High Desert Portrait Photographer

Well hello! I want to introduce myself and give a little back story so you can see if we’d be a good fit. Or not. No hard feelings.

This is how I became a professional photographer and fell in love with photographing people. You can grab a cup of tea and maybe a snack, this will be long-winded. Here we go:

Funny enough, I grew up disliking photography. Shocker, I know! I’m not the usual- "I took a class in high school and fell in love with my camera”, blah blah blah!

I mean, I did have a 110 camera as a kid ( remember those? No? Ask your parents) and then a 35mm later when I was older. But, I never loved taking photos. Even when I became a mom, I didn’t take thousands of photos of my kids. Whoops!

My dad was and still is a landscape photographer. We would go on all the road trips when I was younger. He’d take 8,697 photos of mountains, rocks, bugs, and more mountains. If I was lucky, every so often I’d be in the photo too. I was about 1/2” tall in a 4x6 printed photo. Often my finger would make an appearance as a size reference for a rock. Woooo!

I’m probably being dramatic though. I distinctly remember one photo of me hanging on the hallway wall. I had just fallen into the freezing cold river of melting snow in Yosemite. And I was crying. Ugly crying! Ah memories. Ha!

Fast forward plenty of years and I opened up a handmade shop on Etsy. I sew. All the things. I have a sewing blog if you’re interested. I had to learn product photography to sell my items on the interwebs. Lots of online lessons, courses, and a few cameras later, I sorta figured it out. However, I still felt like something was missing.

When the 2020 pandaroo hit, I decided to take an online photography course that wasn’t only about product photography. It was about photography, period. I learned so much from that course and something inside of me awoke! But, alas I still felt like something was missing. So, I decided to enroll in some photography classes at the local college. It was through my first class that I realized what was missing in my photography.

It was people! People were missing from my photos. I loved connecting with strangers and taking their photos. Once I realized I wanted to take photos of people and not things or stuff, it all came together! I took more classes and then decided to make a go at a photography business. So, here I am!

Here’s where I’m able to offer something unique for you:

I’m not a regular photographer, I’m a cool photographer (mean girls reference). I’m different. I’m invested in finding something fun and special in you. I want to photograph the side of you that is screaming to come out. I want to photograph you laughing or crying. I want to photograph you and your hobby. I want to sprinkle magic into your images, even if you only need headshots. And, I want to print those images so you hang them on your walls. You deserve to have your smiling (or not) face all over your home.

Call me today and let’s schedule a time to create all the magical memories for you!

Cheers,

Annette