2016, you were a beast.

In 2016, I photographed Brooklyn, Asheville, the Bahamas, the Smokies, Destin, Tampa, South Carolina, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Atlanta.

In 2016, I found more of my people. The ones who want me to document their weddings wholly- to show off the quirk & the joy & the emotion & the dance moves.

In 2016, I had a photo in the New York Times.

In 2016, I photographed weddings outdoors, indoors, in barns, in churches, in warehouses, on mountains, on a beach, and in the rain. I froze my ass off. I sweated my ass off. I photographed traditional weddings; I photographed couples who bucked tradition. A few of my couples peer pressured me into 10am whiskey shots.  I ate pie. I ate cake. I ate cookies. I cried a bit. I laughed a whole lot.

This entire post is dedicated to my incredible couples. Each & every one of you! You give me the opportunity to make art. You inspire me. You trust my crazy ideas & suggestions. We come together for one day & we make magic. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Buckle up. This one is a doozy.

You may have noticed it’s been quiet around here… that’s because I’ve got big news!

DRUMROLL PLEASE!! ……..

We moved to Knoxville!

Alright, you caught me. That’s not a photo of Knoxville, but I am super excited to be closer to Cades Cove!

So what’s the deal? 

Jeff & I decided last fall that it was time to be closer to friends & family so we made plans to make the move from Chattanooga to Knoxville. We haven’t lived in our hometown of Knoxville since we both left for college. We went from Nashville to Chattanooga… and now back to Knoxville. We are so excited for this change!

Oh no! How does this affect your business or booked weddings?

Nothing is changing except I’ll be available for more Knoxville portrait sessions. Being from Knoxville originally, I have not been a stranger to the local wedding scene. Last year I shot about a third of my weddings in Knoxville. I’m excited to dig in deeper!

If you are an already booked wedding client, nothing is changing on your end except it might be a little bit harder to arrange in-person meetings in Chattanooga. Of course there will be no additional travel fees added or anything like that. You are completely golden! Clients, please let me know if you have any questions.

I’ll still be booking portraits & weddings in Chattanooga. It’s a quick drive!

What can we do to help your transition?

It’s always scary to move to a new-ish market. I worked hard to build my business up in Chattanooga so it will be a transition. Many of my bookings came from local Google searches. That’s going to take me some time to build up but I am feeling positive! If you’d like to make the move a bit easier on me, I’d *love* for you to recommend me to anyone getting married in the East Tennessee area, especially if you think they’d like my work.  You’re the best.

That’s about it for now. I’m sure I’ll have more developments later, but for now, I’ve got some unpacking to do. <3 

Instagram is my new jam. 2015 was officially my year on Instagram. I started the @alexbeephoto account, made new friends, and shared my life- professional & otherwise. I received 9,225 likes on 146 photos, which blows my mind! I met new clients, I connected with old clients. Like I said, it’s my NEW JAM!

What will you see on my Instagram? Behind the scene photos, travel snapshots, sneak peeks, random musings, cat photos, and more. Sounds incredible, right? I bet the cat photo thing really got you!

Let’s connect! I predict 2016 will be an even *bigger* Instagram year. See you on IG!

One of my favorite things about China is just how diverse everything can be. One day you can be in an enormous city and the next you can take a quick train to a sprawling desert. I was so happy when I had a chance to visit the Mingsha Sand Dunes in the western Chinese city of Dunhuang. I arrived in Dunhuang by train and immediately took a taxi to Charley Johng’s Guesthouse. Because I was only in the city for the sand dunes, I didn’t mind that the hostel was about ten minutes from downtown. Much to my surprise, as I neared the guesthouse the park appeared in front of me. I couldn’t believe just how close our hotel was to the dunes!

The main reason I was staying at Charley Johng’s Guesthouse was because I had heard great things about their Gobi Desert camel trek. I wanted to ride a camel and pretend for an evening that I was on the infamous Silk Road.

I ended up being the only person on the trip to the dunes and I didn’t mind it one bit. It was just me, the guide and a camel named Ting. One surprising part of the trip was that I did not expect to be riding a camel when she ran down a sand dune! I didn’t expect to see those huge beasts running and I certainly did not expect to be riding one when it did.

In the evening we rode through the desert until we came to a great camping spot right under a huge dune. I spent the evening taking photos, walking as far as I could and watching the sunset. The colors on the dunes changed so fast at sunset. I couldn’t believe just how peaceful it felt out there, where all I could hear was the wind moving the sand. The guide made a fire and we feasted on cup noodles and warm beer.

I laid in my sleeping bag and I saw my first-ever shooting star, followed shortly after by roughly ten more. I’ve never seen a sky more beautiful.  We woke up at sunrise and I repeated what I had done the night before. We rode back to town to finish up what was an incredible adventure.

This story was also shared on one of my favorite travel blogs, Entouriste!

While in LA, we visited El Matador State Beach in Malibu & experienced one of the best sunsets around. Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway was one of the highlights of our trip!