This blog just kind of came to me as I sit and think about writing my about me section for my website. You would think that wouldn’t be a daunting task, but I proved that wrong in a hurry!

Just recently I watched a webinar from the amazing Tonic Site Shop designers, Jen Holmstead and Jeff Shipley. They are amazing at what they do, and are definitely some of the best web designers in the business. I loved soaking up all their knowledge and then doing my best to update my own about me page. It was a tough thing to do. In the past, I had just had your average about me page. A 4-5 paragraph page of my website that just kind of droned on about how awesome I am. HA! Totally kidding, but that’s always how it felt like to me. You see, when I talk about myself in person, it doesn’t bother me much, but to have to put that into words on a screen or on paper, and not feel like i’m boasting, or bragging, or being conceited, that’s the hard part.

I want my future clients to feel like they know me. To feel like they can connect with me. To see that I’m not just someone that likes to sit and go on and on and on about my life. But at the same time, my life has made me who I am. When they know my background, and know where I came from, they can start to see WHY I love doing what I do, and WHY I do things the way I do.

When people ask me where I’m from, I never really know where to tell them. I grew up in Wyoming. For the first 13 years of my life, that’s all I knew. Snow storms in June, trucking through 6 feet of snow to get to school, and riding bikes out to Frontier to go swimming below the water treatment plant: that was my life. Then much to my dismay, my parents moved me. My dad finished his Master’s and got a job as a vice principle of a high school in a tiny migrant town in Washington state called Mattawa. We lived there for 3 years and they moved me again, to another not-as-small town, Othello. I graduated Othello, and headed to Spokane where I lived as an exterminator after I dropped out of college because I made more money if i worked all day instead of going to class.

All that time, I made friends, but it was harder to stay in touch with people than it is now. I couldn’t skype my friends that I had left. I couldn’t chat with them on Facebook. So I left, and the friendship kind of ended there.

I’ve always felt like nomad. Like I didn’t have a place to call home. Sometimes I still don’t know if where I live now is “home.”

There is one thing that I do know though. I didn’t have a hard childhood, in the sense that I always had food, and shelter, and new clothes. I was almost like an only child for 6 years because my older sisters are quite a bit older than me, so I was the only one around for a while, and so naturally, I was kind of spoiled. I didn’t even have a hard time making friends with all those moves because I played sports. My volleyball teammates were usually the first people that I made friends with because that’s the first sport that I played in the year. I love those girls, and I will forever be grateful to them.

Anyways, I’m rambling…

Life wasn’t hard because of any of that. It was hard because I never felt “home,”  but when I built connections with people, that was what was most important to me.

With that, I love building those connections with my clients. I don’t ever want to be the photographer that takes someone’s photos, delivers them 2-4 weeks after, and then never hears back from them again. I want to be friends in real life. Connected by similar likes and dislikes, and with the help of social media, to stay connected with them over the years. I want to see my bride & grooms start their families, get a dog, buy their first house because that’s what drives me.

I always used to make fun of my grandma because she would ride the Greyhound ANYWHERE. She loved talking to people and hearing their stories. I always thought that was the STRANGEST thing I had ever heard. And then I grew up, and realized she was on to something. No longer clouded by the teenage mind, I see the value in others. I see how important their stories are, because that’s what makes them THEM, just the same as myself.

I see all these photographers around the world who take time from their lives to do personal projects. I love reading the “Humans of New York” posts. Their stories are amazing. Some of the things they’ve been through or witnessed:amazing.

I want to be that person for my clients. I want to be the one to document that split second of time. To stop time and be able to give them something tangible to remember is one of my favorite parts of my job. Aside from getting to know them, it’s probably THE favorite part of my job. But it’s not just for them. It’s for the great-great grandchildren that will see it years from now. It’s for them to be able to look back at our crazy styles and hair dos, and cars, and think how barbaric everything was, just like I do with my own grandparent’s photos.

I want my clients to know I care. I love them. I love their stories, each one special in it’s own way, and each one the beginning of something amazing.

Now only if I could figure out to put that on one small page. 🙂