Photography Beginnings
I started a photography business the beginning of 2024. I always wanted to have my own business. My background in photography, and love for creativity and connecting with people, made portrait photography an obvious choice.
My dad bought me my first camera when I was seven. I loved how I could capture so much beauty and emotion with a camera while adding my own creative expression to it, and then it was something you had, forever. My dad and I would go on nature walks with our cameras. He even started a photography 4-H club called The Shutterbugs that was really just for myself and my brother, the only club members. I remember using an underwater camera to photograph an underwater story with my cousin and entering photos in the county fair.
As a kid I liked to take photos of the animals around the farm I grew up with or of my friends in some of my mom’s costumes I claimed for my own. My mom was a seamstress and a horse trainer so there were both a lot of fabric and animals around to photograph. I would often dress my younger brothers up for photoshoots with a cinematic vibe, which they graciously agreed to (usually.)
Self portrait of my dad and I on one of our photowalks when I was in my early 20s.
We were shooting with Nikon 35 mm SLR cameras and this is a scan of a print. I am sure I have the negative somewhere.
A photo of my dad taken shortly before he passed away. He was an avid nature photographer and videographer which inspired my love for photography. He was in the middle of a project photographing all the waterfalls in Oregon. Photo credit: Dad’s friend Will
I went on to study photography in college studying both film and digital as well as darkroom and studio lighting techniques.
Self portrait in my 20s for a school project. I was using my dad’s Nikon 35 mm SLR camera that I still have today.
Side by Side Nikons: my dad’s Nikon 35mm SLR film camera next to my new Nikon Zf mirrorless, full frame camera. I love that Nikon made a digital nostalgic version of their very popular F bodies from the 70’s. I also like to use the full frame D750 and Z8 camera bodies. What can I say, I’m a Nikon girl! My dad and my grandfather were both photographers and both Nikon users so that’s what I started with :)
Themed or costume photoshoots have always been a special interest of mine. I love a cinematic vibe! It would not be uncommon for me to suggest to a friend that we should dress up and take photos, cause who doesn’t love having cool photos of themselves?! I have had a costume closet of vintage and period piece clothing since I was a kid. Maybe there is something you would like to borrow from my costume collection for your next photoshoot :)
Photograph of me as a kid with my friend, brother and Johnny, the pony. (Johnny was named after a boy I liked in second grade haha.) We dressed up with costumes from my drawer of dress up clothes. My mom was a seamstress and horse trainer so horses and fabric were a big part of my childhood.
One of my favorite portraits of my brother taken November 2023 in Oregon. He still lets me pose and photograph him like when we were kids :)