Sky + Anna Wedding Day | Denton, Texas Wedding Photographer

This day could not have been any more gorgeous. Barnett Estates is a gorgeous little wedding venue tucked away between Denton and Krum, Texas. This day in December was FRIGID, and an outdoor wedding turned quickly to an indoor ceremony and reception, but the event staff were AMAZING and everything went off without a hitch. We braved the cold and 30 mph winds (well, those girls with exposed arms and shoulders did...I just shivered in my heavy sweater and coat! lol) and got some of my favorite wedding party photos EVER! I was honored to witness and document such a fun and beautiful day. The smiles you see in these photos are genuine. The love that you feel from these photos is genuine. These families were genuine...and loving...and....I cannot say ENOUGH about them! Sky and Anna, I am so incredibly happy for the two of you!

If you want to see more of this beautiful couple click here to see their engagement session at Barnett Estates.

If you want to see more of this beautiful couple click here to see their engagement session at Barnett Estates.

The Ridingers at home | Amarillo family photographer

These in-home sessions get better and better. I am finding my artistic voice more and more through documenting families being families in their own space. We love at home, we let down our hair at home, our kids play freely at home. Don't get me wrong, beautiful sunsets in a field of tall grass sings to me too, but in-home sessions pull and tug at every heart string I have. I hope they pull on yours too. <3

This family was precious. These boys are so loved and I strove to document just that. This day was sunless and dreary, but sometimes dreary sets a tone of comfort and softness that adds to the story. Their home was cozy and soft and comfortable. It all came together so well, the weather, the light, the tone of the day...the stars aligned. I hope this makes you cry happy tears Ridinger family!

Myers Family | Amarillo Family Photographer + Videographer

This session was extra special. This family means so much to so many. They have ministered to so many. Served so many. Loved so many, so deeply. I only had the privilege of knowing them for a little over a year. When we moved here, this sweet Mama was among a group of women my age who drew me in and helped our family fit here. Their history with Canyon and the church here is rich and full of God's mercy and grace. They are just some of the most inspiring and Godly people I have known. They have made a brave decision to follow God's voice in a new adventure in south Texas. It was a huge loss for our church here and frankly, for the city of Canyon.  How can one argue when you are watching someone be obedient to God in such a huge way? I am changed by them in the short amount of time that I knew them here.

I am honored to have been able to document a little bit of time for them here before they moved away. Godspeed sweet Myers Family! We cannot wait to see how God uses you in your new place. Much love <3

The FIlm Workshop | Amarillo family videographer

I have had the upmost privilege of taking a film making workshop this month from the uber talented Emily Mitchell of Everyday Films. I have learned so so much from her and really feel like I am ready to stretch myself into this world of family film making to sit alongside my photography work. There is just nothing like video. Photography is still my heart and soul and will always be the meat of what I do, but being able to add in sounds and music and motion to my artwork simply adds to the story. When it is all said and done, all I want to do is tell stories about families. I love to write, I love to photograph and now I am falling in love with film making. Each piece important in the story telling full package. Words lay the foundation, photographs bring out the color and emotion and films give it fluid motion.  I will be adding these films onto my photography packages as as add-on to your photography package, or as an option to do on its own. I hope you will consider one for your own family. This film is a treasure to me. And as time passes, it's value only increases.

Goodbye Summer | Amarillo and Canyon Family Photographer

I have never ever EVER been a huge fan of hot weather. I am much more suited to cozy flannels, warm fuzzy boots and a oversized cardigan wrapped around me. I would much rather spend my days wrapped in a blanket sipping coffee, watching the snow fall. Now that I am a mama, I do enjoy these warm months more. I can appreciate the heat when I have cuties in wedgie-laden swimsuits with popsicle faces to photograph. Living in the panhandle of Texas has given us a whole new set of weather patterns to look forward to. Nights are cool even when the days are their hottest. Rain is scarce, but wind is powerful! We have thoroughly enjoyed it. This passed summer we traveled back and forth from Canyon, Texas to the Dallas Fort Worth area to see friends and family.

