It’s been approximately a year since I remember driving around Harrisonburg, while still a student at JMU, when I vividly remember thinking, “if I want to be a wedding photographer, I need to start now.” In the past year, I’ve experienced countless answered prayers about the small beginnings of this business, and I’m so so thankful. At this point, I’m still figuring out my niche, and I guess you could say I’m still “becoming Klaire Dixius Photography,” (hence the title of this post), and I’m so excited and expectant for what’s to come.I

Last summer, I prayed for one wedding- just one. Since last August, I’ve shot 7 weddings on my own, and second shot two with Jessica from Jessica Mae Photography. Applying to be her intern for this wedding season has been one of the best decisions I’ve made for attempting to start this business, and I’ve been learning so so much! After months of waiting to blog about all of it, I wanted to begin sharing!I

One of the most valuable things I’ve learned from Jessica is that each business is unique; I don’t have to function like other photographers just because they have become successful shooting or blogging a certain way. This has given me SO much freedom, and has taught me to think more intentionally about what I personally want to do as a photographer- how I want to specifically serve people or how I want to talk about what I’m passionate about. I’m still working through those questions, but at least I have a freeing starting point.I

Another beautiful thing about second shooting with Jessica is simply having the opportunity to learn. Learning doesn’t necessarily only come from explanation, but also by seeing how she interacts with clients, how she calmly poses couples to create genuine images, or repeatedly going through the schedule of a wedding day. I

I have so much more to say about this awesome experience, but I’ll save the rest for another day! Go ahead and do yourself a favor and check out her beautiful work here!I

Here are a few images from one of the weddings I second shot with her recently: