#photography

rachel leintz

Oct 9, 2016

fall festivities

Whew! The beginning of this season has been a busy one! And sadly, that’s made me neglect the blog a bit : ( But don’t worry! I’ll be catching you up on all the fun I’ve been having over the next couple of weeks. At the end of September, I shot a wedding in a beautiful church in central Phoenix (St. Catherine of Sienna’s) followed by a reception at one of my favorite locations (the Royal Palms Resort). It was a fantastically fun wedding! The bride and groom moved here to the

rachel leintz

Sep 21, 2016

love is love...in the forest!

I’ve known Noah since I was sixteen. We grew up together on the east side, across the water from Seattle. Noah met Marc in college and it was about that time that he came out to all of us. His family, his close friends, we were all so happy that he had met someone whom he truly loved and who loved him right back. While I ended up leaving Washington and flitting all over the country, Noah and I always kept in touch. Whenever I had a chance to come back to the Northwest, we alw

stress-free destination wedding? what you need to know to make it happen!

rachel leintz

Aug 24, 2016

stress-free destination wedding? what you need to know to make it happen!

1. Hire a local planner Wedding planners are marvelous. They are like little fairy-godmothers that swoop in and fix things you never dreamed would need fixing. On my wedding day, I had carefully planned out all the little details. That included hand writing little seating cards for all my guests with antique playing card faces (my husband and I are Texas Hold'em players). Well, on the day of, it was really windy. So windy that all those perfectly laid out little cards blew ri

rachel leintz

Aug 18, 2016

what's your photo-mojo?

You ever have one of those weeks where there just doesn't seem to be enough time in a 24 hour day? Well, I'm there this week! So I thought for my mid-week post, I'd throw out a couple questions to the soon-to-be brides and grooms out there. Which of the following describes how you want your wedding to be captured? 1. I want it to feel light, etherial and dream like. 2. I want drama! I want to look at my photos and say "WOW! That's amazing!" 3. I want a combo of both the dream

rachel leintz

Aug 14, 2016

drama with flash

A few weekends back, I had the chance to shoot Kathy and Bill’s wedding at the Wrigley Mansion. For this particular wedding, I had the chance to shoot in a space I was familiar with (Kathy and Bill had be take their engagement shots here as well). Going into this wedding, I had to very clear goals in mind: 1. Keep the bridal portraits soft 2. Use a new backlighting technique with my flash during the first dance. Specifically, I wanted to be sure that the bridal portraits were

rachel leintz

Aug 11, 2016

finding the vision

Man! I seem to be missing blogging due dates left an right these past few weeks. But that’s because I’ve been busy working away on some post processing of Kathy and Bill's wedding, playing with Wyatt, and melting in the Arizona Heat! But enough excuses : ) For this late Wedding Wednesday post, I want to tell you about the latest step in my artistic journey. A few weeks back, I posted about the struggle I was having trying to decide which type of wedding photographer I wanted

rachel leintz

Aug 4, 2016

heads-up for a new flash technique!

I’ve been busy working away on Kathy and Bill’s wedding, so just a quick note here to mention that I ended up trying out a new flash technique at their reception! I’m pretty pleased with the images straight out of camera, but I’m going to “magic” them up a bit in post before sharing. Stay tuned! #wrigley #enagement #weddingplanning #wedding #firstdance #photography #phoenix #weddingphotographer #weddingphotography #photographicstyle #weddings

rachel leintz

Jul 27, 2016

bungalow love

This #weddingwednesday, I’d like to share the story of the Lori and Andrew, the sweet couple I had the pleasure of meeting this past spring. Lori found me, as so many of my brides do, on WeddingWire and asked if we could meet up in person to discuss the details with her fiancé, Andrew. I met the couple at Inside the Bungalow, a quaint little coffee shop / event site in downtown Mesa, just off of Main street. I remember thinking that the whole place had a sort of shabby chic f

rachel leintz

Jul 20, 2016

ain't technology grand?!

I’m not sure about the rest of you wedding photographers out there in Arizona, but as a millennial business woman, I’ve learned a few tried true and tenets over the last few years: 1. If you aren’t on social media, you might as well not exist 2. You need to be available… really, really available 3. Uber Speed in response = bookings With these concepts in mind, I went into the webinar held by WeddingWire (Can You Hear Me Know?) this past week with a little healthy skepticism.

rachel leintz

Jul 18, 2016

yay! first wedaward!!!

