Hi, I’m Kristen.
I want to know your story because your story is worthy of being known.
Whatever season you’re in, I want to meet you there.
I want to celebrate that victory with you. I want to come alongside you in battle as a reminder that you are not alone.
Let’s honor your journey - brokenness to beauty; darkness to light.
~ v a l u e s ~
AUTHENTICITY,
which takes bravery.
PRESENCE,
which pauses society’s breakneck pace and honors the moment, no matter what it looks like.
GRACE,
which allows release of the inner critic and recognizes beauty and worth in an individual exactly as they are.
“In the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing:
there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
get to know me
Hi, I’m Kristen! I’m glad you’re here. :)
I currently reside in North Georgia, but my heart can be found wandering the golden hills, redwood-filled mountains, and rocky coasts of Northern California, where I grew up.
Creation, or “bringing cosmos out of chaos,” as Madeleine L’Engle would say, is an incredible gift that has been given to us as humans. L’Engle, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and several others accompanied me through childhood. Their stories instilled in me the faith that, yes, life can be brutal and barren — but it is never without hope.
Over the last few years, this belief has been put to the test, and there have been times when it has been difficult to keep the belief alive. Yet now, more than ever, I recognize how important hope is and how lucky I was to have been raised on stories that spoke such life into my spirit.
Like the authors who shaped me, I want to be intentional with the stories I tell. I want to speak light into darkness.
John 1:5
why photography?
While intentional storytelling has always been a part of what drives me, writing was my go-to outlet for as long as I can remember. I played around with video and photography for fun, but because I had not received any formal education in those areas, I didn’t consider myself anything besides a writer. At the end of my freshman year of college, I switched my major from creative writing to communication and media, with a digital storytelling concentration — and that was when the visual side of storytelling really began to click.
In my junior year of college, I fell into a pattern of perfectionism and people-pleasing. Although on paper I was excelling, my internal state was quite the opposite. I was exhausted, anxious, and burnt out. No matter how hard I tried, my best never seemed like enough, and I felt like I was constantly disappointing the people I cared about. If I couldn’t say yes to everyone, I couldn’t make everyone happy. If I couldn’t make everyone happy, I was failing at my perceived purpose in life. I was a failure. That belief (ill-informed though it may have been) led to a heavy load of guilt, self-criticism, and inadequacy.
Over the last year, I have been slowly unlearning those patterns. Photography has been a gift in highlighting the need to slow down and just exist, even when it’s uncomfortable. I remind myself that the moments of uncertainty, chaos, and the in-between are just as necessary to growth (and just as beautiful) as the moments of celebration, clarity, and success.
As I shift my perspective back to one of hope and trust, I want to offer you a moment to take those two things in hand, as well. I want to help you create a photography session that allows you to exist right where you are, just as you are, with permission to simply be. To pause. To catch your breath. To love yourself, regardless of circumstance. To fully enjoy where you are. To celebrate how far you’ve come. To look forward to what’s coming next.
Let’s honor your moment.