These images are part of my everyday shooting (my personal project) and were taken on a hot summer day at Ms. Jan's house. Ms. Jan is like a grandmother to my babies. She is as free of a spirit as my babies are. We find so much comfort in being near her. She is real, she is fun, she is kind, and she has a servant heart. You WANT to be near her. She is woven into the fabric of my family....we are grateful. Ms. Jan's house is one place where my kiddos let loose and get dirty and do all the things that kiddos ought to be doing. I had my camera out this day and was feeling especially inspired. I wanted to share this day with you, friends. I hope these images bring a smile to your face like they do mine. These kind of wild and free, day-to-day happenings of childhood are some of my very favorite to capture. They are timeless and relatable, and evoke such joy. I can look at them and remember what it was like to run through the sprinklers on a hot summer day in 1986.

Why you should hire a documentary photographer | Texas Family Photographer

And why it's worth the cost.

Hey there mamas. Remember when you were young? Remember running through the grass barefoot? Remember waking up and looking outside in the summer and planning how you would spend it riding your bike all. stinking. day? Remember waking up to the smell of mama cooking bacon and brewing coffee? Remember sitting at the breakfast table blurry eyed and laughing till your belly hurt at your brother making toot noises with his mouth?  Remember frog hunting in the back yard as the sun dipped low? Remember the sound of cicadas humming, sweat on your brow, as you ate a dripping popsicle on the back porch way passed your bedtime?

Remember summers at grandmas? The family farm? Grandma and Grandpa's endless rows of white cotton...running through it arms stretched out. No cares. Just wonderful memories being made, unknown to your 7 year-old self. Swinging on the old rusty swingset out back...the creaking and squelching back and forth, back and forth. What about Fall leaf jumping till you were itchy? Spring water-hole swimming till you could eat a horse? Winter snowball making in the front yard of your childhood home till your fingers were frozen? I do. And when I think back, I long to be there again. To see my mama at 30 years young. To see Mimi's wrinkled hands cupped around my waist, reading to me. To the feeling of the world whizzing by, hair flapping behind me, as I rode my bike through the neighborhood on a perfect 75 degree spring day. Not a care in the world. I wish I had photos. Tangible, real, photos. A film. To tell the history of my making. To touch and look at over and over. Videos that let me hear Mimi's voice.  Sure, I have some posed photos of myself. A few candids documenting us with our new Christmas presents. School photos. And I even have some of me and my sister, standing shoulder to shoulder, cheesing at the camera. But what I don't have is those in-between moments. The moments that made me who I am. The moments of me wading through a creek bed in a city apartment complex that created the adventurous heartbeat that still keeps rhythm in my chest today. Documented artfully...to give me all the feels of what made up my childhood.

I so wish I did. I wish I had some of my history documented in a film or stack of photos. I can tell my own children about those times. But what if I could SHOW them? What if?

Time moves as swiftly as the river flows. Every passing second gone as fast as the next approaching. I pick up my camera every single day. Sure, I do it because I love photography. I thrive on documenting life. I am a born creative. But I also do it for them. For me. For their children. For the generations to come. I feel an urgency to document it all. I would give anything. Anything, to hear my Mimi's voice again. What if you could ensure you won't miss those memories? What if your memories were made into a piece of art you could hold on to forever?

The rise of digital technology and iphones has ensured that most of what we do will be documented. We blog our kids Christmas program, snap our goofy karaoke ad-libs in the car pick-up lane, we Facebook trips to the zoo, we Instagram last night's sunset. The trouble is, mamas, is that you're behind the camera. You are missing from your family's history. They will have every Easter program documented from birth to college, but where are you in the photos?

So I bet you get where I am going with this, don't you? I am a photographer. I love to take photos. But more than that, I love to document life, as it happens...painted with beautiful light.  I am a historian of the photographic kind. Preserving history one photo at a time.  Owning a camera does not make me a photographer. Artistry makes me a photographer. I want to share it. Artists live in a world of creating something from the very center of your raw emotion and then putting it on display for the world to gaze at. It's what drives us. I long to create not only my own memories, but to show you how beautiful your own life is. To make you cry (yes, this is my goal. lol). Not sad tears, but tears of joy.

