Imago Vita Photography Blog

rachael & cory : engagements

2013-05-08T01:18:05Z

I have another dreamy engagement session to share with you today.

Rachael and Cory, I had an absolute blast with the two of you when you came to Tulsa for your engagements. Thank you so much for making the trip here and for being so in love. You made my job so incredibly easy.

I hope you enjoy this little peek at your session.

Some photographers might consider this next shot an outtake but I absolutely love it!

Rachael and Cory brought their beautiful pooches along for the shoot.

Rawr......So romantic these two are!

I think these next two images might be my favorite. The light in them makes me think of heaven.

Seriously amazing wildflower action going on in these next shots.

I didn't even mind that I had to pull off a few ticks after this shoot. (Glamorous life of a photographer!)

Two shoots in a row with red wine lovers. No wonder my clients and I get along so well.

meredith & casey : engagements

2013-05-05T19:11:10Z

I am so excited to share Meredith and Casey's engagement session with you. There is just nothing better than a sweet, beautiful couple in love.

The entire day of the shoot it was cloudy and gloomy and very much on the chilly side. But as soon as we pulled into our shoot location, the clouds opened up and the Lord kissed us with sunshine.

Meredith and Casey, I am so excited to be the one who gets to capture your wedding and I had such a wonderful time getting to know you both a little more in your engagement shoot. You are just so darn adorable and perfect for each other.

Meredith and Casey moved to the top of my list of favorite people when they sent me home with the rest of their wine. ;)

behind the scenes video : imago vita workshop

2013-05-02T18:43:40Z

Eeeeeek! I'm so excited to share this fun little video done by Amy at Happily Situated.

Get a little taste of what it was like behind the scenes at our workshop.

Imago Vita Photography Workshop from Amy Teague on Vimeo.

SIDENOTE: Registration is now open for our next one to be held on October 5th, 2013.

Just shoot me an email me at imagovitaphotography@gmail.com

imago vita photography workshop : round 3

2013-04-24T19:31:16Z

We hosted our third photography workshop a little over a week ago and I wanted to share some images from the day. It was held in the absolutely fabulous studio space of my friend Ashley of Under the Sycamore. She was so kind to kick her chickens out of the space for the day to let us girls hang out.

It was a ten hour workshop packed full of lots and lots of learning. The day starts with a classroom setting going over tons of information like: contracts, marketing, brand identity, balancing home life with photog life, gear, workflow, natural light, off camera lights, photoshop and lightroom just to name a few things.

Then the attendants get to start shooting and practicing off camera lights as the fabulous Loren from the Vintage Comb does hair and makeup for our model.

Angelyn and Justin were the perfect bride and groom models for us. They were seriously adorable.......seriously! I wanted to put them in my pocket.

After the classroom portion, we headed outside to do a styled bride and groom shoot. I shot and showed our attendants how to make their subjects feel and look natural in their photos. Each attendant had a chance to also work with the models individually.

Here are a few of my favorite portraits from the shoot.

That bouquet was DELISH! So amazingly gorgeous, thanks to Anne Marie at The French Boquet.

Amy from Happily Situated was so kind to let us use her vintage sofa.

And a few shots of our fabulous attendants shooting.

There are so many to thank for sponsoring the workshop and helping this day be such a success!

And of course our gorgeous models Angelyn and Justin!

I can't wait for our next workshop in the fall! It will be held on October 5th, 2013. Be on the lookout for a fun little video from this past workshop to see more from behind the scenes.

For more workshop info email me at imagovitaphotography@gmail.com

starting him young

2013-04-17T17:42:25Z

If you follow me on Instagram you might remember this photo that I posted several days ago.

If you don't follow me and want to my IG name is shannonrphillips.

