What About Me?

I grew up in the Midwest in a pretty typical suburban family. By my senior year of high school (when you always have everything about your life figured out) I decided I wanted to be an interior designer when I grew up. By my third year of college I finally figured out that I pretty much sucked at it and needed to start thinking of something else. I would spend evenings with my best friend while she worked in the darkroom for her Photo 202 class and found the process fascinating. So next semester I signed up for my first photo class and off I went. In that class I took the photo that changed my direction in life aptly named “Fish Photo”. It was a photo of a dead fish on the side of a creek bed that I had taken on a cloudy (flat light) day. At the end of the year It was accepted into the annual undergrad exhibition and then I actually SOLD the image. So I thought “hey this is EASY”. And then I knew my path.

Shortly after, I moved to LA to “become a photographer”. I met these guys that were “photographer assistants” and they guided me and taught me how to work my way up to becoming an assistant too. My first full time assistant gig was very exciting and humbling and I am so grateful to the photographer and his assistants that taught me the ways and had faith in me even though I was lacking the knowledge that most assistants had. After many years of the exciting life of being a camera assistant I decided it was time to do my own thing.

I flew to New York and San Francisco and went to see editors in LA. I would walk into their office, portfolio under my arm and fully confident I would be put in their rolodex with an asterisk next to my name as “the next big thing”. I landed a few jobs then more and next thing I knew I could call myself a “Photographer” when I met people out at the bars. It was super exciting to be shooting for magazines like GQ, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Paramount, Nylon, Time, Premiere and many others. I met fascinating people and travelled all over. I was  honored to be included in the American Photography Annuals and selected for PDN photo annuals. Things have not changed much since then except I have added a couple kids and husband to the mix.