I guess you could say I’ve been a daddy’s girl from day one, even in those rough teen years. Growing up my dad was always into photography, just not the wedding type.. or people in general. He’d tell ya, he knows a ton more than I do about photography and we’ll let the old man believe that.
One of his first photo trips was to the Smokie Mountains. From there, he decided to buy a second body + booked a Yellowstone workshop for him + my mom (y’all, she can’t take a photo of a rock, sorry mom, it’s true). They took their motor home up to the wildlife workshop a photographer Stan Olizenski was hosting. They spent the next few days taking photos around Mammoth Hot Springs (first photo of his below).
Back then, cameras weren’t easy digital film. You had to send off the film and wait a few weeks, my dad would pick his favorite from the projector + have them printed. He signed the bottom with his famous MR. My dad has never met a stranger, he + Stan stayed in touch after the workshop.
Like my dad, I have never met a stranger, which is why I think I fell so quickly in love with wedding photography. I loving freezing time with the couples I get to know and love.
With him always having a camera, it’s never been a huge shock to me that I have the same passion for capturing memories + mountains. I have also taken 1,500 phone photos + had his cameras whenever I could. He bought me my first camera for my college graduation, lighting the flame for what now is not only my passion but my career.
So I need to thank my daddy for that first camera I got behind
