Summer Adventure recap || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

Sonic runs and toes dipped in the lake after a hot hour and a half of shooting.  Late nights where messy buns and pj's were the dress code, strawberries and nutella were our fuel, and laughter came easily.  Awkard (read: hilarious) elevator rides at the hotel, and sing-a-longs in the car with colbie callait and the zach brown band.  Conversations and stories that echoed up and down the hotel hallways as we walked to and from the elevators.  Skin kissed by the sun after a few hours spent floating down the lazy river at the resort pool.  Three photo sessions, lots of editing, business talk, branding, designing, blogging, and eating boatloads of delicious food all crammed into 4 short days of fabulousness.

I have to admit that I was a leeeetle bit stressed + apprehensive going into the week.  This years internship was just so much different and bigger than last year, I'd planned the best I could but went into it not really sure how everything would flow and hoping that I'd be able to teach these fabulous girls something they didn't already know :)  I was so excited to actually meet all the sweet girls that I'd been emailing and talking for the past few months but just co-ordinating getting all of them + their luggage from the airport to the hotel seemed like a feat in and of itself.  (I did get everyone, and quite safely I might add.  Despite the fact that my freshly cleaned car was covered in bird poop Monday morning when I walked out to go to the airport, half of my headliner somehow pulled down-yay for tacks!-someone smashed my rearview mirror in while it was sitting in a walmart parking lot, and I lost my gas cap when I filled up with gas and forgot to screw it back on.  Yes, all this happened within a 24 hr period.  My poor car.)

The whole week was filled with unforgettable memories, and I can't express how grateful I am for every single girl who came and was a part of those memories.  I miss each of you OHSOMUCH and I wish I could have kept you here all Summer long.

4 days, 10 girls, one resort, approximately 20,000 pictures--one grand adventure.

Hannah Elise Our Iowa delegate who kept us all laughing with her quiet dry humor.  I knew I would like this girl from the moment that I found out that she celebrates half birthdays too, hellooooo bff material :)  And besides being an awesome photographer, she's also a fabulous graphic designer and it's fun to see how she's incorporated that into her business :)
Julianna Grace Julianna was one of the youngest interns but you never would have guessed that--this girl has talent!  Her sweet little demure smile was a favorite and her quiet confidence working with our models was impressive :)  Nebraska natives check out her work and hire her!
Olivia G.   She had us all (ok, so maybe it was just me) jealous of her natural tan from day one, and kept us laughing with stories about her 10 siblings (4 of whom are from Ethiopia!).  She's from Indiana so I'm already trying to figure out how I can go see her on my next visit up there to see The Boy's family!  Her photography is beautiful and I love the raw, natural feel that it has.  (also, the way she crinkles her nose when she laughs is adorable--so hire her on that basis if nothing else:)
Madeline Hunt   Her business name is Sofia Hilder (don't let that confuse you) and as she put it in her "about me" section of her new blog, she "is smiling or laughing about 80% of the time.  Seriously...she neeever stops, she's one of the happiest people I've met :)  She's from Minnesota, and therefore doesn't always know how to pronounce things properly ;)  But if you hire her you can be sure you'll laugh a lot.
Anna Mae  Her beautiful freckle-faced smile was a happy addition to our little group and we were obviously fast friends because of our mutual love of Nutella, and her homestate, Colorado :)  I had so much fun getting to know her better, talking politics and photography (two of her biggest passions) and I'm so excited to see where her business goes in the next few years!
Madison Grace  Maddi was the only intern that I had actually ever met before the internship.  She is a long time blog reader and I was so excited to meet her a little over a year ago at one of my brothers basketball tournaments.  She helped represent my aweeesome homestate with her winsome smile and sweet southern personality.  West Texans hiiiire her before she's all booked up! ;)
Hannah Nicole  Many of you are already well aquainted with this fabulous girl, since she was the one who redesigned my blog+website this spring.  I was so excited when I heard she was not only interested in being a part of my internship but that she would also be willing to help me with the design part of the internship.  She did the lions share of helping all the girls redesign her blogs and did a fabulous job on all of them! :)  But besides that, she was so much fun to have around, even if we did tease her incessantly about her Minnesota accent and the way she pronounced "Bag" ;)
Lauren Rae Though this girl saaaays she's from Chicago we were all convinced she'd flown in straight from the beaches of California :)  She just looks like she belongs there.  This girl was eager to learn, asked tons of questions, and after a year of shooting and learning I'm so excited that she's officially launching her business this summer!  Chicago peeps check her out!
Chelsea Raye  Chelsea was the only local intern and since she was also the oldest intern she was affectionately nick-named mom #2 of the week.  Chelsea showed up with her awesome pink and purple streaked hair, big smile, and hilariously bubbly personality and we all fell in love with her.  And like being a talented photographer isn't enough, she's also a dancer and teaches dance at a cute little dance school in the DFW area.  She's fuuun peeps, and her kiddo photos are especially amazing!

