Making Photos that Matter.
Kansas City Photographer
As some of you may or may not know, before I took on this wild world of wedding and family photojournalism, I was a newspaper photojournalist at the Kansas City Star, The Columbus Dispatch and The Lawrence Journal World. This time in my life was extremely significant. I learned the integrity of a moment, the importance of telling a story with complete truth, and that making a photo with purpose is where my heart lies. I have loved every minute of my 16 years in telling stories at weddings and with your families, and I look forward to more stories that have yet to be told!
I’ve always felt that I left the newspaper journalism world too soon. My passion for making images that matter started in those early years and I still recall the first time I truly knew one of images mattered. It was a photo I made in 1997 while working at the Columbus Dispatch as an intern.
Fast forward years after I made that photo I got an email from a soon to be bride. She mentioned that photograph of a little boy celebrating and being swept up by his grandfather after winning a peewee football game. That little boy was her fiancé.
That little boy clipped that photo out of the newspaper and treasured it for years until it had been lost in a fire. She tracked me down to see if I still had that photo so she could make a copy of it for her soon-to-be husband’s wedding gift. He had told her that that moment with his grandfather was his favorite moment with his now passed away grandfather.
The fact that I have a photo of that astounded me. I happily made her a print. It truly was in this moment that I knew I needed to be making real images with purpose and now I am ready to stick to those journalism roots and continue that passion in the commercial arena.
Marketing With a Purpose.
With that, I’ve decided to expand my work in a new, different, and exciting direction. While I’m not removing weddings and families from my business, I’ve decided to make a difference through my pictures beyond just weddings and families. Making images that matter. While I know I’m able to do this for my wedding and family clients, I’ve decided it’s time to broaden that goal and tell the stories of businesses, organizations, and nonprofits. To tell their stories…show their real lives and real processes…why they do what they do and why it’s so important. The plan is to do this not only with still photographs but also by producing short multi-media films by introducing audio capture to my story telling. Read more about this approach here.
Essentially, when it boils down to telling stories, we all have one we choose to tell. With my journalism background I’m passionate about telling the TRUE stories of these businesses, organizations, nonprofits, etc. Finding the stories, big or small, within these entities that illustrate in a true form what they do and what their purpose is. I want to use my work to help brands connect to people. Brand marketing in its truest form.
I am so excited to hit the ground running with this new venture in my career and I’m grateful for all of the support I’ve gotten to take the leap and do this! Currently my ideal clients are in the service-driven industry. Anything that makes an impact on people. If you or any business or organization you know falls under this umbrella and would be interested in this work, please let me know! I would love to visit with them to start telling their story of purpose!
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