For me, photography is about relationships and identity. The impact a high quality beautifully framed and placed photograph can have on a person’s life, or a blended family is immeasurable. Here is your daughter, at 16. We, the model and I capture a moment in time that the family can keep forever. And as she grows up, goes off to college, marries, and has children of her own, she gets to keep that moment as well. Photographs are an anchor. A focal point. Photographs keep us grounded in our own history.

I also witnessed the impact on my daughters when they saw themselves in large portraits on the walls of Pearl Cup, my neighborhood coffeehouse, where my work was exhibited this past summer. When I saw my favorite images printed large, it hit me, “Oh! So THIS is what it is about!” Even as a photographer, I somehow missed the point of photography. It isn’t just sharing digital files or looking at images of people you love online. Photography is about seeing in front of you the people you love most and the places you adore. Looking at oneself in the mirror or on a digital image is very different from a print. Framed and mounted prints are tangible objects that can be touched and held. They communicate in a big way the importance of a person to someone else. They help to validate a person’s importance and sense of belonging. In this complicated, busy, crazy time, I do believe that people long for a simpler, more authentic art. Creating photographic artwork that you can see every day is a joy to me.