I originally picked up a camera out of a slightly obsessive need to record daily life. Every family road trip, school dance, & slumber party is held in volumes of big, heavy, funky photo albums or in my family’s giant wicker box of prints-in-no-particular-order. I’m nostalgic bordering on cornball & photography became a way to process & express that part of myself.

I’ve never particularly wanted to use photography to create something that wasn’t there to begin with (though I admire artists who do!). My fixation was more about holding onto a moment in time or an emotion inside a visual. That’s what feels magical to me. Creating a record of places, people, times, & feelings in an honest & meaningful way is how I found my artistic expression. Which is probably why, along with all those happy times, I’ve also got photos of the hard stuff… everything from skinned knees to heartbreaks to surgeries to homes we weren’t quite ready to leave behind. I don’t want to set aside that part of the story in an attempt to make “perfect pretty pictures”.

Going through this rebrand & website project with Mara Design Co. was so good for me. Jess & her team asked questions to get me in the right frame of mind before we even got to the design aspect. Then they gently & patiently guided me through that phase as well. I’m really grateful to them for creating a process in which I had to get very clear on what I value about photography… of how I want to use my voice & vision. After 10 years in business & the ups, downs, doubts, & direction shifts that come with it, I needed that reminder.

I feel recommitted to documenting as full a picture of life as possible… for the families & couples I get to photograph & for myself. The best part is, I now have a beautiful place to share all these images!