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Welcome to Stacy Reeves Photography!

Here you will find the latest on my most recent portrait sessions and weddings, as well as a peek into my personal life.  If you are in need of a photographer or would like to see more of my work, please use the "Portfolio" link above to visit my website, or simply click here.  You can also access a wealth of interesting and useful information using the "Info" link above.  Thanks for visiting--don't forget to leave a comment and let me know you stopped by!

Since my beloved Aggies BTHO Colorado this past weekend (whew!), I think this is the perfect time to show off Beth and Jim’s engagement session that I shot on the A&M campus awhile back (right before another Aggie victory vs. Army – whoop!). Beth and Jim are not only beautiful, but they are also awesome tailgaters, and masters of tailgate golf. Here are some of my faves from their session in Aggieland:

engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves
engagement photos portrait session of Beth and Jim in College Station Aggieland Texas on the Texas A&M University Aggie campus by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

Beth and Jim, thanks for giving me a great excuse to come back to my old stomping grounds, and for entertaining us before the big game. You guys are definitely redass!! :)

T4P – Do you Twitter?

Tips for Photographers (T4P) is a weekly feature where I talk about a cool tip that I think will benefit my fellow photographers. For more T4Ps, click here!

Back in my sorority days (Kappa Delta – AOT forever!), we used to have a joke that we used to keep people in line.. “If you’re talking, you’re WRONG!” Well.. If you’re not Twittering, you’re WRONG! Twitter is an amazing mini-blogging tool that helps you keep people aware of what you’re doing, what’s going on in your business, how you feel about certain things, and what your future plans are, all in 140 characters or less. The text limit keeps everything short and sweet, so even the most ADD blog follower can handle it. Do you see that little blue box at the top of my blog? That’s my Twitter feed! You can click on it and see all the twitters I have tweeted (haha!) in the past, as well!

Here is a great article I discovered that covers the basics of what Twitter is, and how it can help you promote your business and keep in touch with your clients and colleagues. This is a neat video by the very talented Bui brothers specifically regarding Twitter for photographers.

To sign up for your Twitter account, simply go here and join! And once you register, don’t forget to follow me so we can tweet to each other :)

Side note: Twitter isn’t just for photographers. ANYONE can join! I would love love love it if some of my amazing clients would join, too (hint, hint)!

T4P – Albums

Tips for Photographers (T4P) is a weekly feature where I talk about a cool tip that I think will benefit my fellow photographers. For more T4Ps, click here!

Today’s Tip for Photographers is something that I talk about quite a bit already, but it’s super important so it’s always worthy of another mention. For me, albums are the cornerstone of my business. In my eyes, I sell two products – my time, and my albums. Those are the two biggest expenses on my pricelist, because they are the heart of what I do. Some people take photos to take photos, I take photos to create albums.

The company I use for my albums is absolutely wonderful and fantastic in every way. The company is called Forbeyon and they are a dream to work with. A few months ago I took a tour of their showroom and got a newfound respect for what they do. All of their albums are handmade, right here in Dallas Texas, with top of the line quality materials, and a rigorous quality inspection process. Since day one of working with Forbeyon, it has been obvious to me that the most important aspect of their business is creating a high-quality product, and I really respect that. I have looked into a lot of other album companies, but I always come back to Forbeyon. I could gush about them all day!! To learn more about the albums I offer, check out this page.

Although Forbeyon does have a design team that will create great album designs for you, I am a control freak so I choose to design my albums myself. I do this using the Page Gallery software by Yervant. Although I have had some issues with this software (their tech support is less than stellar), I really can’t live without it. It takes me about an hour to design a full 60-page wedding book, which is unheard of. It used to take me a week just to design a small book, now I can whip out 2-3 a day! It’s a template-based program, but has several options to customize pages, and it outputs PSD files so you can tweak them by hand, as well.

It blows my mind when I hear that some people are not even offering albums at all, let alone not offering them in their packages. If you’re not selling albums, not only are you providing your clients with an incomplete service, but you’re losing a lot of potential revenue. However, to sell a product, you have to have samples to show, so make sure you have several great, top of the line sample albums to take with you to client consultations. I have about 8-10 books altogether – one for each year I have been in the business, several duplicates of client’s books, a photobooth album, a details album, and a guestbook album. And don’t complain about how you can’t afford sample albums – a couple hundred invested in sample books will mean THOUSANDS of dollars in a return on your investment, if you price them correctly. Totally worth it!!

Tips for Brides (T4B) is a weekly feature where I talk about a cool tip that I think will benefit brides everywhere. For more T4Bs, click here!

This week’s Tip for Brides is about how to make your wedding more earth-friendly. There are lots of fantastic articles out there on this subject already, but here are a few of my favorite suggestions:

-If you want to have a “grand exit” as you leave your ceremony or reception, instead of using something that will add to the world’s trash, pick something biodegradable, such as Ecofetti, or even the old standby, birdseed!

-Instead of having guests bring you fancy pots and dishes, have them purchase their own Carbon Offset to make up for the pollution and waste they caused by traveling to your wedding.

-Purchase a hemp silk wedding gown or have your own custom-made from environmentally sustainable/biodegradable fabrics.

-Plan an ecologically responsible honeymoon and use low-polluting methods of transportation, stay in ecolodges, share transportation with other travelers, and learn about areas of the world in need of ecological help.

-Use locally-made or organic favors and flowers.

-Have your photos printed on recycled photo paper or choose an album company that uses recycled materials.

