Artist Statement

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When I was a sophomore in college, I started teaching myself photography.  The more I started shooting, the more I fell in love with it.  After graduation, I decided to go back to school for photography.  The photography that I was focusing on was family portraits, children portraits, couple portraits and senior portraits.  This was all I knew and really thought that I would be able to do.  Once I got in my photography classes that all changed.  I learned that you don’t always have to make photos for other people.  There was the genre of fine art portraiture that I never knew about, that I knew I wanted and needed to explore.    In my large format class,  I worked with a friend of mine who danced.  She had many health issues and found her release and recovery in her love of dance.  This lead me to focus on the trials and tribulations of a dancer’s life.  After working with her, I found a love for dance photography.  This made me want the opportunity to photograph other dancers doing something they love and that they use to escape the world for just a little while.  I want to show that dancers can be anyone anywhere and that there is more to dance than just music and movement.  There is a person with a life story; whether it be a battle, a loss, a win, a celebration, etc.  There is a whole other side of dance between the emotion of the dancer and the story that they are about to tell.  I feel like it is my job to help show the world this in my own way.

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