Meet Melanie Applegate

Hi, I’m Melanie Applegate! I am a professional Lifestyle Photographer living and loving in Austin, Texas. You can follow my adventures at melanieapplegate.com.

I grew up on 10 acres outside of College Station, Texas with my Mom, Dad and Sister (who is 21 months younger). We had dogs, horses, cats, a couple of ducks and a goat named Elvis. My sister and I spent our days riding four-wheelers and horses, swimming, fishing and exploring. I can’t imagine having a better place to grow up. Shout out to Mom and Dad for the sacrifices they made so our childhood could be that which dreams are made of.

Junior High and High School filled my life with countless hours of cheerleading and then drill team practice, yearbook photo ops and Friday Night Lights. When that chapter came to a close, it was on study Psychology at Texas A&M University. After spending over two decades in the only place I ever knew to be home, it was time to spread my wings and fly. I bounced around Texas a bit searching for the right place to land. Austin kept calling, so I answered (2005).

My move to Austin consisted of new friends, jobs (real estate, sales & marketing) and experiences (mostly on Lake Travis, the Town Lake Hike & Bike Trail, and West 6th Street). My reign as a single lady came to a screeching halt when my close friend and her new love secretly set me up on a blind double date with Ross–a blonde-hair, blue-eyed, 6’6”, ex-Alabama quarterback (swoon much?). He was just as sweet as he was good-lookin’. Love swept us up like a tornado. There was never a doubt in my mind that he was the one for me. We married and welcomed our first daughter, Emily (2013) and three years later, Callie James (2016). I should also mention our other children: Cody the Golden Retriever and Lila the Chihuahua.

Emily is my little bestie. She is fiercely independent, charming and wildly entertaining. She’s into ballet, playing her ukulele and anything outdoors, but most of all loves music (I will never forget the night I took her to Blues on the Green, I swear I caught a glimpse of her 13-year-old future self).

Callie James is my little sidekick. Pretty much everywhere I go, she goes. Although she requires my undivided attention nearly every waking moment, the payoff is high–she lives to love and shares the best snuggles on Earth.

My girls are the greatest joy of my life. They push me further emotionally than I sometimes think I can go (here’s where the lessons on breath and mindfulness from yoga teacher training replay over and over in my head), but they also provide me with two beautiful and priceless gifts–the opportunity to experience the firsts all over again and the ability to view humanity through an entirely new (beautiful and forgiving) lens.

Although my roles as Wife and Mother are among my greatest, they alone do not define me. I am an artist. I am a storyteller. I am addicted to authenticity. I thrive on connection. Music is sacred to me. Hands down, I feel most alive when I am running. I see every challenge as an opportunity. I would love to travel more; the sheer magnitude of mountains blows my mind, the place where the ocean meets the sand soothes my soul, and clarity finds its way to me in the wilderness.

At the end of the day, I am just a girl fueling the drive to create. And because I want to leave the world a more beautiful place, I spend quite a bit of time soul-searching and asking the tough questions.

One thing I have learned about mom-life is this–ain’t no tribe like your mom-tribe. You know what I’m talking about. The ladies who remind you that “this, too shall pass”, that you’re doing the best you can and that is good enough. The ones who check in to see if you need anything when you or your kids are sick. And they don’t just have your back, they make your world a more vibrant place by sharing playdates, adventures, birthday parties, girls-night-outs, belly laughs and (a whole lot of) adult beverages. Oh, these truly are the days!