I think I was about 10 years old when I meticulously posed my stuffed animal collection and snapped my first photo with my mom's 110 camera. I'm sure I had my finger over the lens or something because I never did see that photo. Regardless, that didn't deter me. Throughout middle school, I ran a paper-route to save money for my first SLR. Then I did the yearbook thing in high school, worked in a photo lab, portrait studio and as a TA while in college, then got a job printing photos and eventually managing some studios, building a few stores, and blah, blah, blah, here we are today.

I recently came across a quote by Bernice Johnson Reagon. "Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are." That is exactly how I found the true motivation behind my art.

To be perfectly honest, it wasn't until my father became terminally ill in 2005 that I really put my heart into my work. I photographed him during his last days in hospice care. After his death, as we were sorting through photos of him, something struck a cord. With one final breath, those images had become priceless. How many others were in my shoes, grieving for a loved one, but didn't have a single portrait to look at for comfort?

With the impending birth of my son in 2007, another aspect to my work emerged. That's when I went off the deep end (must have been the hormones) and decided to open my own studio in the artsy-fartsy little town of Mazomanie, WI. All of a sudden, I was superwoman! Setting out to provide fabulous photographs to all children everywhere! Well, at least south-central Wisconsin.

Through the highs and lows of life, I have found purpose in my photography: To capture images that have the ability to conjure up memories, evoke emotion and even provide comfort on a rainy day.

In April 2009, I closed the doors of Tin Shed Studio when my husband and I decided to purchase his family home and relocate to Iowa City. That move has provided me the opportunity to create a studio in my home, something I swore I would NEVER do! (I have a studio in my home. My home is not my studio. They just happen to have the same address.)

Now that the construction dust has settled and I'm getting back to work, I'm thinking this arrangement isn't so bad after all. I can edit images in my pajamas AND be constantly interrupted by my little boy! (I was a professional photographer before I was a mom. I am not a mom who decided to take pictures because her friends told her she should.)

Although I miss the 1400 square feet of studio space I used to have, I enjoy working in the intimate little studio we have constructed in the front of our home. There's just something about having the warmth of my family just on the other side of the door to where I am creating such precious memories for others.