Personal Portraits for Jada Venter

I'm so used to photographing portraits for bloggers, Instagrammers, and businesses that sometimes I forget that sometimes people want photos just for themselves. When I initially asked Jada what we were creating content for, she paused and said, "Oh, well, they're just for me. For me to remember what I looked like at 29. The big year before 30. And for my mother as well. I know she'd love to have some professional photos of me."

This hit me so hard. I often find myself operating on auto-pilot. The days go by, and then the months, and the years. My camera roll on my iPhone is filled with pictures of dogs and food. I create content for my blog or Instagram, but I never create content just for me. I think everyone should have a personal portrait photoshoot just for them. For them to honor their beauty, their body, their vessel, at that moment in time. Life is a gift.

Anyway, wow, didn't mean to get all deep on you all of a sudden. Working with Jada was fantastic, we went to One Nimman in Chiang Mai because it has so many different backdrops in one centralized location.

We went at about 4:30PM to get that golden afternoon sun. I knew I wanted to capture Jada in some creamy golden hues, and we were blessed that day with sunshine! It was rainy season in Thailand after all, and the weather can be fickle!

I knew I wanted some variety in color, so we moved about the location to find some locations to bring out Jada's beautiful blue-green eyes. We found a great tea house with a Tiffany blue front window, I thought it would be perfect for some close-ups.