I picked up a high end point and shoot camera in 2009 with the intention of taking “better” photos of henna tattoos for a website I was designing. At the time I was a henna artist working at festivals and street fairs and such. If you had told me then that in 5 years I would be a photographer full time, I would have laughed and thought you were crazy! Needless to say, on that day, that purchase changed my life.
That wonderful year I took that tiny little camera with me everywhere. Friends started noticing I was taking pictures and most of those pictures ended up as “profile pics” on Facebook and other new social media sites. Thanks to Social Media, word spread quickly and soon after friends started contacting me to see if I would be willing to photograph their families and events. Next thing I knew, friends of friends were asking. Then I received my first wedding referral. I could never thank that first couple enough for having enough faith in me to allow me to photograph their wedding. I proudly shot that wedding with my tiny little point and shoot camera.
The more people who asked to hire me, the more I learned about photography. The more I learned the more I wanted to upgrade my gear. The more I learned and upgraded the more jobs I got. I eventually opened a brick and mortar studio in Portland Oregon. Several years, a half dozen lenses and a few camera bodies later, I quit my job with Wells Fargo and moved full time (and across the country) into my photography business here in Chicago.
I am now nationally recognized as a professional photographer with clients ranging from private couples, families and individuals to corporate clients like Don Julio, Mastercard, Kia.
So, here I am today. A self taught, passionate hobbyist turned pro… camera in hand, ready to preserve your most precious moments.