Last month, we left WPPI in Las Vegas on a red eye flight at midnight to arrive back in Houston at 5 AM. Why would anyone in her right mind pick to fly out at that time of day? We had a good reason: my family was exhibiting their registered Brahman cattle that day at the ‘superbowl’ of cattle shows, the Houston Livestock Show.

We live on a cattle ranch on the Texas gulf coast. Ranching has always been in my family and we can trace it back for almost 200 years. My grandmother was born into one of the most prolific ranching families in Texas: her great grandfather was Josiah Dawson Hudgins – namesake of the famous J.D. Hudgins ranch.

When she was 16 years old, my grandma met, fell in love with, and married a cowboy named Sloan Williams. Soon after they were married, they started their first business together: a rodeo stock contracting business. With this business, they traveled all over the United States with their livestock putting on rodeos.

But cattle ranching was in their blood. In 1971, they sold their rodeo business to chase a new dream: owning their own cattle ranch. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Fast-forward 44 years, and my grandparents and their dream of owning their own ranch has turned into a business that spans three generations and now involves their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

At 5 AM as I pulled my rolling suitcase out of the overhead bin of the plane, I thought about how sore my “WPPI feet” were, wondered if the Visine I had put in my eyes would take away the ‘up all night’ redness, and contemplated skipping the cattle show and going home for a nap.

But I’m glad I didn’t, because I would have missed this moment. The ranch had both Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion female at the show. It wasn’t the first time; in fact, we’ve had the Grand Champion female eighteen times.

But on that day, as a dream chaser and entrepreneur, I couldn’t help but think about all the ups and downs of owning your own business as a husband and wife team: the heartbreaking times when you hear a ‘no’ when you need a ‘yes,’ the up-until-2-in-the-morning tear-filled talks, paired with the first time you realize your little dream might be a big success, or the joy you get from experiencing a ‘win’ next to your other half.

And to me, seeing my grandparents win that day felt like the first time again. I'm proud to come from a long line of dream chasers.

LeavE Something Behind & Create Something Special,

Cat

EQUIPMENT USED FOR THIS SHOOT:-
Contax 645 / Zeiss 80 mm 2.0 / Fuji 400H / Pushed Two Stops / Processing by Richard Photo Lab
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It’s no secret that we work with the best people in the wedding business. From stunning brides to outstanding vendors, we understand that it takes a village to make the dream of a fairytale wedding come true. 

That’s why, when we were learned that Two Bright Lights named Luke & Cat Photography as 2015 Editors’ Choice Award Winners, we couldn’t just hide the honor away in our scrapbook or bury it in our blog. Instead we blushed, thanked the heavens, and swore we would share the love (after popping a bottle of champagne, of course). Now that we’ve got a glass of bubbly in hand, we want to raise it to the people who made this award possible—you!

The Editors’ Choice Awards honor Two Bright Lights’ members whose talent was continually recognized by top publications. For us, this year included places like The Knot, Burnett's Boards, and My Wedding, to name a few. Two Bright Lights is a vast organization, home to over 40,000 photographers and event professionals from over 100 countries.  Winners of the Editor’s Choice awards represent the top 5% within the community, which, according to some, makes the odds of winning as slim as kissing a frog who transforms into a prince.

We know better. True love and happily ever after are our specialties, at home and at work. We owe our success to each other (marrying your best friend is great, but running a business with that person is even better!) and to the community of people we work with every single day. From the brides who trusted us to capture their memories, to the vendors who set the stage, we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This award doesn’t just belong to Luke and Cat Photography—it belongs to all of us! (But we hope you won’t mind if we keep it safe here at the ranch.)

Here’s to doing it again next year!

Lindt truffles & Cristal,
(okay, maybe just chocolate kisses and Andre, but still…we’re excited!),

Luke & Cat

Have you ever felt like your location was limiting you? Have you felt like you deserved better but just didn't know how to get some momentum started? Us too! 

Join us tomorrow morning , Tuesday, April 7 at 10 AM PT as we talk live from our living room on how we are cattle ranchers turned wedding photographers. We will visit about how we took an excuse we had that "living in the middle of nowhere" would limit the success of our business and turned that in to the main foundation of our brand.

Sign Up Here: Live with Luke & Cat

You can also tune in live tomorrow morning by visiting Showit LIVE

We sure hope you are able to listen in - make sure to get some questions together, at the end of our chat, there will be a live question and answer session. 

Lenses & cattle,

Luke & Cat