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WHY DOCUMENTING LIFE IS IMPORTANT TO ME

Growing up we had this big brown box.. the photo box. It lived under the coffee table and I have many memories of pulling that box out and seeing it stuffed to the top with loose prints. The sides of the brown box have been taped up more times than I can count. It eventually was moved to the high shelf in my parent’s closet when it became too tattered from years of use and abuse. My entire life is in that box.

In 2018 I was gifted a medium-sized tote filled with old slides. Those slides documented my dad’s entire childhood. Small moments, ordinary moments, sitting around a table camping, toddlers jumping on the couch… Those slides are my dad’s big brown box. Mixed in with those slides were hundreds of black and white film negatives, those negatives are my grandmother’s big brown box.

In 2021 my dad suddenly passed away from pancreatic cancer and I inherited the photo box. Over the years dozens, if not hundreds of photos have been removed from the box, but it is still filled with my childhood.

From a very very young age, it was ingrained in me that we document. From the age of five or so, my sister and I both were familiar with cameras and became part of our family’s documentarians. We took disposable cameras and photographed our trips to the beach, we took them camping and to friends’ houses.

When I was 16, I was gifted my first “big” camera from my dad… Canon Rebel 2000. I took that thing everywhere. It was ingrained in me that ordinary life was to be documented. In 2009, after saving for a year as a single mom, I purchased my first DSLR. It wasn’t fancy, but I began documenting my daughter’s life. Just like my parents had done for me. In 2011 my journey as the photographer we all know began.

I have spent more than a decade bouncing around genres and figuring out who I was as an artist. Most of the time I was filled with imposter syndrome and I wish I could say that feeling went away completely but it hasn’t… not completely. I have spent the past nine years devoted to documentary photography and becoming the best documentary photographer I can be. Because I grew up knowing those moments mattered. I grew up knowing that photos of me were worthy of being displayed even when my family wasn’t in matching outfits being perfect. I grew up treasuring the ordinary.

We have our own box that lives on the shelf in one of our living rooms. It is filled to the brim just like the box I had growing up. I am now the third generation to document our ordinary and I want to document your family’s story too.

I am currently based out of Denver Colorado but I will travel anywhere in the world to document your story.

 I would love to be the one to document your story.  If you're interested in chatting more click HERE.