ericamay | photography blog. » kansas city portrait photographer

Lisa and her sisters!

ericamay — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:00:05 +0000

It’s the best thing to spend time with people who are so full of life. Like Lisa, who never stopped smiling during our whole shoot, who laughed a lot, and who was just a joy to photograph. People who are so full of life, like Lisa and her two sisters, Sarah and Emily — who are all so fun, and even more funny all together. These sisters made me wish I grew up with sisters, too (although, don’t get me wrong, I love my brothers dearly). We took photos of Lisa to celebrate her first year of college, and had to also capture photos of the bond that only sisters share.

The Lovely Laura

ericamay — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:00:13 +0000

I recently taught a private photography lesson, and Laura was our model. She was perfect for it. She’s a photographer herself, and was super confident and tons of fun to photograph. The light was SO golden before the sun set, and I was really into backlighting the images and leaving the really golden hues. We don’t get light like this for much longer! Laura, you’re beautiful. I hope some of these photos are great for you to get back into theater! Enjoy this little preview.

Kansas City Senior Photos: Jenny

ericamay — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:30:09 +0000

Jenny is a beautiful girl with a very bright future ahead of her. I loved hearing about her plans for school, and to go do very big things in the world. The best part is, even after meeting her for just a few minutes, I believe that she’ll do it. And more. Jenny’s session was really fun and I loved her fall attire and (of course) the green she chose to wear! She looks amazing in green, and of course, I like any girl who wears green.

Have a great senior year, Jenny!

Kansas City Senior Photos: Jay

ericamay — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 03:16:42 +0000

Jay’s senior photo session at Antioch Park was a lot of fun. Jay was really easygoing, has a great smile, and was really fun to photograph. It was a great late afternoon with beautiful light! Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot.

Kansas City Headshots: Andrea

ericamay — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:35:57 +0000

When I first knew Andrea, she was afraid of cameras. Or at least very, very camera shy. She just wasn’t comfortable with it, but she agreed to let me take some portraits of her, because I needed practice. I convinced her to let me take her photos one evening when we were in college, because I really wanted photos of the people in my life how I saw them — with Andrea, her photo that hung in my dorm room that year was one where she was laughing, her head turned, shying a little away from the camera lens.

That was Andrea then. Now, years have passed and she’s grown as a person and in her confidence in front of the camera. She asked me to take some portraits of her for her new website for her marriage and family therapy practice. For as long as I’ve known her, that’s what she wanted to do. And that’s what she’s doing now! It’s awesome to see her pursuing her dream, and even more awesome that she’s decided to do it in Kansas City for now.

I’d say we’ve come a long way (both of us) since the last photo shoot we did. And Andrea was totally confident, adorable, and so great in front of my camera lens. She didn’t even act surprised when I told her we’d be doing most of her session in a parking garage. I love these!

I love this one on the left. Beautiful!

One of my faves:

Okay, I love this one, too. Andrea, stop being so cute.

We ended the session with a few fun photos. Because every 20-something deserves some fun photos of herself.

Andrea is famous for doing “choreotherapy” a stress-reliever that came in handy a lot during college… which basically entails making up your own dance moves to whatever song is on at the time. We did a little “choreotherapy” in public for the photo shoot, and I love these of her feet dancing away on the sidewalk.

Congratulations, friend. I can’t wait to see what you do in the next few years.

Family Portraits on the Farm!

ericamay — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:15:40 +0000

One of the best parts about family photos is getting to take photos of families more than once and capture their kids growing up and the family at different stages. This is the third time I’ve been able to take photos of this beautiful family, and I’m so thankful that they keep asking me to take photos of them! The girls are absolutely adorable, and keep getting cuter every time I see them.

We met up in Olathe at Mahaffie Stagecoach Farm for some portraits on a June evening.

Kristy also wanted some new headshots for her website, so we got some super cute ones of her! Doesn’t she look great?!

Kansas City Portraits: Bree and Brian, Columbus Park

ericamay — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:28:25 +0000

It’s hard to believe that it was over two years ago that Bree and Brian got married, and I got to shoot their wedding. It’s hard to believe how quickly life changes and we find ourselves in a new place — somewhere maybe very different than where we imagined just a few short years before! I love that Bree and Brian ended up in the Kansas City area at the same time I did. Bree and I got to be good friends during our time at K-State, and it was awesome to catch up with them a little bit and take some fun photos of them a few years after they said “I do.”

We took photos in the Columbus Park area of Kansas City (just east of River Market) — it’s a cool Italian district of the city!

Family photos at home: Kansas City family photographer

ericamay — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:00:17 +0000

I’m sure I’ve said it before, and I’m positive I’ll say it again: I love shooting family photos in a family’s home! Since my style of photography is more of a documentary format, I love being able to do little mini-documentaries of families doing what they do best — being themselves! I approach family portraits just like I do a wedding day — I seek to capture details, emotions, and little moments shared between people who love each other.

This family is adorable. The boys are just so cute, and were so much fun to spend time with — I loved hearing their stories and capturing their personalities. This family knows how to play together, too. It was so great to watch them all interact and have fun as a family — and capture photos of it! Here are a few of my favorites from their session at home:

When she’s 75… she’ll love these.

ericamay — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:30:07 +0000

My best friend’s birthday was Saturday. Since it’s my job to capture the lives of people around me, I talked her into letting me take her portraits on her birthday… one day during a time in her life that she’ll love looking back on when we’re older, and everything is different, and we’re still best friends. We’ve been best friends for 19 years already. 19 years is a long time to know someone. We can look back now and laugh about things we did in elementary school — and in 19 more years, we’ll be able to look back and laugh about the things we do now… and photos to prove it.

Here’s my little photo documentation of my best friend on her birthday. Love you!