Tides + Pines // Photography

Every time I walk past the portrait taken at Tides & Pines it brings back those special moments. Lauren has a unique talent to capture the moment. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to photograph life’s most important events.

Lauren Michele Poucel is owner and photographer of Tide + Pines Photography and boy what an awesome photographer she is! She’s timely, ENERGETIC and just a fantastic person to coordinate with! We left feeling like she was a part of our dynamic family.
It’s a rarity when I get my husband and three young, adult children together on any given day so when it does happen — what do I do? BOOK A PHOTOGRAPHER QUICK! Actually, it took quite a bit of planning to get my family to get a day off together — booking Lauren/​Tides + Pines was a BREEZE! I found out about Lauren /​Tides + Pines through a mutual friend and I was happy with the style of pictures taken of her at her event so I nabbed her up quickly before her calendar filled. Her natural style/​approach and minimal editing to photography is what appealed to me.
We decided to meet at not-​so-​secret-​beach at Ko’Olina at which time Lauren and her bubbly self show up. Unlike most photographers that I’ve come across, she doesn’t really stage you for shots (if that’s the style you’re looking for). I wanted raw…“semi-staged” photos that captures our family personality and dynamics. Something easy… not stiff or staged because that’s just not us. We have the Chandler Bing smiler, the ham, critical mommy, the «i don’t wanna smile, my eyes are not even because of these dimples,» to the anthro poser. We’re just not good photo subjects for any photographer.
Lauren makes the photo session seemingly painless! Really! Just be yourself and she will discreetly move and shoot while you are in motion. She may suggest places for you to sit or stand but all in all, the shots are up to you — she just shoots them. And shoot is what she does! She nimbly moves and maneuvers herself in places that allows her the best shots (i saw her in the bush, on top of slippery rocks, tide pools and on the ground in the sand). She’s just the easiest photographer to work with that I’ve ever met and made the awkward photo session gut busting fun and oh so painless.
Our proofs were sent to us immediately (within a week). I’m sure that as soon as word is out that she is that good — her turn around time for proofs will increase in time. But for now, we are quite lucky to have discovered such a gem in a field already littered with talented photographers. She was quick to add that if we wanted anything edited she would be able to do it but really, we were just so pleased with ALL our pictures! It wouldn’t have been fair to have her edit 50 pounds off my pictures so I guess «raw» is what we are going with this year. We all looked great and I was happy to see that she did capture the essence of our family.