I know that being ecologically friendly is very hip and “in” right now, but hopefully being earth conscious will transcend being a fad and actually become a lifestyle for everyone. Your wedding can be just as beautiful and perfect while still being good (or at least less bad) for our planet! :)

T4P – Actions

Tips for Photographers (T4P) is a weekly feature where I talk about a cool tip that I think will benefit my fellow photographers. For more T4Ps, click here!

One thing I get asked pretty often is what kinds of actions I use. In general, I try to stay away from using actions too much (although I did go through a phase where I went crazy-go-nuts for actions because they were all so new and cool). These days, I think it’s important for images to look consistent and generally timeless. However, there are a few sets that I love and use on a regular basis.

The first is Kevin Kubota’s action sets. I have Artistic Tools 1 & 2 and Production Tools 1. Although there are hundreds of actions all together, I really only use a few: Magic Sharp, Vibrant Glow, Vignette, and Daily Multi Vitamin. Here is an image with all four of those actions applied (with tweaking).

Another set I love is Totally Rad Actions Volume 1. Several of these – Pro Retouch, Oh Snap!, Cool as a Cucumber, Warm it up Kris, etc – are great for every day use, and a few more – Antique Tone, Rusty Cage, SX-70 – are good for special projects, but the one I absolutely adore is Old Skool. I have come up with a lot of variations on Old Skool that work well for me.. Here are two examples.

The last set that I use is from a friend of mine, Kevin Jairaj, and his set KJ’s Outdoor Action Set. His Punchy B&W is the BEST! It’s high contrast, which often requires some tweaking, but I absolutely swear by it and don’t use any other B&W conversion.

Any time you use an action, compare the new version with the original, and make sure that the change you’ve made is an improvement on the original, and not just a change for the sake of change. Also, don’t hesitate to tweak the actions. One thing I love about Kubota’s Actions and the Totally Rad Actions is that the changes are made on a new layer (sometimes several layers) so you are free to adjust the effects to fit your personal style. Almost every time I use an action, I adjust it in some way, either by changing the opacity, changing the layer Style, using the history brush to paint in parts of the original image, etc.

There are a lot of new trends in the photography world right now – colorshifting, textures, super-contrast/super-saturation, etc. – and it’s great to give those techniques a shot and incorporate them when appropriate. However, when you build a business around a particular trend you always run the risk of your images dating themselves or going out of style. If you want your images to stand the test of time, define your “style” in the simplest possible terms, and focus on creating beautiful, meaningful images straight out of the camera, rather than relying on Photoshop.

I was so behind on the day I finished editing this shoot that I tucked it away, saving the blog post for a time when I wasn’t quite so overwhelmed with new sessions to post. Well, that day never came, and these awesome photos stayed hidden in my “to blog” folder for the loooongest time. Finally today I stumbled upon them again, and now I am excited to finally show them off to the world! Every now and then I find clients who I just instantly “click” with, and Jennifer and her fiancĂ© Anthony, aka TJ, who I like to call Teej, are one of those couples. The second I met with them, I knew we were going to have an awesome time together, and it instantly felt like we were old friends. Of course it also helped that they treated me to a delicious breakfast at Hotel Zaza, too! Here are a few of my favorites:

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

engagement session portraits of Jennifer Neri and Anthony TJ Bernardo at Hermann Park and Hotel Zaza in Houston Texas by Dallas wedding photographer Stacy Reeves

T4B – First Look

Tips for Brides (T4B) is a weekly feature where I talk about a cool tip that I think will benefit brides everywhere. For more T4Bs, click here!

Today’s Tip for Brides is about the First Look. In short, a “First Look” is a photography term for a period of time just before the ceremony where the bride and groom see each other for the first time and then have some portraits taken of just the two of them. Here in the South, most brides really try to stick to the tradition of not seeing their fiancĂ©s for the first time until they walk down the aisle, and I totally respect and appreciate that. However, often that results in very little time and light for photos afterwards, something that many of my couples who declined to do a First Look have told me they later regretted.

So how does a First Look work? Basically we find a quiet, secluded area, and have the groom come out and stand with his back turned. Then we have the bride walk up behind him and surprise him in all of her beautiful, radiant glory. The groom gets to see his almost-wife in an intimate, private setting, where he can feel free to express his love and emotion without a hundred pairs of eyes studying him and judging his reaction. They can hug, or kiss, or whisper sweet nothings, or just laugh and have a good time.
first look

The point is – you get to ENJOY the moment, instead of rushing through it to get to the ceremony, hoping you don’t trip over your aisle runner on the way down. And we, as photographers, can shoot the event from any angle we want, with any lighting we want, so we can make sure you get a beautiful image of that priceless moment, without being constricted by church or venue rules and lighting.

first look

After you have both fully taken in the excitement of seeing each other, then we can focus on getting some wonderful couples portraits that you can display in your album and around your home. You can both relax and enjoy the experience, rather than rushing to finish before the sun sets, or worrying about getting to the reception on time, or being surrounded by a bunch of family members who make those intimate moments just a teensy bit awkward. And, after the ceremony is over, you get to the reception much faster, so you can spend even more time dancing and enjoying your loved ones. It’s pretty much a win-win situation for everyone!

first look

The First Look isn’t for everyone, but I strongly recommend it for brides who get married in Fall and Winter when the sun sets earlier, brides who are concerned about getting to their reception as quickly as possible, and brides who want a larger-than-usual quantity of photos with their new husband on the wedding day. If you do it, you will be glad that you did, I promise!!