Winter Couples Session at Mercer Meadows, NJ

About Jackie:

This lovely lady with the camera below is the reason for this adorable session with Sabrina and Sebastian! When Jackie reached out to me about a mentoring session, I was over-the-moon excited and honored that she wanted to learn from me! Jackie was willing to travel all the way from Maryland to grab coffee, chat about all things biz and photography, and shoot this freezing session in January alongside me! She opted for my full mentoring package, where we could sit down for a few hours to answer questions about starting a photography business, take some new headshots for her website that was launching at the time, AND photograph a real couple to learn about camera and lighting settings, directing, and running a session!

When I asked her why she wanted to work with couples, she said, “I just love love and posing people how I would want to be posed with my husband!” It was such a freaking blast getting to pour so much of what I know into her, and she has since become an assistant at a bunch of my weddings and a really close friend! You can check out her amazing work here!

Her Experience:

Her review of the experience meant the world to me – nothing lights me up more than knowing I was able to impact her business and be a helping hand along the way!

Here’s what she said, “I found Tori on Instagram and was immediately drawn to her work. After following her for a while and watching her stories, I knew I wanted to be friends! She is hilarious and so genuine. I finally reached out to her and we planned a mentoring session. I drove all the way from Maryland to meet up with her in New Jersey.

From the moment I met her, I felt like we were already friends. She put together tons of information for us to go over and answered all of my questions without judgment. She found an amazing couple for us to shoot together and showed me how she prompts and poses her couples. Her shoots are so much fun! After we finished the shoot, she showed me her whole editing and post-processing workflow.

We could have talked for hours! She has so much knowledge and you can really tell how passionate she is about photography. Since our meeting, we have kept in close contact and she answers all my crazy questions! Whenever she comes across something she thinks would be beneficial for me, whether it’s an online workshop or just Lightroom editing tutorials, she sends them my way. Tori really wants to see her mentees succeed!

I was scared to reach out at first because I was afraid to be turned down and be seen as future competition in the field, but Tori is all about community over competition and is willing to help in any way possible! I can’t wait for our future sessions!” Liiiiike, could I be more obsessed with her?!

Jackie,

Thank you for trusting me to teach you and for believing in what I do! It means so much that you saw value in my business and wanted to kick start yours from day one! You truly impress me EVERY dang day with how much you’ve grown. You’re thriving, girl! Proud of you and can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store for you!

PS – I got to photograph her and her hubs recently, and you’ve just got to see it! All the magical golden sunset goodness this way!

Sabrina & Seb’s Session: Mercer Meadows

I couldn’t be more grateful to have this incredible couple model for my mentoring session with Jackie! They are one of my incredible 2020 wedding couples, and I was SO pumped to get to photograph them again after their perfect engagement session! Sab & Seb are one of the most fun couples to work with because they are just so playful, wild, up for anything, and have a killer style! These two have become such close friends throughout this process, and I was sooo happy they said yes when I asked them to model for Jackie’s mentoring session! They helped make the experience so relaxed, fun, and helpful for Jackie as she learned how to work with couples! I was so happy with the images I captured from this mini session, as well, so I just had to share all of the cuteness!!!

I love that Jackie chose to go with my full mentoring session package that allowed for tons of time to chat over coffee first! We talked about all things business and photography to kick start her business! She came prepared with so many questions, and I seriously could’ve talked to her for hours about it all! Then, we headed over to a nearby location for a sunset session with these cuties! We grabbed some quick headshots of Jackie first, so she had photos for when she launched her new website! Then, we dove into learning about camera settings, lighting, posing and getting couples super comfortable in front of the camera! It was seriously such a dream session from teaching Jackie to this absolutely adorable duo!

Their Love Story

Sabrina and Seb met a few years back at Englishtown Raceway Park where Seb was an active member of the Drifting Motorsport community. The two shared a bunch of mutual friends through the sport, and it didn’t take long for Sabrina and Seb to cross paths! Their proposal story has my heart because I was unintentionally involved! You have to read all about it, it seriously makes me SO dang happy every time I reread it! You can read more about Sabrina and Seb and see their engagement session photos here!

Sabrina and Seb say that their typical date night is ANYTHING but typical! They always try to steer away from anything they’ve previously done and instead try out new places to eat, drink and explore! Sabrina is a kick ass interior designer with such an eye for style and Seb is an incredible tattoo artist with the coolest designs. Their shared love for art and passion for taking on life together is truly so inspiring. I just love them! xo

Sabrina and Seb,

Thank you SO much for offering to be models for Jackie’s mentoring sesh! You both are just so easy to photograph and made everything such a breeze! I’m so thankful to have you two as friends since first shooting your engagement session! You two are the freaking BEST! Love you, xoxo!