a little deeper

I get a lot of questions about photography, but some of the most commonly asked are how I got into it, and what I love about it. I always answer with an explanation about how I started to love it sometime around high school, but I guess it was actually always there deep down. 

Meet kid Deb.

I think if I’m honest, I’ve loved photographing people as early as I could hold a camera. At a young age I was just completely fascinated with the entire concept. I dabbled with digital cameras throughout high school, and in college I took a black and white film photography class while studying graphic design and never really looked back.

I’ve always really loved making other people feel beautiful, and waiting for that split second moment when you can tell they believe it.  All the walls come down and in those little moments of vulnerability you can really see them.

The longer I do photography, the more I fall in love with the simple way it connects me with people, and the way it connects them to each other.  

I love that wedding photos have the ability to take a married couple back to the moments they chose their person forever and committed to loving them for a lifetime. Maybe it helps to remind them during a difficult time where it all started, and gives them hope to return to that place choosing love. I love that those photos may be passed down for generations.

I love family photos that take parents back to chunky babies, laughter, tears, sleepless nights, and little feet running up and down the halls in their home.

I love that photos of my own family take me back to a time when my Mom was still living.

The truth is, sometimes we just don’t even know the true impact of the photos we take until later in life when a photo stops us in our tracks in a powerful way and reminds us of a different time. 

That’s why I want to keep doing this, because I believe it’s bigger than a few pretty pictures. It’s about people and their hearts – their stories. It’s a gift God has given me, and I believe it’s part of His unique calling on my life.

Photography was woven into who I am before I even knew it, and I want to continue using the gifts I have to love others well, tell their stories, and point them back to God and His faithfulness.

So, my hope in telling you all of this is that you know how much I care about what I do.  My hope is not that you love me, or my work, or what I have to say.  My hope is that your photos are absolutely YOU, and that they make you feel pure gratitude and joy for years to come.

-Deb