Being an Iowa family photographer is an absolute dream! To be honest, I stumbled into this…a couple different times. The first was in my early twenties, after I had graduated with my BFA in photography from the University of Iowa and moved back to Iowa as a newlywed. I know having my BFA in photography makes it seem like I didn’t really stumble into family photography but trust me. It was not in the plan. I gained extensive art training, which did wonders for my skills but did absolutely nothing to prepare to photograph people and run a business. My plan was to run a gallery, exhibiting my work around the world. And to be honest, I did exhibit around the world for a year. My work was displayed in Portland, OR, St. Paul, MN, Woodstock, NY, Los Angeles, CA, London, ENGLAND, and Moscow, RUSSIA. However…I couldn’t make a living at it. At least not yet.
And so, I began to say yes when people asked me to take their picture. At first I felt like a sellout, if I’m being honest. And…I wasn’t very good at portraits in the beginning. But, as with all craft, practice makes better. However, I eventually started doing wedding photography. And I fell in LOVE with wedding photography. It was fast paced and stressful and I could do product photography and fine art photography and portrait photography and photojournalism all in one day. I was thrown in the deep end and my art really grew. Then…Covid-19 happened and people weren’t allowed to gather anymore. I am still photographing weddings, but bookings became a lot slower so I leaned on my business as an Iowa family photographer to get through the lean patch. And if fell in love, AGAIN! It has been so much fun really diving into family photography with my full creativity. I have embraced the silliness of children and it has lightened the mood of my business up so much after a period of uncertainty. So here’s a snapshot of a bunch of sessions I’ve done this summer. I was going to do individual posts, but it’s fun to see things all together! You can see more summer sessions here, here and here. And, get in touch with me to get on the fall calendar here.
