happy friday

hope you all have a great friday and a fun summer!

landscape photography tips || tuesday tips

I have such a passion to shoot anything and everything with my camera. As many times as I have been to the city, I still love finding new and interesting ways to photograph it and improve my images. 

A few things that I keep in mind when I go out shooting is to always have some kind of focus point in the shot. The eye needs something to focus on and it helps the photo be more interesting and creative.

Remember the setting in your camera. The light will be constantly changing when you are walking around the city and you need to remember to change your shutter speed, and ISO.

Look for contrast! Having high contrast in your photos will create an interesting image. So look for a bright sky and dark buildings, or lots of sun and shadow. If you are shooting in RAW, you will have more flexibility in post processing to add contrast and highlights. 

Pike's Place Market | Seattle Washington

Before my husband took off to Pennsylvania, we went to Pikes Place. It is one of my very favorite places to take pictures. I love all of the flowers and all of the colors and it is especially beautiful in the Spring. The market always seems to be busy with people shopping and just looking at all of the interesting things for sale. If I lived closer to Pikes Place, I would always bring home fresh flowers and produce. Tyler is a huge fan of all the seafood... and I'll just take his word that it is amazing. 

Brittney+Daniel | Rexburg Idaho Couples Photographer

Before I left Rexburg, I got the opportunity to meet up with this couple for a really fun, and rather quick session. This is a location in Rexburg that I have never shot at but have been wanting too for awhile. It was such a sunny and warm day and it matched this couples personality, perfectly.  

I love being able to work with cute couples that have so much love for each other. It might just be my favorite thing to do! Thanks Brittney and Daniel!

weekend getaway | utah

Since it was President's Day on Monday, Tyler had the day off so we drove to Park City, one of my favorite places to go. All we did was relaxed. We swam in the pool, did a little shopping, ate at some really good restaurants and caught up on some sleep. It was nice to spend some quality time with my little family since I will be gone in Washington next week, leaving Tyler behind in Rexburg. sad:(

Guest Blogger \\ Pacific Northwest Hikes

I am so excited to be having Justin Garin, the writer for Pacific Northwest Hikes, on my blog today! I follow him on instagram and I am a huge fan.  I asked him to tell us a little bit about all the adventures he goes on and how he gets such amazing photos. 

Follow Justin on instagram @vapormonkey

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Lena Lake, Olympic National Park

Hello followers of Leslie! My name is Justin and I write the blog Pacific Northwest Hikes & Adventures. Leslie has always shown great interest of my photography and I'm very excited to be writing on her blog. I have known Leslie in high school, but had no idea that she shared a passion for photography as well. I enjoy her photography, especially her portraits!

     Now for a little about myself. I grew up here in Washington and the Olympic National Park served as my backyard. At a young age I always found myself gazing at the mountains and I enjoyed the weekend trips to the Olympic National Park with my family. It wasn't until 2009 that I started venturing pass the full parking lots and well groomed trails. I can still remember my very first backpacking trip.  It was to a place called Enchanted Valley and we had hiked 13.5 miles to our destination. From that trip I realized that I wanted to be able to share the unscathed landscapes, the towering trees, cascading rivers, and snow covered peaks. I wanted people to see what I saw and to appreciate mother nature more.

     I could go on and on talking about the things I have seen, but lets get back to talking about photography! There are many places to see here in Washington, but if your fairly new to hiking I would recommend Marymere Falls trail. Marymere Falls is a fairly short hike at 2 miles, but every person I have brought falls in love! In the summer the trail is usually busy, but around this time of the year the parking lot is fairly empty. Marymere falls is located in between Mount Storm King and Aurora Ridge and tumbles its way into Barnes Creek, which drains into Lake Crescent. It's a well groomed trail with plenty of signs! Marymere falls is a short hike, but leaves you plenty of time to go swimming at Lake Crescent or explore some more!

Marymere Falls

f/22 iso @100 5s exposure

Barnes Creek 

f/22 iso @100 10s exposure

Here are few things that I do to take long exposure shots.
1.  Be sure to pack a wide angle lens, a neutral density filter, tripod and a remote to have your camera take the shot.
2.  Try to compose your shot before setting up your tripod it will save you a lot of time!
3.  Be sure to put your ISO to the lowest setting and I find that using the highest aperture helps get a long exposure.  Shoot in manual!
4.  Use a neutral or graduated density filter.  These filters allow you to get smooth silky water.
5.  Use the remote to take the picture.  Pushing the shutter button on your camera moves the tripod, which results in a not so sharp photo.

Another helpful hint is that sunny days aren't the best days for long exposure shots.  Cloudy days act as a filter and allows you to get long exposure shots.  
I try to follow these five rules every time to help get a great long exposure shot.  On top of all of that be sure to pack the "ten essentials" for hiking and make sure others know where you are at.  Do some research on the trail and try to find recent trip reports.  

Hope these tips help and you inspire you to get out and explore! Thanks for reading and thank you Leslie for giving me some space on your blog!     

Staircase Rapids is another short enjoyable hike full of cascades

sunsets.rexburg photographer

Rexburg has some amazing sunsets. I went out to try to capture a sunset however, I had a bit of an incident. I was driving down the back roads and my car got stuck in a big pile of snow. After trying to get out myself and only making things worse, a nice country boy pulled up on his snowmobile and pushed me out.

Piggott Family // South East Idaho Photographer

I had such a great time with the Piggott family. I love when a family can be themselves and have fun. Those are my favorite pictures and it makes my job pretty fun! They are an adorable little family and have one of the cutest little boys. 

Oh, and make sure you check to see if you won the giveaway! I was so excited by all the people the entered. 

Thanks so much, you guys are the best!

Arizona Road Trip // Instagram

My husband is in the middle of applying for dental school and it has been keeping us busy. We had to take the long journey to the incredibly hot state of Arizona.