
The first time I picked up a camera, I was hooked. Isn’t that just the typical photographer cliché? It was grade 5 and a little 110 mm camera. In grade 7, I got my first 35 mm film camera. I took photos of everything. From photoshoots at a cemetery with my best friend to trying (and failing) to take photos of lightning out my bedroom window. I took that camera with me everywhere. That was back when you had no idea if your photo would turn out until you got the film developed. I wanted to be a photojournalist and merge my love for photography and my love for writing. In grade 12, I was given an old Canon SLR. And I LOVED it. I spent hours figuring out how to adjust everything, not knowing if I was successful until the film was developed. And then life took over as I went to university. I still took photos, but not until my first child was born did I pull that old SLR out again.
I invested in a DSLR and began to explore with the camera once again, but then postpartum depression and life with 4 kids under 6 overwhelmed me. I stopped creating. When I started working with families in the postpartum as a postpartum doula/birthworker, and kept seeing such beautiful moments, I realized that THAT was what I wanted to photograph. I wanted to capture the beautiful moments of everyday life that tell our story – those moments we often miss because we’re too busy living them. And so I began to make that long ago dream come true. I started learning from some incredible photographers (Hobbs Photography and Jen McLeod Photography) and kept picking up my camera. That has brought me to be here right now. And I gotta tell ya, I’m so fricking happy to be here. I can’t wait to create art with you.