Why am I a photographer?

Because I simply have to be.  It is who I am.

From the time I was in junior high I had planned to be an anthropologist. After completing both a Bachelor's and a Master's in Anthropology (as well as a Bachelor's in Art - why not double major in something fun?), I discovered that a career in academia was not for me. After I gave up on my plans to become an anthropologist, I waited patiently and I wandered a bit.  I knew that one say I would find 'IT' and that I would pour my whole self into making a career of it when I did. In the meantime, I continued to shoot film on my dad's old Konica, which was the camera I had learned on until about 2005. 

In 2008 photography came back into my life, I founded the business in 2010, and now here we are.

Photography is art. It is an opportunity to connect with the people in my community, to tell stories, and to document the rituals and connections in people's lives. In this way, it is also anthropology.  It gives people the space and opportunity to recount the most meaningful occasions and people in their lives, to appreciate each other and simply enjoy being together.  It touches people and leaves then with a permanent reminder of the things in life that matter. 

These are the reasons that I prefer candid photographs, that I want to spend the day with you, that I want to sit down and have a conversation with you, that I want to spend 12 hours photographing a wedding.  I am seeking the natural interaction - the culture of people.  THAT is what is interesting to me and so much more intriguing than a photograph that tells you nothing about who the people actually are.  I want my work to draw the viewer in so he or she says, "Now THAT is truth.  Who are these people? I want to know more of their story."

It is amazing that something like this even exists, something that allows me to combined these different parts of myself.  So why am I doing this? Because I have to.  I am an anthropological artist.  I am a visual storyteller.  I am a photographer.