Shoot and Share Contest

2017 was my second year entering the annual Shoot and Share Contest. I throughly enjoy the Shoot and Share contest because it's unbiased and anonymous, (unless, of course, you've seen the photos before). I can send the link to friends and family because anyone can vote! And it gets pretty addicting. 

Finalist badges are given to the Top 3.5% of the entire contest. That includes all the photos entered! Top 30%, 20%, and 10% are given for each category, such as engagements, portraits, family, etc. 

This is an annual, world-wide photo contest. In 2017, 332,768 photos were submitted, and over 49 MILLION votes were cast by 104,378 people from 141 different countries! 25 of JayCee Photography's photos received badges in 2017. 

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Personal Favorite • Chatbooks

Anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with photos. Not just taking photos, but having photos printed. When we moved to Idaho I printed every photo from Jacob and I's relationship into 4x6's. I put them in an album in order of dates, which took forever.  I wanted to write on the backs when and where each photo was taken. But I knew that would take time too, so I gave up on that. 

Then in October I watched a Chatbook ad. I heard amazing things about the Chatbooks and I'd even looked at my aunt's collection in Colorado which is where I fell in love with them. I decided to order my very own. And that's when I fell in love. My book took less than 10 minutes to make, and I did it all from my phone! The book came about a week later and I was hooked! I couldn't stop touching it, and flipping through it. So here's my Top 3 reasons why I love Chatbooks.

Convenient. 
I can have all my images from Instagram automatically uploaded along with their descriptions I already typed up from when I posted. If there's something I want to add, I can do that right from the app. I can also add images from Facebook if I prefer or I can make a separate album on my phone dedicated to Chatbooks so when I'm ready, I can upload just that album. Chatbooks is amazing because if you don't want to do anything, you do have to! There's a setting to make Instagram automatically upload your selected platform and a book can be published every month! 

Organized
With my previous method, I would have to go through every print and try remembering where we were, what date it was, and what we were doing. Majority of the time I would have to log in to Facebook or Instagram to see if I posted anything about it. And if I didn't, I was kind of out of luck. With Chatbooks, it knows the dates already so when you sync an album or account, it'll automatically put images in order of date taken! You can switch images around easily if you prefer, but i love having everything in order of dates. Chatbooks makes series so you can have multiple life events documented. For example, Kylee Ann does Chatbooks for each of her kids. So she has a Piper series, and then a Brody series, along with her regular family series. 

Inexpensive
I was paying about .15 cent per 4x6 print, plus shipping. This didn't include a description or an album to put them in. Chatbooks are $8 for 60 pages! And there's free shipping! You can upgrade to faster shipping or to hardcover if it's something your interested in. But for me to save my memories for 1-3 months as effective and efficient as Chatbooks for only $8 a book? It's beyond worth it to me.
Want to try it out?


GET YOUR FIRST BOOK FREE HERE.

Shai'Loni + Wes • Island Park Engagements

If you want to know a patient couple, Shai'Loni and Wes are it! In January I met up with Shai'Loni to visit about her vision for her wedding. Seeing her face light up when she talked about Wes made me so excited to see them together for their engagement session. 

We planned on a Saturday to head to Island park for snowy engagements. I knew it'd be covered in snow, but the day before a snow stormed started to hit Island Park according to my weather app. In Idaho Falls and Rexburg it was mostly just gloomy, but I really didn't want to risk driving up and getting stuck or not being able to shoot in a blizzard. I asked to reschedule for Presidents' Day. These two were so patient and happy to do so! 

Monday came and it was pouring wet snow! Luckily it wasn't a blizzard this time around, but it gave the exact vibe Shai'Loni wanted for their session! The snow was literally perfect for photographing. At a few different points during their session I'd have Shai'Loni and Wes stand under a tree, and right as they got into their pose, snow would fall off the tree and down their necks and back! They were such good sports about freezing snow falling on them, so we all ended up laughing, even after the fifth time it happened. Thank goodness for these two with their patience and easy going attitudes. 

MUA: Abbie Hughes