Lauren Bee

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.

Filtering by Tag: Portrait Photographer

Destination Photographer - The 2017 World in Bloom

Traveling,  Seeing the world.  Sucking the very marrow out of life.

Do you feel it too, The Wanderlust?

It's everything to me.  Traveling is a close second to God + family;  the desire -- the all-encompassing, gut-wrenching urge to wander! -- has been a driving force behind everything I do in life.

Yes, everything.

The dream?  To travel and take photographs, of course!  It's been a dream of mine ever since venturing out with a camera in-hand.  And until recently that's all it was: a dream.

But not anymore.  As the late, great Whitney Houston said all those years ago (with nary a hint of cheesy irony):

"I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows.  If I fail, if I succeed, at least I'll live as I believe."

And this is what I believe:  my gypsy heart was meant to roam our world, tasting and savoring new flavors, meeting and laughing with new friends, experiencing and witnessing new sights.  So that is exactly what Lauren Bee will be doing in 2017!

I am ridiculously excited to announce next year's World In Bloom destination fine art photography locations!

  • April 2017: Orlando, FL
  • June/July 2017: Outer Banks, NC
  • September 2017: Dublin, Ireland
  • May & November 2017:  Nashville, TN

If you're in (or plan to be in) any of my hot spots, I would love nothing more than to meet you and photograph your own exotic brand of beauty!  How exciting would it be to work together, you and me, creating amazing art together?  Very exciting indeed!

But session bookings are limited, so do make plans to join me on the 2017 World in Bloom tour by contacting me below -- and tell me what, more than anything, you'd love to capture on our adventure together.   I can't wait to hear from you!

lauren@laurenbee.com

(256)605-6722

Mother & Daughter -- Huntsville, AL lifestyle family photographer

Jenni is a dear -- dear! -- friend of mine.  Over the last year and a half we've gone from "nice to meet you" to working as business partners on weddings as Tulip & Thistle Wedding Photography.  She's an amazing photographer who has allowed me to sit-in and absorb her editing techniques, shared photography tips, and don't even get me started on the amount of cheerleading she's supplied me with.  She's pretty much just an amazing woman -- clever, witty, honest, and down-to-earth.  I thank my lucky stars to have stumbled into our friendship.

Of course I was more than happy to do a few head shots for her!  I even invited her beautiful daughter along for a few Mommy & Me captures, just outside Huntsville in the heart of Madison, Alabama.  It was definitely one of the highlights of my summer photography experiences.  Gorgeous sunlight, wildflowers, that earthy Secret Garden vibe -- and two beauties for the price of one!

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UAH Class of 2014 -- Senior Portrait Photographer, Huntsville Alabama

Graduation.  A time of exhaustion sure (Finals anyone?), but also of relief and celebration and a sense of overwhelming pride in an accomplishment years in the making.  I always feel so proud for others who find themselves ready to cross the finish line, diploma in hand, tassel swinging.

For Oschelle, graduation is also the perfect time to celebrate her wonderful relationship with boyfriend Mykal.  We combined a Senior session with a couples session and the result was pure magic.  Such a sweet couple -- and they gave me best payment I've ever received on the job: hugs!

My Sacred Space -- Huntsville, Alabama Portrait Photographer

"Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again."  -- Joseph Campbell

*  *  *

Last winter I was honored to be a part of one of Tammy Smith's workshops.  At the time I'd been feeling less than good at what I do, disjointed, scattered with very little direction.  I didn't know if I wanted to keep plowing through professional waters or hang my hat and go back to aimlessness -- heck, I was already aimless.  I knew I was deeply artistic, knew I loved visual story, but I didn't know how to turn that into anything more than "just photography".

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And then Tammy happened.  One day spent with her made me do an about face, a total 180.  I went from feeling powerless and pointless to empowered and purposeful.  It was absolutely the (gentle) kick in the rear that I needed to push through and give myself permission to claim status as a photographer, an artist.

A1

Tammy gave her workshop participants a few homework assignments, and I went home and almost immediately began work on the task that seemed most enjoyable:  making a visual board.  This is an exercise detailed in Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way (a fabulous book recommended by Tammy -- and myself, something I hadn't picked up since fine art courses in college);  in order to find one's visual soul -- very important as a photographer! -- a person need only a stack of magazines and a pair of scissors.  Turn page after page, looking with the deepest, most instinctual part of your being, and if something -- anything at all -- gives you pause, rip it out and set it aside.  Don't question, just do.

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I encouraged my daughters to join me in the exercise, and it was a wonderfully liberating experience, not just in tearing something up (and there is a childlike part of me that found a great deal of pleasure in destroying some magazines), but in opening up and tearing down interior walls.  It was a form of play, with purpose, because the ultimate goal was to create something from the chaos: a collage depicting the sacred space that lies within.

A6

As I sat there, ripping and cutting into the stack of pages and tidbits I'd culled from magazines, I thought about what I was truly seeing, listened to the words and feelings that rose to the surface of my heart.  I experienced a deep sense of self, of my soul, accepted that many of the images I'd chosen -- been drawn to -- flowers and spices, food and light, romance and art and architecture, it all evoked a sense of quiet comfort and peace, of home and beauty.  I recognized the deep appreciation I have for story and spirituality, of connectedness to the earth and to humanity and thus to the Creator of it all.  I sensed a vast desire to experience adventure, recognized deep ties to words, felt a sense of wonder at the cluttered state of my alive and active mind, brimming as it is with color and texture and yearning for relationship and experiences.  Tones of mystery and promise, hope and warmth, dreams and fantasy -- all of it swirled in front of me.

I was rather shocked at how deftly my mind had created this from a disjointed jumble of magazine guts.  Something deeper than my conscious mind had clattered forth and laid claim to that which spoke most deeply of my needs, of who I am purposed to be.

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So now I have this collage.  I love it because it's like looking at the inside of me.  And seeing "myself" like that is eye-opening, mind-altering.  And it's already changing the way I view my work and art, the way I interact with other wonder-filled souls, the way I approach them with my camera.  That's a beautiful thing.

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If you've not done this exercise, you absolutely should.  And when you do, please come back and tell me all about it -- better yet, shoot me a message with a picture of your soul, your sacred space.  I'd love to witness that with you.