I'm finally doing it. For an entire year now I have been telling myself that I was going to start a blog, but it just always felt so intimidating. And it still does. But lately I have been feeling a bit braver than usual, so here we go.
I'm Megan, the artist behind the lens of Megan Bernhardt Photography. I am going into my third year of business as a portrait photographer in Austin, Texas and have recently transitioned into a full-service portrait studio which is incredibly exciting.
I have been doing photography seriously for about a decade now, with my first 6 years working exclusively on film during my time at The University of Texas. I loved spending hours in the darkroom developing the film and prints; it actually wasn't until I became pregnant with my daughter that I made the shift to digital photography.
TL: my daughter, Natalie, and our heeler mutt, Tully, in our back yard; TM: my new sublogo after rebranding; TR: my newest addition to my camera collection, a Nikon D7100; BL: the camera that inspired me to learn photography, this Contaflex used to be my Grandfather's, then my Father's and now has been passed to me; BM: the view from a widlife refuge 10 minutes from my house- still looking for someone to take me up on this location! BR: our family portrait from December 2015
Having recently become re-enamoured with shooting on film and the idea of having something tangible in an ever-increasingly digital world, I had been toying with the idea of offering prints. And after my laptop crashed taking some very important and un-backed up photo files of my daughter with it, I realized it was the right time to change the way I do things.
So here we are now. I've rebranded my entire business over the past two months and I'm loving it. I'm taking the time to do things the right way and it feels like it is already starting to pay off. I'll be doing my third shoot for 2016 in another week or so and I have so many ideas that I cannot wait to incorporate. I'm hoping my surprise will really elevate the client's experience to a whole new level. But more to come on that when I blog about my next session- I don't want to get too ahead of myself here!
While it has included a few very difficult choices, it has also been so much fun choosing the print lab I will be using. I almost forgot just how gratifying it is to see meaningful photos printed at this quality. Since ordering a few prints I will be using as samples during viewing appointments, I have been gravitating to the wall in my living room that one is currently hanging on. It's our family photo from this past fall that I actually took myself- holy cow was is difficult to get that shot with a tripod, remote, toddler and a dog! But the effort paid off with a really nice shot of us, and I just can't stop looking at this print. It's gorgeous. Possibly one of the nicest photos I have in my house. Scratch that, THE nicest, NO competition. I honestly cannot wait to get some orders placed for clients because I know just how much everyone is going to love these; they are really just incredible.
Before I wrap this up, I want to share just a tiny bit more about me since this is technically an introduction post. I guess I would feel a bit unfinished with this if I didn't give readers a better sense of who I am beyond just a photographer, so here's a quick run down. I'm 28 years old or young depending on how you look at it and have been studying the fine arts since I was about 8 years old. I live Northwest of Austin in Lago Vista, Texas with my amazingly kind and loving fiance, Stephen, our spunky almost 3 year old, Natalie, and our obsessive-licker of a dog, Tully. We love to travel when we can, taking day-trips to state parks in the Central Texas area, but we also love to hang out at home and just relax. Living out on the North side of Lake Travis has been such a nice escape from the city as it continues to grow at what feels like an uncontrollable rate, and at times I try pretty hard to talk some clients into making the drive out here for their sessions because the views really are unbeatable.
I'm going to leave it here for now, while there is a lot that I want to talk about I do need to save some of it for later posts! :)