I don’t think there has ever been a time in my life I haven’t been hoping for something. I’ve struggled throughout my life when there wasn’t something “to look forward to”. If there wasn’t anything, I planned something, anything. When things got hard I comforted myself by looking ahead and thinking, “But I just have to make it until ___ (something fun) comes.” My joy and contentment was very much controlled by the circumstances of my life. (Enter the difficult years.) It’s been a crazy past 4-5 years, full to the brim with difficult things. To name a few: a hurricane crushing our home, my mom dying after a sudden diagnosis of late-stage cancer, my husband having emergency heart surgery at 35, being homeless several times, PTSD, etc…Planning something to look forward to just stopped working for me at some point. When life is so hard you can’t look beyond the next few hours or when what you see ahead only brings more anxiety, you need something MORE. Better. Deeper.

These two! I don't have many words, only because this incredibly couple is close to my heart. Bringing Lauren & Andrew's vision for their engagement session to life in Pensecola was an immense joy. I love when people want something that is entirely unique to who they are. I find it so invigorating to be challenged to create something that is both beautiful and authentic. There are a millions upon millions of beautiful images out there, but true representations of personhood, what it means to be human and in love? I'm not so sure there are as many; and that is precisely what I endeavor to represent with my art. Perfection is boring. Real is beautiful. I hope you can taste how real these two are, and just how much depth there is to their hearts and story.