07/01/2026
Iāve had this post on my heart for a while and each day I go to write it, I stop because I worry that Iām blurring the lines of personal with business. Then today I was sent a sweet little reel about why photography matters and it hit meāI donāt care. Not because I donāt value my businessāholy cow, do I value it! But rather, I donāt care because in so many ways Iāve always blurred the lines.
I ask too many questions, I get too connected, I give back way too many pictures, I walk away from each session with a small piece of your story tucked in my heart, I pray for the families who have been in front of my camera for less than 20 minutes, and I desire to have more than a client photographer relationship. I guess you could say it was never about the official business for me, it was about SO much more. So hereās a personal post for anyone who wants to know a piece of my heart.
Iāve had the blessing of repeat clients really start to hit home lately. When I started this business we lived in the Detroit Metro, and about two years into really creating a strong client base, we relocated here. I took a solid year off after our move before hitting the ground running again and last fall is when I feel like I really began true growth locally. This spring soooo many families have come back and oh my gosh how precious that is!
But! With those repeat clients, rather than be overcome with āyay they love what I do enough to come backāā¦ Iāve been wrestling A LOT. Wrestling with the age old ācomparison is the thief of joyā syndrome and questioning my growth and my why.
We live in a world where social media algorithms show you everything but what is relevant. I am often lost in the endless doom scrolling of viral posts with the kind of pictures that stop you in your tracks. The ones where photography meets paintings and the images literally make you pause as you gasp at the scenery wondering if itās real. The perfectly curated outfits, the perfect edits, and the perfect poses make photos you yearn to hang in your home when you donāt even know who the people are! Itās hard not to see those over and over and over with 3,000 likes and question what your own art says.
But thenā¦ a couple weeks back I had a repeat client whose baby is now a toddler and I got a little emotional while watching her. Why? Because when I say itās an honor to watch your family grow, I mean it! I can now predict the dad jokes. Iām pretty okay grabbing grass off an inconspicuous part of your dress. I look through my lens and I see the same blue eyes at two-years-old that I saw at six-months-old. Thatās special and it hit me hard that night.
The next night, I got out the hose and some bubbles for my kiddo, and captured her just being a kid in the yard. I pushed my knowledge of golden light and shutter speed and water droplets (and later dramatic editing) farther than I have pushed it in a very long timeāall while hanging on her every movement. In that moment, I suddenly had clarity and the comparison monster got smaller.
I have touched very briefly on health issues in regards to my daughter before (mostly if it affected my availability) but Iāve never really broadly shared that itās not JUST health issuesāitās a lifelong journey with an unknown outcome that sometimes feels heavier than I know how to carry.
And you may say, why are you telling us this?
Itās because those two moments of capturing a growing little girl and my own little girl who GETS to grow, made me realize WHY it is such an honor for me and how it affects the way I interact with all of you.
My daughterās journey is woven into my photography because we live with something most parents spend their entire lives trying not to think about. We live each day face-to-face with the possibility that our time with her is limited and because of that we spend every milestone, hospital visit, t-ball game, birthday, victory, regression, ordinary afternoon, and everything in between like it might be our last one. And when I spend my time with youā¦ do I want to capture a beautiful image? Yes, I do. But what I want to capture even more? A memory. And I had allowed myself to forget about that in the midst of my comparing.
So from this point forward, Iām going to not just continue to pursue photography, but pursue creativity and relationship. No more being afraid to send a slightly out of focus image or telling you to hop on your husbandās back. If I see sunlight peeking through a tree, but Iām worried about keeping you too long, weāre gonna walk for the trees and you feel free to let me know if your feet canāt handle another step. Iāll also continue remembering the name of your dog, continue giving back too many pictures, and continue blurring the lines between professional and personal.
But what Iām not going to continue? Chasing an artist Iām not. I want to become a better version of the photographer I already am. From this point forward, Iām giving myself permission to stop chasing the perfectly curated image and continue chasing the memoriesānot as a style, but as a philosophy.
And I canāt wait to chase the memories together!