I could never put a cost on the photos of Mimi. There is no amount of money that could ever replace memories. And that is why I cannot sell myself short and charge what the local big box store is charging for sit and smile pictures. I have 12 years of experience behind my camera. It has taken me a lot of hard work and dedication, and growing, and failing and then trying again and again to be able to document on a professional level. It's a mastery that has required a lot of blood, sweat and tears from me (not to mention it's hugely expensive to own all the gear!). And so, I place a cost on my artistry. It's HARD to do. Hard to put a dollar sign in front of my art. I put a lot into my clients. I get to know them. We laugh together, we cry together. It's a friendship. I don't take what I do lightly. It's never ever sit and smile for me. It's, let me get a glimpse into your life so I can show you how beautiful this phase of life is.

If you have read down this far...well...thanks. lol. This is a pouring out of my heart. It is a response to a grappling that I have had with myself over placing a dollar sign in front of my work. I have been turned down too many times to count by people who just "can't pay the price" I am asking for my work. Please know, I am not discounting budgeting, or hardships. These are very real things. And if you just flat cannot afford to pay for custom photography, then you just can't. But what I want you to come away from this article thinking is...what is charged is worth it. Custom, documentary, artistic, family history-making photography is worth the money that it costs. If you ever make room in your budget to hire me...it's WORTH IT. Artistry is a gift. It is not developed overnight. It is not a gift everyone has. Not everyone can draw, not everyone can play professional sports, and not everyone is a photographer. It's WORTH IT to pay someone to share their God-given gift with you....memories are worth it.

Mamas, make a plan. Now, next week, next month, next year, 5 years down the line...make a goal to hire a professional photographer to document you with your husband, you babies your grandparents. At home. Mundane life turned into art. Your beautiful, ordinary, bacon cooking, coffee brewing, early rising, kids running wild, life. Life is beautiful, and short. It will always be worth it to preserve these memories. Take a chance on it. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Tori J Cox is a published documentary and lifestyle photographer located in the Texas Panhandle. Her work has been featured on numerous photography sites as well as being published in dearPhotographer magazine. She is available for travel around the great state of Texas as well as national travel for shoots. Contact Tori J Cox to document your next trip to grandma and grandpa's, your next little one's birth, a day at the park, a day at home cooking pancakes, or for no other good reason except you realize life is whizzing by and deserves to be documented!

email: tori@torijcox.com

Skylar + Anna | Texas Engagement Photographer

These two. Magical.  Watching them together was precious. He is a such a gentleman and soft spoken. He walked her carefully through those sunflowers, making sure her steps were safely made. She is wild and free and magnetic...and fun. Together, they are magical. I absolutely cannot wait to capture their big day in December. Cannot WAIT. Some highlights from their engagement shoot in Krum at their wedding venue.

a day with Weezer | documentary film photographer, Amarillo, Texas

Helping document a family's history is the most rewarding part of this journey of photography. I keep saying it, but preserving family history both fascinates me and feeds my creative soul.

This session was a special one. It is a story of summer at grandmas house. A story of children being ministered to by their grandmother as their parents minister to so many in India, thousands of miles away. It is a story of love, and sacrifice...it is a good old fashioned story of carefree summers away from mom and dad, being spoiled by grandparents. These are the treasured memories these children will carry in their hip pocket through life. They will take them out and reminisce about a time of happiness, they will talk about how much "Weezer" (their nickname for their grandmother. I love it)  loves them, and they will recall how their parents went on a grand adventure, spreading Christ's love. I love their story. And I pray that I did it justice.

I give you, A Day with Weezer.

Hank the Cowboy | Amarillo Family Photographer

I mean....

His cuteness. THEIR cuteness. These three people are special to my little family. So when they asked me to photograph them I was pretty darn excited. Hank-man wasn't sure of me at first (hence the stink-eye he gave me in his highchair...lol), but it wasn't long before those toothless smiles broke through. I tell you, these kinds of sessions, coming into your homes, gives me such delight. Documenting family history, creating photos that you will tuck away and drag out when you have company to show off, photos that will cause the tears to flow in 10....20...years. So much fun to do what I do.

This little man is about to turn one. ONE! Thanks Amber and Josh for letting me invade your home...and show you how beautiful your sweet little family is.