Anna, Olivia, Hannah, Madeline, Hannah, Chelsea, Julianna, Lauren, and Maddi, I love you all thanks for making this week one of the greatest ever! :)
p.s. I realize there are a lot of them, but you serrrrriously need to go check out all of their blogs!  Click on their name underneath each of their pictures and take a peak and their new brands + blogs (a few of them are still a work in progress--so keep checking back) and leave'em some love!
p.p.s. for those of you who've been asking if I'll be having another internship next year, to be honest I'm just not sure.  I'll be married by then (ahhh, happy dance) and life will look very different, so while I'd love to do another one, I'll have to re-evaluate next spring and see if that's a possibility!  But if I do have another one I'll announce it on the blog so stay tuned!
Much Love,Jessica Shae

Summer Adventure: preview || dallas, tx wedding photographer

The past 4 days have just flown by.  The Summer Adventure started this past Monday afternoon and I think we hardly stopped to take a breath in between all the talking, laughing, taking pictures, and making hilarious memories.  We wrapped things up this afternoon and I sent all the girls off to their respective home states, and now I'm hurrying home to squeeze The Boy's neck one more time and repack my bags to be ready to leave with my family at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning for our three week vacation.

Can't wait to tell you all about our fun week, but for now here's a peek at it through instagrams :)




Much Love,Jessica Shae

summer adventure: internship || dallas, tx wedding photographer

"We are the music makers,

and we are the dreamers of dreams,

Wandering by lone sea breakers,

and sitting by desolate streams;--

World-losers and world-forsakers,

on whom the pale moon gleams,

Yet we are the movers and shakers

of the world forever it seems."

a. o'shaughnessy

Y'all have no idea how excited I am to FINALLY announce the dates and details for this--it's been in the brainstorming phase for so long because I've wanted to make forsure forsure that I had everything in place before I announced it--and now I feel like I'm going to burst after having held it in for so long :)  Many of you know about the internships I hosted last year, over 6 different weeks I had 13 interns, gained new friends, and had SO much fun with all of them. (click here for a fun little video I made during my 1st internship last year)  Going into this year I knew I wanted to revamp the program and take what I'd learned this past year and make it even better!  So here are all the fun and happy details about this years internship program.

First of all you should know that I'm only hosting ONE internship this year, and this might be the last one everrrr.  As much as I loved having so many girls last year, I know that I just don't have the time to devote 6 weeks to that this year.  But since I'm only having one week, I want to include as many of you as possible :)  So that brings me to happy little detail #1: the internship will be held at the Gaylord Texan, in Grapevine, TX. (please go click that link and get excited--serrrriously:)  I've booked a suite that has 2 bedrooms and a living area and can sleep up to 7 people, which means that I'll be able to accept 6 applications!  Aaaand happy announcement #2: I've asked Hannah Nicole to come and be a part of the internship and help me with the blog design part of things!  One of the things that I included in all of my internships last year was a new blog design for each intern that incorporated their new branding.  Since there's no way that I can roll out 5-6 new blogs in 4 days time Hannah will be there helping me with that aspect, and also teaching a session on design principles!  I'm kind of SUPER excited to have her be a part of it, y'all will get your money's worth just from what she'll add to the week :)  Oh, and the super fab graphic above was designed by Hannah, isn't she amazing? :)

And for those of you who are hearing about my internship program for the first time, here are a few more details about the week :)  We will be covering topics that range from: shooting in manual, creating a consistent workflow + editing in Lightroom, running a shoot + posing, marketing, branding, creating and maintaining aweeesome client relationships, and you'll also get the chance to practice what you're learning + build up your portfolio during 3 different shoots I'll have lined up with awesome models!  The $600 tuition covers your 4 day stay, your meals for the week (which will be aweeeesome), and other little fun goodies that I'll have waiting for you :)  All you'll need is some spending money for starbucks runs and frozen yogurt :)

So.  You should come.  Because summertime is the best, and adventures are amazing, so why not combine the two?

And here's how you can get a chance to do that!  If you'd like to apply, all you have to do is email me (jessica@jessicashae.com) letting me know why you'd like to come and what you're looking to get out of it, and send me a link to your blog/flickr/facebook page where you post your work! (edited to add: also, I'd love to know what camera you shoot with!)  You can apply starting today and I'll be accepting applications through May 15th. Once I've accepted your application there will be a 50% deposit due to hold your spot!

Because I'm thinking that there's a good chance I'll receive more than 6 applications and might have to turn some people away, I would ask that you pleeeaaase only apply if you're seriously interested and know that you'll be able to make it for those dates!  I'd hate to have to turn someone away so that I could accept you only to find out later that you're not able to make it :P

Super excited for this Summer!

EDITED TO ADD: Due to a high volume of applications I'm no longer accepting intern applications for Summer 2012.

Much Love,

Jessica Shae

p.s. for all you past interns, I'll also be having a special dinner/reunion at the end of the week that y'all are invited to, I'll be posting more about that later! :)