I’ll never forget driving home from a surgery I had in 2018. David, my husband, was driving and we were holding hands. My head was thinking about: how I was feeling what was ahead I hope this surgery actually worked (it was the 2nd operation) I hope my kids are being good for the sitter […]

What was your Top Tiny Story of 2020? By that, I mean: What’s your top story that moved your heart and changed you in expected and unexpected ways? A story that’ll stick with you forevermore and defines: MEANINGFUL? I know… loaded question! I’ll go first. Marie’s Top Tiny Story of 2020 For me, it was […]

Gratitude lists can be wonderful, or they can be automatic, robotic, and empty. Gratitude lists that look like this: I’m grateful for: my family my health my home hot coffee that tastes like Christmas in a cup my dog are too vague. It’s almost like we robotically respond to “what are you grateful for?” with […]

In 2015, I was hired to mentor another photographer, Khalilah, in Hawaii. I’d never been to Hawaii, so this was a trip of a lifetime to begin with! What I didn’t expect was for Khalilah to say something that’s stuck with me to this day… We were on a highway and approaching a tunnel through […]

“I’m a photographer. How do I NOT have pictures of my dad? I had plenty of posed photos, but nothing that captured HIM as I know him. It was a sick feeling,” said Lora Wallenstein, participant of The Preservation Project. If you’ve ever experienced loss, you’ve feared the strong feeling of your bond weakening over time. […]

As people with cameras at arm’s length in today’s world, we habitually train ourselves to see frames all around us sans camera. Naturally, we *think* we’re on top of recording the important stories in our own lives. But are we? What *don’t* we see, because our own lens has become distorted from influence or simply […]

Photographer Dreama Spence said, “In the work of photography, it’s easy to get bombarded with ideas from everyone else. My goal has always been to be my own self. DOCUMENTARY IS VERY PERSONAL. To dig deep and think about a feeling or story, THEN choose when to click the shutter has been very freeing + […]

The moment I said ‘yes’ in the decision to move south, there was a pang that felt a lot like loss among the excitement of adventure. If you knew me in real life, you’d know I’m an easy going, go-with-the-flow kinda girl. I LOVE new + change. Still, when I love something hard, I have […]

The other night when our daughter read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess. She’s a 5-year-old learning to read. When she was 3, she ‘read’ the same book to me (you can see here), skipping pages here + there. Back then, she read from memory, not from words on the page. I can still hear “would you, […]

It’s time to think outside the box. It’s time to go beyond posed photo sessions, lifestyle photo sessions, and even every day photos. Take the double dog dare to photographers to make the list that will change your thinking in how you approach your next photo session. And if that doesn’t work, I have a […]