I am not a photographer who can say I grew up taking pictures. I grew up wanting to be a detective instead. Or a reporter.

While I was having an affair with words and mysteries, my Dad bought me a used "real camera" from a pawn shop when I was 12. I didn't know the slightest bit about how to take photos and learning wasn't within reach since the Internet had yet to take over the world. So in my drawer is where that camera stayed, and instead I bought a lot of disposable cameras. All I had to do was point and shoot.

But while going to school at the University of Missouri–Columbia for a degree in magazine journalism, I took a photo-journalism class and learned the technicalities of taking photos with slide film. The first wedding I shot was of a couple in their late 80s. They showed me it is never too late for true love, and that love is beautiful at any age.

When I finally went digital, there was no looking back.

I am very aware of how blessed I am to have unearthed this passion of mine and am now doing it full time. I currently live in Lenexa, KS, (but consider myself to be a citizen of Kansas City) with my loving husband, my perfectly playful and adorable son, Weston, and our cats, Kramer, who is a bit of a curmudgeon these days but lovable in his 24 lb body, and Moxie, our new kitten who is ornery, playful and so beyond sweet.