Keegan (my four and half) year old is eager to learn about photography. He asks me questions all of the time about photos and my camera. He sits by my side often when I am editing weddings and begs me to teach him how to erase things out of pictures. He is still a baby in my eyes and I initially laughed at him when he asked if he could try to take some pictures with my "real camera". Then I thought about it for a moment and I changed my mind. Why would I stifle his eagerness to learn my craft? I am thankful that he thinks my job is cool and that he appreciates photographs in the same way I do. I want the Lord to give me eyes to see into who my little baby boy is becoming. I want to encourage his curiousity, his willingness to learn and his courage to try something new.

So, with my close supervision I let him go for it.

Photo credit: Keegan Phillips

I am one proud Mama.

puppy love and a new journey

2013-04-16T13:20:05Z

Well, we hosted our third photography workshop this past weekend and it was a dream come true. We had such an amazingly talented group of photographers, great weather, gorgeous models and the perfect setting. I will post more on that later this week.

I couldn't wait to hang out with my family on Sunday and just get some rest. I had skipped our usual Friday no pressure day in order to prepare for the workshop so we made up for it on Sunday.

Lots and lots of just hanging out and enjoying one another. Here are a few shots of the kids hanging out with our four legged kid, Daisy in the backyard.

This one is my absolute favorite.

After lots of rest on Sunday, we began a new journey on Monday.

oklahoma photography workshop

2013-03-21T20:12:13Z

We have a couple of spots left in our photography workshop on April 13th! Email me at imagovitaphotography@gmail.com for more info.

Check out this post to see more details.

no pressure day

2013-03-01T20:35:46Z

A major struggle that I face as a mama/wife/business owner/Jesus follower is PRESSURE. While there may be pressures that are placed on me by others, the reality is that most of it comes from my own unreasonable expectations that I place upon myself. I am supposed to be perfect, well dressed, have squeaky clean floors, well mannered children, meet all of my husbands needs, have X number of clients, no dirty dishes, meaningful quiet times and bible reading every day......the list goes on and on and on.

And I know that I am not alone.

I know that pretty much every woman I know has the same struggle in some shape or form. We all feel the pressure to be perfect, to display a certain image.

The past couple of months has been a season of growing for me. Letting go of things that make life messy, letting go of things that do not honor God and do not serve my family. This is where the "No pressure day" comes in. I have learned that I need to let the pressure go and I need to be intentional about it.

I chose Friday to be the one day that I truly do everything in my power to let go of the PRESSURE and just plain enjoy life with my children. Just soak it in. It is a bit different for me then a normal type of a Sabbath that families usually spend together. I intentionally wanted it to be a day that my hubby is working. He is a nurse and works 12 hour shifts so like he is GONE.......like ALL DAY. I wanted to force myself to have a special mommy/kiddo day where we just enjoy each other. No pressure. We can stay in our jammies all day. We can go to the park, we can make messes and not clean them up. We can do crafts or not do crafts, we can watch movies, have 80's dance parties on top of matresses in the living room......we can do whatever we want. As long as there is no schedule, no plans, no pressure.

It has been one of the best choices I have ever made. Want to join me??? You can follow me shannonrphillips on instagram and post pictures of your no pressure day and use the hashtag #nopressureday

Here are some recent pics that I took with my big girl camera of my muchkins on our "no pressure days."

Pancake breakfast. Only because it sounded fun and yummy. And we didn't do the dishes afterwards.

Loving on babies in the middle of the day in jam jams.

Just playing and working on walking.

Playing guitar in his jammies.

Singing a love song. This is the hard part for me. The floor in the background desperately needed sweeping. But I chose to focus on my girl and her pretty song. I chose to delight in her baby blue eyes and let go of worrying what people migh think if I posted a picture with a dirty floor in the background. ;)

Just hanging out playing games on Mom's phone. How did he get smelly boy feet instead of baby feet all of a sudden?

Annnnnnnnnnnd naps. Naps are a must on "no pressure day." Even if it is only the baby who is sleeping. The little boy and I still snuggle up and rest.

