The images featured on this Photo Exchange are NOT my images or edits. They are the images of other talented photographers and THEIR edits. In the photo exchange two different photographers are matched up, they exchange images and edit the other’s photo. I am sometimes one of the photographers exchanging images, but not always.

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This week’s Photo Exchange brings together two lovely Utah photographers Amber Goddard of Amber Goddard Photography out of West Jordan and Brittany Stucki of Framed Photography out of St. George. I love that so many photographers have wanted to participate in the Photo Exchange. It’s definitely a chance to do something a little out of the ordinary, network and see your image in a whole new light. Please feel free to link to both Amber and Brittany’s blogs and check out their work. Thank you ladies for jumping on board and participating in the exchange. You both did a fabulous job with each other’s images. 

I have to tell you, there hasn’t been a single photographer to participate in this that hasn’t gotten a kick out of working on someone else’s image. It’s weird, but it’s quite refreshing to start with an image that is not yours, not your original vision and working with it to make it your own. And what fun it is to see how another photographer approaches your work. I do have a pretty decent sized list of photographers that are waiting to participate in this venture. If you are one of them, please be patient. Your photo boards are here and waiting. Things are so busy for me right now that I’m trying to get to them a little here and there. Want to join? Click the tab at the left for details. BTW, I’ve also been seeing this concept popping up randomly on blogs. Looks like people are taking the idea and running with it themselves. Wonderful… but please remember to link back here to where it all began. Remember to share the love!

For me, before and afters have always been incredibly intriguing. I truly think it’s important for people and potential clients to get a sense of what actually goes into editing a session. Nowadays, it seems like everywhere you turn there’s some mother that’s received a DSLR for Christmas or their birthday and wants to be (or already thinks they are) a professional photographer. In this tough economy, people are trying to scrimp and cut corners wherever they can and photography is often one of those corners that is sadly cut in lieu of Cousin Marg that just got her DSLR and can shoot the family photos, once in a lifetime maternity images and those fleeting newborn moments. (insert huge sigh here) The SOOC images you see here are just that, STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA. That’s what Cousin Marg offers. We photographers put precious time into editing sessions to take a ho-hum flat image and make it into art that clients will want to showcase and will treasure for a lifetime. I sincerely hope that by displaying the before and after images, it will become clear how much difference hiring a professional does make. I encourage you photographers to occasionally post a before and after on your sites. Or, just sign up here and we’ll do it together!

Thank you to Jess Bishop and Nicole McCaulley for this very fun and inspiring exchange. Love both of your work and as always, if you enjoy these before and afters (something not every photographer is willing to show) be sure and visit their sites and let them know you stopped by.

After a bit of a hiatus, the photo exchange is back!  I’ve got quite a few photographers waiting patiently to join the exchange and this little project is definitely still going, but it’s a bit hit or miss as of late. This exchange was between Meg Borders out of Washington and myself. Meg has an amazingly clean, modern style that I adore. You will surely want to link over to her blog, Photography by Meg, and check out her gorgeous work… don’t forget to leave your 2¢ in her comments! First image here is my edit of Meg’s image and below the SOOC image.

And, here is Meg’s light and vintage flavored edit of my image, followed by my SOOC shot. I’m continually intrigued and inspired at how varying artistic vision is from artist to artist. It’s what makes the artistic world go around. Thank you, Meg, for embarking on the exchange with me. It’s so refreshing and fun to work on someone else’s image. Want to join the exchange? It’s ongoing and there are no stop or start dates. Click the tab to the left, aptly entitled “photo exchange” for details on how you can join.

The Photo Exchange forever ongoing so you can join at any time. Click the Photo Exchange tab at the left of the blog for more info or to get started!

Here are their SOOC (straight out of camera) and edited images.