From Brave Beauty H’s Perspective:

Absolutely LOVED my experience with LGEmerick Photography! Leah was amazing to work with from the initial booking phone call to the day of the shoot. She had tons of tips ahead of my appointment to help with prep and to help plan what vision i wanted to create. On the day of the shoot she was a blast to work with and her energy level made the whole experience fun and exciting! My images looked phenomenal and she was able to make me look fabulous and sleek and way more put together than I felt when I first walked in. Loved every minute!

I'm a 43 year old wife and mom of 4 kids (17, 13, 4, and 3) and 2 cats. I work full time as am office administrator and I'm a full time grad student. I'm working to complete my Master's in Education: School Counseling. I am currently the chair for the Middle School's Teen Night Out for the PTSA as well. I also own my own crafting side hustle and am constantly crocheting. My hobbies before children included singing in a Broadway show choir, going to sporting events, hosting an annual Halloween party, and singing in the praise band at church. After kids... I'm busy with all the things they need!

I wanted to have this experience because I rarely do things for me. It is so hard to put myself first, so therefore no one else does either. At this time in my life, I have a lot to be proud of, and I felt I should make the time to celebrate it. How better than to get some updated headshots and remind myself how fabulous I still am? Being pampered never happens, so I really loved the idea of being able to have people see the best in me and being it out in ways I didn't know how to do for myself.

Before my photoshoot, I was nervous. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect or how I felt about the way my body was looking. I didn't know what to wear, and I was a bit uncertain that I was a good fit for the 40 women over 40 project. I was apprehensive about cost and if I would even like pictures of just me. I was very used to being no pictures or only pictures with the kids.

My experience was so cathartic and reenergizing. I don't know how to do my hair or makeup really well, I'm a rather natural girl with limited time to get ready. Leah made me feel comfortable right away. I was really vague with how to do my glam...I don't know enough to know what looks good on me. But, with very little direction, my hair and makeup were done exactly how I had pictured in my head. Leah talked me through each photo and we got to know each other throughout the shoot. By the time we were done, I had made a new friend and had photos of myself to freeze this moment in my life.

At first, I didn't recognize me. I truly didn't. I thought, "Who is this beautiful professional woman? She could be a news anchor!" After the first 50 photos, I realized it really was me. I also realized that I never show my powerhouse side of me in photos I typically hide it behind a smile or silly face. It was surreal to see myself looking like such a boss.

First, you do. Second, Leah has your back and in less what she is doing. Third, you will always think you need to improve an imperfection, lose some weight, get better clothes, learn how to pose, etc. You will think it's so weird to just do photos of me. It is OK to think that. We all do. That doesn't mean who you are in this moment, right now, isn't a beautiful and wonderful person worth documenting this stage in her journey.

Leah made me cry lol. She said to me, "These are the pictures you're kids are going to look at when they are older and think, 'That's my mom. I look like her. I remember her just like this'. These are the pictures that will show my grandkids so they know who they look like or are named after." These pictures are part of my legacy. And I deserve that.

From The Photographer’s (Leah) Perspective:

From the first moment I got in contact with Brave Beauty H - I knew she needed this! Just listening to her life and her schedule wore me out. She is literally a superwoman who gives and gives and gives to everyone else but doesn’t ever take time for herself in any meaningful way. Her infectious energy was something I couldn’t wait to capture!

We booked her session over the phone where I walked her through what she could expect and got the first round of informational emails headed her way. We chatted through the entire process and I guided her in regards to wardrobe and what she could expect. I told her to definitely bring in some of her crochet products so we could really bring some of her passion and personality into the portraits.

***Brave Beauty H with some of her handmade crochet items - how cute is she??***

The day of her shoot finally rolled around and I couldn’t wait!

When I saw her walking up to the door with a ton of bags - I knew I was in for a treat. She’d brought tons of great stuff to use and express her unique personality. I helped her get everything into the studio, gave her a big hug, and introduced her to my hair and makeup artist. At that point we got her into the hair and makeup chair and got started on the glam process.

Dani Jo, my hair and makeup artist, really rocked this look. She built a beautiful, glam vibe that had both Brave Beauty H and me “oooo”ing and “aaaaaa”ing at how glamorous she looked. Brave Beauty H kept saying “Is that really me?” when she saw herself in the mirror and “I don’t even look like myself!”. Of course Dani Jo and I had to tell her that she really does look like that and she is stunning!

Then it was on to selecting wardrobe and styling it from our client jewelry collection.

***a small portion of our client wardrobe collection. We have 100+ gowns and dresses ranging from size 00-4XL+***

Brave Beauty H brought in lots of fun options to wear from her own closet (including her hot pink romper and her black high neck romper) but I wanted her to try something she normally wouldn’t on her own. So I pulled my highlighter yellow accordion gown from my client closet to really pump up the glam! To no one’s surprise, she totally rocked it! I loved pulling some fun sparkly earrings and necklaces for her to wear with the pieces we selected (and a tiara from our crown collection) to round out the looks. Then we got to photographing!

It was a blast to work with Brave Beauty H in finding ways to bring out her inner glow. She has such a magnetic energy and is so full of life and laughter. I wanted to make sure that beauty rainbow of colors all shone through in her shots. We photographed for about an hour, chatting and laughing the entire time, and I had soooooooooo much fun creating unforgettable portraits of this beautiful babe! Once we wrapped up and I loaded her images onto my computer for review it felt like we had known each other forever even though it had only been a few hours.

As I guided Brave Beauty H through the gallery of her photos (we captured over 150 photos!) and helped her pick out her favorites I was struck by just how incredibly blessed I am to do this for my job! It never escapes me how lucky I am that I get to show women just how beautiful they really are.

We went over some of our studio sample products (you can see some of those below) and she picked out one of our pre-bundled photo collections. That way she would receive an heirloom album, wall art of her favorite portrait, as well as high resolution digital files. She was so excited! She couldn’t wait for her products to come in so she could hang her wall art in her husband’s office so he would always remember what a lucky guy he was to marry such a total smoke show!

Thanks Brave Beauty H for taking a chance on putting yourself first and creating art that will last for generations!!