Abi Coop
Melissa Richard
Kristen Ryan
Tell Us About Yourself!
Hello! My name is Melissa and I live in the beautiful — and so, so rainy! — PNW. I have my share of gray hairs. My husband of more than 20 years tells me they’re beautiful, and I’m so thankful for that. He’s my rock. I have two amazing teenagers, a 14 year old son and a 13 year old daughter. Our home is filled with music, laughter and blue kitchen cabinets, which is my favorite color. My husband and I met in the marching band at college, and both of our kids are now in their school orchestras. Some of my favorite photos to take of my children are when they’re playing their instruments, because I get a mini-concert! I was a TV news reporter in my 20s, I love reading cozy mysteries and science fiction, and our family enjoys watching Jeopardy together and camping in our RV. It’s a wonderful life. I couldn’t have come this far in my Hello Storyteller journey without the love and support of my family.
How Would You Describe Your Photography Style?
My creative style is full of color, storytelling and wonder. I look for moments that tell a larger story, that stop time, and have a feeling of quiet. I want to share that there is still so much love to capture as your kids become teenagers. That we all have a story, and it’s worth telling.
What Inspires You To Create?
A story. I love words. So many of my photos are bound heavily to their captions. I pour all my emotions into my photos and the stories behind them. Even if that story is a memory, I want to share that through a timely photo. My children also inspire me. Professionally, my daughter has come as my assistant to sessions. Personally, both children, now teenagers, have so many wonderful ideas and energy. Whenever I want a photo of my son playing soccer, he’ll pull me aside every chance he gets so he can teach me some new moves. My daughter is so creative. I say often that she’s not my model, she’s my partner. They keep me bringing out my camera day after day. I want to remember these days always, through my photos. I don’t know if they could ever know just how much they inspire me.
What goals are you hoping to achieve as a Hello Artist?
To be part of a community! I have felt so welcomed, as I connect with the Hello Artists and Pros. I have loved the classes I’ve taken (and am taking live right now!). I want to encourage others to follow their dreams. I would love to teach someday; I have so many ideas. I’d love to write about photographing teens, believing in yourself, connecting with your clients and more. That would make me so proud. To be contributing blog posts, lessons, classes and overall encouragement to this wonderful storytelling community. And of course I want to continue this path and pursue becoming a Hello Pro.
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Tell Us About Yourself!
I’m Sam, a light loving mum of 4. My children are everything to me….. I love being a mum.
I’m not naturally an “outdoorsy” or “sporty” type (I prefer my make-up and hair straighteners) but my kids totally ARE…. They are mud-loving wildlings who like nothing more than to go “wooding” which is what they call a trips to the local woods. They are constantly asking for “duck bread” to eat (which I have finally learned means dry bread straight from the bag that you would usually take to feed the ducks)! They are wild and free spirits with dirty faces and messy hair and I love it so much!!! So, I’ve had to embrace this and find photography is my way of being part of their adventures. I bought my first DSLR camera in august 2020, a second hand Nikon 3200 and both my finances and free time have deteriorated fast from there!!
Our lives are chaotic and full to the brim. We do everything at top speed. We share laughter, tears and plenty of arguments. We are unapologetically loud and proud…… we are certainly not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ – but we don’t care and actually I don’t even like tea anyway!!!
I now work as an optometrist in the same tiny village in the Midlands, UK where I grew up on a council estate. Most people i meet are surprised by my job. it’s the thing they least expect me to say but I love being with the people in my local community and see myself as not just their clinician but often their mentor and confidant.
How Would You Describe Your Photography Style?
I would say that my style is dark and moody lifestyle photography – with a pop of colour. I love the colour red….. red has such a diverse meaning, it’s the colour of passion, energy and love. But it is also the colour of danger, power and anger. I am attracted to light and shadow which play a huge role in my work. I also have an obsession with photographing perspective. So my work will usually feature a wide angle and detail shot of her same scene.
I am beginning to explore creative techniques such as free lensing and macro as well as creating and sharing light overlays and making abstract art with these.
What Inspires You To Create?
My gorgeous offspring….. capturing and immortalising the details of their little lives. I love creating beautiful photographs within an ugly environment (not difficult for me at the moment as I am living in a renovation project) I will often show behind the scenes set-ups of my shoots on Instagram. In fact, I hope this will be my first blog post as a ‘Hello Artist’!! I love seeing the change of seasons and this features heavily in my work as well as helping my children use “crafty” skills to create props or sets to photograph and adopting a ‘make do and mend’ approach to props and costume.
What goals are you hoping to achieve as a Hello Artist?
As well as continue my own journey and create amazing memories to look back on when I’m old and grey – my learning journey will never be finished- I have a thirst for creative learning!
I have experienced many challenging times in my life. One day I hope to be able to share some of these things with the wider community like I do in my locality, because i feel that I can offer people a lot of support if I just had a platform to do this.
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Tell Us About Yourself!
I am originally from Brazil and have lived in the UK and now USA. I am a full time mom to my son who I homeschool as well as business owner and wife. When my mom passed away I was 10 years old. My memories fail me most of the time when I try to remember details of her but I have photographs that I treasure deeply. That has inspired me to create art that people can carry through generations.
How Would You Describe Your Photography Style?
My passion is photographing authentic moments. I am interested in seeing people for what they truly are. I don’t believe perfection in photography is about focus, posing or lighting but rather how we can use all of these things to bring out the true essence of someone.
