Intentional photos are a form of gratitude.

about working together

Gratitude is easy to forget in the middle of living. It's my job to make photographs that hold it in place, so the beauty doesn't stay buried, but gets to live out in the light.

My first jobs in high school and college were in mall portrait studios - photographs of kids with the Easter bunny, sitting on stools, and with bright harsh light on a little square backdrop. I liked the concept of honoring people in photographs, but not this way. When my husband and I married, we moved to Hawaii where he was stationed in the Navy and promptly deployed. I was left in paradise, but missing my family. My business gave me purpose and perspective into treasuring an ordinary day with the people we love, the variety of family dynamics, and the potential of photos to bring us into gratitude.

Almost twenty years later, I'm still set on helping families notice and hold what they're most grateful for. I'd love to do the same for yours.

i fell in love with photographing ffamilies while I was living an ocean away from my own.

My goal is to help you see your insides on the outside, for today and 50 years from now.

As a wife, daughter, sister, and a mom to 3 little humans, this work has become deeply personal.

let's work together

what to expect / what to expect

You don't have to be photogenic, organized, or "camera ready." You don't have to wrangle your kids into behaving or pretend your life is tidier than it is.

You just have to show up.

I've made it my job to guide family photos into being an experience that feels more like sweet family time than a traditional "photo shoot." Aunt Patty would cringe.

You don't have to be 'good at photos.'

We'll still make sure to capture some images of everyone together looking at the camera, but that is bare minimum energy. Keep the kids drawings on the fridge and chipped orange nail polish. Allow yourself to wear clothes you actually wear in your real life and feel good in. It's okay if your husband wants to wear his signature floppy hat while we're fishing at the creek behind your house. It's all part of the ordinary beauty and it's my job to capture it - not erase it or polish it.

I will lead our time gentle direction while sometimes making the kids feel like they're in charge. We will do some things on purpose and allow others to just happen organically. The kids will warm up. You'll stop worrying about the angles.

Real delight takes over. You get to keep it for now and for later.

Family session details newborn session details

A few things I believe about family photos

unpopular opinions

That make this experience different for charlottesville families

They should honor people and planet.

2.

I shoot digitally to keep my footprint light and partner with labs who print responsibly, so the keepsakes you treasure are also kind to the places we treasure.

Your photos aren't show & tell

1.

Yes, you're absolutely going to want to share them with your loved ones and you should! But the heart of family photos is about the perspective and gratitude you will gain from them. If you're looking for a new profile pic and a Christmas card that makes you look refined and formal - I'm probably not the right person for you.

Beautiful and "imperfect" belong together.

3.

The fingerprints on the windows, the wild ponytail, the laugh lines you've earned - all of it belongs here. I'm not going to "fix" it because I see no problems in them. I see the immense beauty in your real, unraveled life, and the stories they'll share with you 30 years from now. I hope that by allowing them to live in photographs, I can help you celebrate them, too.

Let's work together

You feel the same?