I always knew I wanted to be an artist. As a kid I drew and painted. I started my collection of work at age 3, my first piece still hanging proudly on my mom’s wall. I competed with drawing and placed first in state several years in a row. I remember at 10 I felt it in my soul that I would be a cake decorator at my local grocery store. Or a tattoo artist.

At 14 I picked up a camera. Just one of those small digital cameras that your mom had in the early 2000’s. I remember staring at that little flickering LCD screen being entranced over the fact that I could pause time. This time was also the height of tumblr and flickr, social media wasn’t a thing yet. I carried that little camera everywhere and when I got better I graduated to a “big camera” (a canon rebel t3i). My work began as doing series of self portraits. I taught myself photography this way. I figured out photoshop manually, I taught myself the camera by hand. I creatively directed the self portraits which were heavily based in emotion, dramatic light, shadow and form. Always in nature.

I would stuff my cheap tripod and my canon rebel into a backpack and walk from my backyard into the small forest behind our property. I’d climb trees and or venture out further to the wide open horse pastures on the other side. Its where the bet light always was. I had a large cottonwood tree that stood all on its own in these fields I would go and set up at. I’d set up my tripod and change into the cute outfit I had secretly stuffed away in my bag before leaving the house. I’d shoot and experiment with the cheap glass and golden light until the sun went down. I’d pack up, make my way home, then immediately get the photos onto my mom’s computer so I could edit them.