I am a mother of three, wonderful girls. I am a reluctant artist with perfectionist tendencies and a huge sweet tooth. I’ve always been quite technically minded as well as artistic and much better with images than words, so photography is a natural fit.

I know this is the most cliche answer ever, but, while I’ve always enjoyed photography, my passion was really sparked by my children and wanting to capture their childhood. Once I started looking online to learn more about photography, I found out there was so incredibly much to learn! I started implementing some of what I was learning and saw improvement in my work. After that, I was hooked.

I have lots of lenses, but like to travel light. Since I shoot mainly outdoors and can zoom with my feet it’s often just my D700 and 85mm 1.4 or 135mm f2, plus the 50mm just in case I find myself in a tight spot.

I had a film SLR at one point, but never used it much. So, I guess I really started with a Nikon D70 and a kit lens which was quickly replaced by a 50mm 1.8.

I often do shoot sessions with just my 85mm 1.4. The 85mm just suits me. I love the bokeh. I find that focal length to be very flattering for faces. Plus, I don’t feel like I’m too close or too far away from the people I am photographing.

This is perhaps another cliche answer, but I think that my best advice is to focus on photography first and get the basics down cold before even consider opening a business. To get the basics, my best advice would be to focus on one thing at a time. For example if you are struggling with exposure work on that first, don’t try to get everything all at once or you are likely to get overwhelmed. Also, I could have saved myself a lot of frustration if I had learned early on to not compare my journey with anyone else. Photography is definitely a journey, not a race. There is no finish line. There is always more to learn. That’s part of the charm as far as I’m concerned.

My business is part time, so a lot of what I do is for myself. There are many things I like to capture, but the top three are my girls just doing what they do on a daily basis, my girls in the beautiful surroundings of the Pacific Northwest, and macro nature shots.

I don’t know that there is any one person that I would love to photograph more than the three girls who are in front of my lens every day, but I have always thought it would be fun to travel and document the people/places we go.

Organic, pure, and just a bit whimsical.

If you had to stop taking photos right now, what would you do instead?

Personally, I would love to get back into ceramics, but if I couldn’t do that, I’d have to break out the charcoals or something. I need a creative outlet to be whole. Professionally, I’m starting to feel the pull back to design already, so I would likely go in that direction.

Have you attended college or had any formal education in Photography?

Do you ever get nervous before your sessions?

I am almost always nervous before a session, but once I have the camera in my hands things just seem right, and I relax into the session.

What would your dream session be like?

What are your photography related goals for 2012?

How do you push yourself to keep growing and learning?

Biggest Photography related insecurity?

Really, my biggest thing is confidence. I’m sure it’s related to the perfectionist in me, but I worry that my work will just never be good enough no matter how many people tell me otherwise.

Digital or Prints?

Both, but if I had my way every single client of mine would talk away with a huge wall print or a nice album.

Fun stuff:

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Season: Summer

Biggest Guilty Pleasure: Soda

Pet Peeve: Lies

Favorite Pandora Station: Shuffle

Studio or On location: On Location

What did you want to be when you grew up? Scientist

Pc or Mac: Mac

Lightroom Or Photoshop: Both

Film or Digital: Digital, mainly

Props or No Props: No props

If you could travel anywhere it would be: I wouldn’t mind being back in Hawaii right now.

Glass Half Empty or Half Full: Half full

Favorite photo ever taken: Favorite ever? Wow, that’s like asking me to pick my favorite kid. Can I just quote Imogen Cunningham and say “Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.” No? I can’t? In that case, while it may not be the favorite, I think this one of my three girls playing Ring Around the Rosie will always be among my favorites. I love this one for how it captures them exactly how I want to remember them when they are grown. Three happy friends playing together in the sun. <3

Raw or Jpeg: RAW

Favorite Music to Edit to: Pandora, shuffling all my stations.

Favorite Quote: “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” — Robert Brault

Most valued material possession: Is it awful to say my camera? I feel like I should pick something more meaningful, but the camera does allow me to document so many things more meaningful than any possession.

Processing Style: Soft, yet clean

Coffee or Tea: Green Tea

What kind of Camera bag do you rock? Kelly Moore Hobo