Every so often, I think about the girl I used to be: the one who couldn’t throw anything away, who filled journals and scrapbooks, and who had no idea a borrowed camera was about to change her whole life. This is a letter for her.

Before the Camera, There Was Collecting

Before you ever picked up a camera, you were a collector.

You journaled, you scrapbooked, you kept everything. You were always trying to hold onto the people you loved so you wouldn’t forget them.

Dad’s Vacation Camera

In high school, you borrowed Dad’s vacation camera for an art class, just to photograph what you were about to paint.

Immediately, you were hooked… and Dad never got his camera back (sorry, Dad!).

From Senior Photos to Love Stories

It started with friends letting you take their senior photos. Then they started falling in love, and they let you photograph that too.

Somewhere in between, you started dreaming about becoming a wedding photographer.

It Won’t Be a Straight Line

It won’t be a straight line. There will be other paths pulling at you, a lot of days you’ll doubt yourself, and people whose success looks nothing like yours. Don’t let that define it. That need to keep and collect memories won’t leave you alone. Keep listening to your heart.

For me, that other path was physical therapy. I built my photography business while earning my doctorate, and even with a degree in hand, the camera kept pulling me back.

Collecting Memories for Other People

I still journal, I still scrapbook, I still keep everything.

And now I get to collect memories for other people too: a mom fixing her daughter’s veil one last time, a couple who got married years ago and are now chasing a toddler through the grass, a family I’ve photographed since their wedding, now with kids who know my name.

That’s what being a Chicago wedding photographer means to me. It’s not just one day. It’s getting to be there for the chapters that come after, too.