Meet Rocheal

A little smitten with black coffee and a lot obsessed with my white lab. In this black and white world, I'm a firm believer in the grey.

When I first got into photography I was an atheist.

Born and raised in a world full of drugs and rock and roll, going to school was an option for me. In my world, there were winners and losers and I wasn't sure where my family fell.

I spent my entire life running from Jesus, denouncing "Bible Thumpers" because there was no way a God would allow the things that happened to me happen.

And then 2014 happened.
I'd just graduated college and was marrying the man of my dreams. 

While tying up the loose ends of wedding planning, I made a pit stop by my tailor's house for some dress measurements before I left town for my bachelorette party.
God was the last thing on my mind.

Before I left my tailor's house, she asked to have coffee with me.
"Have you ever accepted God as your savior?"
I looked at her as if she were stupid.
"No. And I don't plan on it." *polite, but annoyed smile*

"Oh, that's okay. This is really pulling on me. Just have a seat and repeat after me..."
Irritatingly, I sat down, and repeated after her.

All of a sudden, warm, gold-like glowing fullness washed into my feet and swept up my body. When I opened my eyes the day was vibrant. The birds were chirping. Everything was turned up. I saw colors and sounds that I'd never seen before. I thought she spiked my coffee.
Scared, I thanked her and left.

I was the running joke of my bachelorette weekend. A beach girl at heart, having moved to Georgia, I wanted nothing more than to feed some seagulls on the beach. Problem was, it was too early in the year for seagulls to be out. So the food I carried in my pocket that weekend went to waste. (haha)

On our last morning there, I woke up early to enjoy coffee on the balcony and finish a book my tailor asked me to read. After reading the last page, I closed the book. After some time reflecting, I opened the sliding glass door to grab fresh coffee and there was a bird. Sitting. Looking at me... On our stove.

I walked over to him, put my finger out, *hoping* (yeah right, eye roll!) he would let me hold him.

He climbed onto my finger, and instantly - that warmth- vibrant, gold-like feeling swept through my body.

And it was in that moment my life began to change.

Once I figured out the initially scary, warmly inviting feeling I felt was Jesus, everything began transforming.

I spent most of my life running from Him, trying to define myself as a free individual, only to turn up more chained down. As my relationship with Jesus matures, I'm learning that it's Him who breaks chains, and His perfect love that sets us free.

When I found Him, I found my passions, and the permission to follow them.
Spending my weekends photographing weddings and baptisms is pretty much the coolest thing in the entire world...

And this brings me to photography: the crux of how I fell in love with people.
(Back in the day I decided people were untrustworthy, and I found solace in animals.)

After everything shifted in 2014, I took my photography business full time. What started as basic job to make a little money has transformed into a soul-shifting passion full of purpose I would have never anticipated.

After having photographed so many weddings, I understand the importance of my role. I've learned that helping my couples plan their wedding day means the difference of them enjoying their day versus feeling stiff and rushed.

I want you to feel comfortable and at ease on your wedding day so when you look back through your wedding album, you remember exactly how you felt when your spouse pulled you in close.

How your heart felt when he kissed you. 

You shouldn't feel forced when you're being photographed on your wedding day because these memories are too precious.
My cameras capture the last moments a bride has with her grandmother, and the first moments she has with her husband.

Photographing folks with their favorite people during the most precious memories of their lives has taught me to see the world differently.
The small, fleeting moments that God gifts us with are important, and memories are precious.