Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alison Helms. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Alison thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I started my photography business when I was 16 years old. I worked all through high school and college, and after graduating college, I dove head-first into my business while supporting myself as a barista at a local coffee shop. After over 7 years of working in the Dallas and Oklahoma City wedding markets, I moved to Denver, Colorado.

Moving my business to a whole new market is one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken–and one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done as a small business owner. Truthfully, I had no idea what a toll it would take on me both personally and professionally. I knew no one in Denver with the exception of my partner, who moved with me, and I had no professional connections. I had to start over from scratch.

The first year was incredibly hard; I spent most of my time transitioning my website and social media to my new location, and worked heavily on my SEO. I did photo sessions for free and paid to attend an editorial to build up a portfolio of work in my new home. Every little baby step felt like a huge leap; another risk I had to take in order to build a repore in Denver.

Now that I’m a year and a half in, I’ve photographed several weddings in Colorado, and began making connections with the lovely wedding vendors in the Denver area, I’m finally starting to feel the pay off of the risks I’ve taken. It can be so scary– especially as a small business owner, doing it all alone–to make decisions without knowing how things will turn out.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my almost 9 years of being a wedding photographer, it’s that sometimes being afraid is the anticipation of something great. As Julia Cameron says, “Leap, and the net will appear.”

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Alison Brooke Helms, and I’m a wedding photographer based in Denver, Colorado. I create vibrant and nostalgic photographs for couples who want to live in the moment & remember it.

I started photographing people almost 9 years ago, and I believe it is one of the greatest honors of my life to be invited into moments as intimate and special as the celebration of a marriage. My aim in my work is always to find the balance of classic, heirloom portraits alongside the unexpected candid moments unique to each individual wedding day.

I believe that everyone deserves to see themselves honestly and meaningfully represented in artful heirloom photographs. On a wedding day, you can find me smiling behind my camera, searching for something beautiful, and celebrating alongside my couples and their loved ones. My work is bright and vibrant–true-to-life with a little extra sparkle. I photograph portions of every wedding day on analog film, because there’s nothing quite like those dreamy colors and that creamy texture.

I started my business when I was 16 years old, and at now at 25, I could never have imagined then the magic this job would let me witness. I’ve been invited into the beginning of so many marriages, and there is truly nothing I love more than honoring that. I hope to spend the rest of my life making photographs of love and family and celebration and joy.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I started my career as a wedding photographer, I spent hours upon hours consuming education from all over the internet, and absorbing so much knowledge from other photographers I worked alongside. Wedding trends change every year, and at the time, heavily posed and produced wedding photos were very popular. Of course, classic photos will always be in style, but I learned very early on in my career to have a heavy hand while directing my couples and their loved ones during a wedding day and to always maintain control over the timeline.

However, after a few years of photographing weddings, I started to notice the photos that spoke to me the most as an artist and a documentarian were completely unplanned, candid moments. My clients loved these photos too. As I began to explore this more, I realized that what I had been taught for so many years wasn’t the way I wanted to do things. Being a wedding vendor is a delicate dance of moving the timeline along smoothly AND letting the couple experience the celebration in their own way. It is their wedding after all!

In the years since, I have continued developing the skill of learning when to direct, and when to let be. Sometimes the most beautiful moments in a wedding are unprompted, raw emotion, and sometimes people need a gentle guiding hand in front of the camera. My aim as a wedding photographer is always to find that balance–to capture the classic heirloom portrait and the unexpected beauty of a candid moment, unique to that couple and their wedding day.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a photographer is knowing that my photos will live on long after me and continue to bring joy to my clients and their loved ones. I take the honor of being a wedding photographer so seriously because I am holding people’s heirlooms in my hands!

I have always loved looking at old photographs of my family. We have boxes and boxes of physical photographs, some dated as early as the 1800s. Even seeing photos of people I never knew makes me feel a sense of nostalgia and closeness to my family. I hope that one day, many years from now people will feel the same things looking at photos that came from my camera. This is about more than my legacy as an artist, it’s about knowing that I’m serving people right now and for years to come.

For as long as I can remember, copies of my grandparents’ wedding photographs have hung on the walls of their homes. I once asked my grandpa if he remembered his wedding photographer. He said “No, but I love those photos!” While I love giving my clients the photos of their dreams right now, I’m in it for the long haul. I hope my clients and their loved ones–family and dear friends alike–get to enjoy their wedding photographs for many, many years to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alisonbrookephotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonbrookehelms
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisonbrookephoto
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alisonbrookehelms

Image Credits

Alison Brooke Photography