My Story

 

A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT ME … 

I have a very thick Texas accent and people have asked me if I’m from New York, Georgia, South Carolina, Britain and even Australia (really?! Australia?!) of all places. I was born in Denver, Colorado, grew up and went to college in west Texas (Wreck ’em Tech!) and currently live in northern California with my sweet family which consists of my VERY patient and supportive husband and our awesome daughter (and yes, we’re one and done for those that wonder. Sorry mom).

MY STORY …

I graduated from Texas Tech University with a major in English (I love southern women writers) and a minor in Secondary Education. I wanted to be a teacher like my mother and her mother before her. After graduation I moved to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and taught middle and high school English, Reading, Speech and Drama. After three years I decided that maybe that’s not what my path was suppose to be about. I quit and started working for a nationwide rental apartment magazine using more of my English degree. While working there I became more interested in the graphic side of the business. I tried to ingest as much as I could from whoever would show me the different design programs. I decided the graphic design part of the magazine was WAY more interesting and creative than the writing part. In 2006 I married my best friend, who happens to be a fabulous artist (and has motivated me to be more creative). That same year I quit working at the magazine and started my own graphic design business, P Squared Studios, designing invitations, print ads and contracting with small magazines to do design work. Then, in 2009 my daughter was born. The next year my husband dragged me we moved  to San Jose, California, where, if you had asked me 10 years earlier would be one of the last places I thought I’d move to. I mean, California is very different than the Lone Star State. Cowboy boots and (good) bbq restaurants are few and far between!

Once settled I started taking more pictures of my daughter. While those pictures were fine I would see beautiful, meaningful, purposeful photographs of other people’s children online. I wanted that for my daughter, for me. In 2010 I picked up my first “big girl” camera, a Canon Rebel. As I became more familiar with it (switching to manual and practicing, practicing, practicing) I became hooked on what I could do with its power. With my gaining knowledge and experience I realized I could take pictures of my daughter’s childhood, a single moment, a chubby hand eating a Cheerio, a bath time, a temper tantrum. Those images became that much more meaningful to me. I wanted more, more, more. “It” soon spread like wild fire in me and pretty soon I found myself wanting to transition from designing to photographing. If I could take one moment in our everyday lives and make it look and feel special then I wanted that for other people. And why couldn’t I help them do that? So, in 2012 I made the big leap. I added “photographer” onto P Squared Studios. I still love design but I’m more (much more) passionate about photography and how I can make that single moment in time last much much longer, not just for me but for other people as well.

MY STYLE …

In my photographs I adore neutral color. ! Color from nature, from a cool car, from a parking garage, from food, from clothing, from a chair. The world holds so much color around us. I embrace it!! Along with neutral color my style has been defined as editorial. I never meant to go down that particular road it’s just happened over time. So, I would describe my style as bold editorial in nature but always, always, telling a story and infusing moments that will never happen again.