What Inspires You To Create?
The thought that life is short and that we need to document the way we truly lived and loved.
What goals are you hoping to achieve as a Hello Artist?
Enhance my skills, make connections with other fellow photographers, promote my work.
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What goals are you hoping to achieve as Hello Pro?
I would love more opportunities to share what I have learned about photography through doing more blog articles, member perks and possibly teaching a course myself or contributing to a collaboration. I want to continue to participate in group activities such as Instagram loops, reels and monthly projects as a way to expand and challenge my current skill set. I am signed up for Flash 201 in preparation for the low light months ahead and to learn some new techniques.
In what ways are you involved in the Hello Storyteller community?
I try my best to post regularly on the main forum and answer any questions by members that arise as well as participate in the regular features (Thursday’s ‘in the raw’ and feedback posts in particular). I participate in Instagram loops and reels and monthly projects with the group. I support members when they have an upcoming Instagram takeover by providing material and questions. I support mentors by advertising their courses in my Instagram stories. I give feedback on sets when artists are putting portfolios together for Hello Pro or Artist. I have several Hello Storyteller courses that I have worked through and I am currently enrolled in Flash 201. I am participating in the Big Tog / Little Tog program.
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What goals are you hoping to achieve as Hello Pro?
I love being able to help, inspire and encourage people on their journeys as photographers and so as a Hello Pro I would aim to become a teacher and mentor. I feel I have grown so much over the last 6 months being a part of this community and hope to be able to give something back. I especially have a passion for creative techniques, some of which can be quite tricky to master, so I would love to do a course on these, sharing my knowledge and experience, allowing others to discover the magic of creating beautiful images with these techniques.
In what ways are you involved in the Hello Storyteller community?
I love engaging with the Hello Storyteller community both on Facebook and on Instagram. In addition to commenting on images or answering questions, I like to pose questions that might open a discussion or prompt others to post their images.
I have joined the Hello Artist Prep Group team as I love to support this group and have some ideas about how we can help those nearer the beginning of their journeys to find their voices and grow as artists. Some preppers have preferred not to post their images, sets, and questions in the public Facebook group so I have been providing advice privately. I also plan to become a Big Tog.
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What goals are you hoping to achieve as Hello Pro?
I want to continue to encourage and help other photographers on their journey (I’m really crossing my fingers for a little tog soon!). I’d eventually LOVE to teach (I think a collaboration would be amazing, also) and maybe lead a few community projects along the way. I just really enjoy sharing what I already know and what I discover and working with others to do the same!
In what ways are you involved in the Hello Storyteller community?
I try to check into the Facebook pages at least once a day to give feedback/comment on/encourage other members. I’ve been working hard to look at portfolios when presented and give critique where I can. I try to check Slack regularly so I can participate in projects and stay connected. I’ve fulfilled the requirements to apply for Pro, but don’t expect my contributions to end there. I plan to do takeovers, blog posts, and member perks in the future, too!
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What goals are you hoping to achieve as Hello Pro?
I would like to continue to be involved in the community and hopefully become a critical member of the team! I certainly want to teach and/or mentor photographers. I love working with people who are learning to love this art form and it’s really fun to watch people grow and have “a-ha” moments. I have thought about ways to be more involved in the business side of Hello Storyteller and growing this platform/community, and would love to take on a leadership role within the business. I am open to suggestions of what we need, but one thing I thought about would be to spearhead any in-person retreats or conferences. I think it would be amazing to create a conference one day, like our version of “Click Away”. If we don’t have the numbers to support that yet, we could start with smaller in-person retreats or workshops. We could do this for just members and/or even just Hello Creatives. (Having a Hello Artist and Hello Pro (only) retreat might be a strong way to market that program, because I think having an exclusive retreat would be a real draw for people!) I have an MBA with some experience in marketing and management, and think it would be fun to put some of those skills to use in growing Hello Storyteller, to be even bigger and better.
In what ways are you involved in the Hello Storyteller community?
I try to be very active in the Hello Storyteller Community Facebook group, along with the Hello Pro Creatives FB group, Hello Artist Prep FB Group and Hello Pro Prep FB Group. I especially enjoy participating in the Hello Artist Prep FB group, where I work with photographers prepping to apply to be a Hello Artist. I am also active on both the Hello Storyteller Instagram account, and the Hello Pro Creatives Instagram account, commenting on posts and trying my best to interact. Since my Hello Artist acceptance in August, I have participated in the monthly theme projects (and corresponding Instagram loops), such as “plants” and “light”, as well as the monthly color projects, the quarterly “storyteller mug” project and the funny “dropping pumpkin” loop. I am on slack daily and love keeping up with the community of Creatives there! Finally, I was just chosen as a Big Tog and can’t wait to dive into mentoring.
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What goals are you hoping to achieve as Hello Pro?
I would love to become more involved in the Hello Storyteller community as a mentor and source of encouragement for photographer’s looking to grow. Hello Storyteller has been so influential in my journey as an artist – I’d like to repay that for others. As a Hello Pro, I would love to participate in a collaborative course or even develop a course of my own for the academy. I would also like to build my network of likeminded artists and friends.
In what ways are you involved in the Hello Storyteller community?
I am an active member in the Hello Storyteller Facebook group, and also engage with community members on Instagram. I have also participated in the color project. I am planning to sign up for the Big Tog/Little Tog program.
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