Eilish Palmer arrived at the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock, Ark., early on Monday morning — just as dozens of same-sex couples were lining up to receive marriage licenses and legally marry in the state. With her, she brought two cameras — one with a zoom lens and another for wide shots — her bulky black camera bag, and a sign that read, "Free Wedding Photos."

"It was just automatic that that is what I was going to go do," she said.

Palmer, a professional photographer from Conway, Ark., drove the 30 or so miles down to the courthouse after hearing that an Arkansas judge struck down the state's ban on marriages between same-sex couples May 9, and that the county clerk there likely would issue marriage licenses when it opened for business Monday. Somebody, she said, needed to be there to take their wedding photos — she did it for free.

"I know the frustration and sadness that these couples endure, so when the judgment came down on Friday and there was no stay, my first thought was that in this situation, these people don't have the luxury of getting their marriage licenses and then planning a wedding," Palmer said. "I decided that since those couples did not have the luxury of time to plan that, the one thing I could do to support them is to photograph as many weddings as I could."

Palmer runs a photography business, Lady With A Camera, is a seasoned wedding and portrait photographer, and has done freelance work for a local newspaper. Taking pictures of people funds what she truly loves to do: travel and photograph wildlife like wolves in Yellowstone National Park. But on Tuesday as she edited the hundreds of photos she took under the courthouse rotunda, Palmer said she especially loved shooting the weddings of those same-sex couples.

"Once they had me, they were my clients for that short time and I treated them like a paid client," she said. "I feel strongly about marriage equality. I always have."

Through the rush, the excitement, celebration, and emotion in the room that morning, Palmer said she was able to keep on her "game face" — at least for most of the time she was photographing.

"One of the couples with two daughters — even the clergyman got choked up as they held hands with their daughters and hugged each of them when it was all done," Palmer said. "It was so emotional. For me, that was the face of marriage equality. That family is now legally protected in our state and with all the legal protections everyone else has."

Those images were the first she edited. "These girls were old enough to know that their moms were getting married and were so happy and they hugged each girl and I just lost it," she said.