You ready for the long story?

I am a Minnesota-born, Wisconsin-raised photographer. My first “big-kid” purchase was a pair of Birkenstocks at 18. My second? A gently-used Canon I purchased online a year later. It was my very first Craigslist purchase, which ended quite well if you ask me (be safe out there, folks). Growing up, I always remember wanting my own camera and being in the position to invest in one myself? Well, that was probably one of the most distinctive marks of my adulthood (right next to openly and happily preferring black coffee. A noteworthy personal milestone if I don’t say so myself.) I didn’t purchase that first camera with the intention of making it a career. Instead, I really only planned on exploring and documenting my life through the lens. I wanted to be able to preserve the simple, day-to-day moments of the people I loved and admired most. Never did I think I would eventually be hired and invited in to document wedding days and births only a couple of years later. Talk about a high-stakes environment, but a compliment nonetheless!

The most ironic part about me pursuing this creative dream is that I really wanted nothing to do with it. Coming from two successfully self-employed parents, all I could see was how work seemed non-stop. How, for those that took immense pride in their trade and worked with great integrity, there wasn’t really an “off-switch” to entrepreneurship. It often meant working late nights, early-mornings, and weekends. It meant that you sometimes had to miss dinner, that insurance wasn’t always seamless process, that you didn’t get paid vacations. Oh, and tax season? Forget it. And honestly? I grew up wanting the cushy job, with healthcare benefits, and 401k matching and retirement and vacation days. I wanted structure and I wanted tax season to go totally seamlessly. I was so ready to be placed at the bottom of the corporate ladder and so totally ready to climb it. But I figured out on that first rung of the ladder that it wasn’t for me. So here I am, officially and passionately, navigating a self-employed journey, just like my mom and dad.

On a personal level? I am a podcast-lovin’, goal settin’, always-grazing vegetarian-turned-meat-eater, who loves the finding, creating, and connecting that life offers. I am both an idea generator and a problem solver, a vintage-loving thrift-finder and collector of only a few moderately “ugly” sweaters.

If there is anything I hope to do really well in my life, it's to find new ways to meet people where they are. To show up in a way maybe not many others have. Where I certainly won't be the first, and even less likely that I'll be the last; I want to show up honest, to show up with LOTS of love, and to constantly aim to be anchored in the present moment.

So I guess, if you’re still reading, thank you. And if you’re here to hang, I hope we can consider each other friends.