So this is a challenge to all you ladies out there. You don't even have to be a Mama, you know you pile the pressure on yourself. Take a day and let go. See what happens. Let's do this together. We might be surprised at all of the beauty life has to offer in the middle of letting go.

jeremy & katie : the wedding

2013-02-24T16:44:41Z

Our first wedding of 2013 couldn't have been a more perfect way to kick off a new year. We traveled down to Texas to capture Jeremy and Katie's special day. It was a cooooold gloomy January day but boy oh boy was the day full of so much warmth!

Katie's dress just makes me swoon. The shape of the dress and the details are so amazing and yet so simple. If I were two feet shorter than I am, I would ask her if I could wear it for just a day.

Loren Houk from Vintage Comb also came down to Texas to help make all of the ladies look gorgeous.

Jeremy's gift to Katie was this sweet Vintage Pearl necklace with a G for their last name and the country of Africa on it. The newly wed couple actually went over to Ethiopia for their honeymoon. Katie explained to me that they wanted their marriage to be about serving God so, what better way to start it out.

Katie girrrrrrrl!!! You were just a vision!

The first look.

It says a ton about who Jeremy and Katie are that their wedding party consisted of 28 people. They make friends wherever they go and make everyone feel so loved and important.

Handsome brothers. You may remember a post I did last year of these two precious boys coming home from Ethiopia.

I snuck around the corner to find this sweet moment a bit before to the ceremony.

Moments before the doors to the church opened up, Katie took a deep breath with tears in her eyes. Her sweet Daddy said "That is good man in there honey."

Some canvas action at the reception.

The grand entrance.

Dancing with Dad. So special.

I always tear up when Mama's dance with the groom. I know how quickly time flies and there will be a day when I am dancing with my little boy. My prayer is that I would be as happy and proud of my son for the wife that he chooses as Miss Jodi is of Jeremy.

Time to party and get dancing!

Ummmmm.....That girl has hops.

A little shot of Jessie and I with the beautiful bride!

Mr. and Mrs. G, Thank you a million times over to you and your families for bringing us down to Texas to capture this amazing time in your lives. I am so grateful to know you and so grateful that you entrusted me with your memories. May the Lord bless you far beyond your wildest dreams and may you grow more and more crazy in love with one another with each passing year!

embracing the cross

2013-02-18T20:16:24Z

Last Wednesday was the beginning of Lent on the Christian calendar. I grew up in the Catholic Church and celebrated the Lent tradition for the majority of my childhood. Every year we would go to church on ash Wednesday and get ashes rubbed onto our foreheads and we would give up candy or pop or television.

In my early twenties I gave my life to Jesus in a brand new way. My life was changed forever. I entered into the world of the Evangelical Christian church and scoffed at the seamingly meaningless rituals of my past church life.

But, years of growing in Christ taught me that those traditions and rituals were there for a reason. They were grounded in deep biblical truth and rich meaning. As a child, I never quite understood the why behind it all. They just felt like rules at the time.

Over the past several years we have chosen to embrace the season of Lent. It has helped my faith in ways that I never expected.

This year, I did not choose to give up sugar, coffee or wine. This year the thing that I am trying so desperately to give up is STRESS. I need to learn to let go of the worry. I need to trust HIM more on a daily basis. His plans are better than mine. His timing is perfect. His peace is always available to me.

I want to walk in this. Every single day.

Easier said than done, right?

It is a hard thing to give up. It somehow, makes me feel important if I have something to worry about. Like I am the one with the power. Little by little, I am letting go of things that I didn't even know I was keeping from God. I am seeking his face more and asking him to help me, asking him to show me what I am holding onto too tightly.

I am so desperately trying to embrace the cross. I am nailing up my worries, my fears and my stress.

The less I worry, the less energy I give to stress......The more energy I have for my children, for my husband and creativity seems to come back to my once weary soul.

Maybe this is too much rambling, maybe you just want to see more pictures. But maybe, just maybe He is calling you to lay some things down as well. Feel free to share.

We are all in this together.

Me: "What are you drawing buddy?"

Keegan: "Jesus and the cross. Remember Mommy, he died on the cross for us."

Me: "Thank you so much for the reminder buddy. Sometimes even Mommies need reminding."