As a kid I was obsessed with taking photos. I started doing photo shoots with my best friend when I was about 12 years old in our back yards, using a camera borrowed from my mom. It was a smorgasbord of wide-legged jeans, crop-tops and scrunchies…which coincidentally seem to be making a triumphant return to the fashion-world. The finished product, after some not-so-patient waiting for the film to be developed at a local drugstore, was every bit as spectacular as you would imagine. Yikes.
My journey as a professional photographer started in 2004-2005 shooting weddings with my mom, who has since moved on from shooting professionally. I had a 35mm film camera back then and loved the entire process from shooting to picking up the film and looking through the photos.
In 2008 I got a small point-and-shoot digital camera that I took everywhere with me. It went hiking, on family excursions, vacations, even out for evenings celebrating birthdays with a very responsible and sensible number of drinks. Most of the time.
I bought my first Nikon DSLR in 2010 and quickly decided that was the life for me. This was when I first joined Facebook and spent probably too much time looking at images done by well-known photographers and figuring out what I needed to do to create my own version. Hey, that blurry background is cool; how can I do that? I’m analytical and a bit of learning junkie, so I immediately took to the science of photography and spent (and still spend) hours researching the craft.
Later that year, I started photographing friends and family, and began to think I could make a career out of it. I wanted to learn how to photograph everything - families, maternity, weddings, babies. My first official newborn shoot was my niece in 2011, using a blanket thrown across a couch in a living room with a window pointing the wrong direction. The experience hooked me on newborn photography as my specialty - those tiny little fingers and toes, adorable folds and chunky baby thighs, unannounced bodily functions; I fell in love with all of it. If only I could go back in time to reshoot this with the knowledge I have now…
I took the leap in April 2014 and opened my own 750 square-foot studio in Springville, NY. Gone were the days of hauling around gear and setting up temporary workspaces in someone’s house, and it made a massive difference in the quality of my work. In those early days there were a few people in the industry that I really admired, starting first and foremost with Rachel Vanoven. She was one of the first newborn photographers teaching others all her tips and tricks, which was - and still is - a big deal because she is widely viewed as the best in the business. I started watching and learning via Facebook posts and blog posts. For a few years I spent countless hours watching her online workshop and slowly learning how to safely pose babies. It was a dream of mine to someday meet and learn from her in person.
In March of 2016 the dream was realized when I was able to attend a workshop in Indianapolis where Rachel spent two days teaching myself and two other lucky photographers how to do everything she does. Rachel has forgotten more than I’ll ever know about photography, but 48 hours of hands-on experience with her caused my confidence to soar.
I came home to Springville invigorated and ready to perfect my craft - though I’ve since learned that perfection will remain out of my reach. Nobody is more critical of my work than I am, and I always seek out ways to improve. That said, I am proud of how far I’ve come over the last eight years.
In May of 2019 I had the honor of hosting a workshop in my studio. Uber-talented newborn photographers Lindsey Williams (Portland, OR) and Bethany Hope (Chicago, IL) flew in for a one-day workshop with a heavy emphasis on their expert posing techniques. It was an honor to not only host them but to also have other photographers, both from the area and as far away as NYC, spend time in my studio.
I genuinely love and am grateful for all of my clients, regardless of what type of session they want - family, senior, lifestyle. When all is said and done, however, give me those baby snuggles all day long.