About me

This is a long winded story of how you can change your mind in your thirties when you're unhappy. I've always loved kids and I was a teacher for twelve years- mostly in Kindergarten. Now, I'm a family photographer and here's a little bit of  how I got here.

My son was born in May of 2020 - you probably remember that time period was a little chaotic in the world. Lol. We were home... alone... A LOT. We were in the thick of colicky newborn life with a kid who struggled to feed and I was exclusively pumping a million times per day. We didn't get newborn photos, because it was Covid. One 3:00 am pump sesh, a photo popped up of my niece's newborn photos and I decided that I was going to figure out how to do it myself. Did I own a camera? Nope. Did I know anything about photography? Also nope. I started watching Youtube and Tiktok about taking photos with an iPhone. I downloaded Lightroom for the first time and I had a cute little baby that I could practice on. I didn't know it at the time but I was figuring out LIGHTING. I started taking and posting pictures of my son and dog and it became a hobby that I LOVED. My sister commented on one of my posts saying "Maybe you should pick up photography- these are professional!" (the photo above!) Thanks for manifesting that for me Carole. Taking photos was creative,  unrelated to work and I had something to learn while I was bored in the house, in the house bored/struggling as a new mom. I decided to make an instagram page to share the things that I was learning because I figured people were sick of it on my personal page. Little did I know when I created it, that instagram would notify every single person I know to follow me. Cringe. A few months later, I bought a real camera. I bought an inexpensive Canon Rebel T7 and one lens- a 50 mm. I was so excited to try it out but honestly all my pictures sucked- it was SO much harder than I expected. Back to Youtube and TikTok to learn how to use a real camera.

My lawyer husband bought be a LLC for my birthday in 2022 and officially started it all. I was still teaching and doing a little photography on the side, working at night and on weekends. I made a little makeshift studio in our garage to practice with. Thanks to all of my friends and family referrals, I started growing and growing. Pretty soon, I couldn't manage it all and was having to turn down so clients and trying not to work 7 days a week. I was SO burnt out from teaching and unhappy in the classroom (that story is for another time). I decided to take a leap of faith and go all in.

So here we are! I've nailed down my editing style and streamlined my processes. I'm loving the flexibility this new life gives me and I actually enjoy working. Playing with kids, making mom friends, visiting beautiful places- I still can't believe I get to do this as MY JOB!