ABOUT BAILEY

I am a twenty-something year old girl from Wyoming who now lives in the Western Slope of Colorado with my fiancé, Blake and our fur babies, Lailah & Penelope. My photography career has been more than a decade in the making. I remember the first time I picked up a camera… and I remember the photo I took that made me stop in my tracks and realized that this is what I wanted to do. However, that is a big commitment for someone who is only 12 years old. When I was 13 I was lucky enough to experience Bali, Indonesia and on that trip, my grandfather brought his nice camera he used for his travels and let me use it.. I don’t think I sat it down once. Later that year, I was given my first camera. Through junior high and high school I continued taking photos specifically of my younger sisters - constantly making them come to the park with me to pose as my models and in college for whatever reason, I stopped.

A year after I graduated college my sister, Payton passed away tragically. She was only 19 when we lost her, there was still so much life and beauty in this world that she should have been able to see. Trauma is of course, life altering. I went to college to pursue a career that I thought I loved but after I lost my sister, I realized that I didn’t love it and quite frankly, life is too short to do something you don’t love. Whenever we asked Payton what she wanted to be she always replied, “I want to be happy”. So here I am, finally pursuing the one thing I have always known would make me happy - because that is exactly what she would tell me to do.

FUN FACTS ABOUT ME

+ I love sentimentality, probably more than most! Nothing means more to me than when something has a greater meaning.

+ I’m gluten-free but my favorite food of all time is bagels. Talk about torture!

+ After college, I did a Yoga Teacher Training in Salt Lake City where I learned how to truly be present in life and see the beauty in quietness

+ My star, moon, and rising signs are all earth signs. Which probably explains the love affair I have with the beauty of the world… and yes, mountains have made me cry.

+ I was born in Wyoming but spent 10 years of my adolescence in Northern California. I only moved to Colorado in 2022, but I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon!

“her eyes were the perfect color of hazel with rich greens and golds that melted in the sun like honey.”

ABOUT HAZEL & HONEY

A question I have been asked countless times is, “where did you get the name Hazel & Honey”. Well, it was almost as if someone whispered it into my thoughts. My sister is the reason I finally had the courage to pursue this dream of mine so it felt right to name my business after her - since in the end, I am doing this for her. Her eyes always seemed to find the beauty in life, whether it be a couple’s burning love in the golden sun or the calmness in the sky after a storm - Payton’s eyes would have recognized the beauty in it..

My goal is to find the beauty in every moment. My photos are always full of life with frozen movement and deep emotions. My style is called elevated realism but I take a lot of inspiration from editorial photography to give it that high-end and luxury feeling. Some have mentioned that my photos feel like they have a documentary style approach to them, and they wouldn’t be wrong. My favorite photos are the ones where I am able to capture life as it is happening with wind and laughter and all of the chaos of life and make it feel quiet, frozen in time. When it comes to posing, I like to direct and pose minimally but intentionally. This ensures that real connection is happening and it makes your photos feel like a movie.