ABOUT
“Tricia! We wanted to say thank you SOOO MUCH! We had an amazing experience! -
You made us feel so comfortable and captured spectacular shots!”
Let’s make magic together!
Nearly every couple I’ve photographed always worries they’ll be awkward or uncomfortable in front of the camera and they wonder…
How will I know what to do?
How do I get photos that are gorgeous enough to hang on my walls, display in an album and become the treasured family legacy I want to pass on?
And here’s the secret…
It’s your relationship with your photographer that makes all the difference!
MY SUPERPOWER… I am an extrovert, empath, artist, and I love people - it’s a combination that guarantees you’ll feel completely comfortable, supported, and best of all, empowered in front of the camera. By default, I already see how beautiful you are as a human, but you need to feel that. I help you get there with a relationship that feels like your most supportive friendship rather than a cold business transaction. This instills confidence that I’ve got your back: I’ll guide you through posing, photograph you from your very best angles, and constantly look for the most stunning moments and candids that truly reflect you, your love and the story you want to tell. If you have ideas, I’ll take them. Share your Pinterest board right now! I’m an artist and photographer who loves to make your dreams a reality!
THE SECRET…
With nearly 10 years of wedding photography experience , I have honed my craft and skillset with time, experience, and knowledge. But technicalities aside, the real magic lies when expertise is married with approach (no pun intended!), and it’s not necessarily something that can be learned. I approach my gorgeous couples from an intuitive, compassionate, and empathetic understanding of what they need to feel safe and comfortable in front of the camera. With that key element, I am able to capture images that have an unbridled freedom of emotion and passion, a depth and truth that elevate not just the image but the entire experience. This is my secret. This is what sets me apart from so many other photographers. Come join me and feel the difference it makes to not just get your photo taken, but to be deeply empowered, seen, and to feel utterly beautiful inside and out. You will be left with so much more than photos - an empowering experience, a wholeness, even healing every time you look at your gorgeous photos. Your experience, your memories, your story - they all matter, and it is my passion to witness it and capture it all.
MY STORY
I was a sports kid growing up - lots of swimming, softball and track and field medals still sit in bins buried in my basement back when I used to dream of being an olympian. That dream has long sailed (or has it… ha)! I was also always a creative kid! Give me a multiple choice test and the outlook was not good. Give me a test where I could write a novel and let my creative brain run wild and it was an A+! You ‘d also find me painting the school mural, designing the school mascot’s costume, whipping up insane Halloween costumes for the costume competition, singing up a storm in choir, running from track practice to musical theatre rehearsal to lead the show. It was undeniable - I was going to have to make it as a creative.
After a couple of years floundering away at a liberal arts college where I was still forced to take math, I transferred out of there and went to a music conservatory in New York City to major in music with opera performance as a specialty. That’s right! I’m a professional opera singer with a bachelor and masters in music from the Manhattan School of Music! (aka VERY LOUD - in a number of foreign languages). I absolutely LOVE to sing and still do in my Southern Vermont community. However, unless you find yourself in the top 1% of professionals, it is extremely difficult to pay the bills. So, I caved and got a job at an investment firm during my post-college years in NYC. My deep well of creativity was stifled, but it afforded me financial comfort, world travel, and eventually my first professional camera. The firm eventually shut down and when it did, I got laid off with one year of severance pay - an incredibly fortunate outcome. I took that money and my camera, and while singing for a month in Italy, found a deep love for photography in such a gorgeous country and decided to pursue it as a profession.
When I got back to New York City, I started to build my business. I named it Clemencia Stories Told. The name Clemencia was given to me at birth in Colombia. With only that name, I was put in an orphanage for the first two months of my life. To this day, I have no idea who named me, but it’s been a name I’ve lived with for my entire life. When I was adopted and brought to the US, my name was changed to Tricia after my mother.
Clemencia Stories Told symbolizes the stories that have yet to be told, the stories that need to be told to acknowledge and celebrate the journey of our lives. My adoption story took decades to unravel and tell - that name, my origin, my journey - and still continues to this day as I grapple with my identity between two very distinct countries and cultures, especially in the wake of the horrific political violence directed towards the Latino community at this time. That name grounds me and keeps me hopeful - it stands for my values of inclusivity, love, and storytelling - immortalizing the beauty of humanity with photographs.
I spent my first few years shooting events in NYC - mostly at private schools and corporations. In real time, I learned the ropes of how to navigate complex and unpredictable situations both with human dynamics and lighting. It was the perfect training for weddings. And then I had my first baby! I shot my very first wedding when she was 8 weeks old. The bridemaids of that wedding were heroic - I didn’t stop to pump for the entire wedding, but was desperate for a quiet corner as soon as it was over, and they put together the coziest space for me to care for myself. I’m still so thankful to this day for those amazing, compassionate women!
My adoption
My parents… look at those two! Fire!
My US citizenship
Baby number 2 was in the oven when COVID hit and completely derailed my plans to finally transition fully to weddings. To keep everyone safe, our little family decided to move out of NYC to VT. It was tough to secure housing during that time, so four moves later with two little babies, a mountain of stress, no forward motion with my business, and we finally settled in the little town of Grafton, VT. I felt relief. I could finally start building my business again, or so I thought - because, you know - Motherhood. It was nearly impossible. I was so overwhelmed with being in a new place with new babies with the need for all new clients, that I opted to become a contractor with several existing wedding photography companies. In my first year, I shot nearly 30 weddings, and got paid barely enough to survive! (Side note: just in case, you’re considering hiring a photographer from one of these companies, please know they get paid very little and are just barely scraping by! Where does all of your money go? Definitely not to the photographer!) As I ingrained myself in my new community, I started taking on other work to pay the bills - anything! Give me anything! Though it’s been deeply satisfying to contribute to my local community, it has not benefited me financially. The pressure and stress of providing for sweet little ones while balancing motherhood and freelancing has felt utterly insurmountable at times! SOS!!
Today, I find myself at a transition point. My little ones are just old enough to be somewhat independent, giving me some breathing room to regroup and begin managing my business again. This year, I am attempting to break away from contracting for weddings and doing all manner of other creative work (nearly for free!) to return to my small business, Clemencia Stories Told. I have learned so much and worked so hard over the years to become the photographer I am. More than anything, weddings are this incredible balance of high energy joy and excitement befitting my extroverted personality, combined with gorgeous moments of human connection that nourish my tender, romantic soul. I love photographs that capture a couple deeply in their element of love, joy, safety, and the promise of a new chapter. As I seek clients that feel connected to my offerings, I hope they will connect to the humanity in my photos, the truth in those moments - even if it’s just a split-second in the life of that person. A photograph lasts forever. It has become my greatest creative joy and achievement to provide those photographs to my clients. If you check out the feedback above, the joy and satisfaction my clients experience when they see themselves the way I see them - appreciating their gorgeous humanity - has truly become my greatest creative calling. I love being a wedding photographer. It is soul work.
Tricia
