My journey in photography has been a quirky one, but that seems only right given the quirky business I’ve run for the last decade. People ask how I got into photography, and the answer is honestly, “Because of a cute guy.” I took a photography in class in college because of a cute guy, and while it did not lead to a date, it did get a camera in my hands.

Once I got my first DSLR (a Nikon D40, for anyone who’s curious), I did not put it down. I took that camera to swing dance events, live performances at the Palace of Wonders, belly dance brunches with friends, fire performances, and progressively more and more traditional work like portraits, family photos, and weddings. The first full-time photography job I had was at the United States Naval Academy documenting Plebe Summer, the freshman bootcamp all midshipmen go through. That summer I woke up at 4am and was in bed before 8pm almost every day, was working with a camera in my hands 7-12 hours a day, 5-7 days a week, and took over 80,000 photos. At the end of it all I was sunburnt, dehydrated, and knew I had moved from hobby to career.

Building my business has been an adventure. For several years I photographed newborns at Anne Arundel Medical Center through another company, taking artistic family photos in poorly lit hospital rooms with tired parents and babies in the first days, sometimes first hours, of life. I continued photographing families and newborns on my own, adding in more and more weddings and portraits, and still traveling nationally + internationally for dance event photography. And of course, I continued photographing the live events, the artists who are friends, and the incredible, creative communities I am a part of.

It’s now 2021. I’ve photographed over 100 weddings, thousands of families, hundreds of portraits, dozens of large events and conferences internationally, and I’ve now navigated how to make art during a global pandemic (tl;dr, there’s been a lot of masks, no indoor spaces, and a hefty dose of grace, understanding, + rescheduling). I’ve built a business I am proud of, with people I am overjoyed to work with, and a reputation for fun, honest, colorful imagery that really captures the moment and personalities involved.