From the time I picked up my first camera nearly a decade ago, I knew I wanted to do more than simply take photographs; I wanted to really know and see beyond what was in front of my lens. I didn't realize it at the time, but the little tagline that popped up on my first website back in 2013, "Life Through the Lens of Hope" was also a calling to step more fully into my own humanity, a slow but sure path to rebuild a worldview & faith that my former "pastor's kid" life had all but shattered.
Over the years, I've photographed joy, but none that compare to witnessing my own three babies as they've grown. hope in some of the darkest and hardest places: hospital bedsides, empty bedrooms,
That first family session without one of your beloveds. Yes, that, too. Helping families tell their stories of navigating their children's cancer diagnoses. Yes. Photographing and honoring the sheer resilience of women in recovery, celebrating comeback stories, celebrating a positive pregnancy test after years of infertility. These moments matter as much as any portrait session.
I believe that hope is one of the most intrinsic and powerful forces we can access.
I believe that our stories matter; they keep us connected to each other- and to our own humanity.