A big shift happened last year in my heart which in turn affected a big part of my business.

In the beginning, I was taking any kind of sessions I could get. Couples. Maternity photos. Photos of you and your dog (don’t have anything against dogs). Extended families, 1 year old shoots with the big giant balloons that spell out O-N-E (don’t have anything against one year olds either hahah). You name it, and I was there. Obviously a lot of these didn’t fuel me. But it’s what I needed to do to get out there starting a business while being in a new area with no prior friends or family you could mooch off of. 

When I really got going, I was privileged to be finally taking others’ weddings, couples and family photos, a lot of the time with everyone smiling right at me. “Say C-H-E-E-S-E!” 

Right? You know the drill. 

And though this is where I thought I wanted to be, taking christmas card photos and killing myself throughout wedding season by over-booking each summer. Because, I thought that’s what I needed to be doing as a photographer to be considered successful. Right? 

Wrong. So very, very wrong…. for me and least. For a while I lost a part of myself. I lost the creativity that drove me. I found myself feeling like I needed do what others were doing simply because, that’s what others were booking.

When I had my daughter this past year I began to feel centered again. True to me and true to what I loved. But, the things I loved, weren’t being showcased in the instagram world of perfect and pretty, with light and airy walls, backgrounds, and everything else.

I love the ungoverned and unapologetic moments between people. These raw moments don’t need to be altered or changed just because there’s a camera in the room.

This. This is what I wanted to start creating. This is what sparked my drive again and allowed creativity to come flooding back. I didn’t need to be so heavily directive any more, as much as I wanted to just observe. Observe and document exactly how things are… and preserve that.

The photos that often stop me in my tracks are the ones I can either vividly spark a memory, or that I can relate to the most. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. I RARELY relate to the perfect done up house, where my children are always dressed cute and my house is unrealistically clean 100% of the time. We’re pretty raw here over at my house and that’s okay. Those are the things that fill me with gratitude for the blessing I am entrusted with. Being a wife and a mother. And that is what I want to document with my family and with yours.

I don’t want to be defined or held back by any one ideal, but open to conveying authenticity with all of my work. I want it to feel natural and organic. And last, I want when others look at my images, a feeling or a memory is instilled in them. That is why I shoot documentary.