writer + photographer
Hiya. I’m a photographer and writer, originally from Florida, now based in Colorado. I work with people from all walks of life to take photos and tell stories that capture and communicate the authentic spirit of what they love - be it their business, their family, their brand, or themselves.
JANUARY
JAN' 2024
Northshore on O’ahu, Hawaii
With generational roots deeply embedded in the sandy Florida soil, I’m not thrilled with temperatures below 60. Gratefully, my husband’s parents like to escape the Indiana cold and invited us to O’ahu with them for Christmas. For this, I am eternally grateful. We stayed between family and friends and tried to do Hawaii on the cheap, which was almost impossible had it not been for Foodland’s poke bowls.
February
FEB' 24
From Hawaii, we went to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos to continue our snowy escape. We traveled on a budget, taking slow, public ferries to and from many of these destinations. Gratefully we learned that the most interesting people take the slow ferries, like the gents pictured here. We met amazing people, including another entrepreneur, Lisa, who teaches yoga in Bali, Indonesia and was down for a fun photoshoot on the beach.
March
MAR' 24
My first engagement shoot, their first engagement. Fort Collins, Colorado.
When I moved to Denver in 2015, I had a gig as a music writer for 303 Magazine. I was terrible at it. I honestly didn’t know much about music and took the job because it paid in concert tickets. Now, I’m married to a full-time musician (not the one pictured) and falling in love with concert photography. During my first concert photography gig, I noticed there was no coaching, no interaction with the subjects, and almost no multi-tasking on my part. I got behind the lens and dropped in.
Engagement shoots are the foil to live music shoots - there’s a lot of coaching, multitasking, and thinking about the next scene, pose, and facial expression. Some dear friends (pictured above) got engaged this March and asked me to take their engagement photos (honored and intimidated). Gratefully, they are silly and fun and created the perfect scenario for me to stumble through my first engagement photoshoot. 10/10 would do it again.
April
APR' 24
I used to pride myself on chugging gas station coffee like it made me ultra low-maintenance and whatever is the opposite of elitist. But then, someone served me a good cup of coffee along my way, from Pablo's in Denver, if my memory is true. I didn't turn into a coffee enthusiast or do any deep dives on types of beans, brewing methods, water temperature, etc. Honestly, I still buy bags on sale or drink day-old French press.
However, I've stopped thinking of it as the economy’s gasoline or modern medicine or a way to push through the day until the moment that I can rest. It's become a ritual, a cup of connection, a pause. Which is why teaming up with Maddog Coffee was such a treat.
She brews incredible coffee, pulling and pouring every cup with intention. She educated me on everything from small-scale farming operations to the influence of colonization on the humble coffee bean (in the least elitist, most inviting way). If you want a tasty beverage from a badass lady, visit her coffee trailer at WellFed Farmstead. It's the farthest cry from Folgers.
may
MAY ‘24
My first wedding. Shooting this was a doozy, exciting, humbling, everything all at once. I was nervous (despite being good friends with the bride and groom) that I wouldn’t get certain shots, that I’d lose my SD cards or break my camera or get lost or sick. Every worst-case-scenario situation was running through my head up until the moment I finished taking pictures of the reception and got into my car to go home.
Weddings are such big deals, can you imagine if I accidentally deleted every photo I had or got into a car wreck on the way home, that also ended up smashing my SD cards to bits, rendering every photo inaccessible? I could. But, with the first one under my belt, I’m ready to do more.
It was pretty incredible and affirming to be included in such a big way on one of the most important days of peoples’ lives. A blessing in so many ways.
JUNE
JUN' 24
july
JUL' 24
august
AUG' 24
A phone call with my mom is the truest medicine. After my first big breakup, I dialed her up. Distraught that this long relationship had come to a definitive close and was now splayed out at my feet, deader than a doornail, I whispered “Hello.” She responded immediately with, “Oh, you’re sad, my love.” Moms just know. Cue the waterworks…
september
SEP' 24
Every week, I find myself at a restaurant named Grief. I don’t order off the entrée section, though, I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m on the appetizers, still. Bite-sized sadness that comes from nostalgia rather than unexpected loss, from bittersweet, setting suns and time draining through an hourglass faster than I’d like. From saying “so-long” to people when it’s appropriate and natural; at the end of a juicy, ripe life. From knowing Tragedy through mutual friends - I know people who are close to him…
october
OCT' 24
When my parents divorced in 2016, I never considered that HBOMax would bring us all back together again. The catalyst for their separation was uninteresting, the simple trajectory of many before them: kids grow up and go to college, leaving two adults approaching golden years, trying to figure out what’s so golden after all. Or at least, this is the story they’ve provided me, and all the information I want. Tears are cried, therapy is attended, and life goes on via awkward mixed gatherings that everyone is obliged to attend…