So, yes, this Sunday post is about 12 hours late, BUT… that’s because I was waiting and hoping for this news! I won my first WedAward today! The WedAwards are part of an International Wedding Photographer competition and this is their Tenth Collection! I am so honored to have won this award or Lesley & Mark’s “Angel in the Cacti” shot : ) #wedding #photography #weddingphotographer #photographer #weddingplanning #ThePhoenician #timeless #weddings

rachel leintz

Jul 13, 2016

love on the high seas

This week, I was lucky enough to be whisked away to glorious San Diego for a mini-vacation with my husband. He worked, I worked, but we got to do it from gas lamp district in southern California, so I have no complaints! Driving in from the airport, I passed the pier where Christy and Scott were married, and it brought back all the amazing memories and beautiful images of that day. And it inspired the Wedding Wednesday blog for this week! Christy is a gorgeous, petite angel I

engagement shoots in the southwest summer?

rachel leintz

Jul 6, 2016

engagement shoots in the southwest summer?

Ok, we all know it’s hot enough to cook a pizza in an Arizona car at the moment…literally…I saw that on the news a week ago! I don’t care how “dry” the heat is, 112 degrees is HOT! And did I mention that this is monsoon season? So yeah, Arizona can be brutal this time of year. But while most brides-to-be are planning their wedding for the winter, fall or spring here in Arizona, there’s another piece to the bridal puzzle that seems to be giving a lot of my future clients some

rachel leintz

Jul 3, 2016

june newsletter!

For Sunday this week, I admit, I'm a little behind on the blogging : ( BUT! I did just send out the newest newsletter to all you lucky followers out there :) Didn't get it? Want it? Check it out at the link below and be sure to sign up to receive all the latest, each month. june's newsletter #destinationwedding #firstdance #countrychic #vendors #timeless #music #engaged #wedding #romantic #photojournalism #photography #weddingphotographer #photographer #weddings #enagement #p

rachel leintz

Jun 29, 2016

in defense of photojournalism

This past Sunday, I was really lucky to be able to attend my dear friend Amber’s wedding (more images to come soon!). She is one of my sweetest, dearest friends, and while I knew it was a small, intimate affair, I wanted her to have some fabulous photographic memories to cherish, so I brought my gear along. This was an unusual shoot for me. My husband was there and so was my little cyclone of a two year old! So while wearing the mommy, wife, photographer hat all at the same

rachel leintz

Jun 26, 2016

missing a posting deadline!

Well, I'm missing a Sunday blog post deadline, but that's only because my dear, sweet friend Amber got MARRIED tonight! It was a really sweet, intimate get together with family and friends. And, I brought my lens along :) Oh, the benefits of having a wedding photographer as a best bud! I'll be sharing some of the images soon. Stay tuned! #romantic #wedding #photography #lighting #weddings #photographer #weddingplanning #photographicstyle #weddingwire #weddingphotographer #wed

ivories and directional light . . .
an engagement shoot at the wrigley mansion

rachel leintz

Jun 22, 2016

ivories and directional light . . . an engagement shoot at the wrigley mansion

Well, for those of you that don’t live in the middle of the sweltering southwest desert, let me tell you, we are smack-dab in the middle of an Arizona summer here in the Valley! Arizona is kind of a unique place to be as far as the wedding industry goes. We actually have TWO wedding seasons. But right now isn’t one of them : ) While the rest of the wedding photographers in the nation are happy snapping away outdoors, we have to find some creative ways to beat the heat during

rachel leintz

Jun 19, 2016

you’re engaged!...now what?

Over the past month or so, I’ve had a lot of questions surrounding the “engagement shoot.” Do I include one in my package pricing? Is it really worth it? How much more should a wedding photographer charge for the shoot? The list goes on from there. I’ve gone back and forth on this subject. I know many photographers hesitate to add it into the overall cost of the wedding photography. After all, it’s a whole other day of shooting. You have to travel to the shoot, then it’s an h

rachel leintz

Jun 16, 2016

and your name is? . . .

Last night I had my FIRST honest-to-goodness networking event. And it was a little nerve wracking! I mean, it’s a little weird, right? You don’t know anyone at these things until you’ve been to them, so the first time, you kinda feel like the new kid at school…except for the fact that your and adult, and your trying to break into a really competitive industry, and half the people there are probably going to be your competitors…yeah, if you guessed that it was super awkward, y

rachel leintz

Jun 12, 2016

love in the high country

Amie, her mother, and her sister actually all made the long drive south from Flagstaff to meet with me after we had emailed a few times about her wedding. She loved my work, but wanted to meet in person to be sure we would be a good fit. Amie was sweet and kind with an infectious smile. After we worked out the details, it was decided that I would be her girl for wedding photography on the big day! The group then made the most of their time in the Valley by finishing their wed

a brilliant digital memory you have to have

rachel leintz

Jun 8, 2016

a brilliant digital memory you have to have

Recently, I’ve been seeing a new trend popping up on social media (Instagram, specifically) that I’m kind of falling in love with. If you spent time and energy making sure that your wedding invitations and your RSVP cards turned out splendidly, why not share them during the wedding? I’ve seen some really beautiful images lately of a copy of the wedding invitation, combined with macro ring shots, or bouquet images. If you’re a bride who’s planning a gorgeous wedding, be sure t