a rainbow (if you get the reflection right). In this image to the right I found a piece of a broken bottle on the beach and brought it up close to my lens. Since the glass was curved, it created and awesome, blurred out warped effect! And it was free! (once circumstance where I thanked the person that littered). Don't feel like messing with glass?? Try a leaf, the edge of a building or even your cell phone. honestly, put pretty much anything up close to your lens and it adds in a new dimension.

Every artist has their own vision, their own perspective, and their own way or portraying a story. Lets stay true to ourselves and let creativity take over. There are so many other ways to create photographs unique to YOU. Lets not get stuck in the rut of re-creating others work when we have so much at our fingertips to allow us to breath new life into the portrait world. I personally love when I capture an image and can say "I have NEVER seen a photo like this before!". Ya dig? Yeah ya do! Use these tricks and find your own, too!

XxKelsey