I live in Charlotte, NC with my amazing husband, Harry, and our shaggy dog, Benny (a very sweet and friendly greeter of clients).  

When I was young, I could draw a little, but I think I was always an artist looking for my medium. Photography! It just felt “right” for me.  

My first mentor taught a workshop called “Communicating With Pictures.”  It was a class in corporate photojournalism based on one important idea.  He’d show us a standard “grip-and-grin” photo of someone who had won a corporate award that communicated nothing.  Then he’d share a very different photo, taken from behind, at a corporate award presentation as the award winner/subject turned back towards the camera with tears in his eyes.  He was clutching his new award close to his heart while the audience all stood to applaud him.  It was a picture with heart.

I wanted to take those heart photos.  

At the end of that first intense three-day workshop, the teacher shared seven of my slides of children with my classmates and called my images “nuggets of genius.”  I was astonished.  It was usually tough to get praise out of him, and after class he offered to become my mentor. I was hooked.

I soon became an available-light photojournalist and, over the years, gained some great corporate clients who wanted photos that communicated human values.  

But when digital photography came along, companies handed their corporate communications folks (my clients) a little point-and-shoot camera and told them “you can take photos that are good enough for our intranet.”  I, like many photographers, found my business gone.

At the same time, with my daughter and son grown and living on their own, my marriage fell apart.   I lived alone for 10 years, and did lots of soul searching.  Should I change careers?  No! In my heart, I AM a photographer.  I learned digital photography.

I also knew that I don’t like living alone.  I began seriously looking for a partner – someone who would see that “I want to be loved for who I AM, and what I bring to the party.”  It took me almost a year to find Harry, who treasures me. He's my heart. Our first date lasted 4 hours and I showed him some of my work. 

He took one look and decided that someone who shot images with this much sensitivity and emotion needed to be in his life.   At that first dinner, we knew we were a good match.  We’ve been together 13 years, and married 10 years. We feel fortunate to have found each other. 

And I feel fortunate to have found a partner who appreciates the way I work to create photographs of the real beauty that is inside everyone when I try to capture each person’s “inside authentic” self.