Photo Shoot Day: Just call me Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies.

I would have never had the guts to reach out to a photographer and say I wanted to do a photo shoot of me in a rocking chair in the bed of my rusty ’67 Chevy C10 full of my most prized junkin’ possessions. Sounds like an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies with Granny in her rocker, huh? They would have most certainly laughed at me. Luckily, my sweet Natalee with Natalee Susan Photography is a beloved friend of mine who just so happens to be an amazingly talented photographer too. So, when I told her about my idea and vision for a shoot, she didn’t laugh. She smiled ear to ear and said, “Oh my gosh. You’re adorable. Let’s do it.” People who support your wildest dreams: Hold on to them. So, after a weekend full of lugging my favorite pieces out of my antique booth, loading, unloading and positioning, photo shoot day finally came and I was honestly wondering if all this work was going to be worth it. I would soon find out that it would be, tenfold.

Awkward Turtle: Aside from awkward Senior portraits some 9 years ago, I have never had professional photos taken of me. In the days leading up to the shoot and even the day of, I was so enthralled and busy with getting my antiques together and staged how I wanted, that I really didn’t think very much about the fact that I was going to have to be in front of the camera until the moment came. I climbed up into that rocker and my stomach sank. All my insecurities came flooding to the forefront of my mind. Am I smiling too big? Am I squinting my eyes? Are my bra straps showing? Did I put in too much hairspray? The answer to all of those was probably yes. But, I looked up for just a second and it calmed the rest of my day. I looked out and saw Natalee smiling at me, so eager and excited to start the shoot. In the background, I saw my boyfriend Steven and Natalee’s husband, Bryan, rambling on about racing like they always do in between wise cracks and jokes to make me laugh. (Quick side note. That’s how Natalee and I met. Her husband and my boyfriend worked together at JR Motorsports.) I just felt happy. Here I was in my driveway at my house in the bed of my truck with all of my favorite things and people around me. I can promise you one thing. My smile is genuine in all of these pictures.

Playing dress up: Once we finished the photos of me, we moved onto the styling portion of the shoot, which was what I was most nervous about. I had piled together a truck full of props; lace cloths, rugs, vegetables, wild flowers from my yard…you name it, I had it. Ha! It was like playing dress up with your best friend, but we were playing with antiques, not clothes. I was pulling items together and mixing and matching colors as well as trying to show how these items could be displayed in my customers’ homes. With Natalee’s help and feedback, we got some amazing shots. By the end of it, my yard looked like a tornado had touched down with items strewn from one end to the other. Luckily, with everyone’s help, it didn’t take long at all to pack things up. We even had time to toast the day off with a margarita and LOTS of chips and salsa. Shake it like a Polaroid picture:

So, let me brag about Natalee for a minute because Lord knows she more than deserves it. Natalee is this incredibly joyful spirit that has a contagious laugh that fills any room. She is so easy and natural to work with. I had worked with her on a couple of projects prior to this shoot, but nothing so near and dear to my heart. I enjoyed and respected how confident she was in her work while also being flexible and open to my ideas too. She can truly think on her feet with her camera in hand, to boot! She even brought along her vintage Polaroid camera to snap some photos, giving them that cool vintage vibe that I love. Her creativity and just that added touch of personalization went a long way and meant a lot to me.

Worth a thousand words: Like everything about my business, I wanted my website for Back at Momma’s Antiques to tell a story. I wanted it to tell my story and the story of my treasured antique pieces. You’ll hear it again and again. The story, the story! Well, after writing the content for my About page by randomly typing memories into the notes section of my phone over a period of a few months or so, I thought for sure that I had successfully told my story and the story of Back at Momma’s Antiques. It wasn’t until after my photo shoot with Natalee that I realized what my website was missing. You know that old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”? Well, it’s true. And I will forever be indebted to Natalee for helping me tell the Back at Momma’s story. Thank you Natalee Susan Photography!

VIEW: Check out more images from the shoot on my GALLERY page.

-Katelin