What inspired me to become a photographer!

There have been many things in my life that inspired me to become a photographer including the work of other photographers and personal experiences.  One of the first photographers to inspire me was Sally Mann.  Sally photographed her family for a number of years and mainly focused on her children, she portrays them in such an intimate and realistic manner that you feel like you were looking into their souls.  Below is one of many photos of her daughter Jessie. I knew immediately that I wanted to emulate this type of documentary photography.  

At the age of 18 I took my first trip out of the country to Honduras where I fell in love with the richness of the culture and decided to spend a semister abroad in Ecuador to learn Spanish.  It was in Ecuador that I fell in love with the beauty and tradition of the indigenous populations.  When I returned to the States, I applied for a grant to create a photo documentary on the indigenous populations in Guatemala.  During this period of my life I was inspired by the photography of James Nachetway whose work speaks for itself in the video below.

  

Here are some photos taken while on assignment in Guatemala.

 After graduating from college I returned to Guatemala to volunteer at the non-profit organization, Foto Kids(www.fotokids.org), run by former reuters photo-journalist, Nancy McGirr.  The mission of this organization was to end the cycle of poverty through training in the visual arts.  My role was photography teacher to a group of  kindergarten level children that  lived in the city dump.  Needless to say this was a life-changing experience. 

After this experience, I knew I some how needed to apply all the inspiration and skills I gained from college and my work in Guatemala into a career. 

 I ended up attending a workshop given by world renowned wedding photographer, Joe Photo, and I was totally blown away by the journalistic style of photography he brought to the wedding industry, and it made me think, "hey maybe I can do that too!" 

And from that point forward that's exactly what I've done!  

To witness to the most important moments in a persons life like a wedding day, a birth or a just a day in the life of a someone inspires me every time!  I want to capture the feelings that accompany these experiences and in return give back a timeless work of art.  I feel so lucky to love what I do and for others to benefit from this as well is just the best bonus in the world!