My favorite question is “how did you get started in photography?”…when I answer that question, I typically get a few blank stares.   And honestly, the story makes me chuckle.  In about 2006, I bought a camera so that I could photograph….food.  That’s right friends.  A million years and a lifetime ago, I was a food blogger.  One of those who couldn’t take a decent photo to save her life (or cook for that matter). And another food blogger with a WordPress account.  The joke was that I wasn’t a very good cook so it became a bit of a joke.  The blog was called “You Are What You Eat…Or Reheat” and I shared dinner and dessert recipes while also having a weekly segment called “White Trash Wednesday” that really highlighted my Alabama roots.

After living the foodie blogger lifestyle, I grew tired of photographing inanimate objects.  Honestly, I longed for interaction with my subjects and I can assure you that tater tots don’t respond to witty repartee.  So I started to offering up sessions to human beings.  And a million years and a lifetime ago I photographed a coworker and her two beautiful children.  Still didn’t know what I was doing, but it felt different to photograph people.  It felt good.  It felt like I suddenly had purpose.

Throughout the years I’ve been so lucky to photograph those same two little kids. I’ve watched them grow up and become these amazing human beings and I still feel something special each and every time I photograph them.  Because I know I’m helping to stop the clock for their parents, even if it’s only until the next photo session.  But for that hour, for that session, I’m giving their mom and dad a special flashback to that time in their kids’ lives.  And that right there trumps any tater tot casserole…any day of the week.