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 […]

My childhood summers were spent at my grandparents beach house. It’s really on a river, but we call it, The Beach House. I have many fond memories of summer at that house. I’d wake up to the sound of waves crashing and seagulls chirping… I learned to drive with my grandfather, I learned to crab, fish and even […]

Have you ever surprised someone? Or has someone ever *really* surprised you? Here’s my story… On 3 Christmas Eve’s in my life, I made the 4+ hour trip from Michigan to Ohio and showed up (without warning) on my Auntie Deb + Uncle Gary’s doorstep. “Surprise! Merry Christmas!”⠀⠀ It happened as a newborn with my […]

DISNEY VACATION. Just the words spark such big emotions of both good and bad things doesn’t it? You just spent a boatload of money, like actually a yacht full, on a Disney vacation. Your brain starts thinking about all the fun the kids are going to have and how you’re going to photograph your way […]

I’m one of those sentimental people — a hoarder of some sorts — of memories. I still have a (really tattered) shoe box of letters that I’m so grateful for, and I’m truly saddened by the loss of the tangible memory. This moment for me is huge, because as young girls, we face so many […]

“I honestly thought I had nothing left to document. My daughters are 16 & 19; not in the “cute” stage anymore,” photographer Pam Dubasek told us in The Preservation Project’s private FB group. Going into the program, Pam was in a season of more than usual, fast-moving change + challenges: her father-in-law recently passed (“He was the […]

Sometimes no amount of planning can prepare you for a story. A few weeks ago, I was prepped and ready for what would be a trip filled with high expectations. I’d gathered questions I’d wanted to ask my Uncle Perry along with a mental check-list of things I’d like to document while there, (i.e. Colby […]

My apologies if this gets a bit long – it’s a bit of a journal-esque share. 1. Humanity trumps everything. I teach you to be more of yourself in your communication and I got lost in the shuffle myself in 2017. The root cause: doing too much, too fast. My shares came from a place […]