PROFESSIONALLY, MY FIRST LOVE WAS WEDDINGS.

First off, thank you for stopping by! I hope you feel a connection and these tidbits can inspire a real conversation between us. If you’re wondering about who I am and what passionately drives everything about Plum Tree Studios, this is a good spot to get some answers.

As the song goes, “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.” And when I think about the magic that brings two people together and compels them to take the grand and beautiful leap of Faith that is marriage, my heart swells and I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Yep, I do cry at most weddings. I’ll also cry with people when they tear up seeing themselves in portraits through my loving eyes. When I say I want to create the best photos of you that you’ve ever had, I truly mean it.

Life is a collection of many moments. Some are easy to notice and remember, others are fleeting little jewels hidden between the hustle and bustle of daily life. My small team and I strive to capture just the right moments shared by you and your loved ones. Through pictures, we document just how priceless all those moments add up to be. The goal is to leave you with a unique story of both beauty and deep meaning: Your Story. We’re not the kind of photographers who just stage a certain scene for a perfect click; we work hard to anticipate and seize all the spontaneous moments that make life and family so wonderfully unique.

Weddings, commissions, and collaborations have taken me to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Riviera Maya, NYC, Sedona, San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest — just to name a few places. So, I am available to document your big day or special project wherever that may be.

WEDDINGS LEAD THE WAY TO
PORTRAITS

Portrait work came as a natural evolution to weddings. Couples grow into families, careers unfold, and many other milestones are reached in the natural flow of life. And with great delight I have evolved right alongside my clients. Besides wedding photography I also proudly offer portrait commissions for the myriad of stages in life from maternity and newborn, to family portraits, to personal branding photography and corporate headshots. The philosophies I employ for weddings apply to my portrait work in the same way. I shoot for the moments in real time, the nuances that make people and their relationships unique. The beautiful back-and-forth, ebb-and-flow of the connections we get to make. The soul of the people in the frame.

One of my very favorite genres of portraiture are Beauty & Editorial Photography. Often times, in the demands of daily life (and especially since the pandemic) we can get stuck in ruts that can shift the perception of ourselves. As a new mother, it was easy for me to lose some of myself in that novel role, and at times forget the sides of me that before seemed so prevalent: the career-woman, the jokester, and even significant other. Add a pandemic to the mix and “pajama pants for life” easily becomes a daily mantra. I love creating portraits that elicit and remind us of our many facets and restore self-worth. Because we are never all things at all times, but we are many things as a whole.

PERSONALLY

Family is very important to me and a big reason that I enjoy the many dynamics and love-stories to be found within weddings: bride and groom, child and parent, siblings, best friends - I am inspired by all of these relationships. My boys (husband Shaun, and sons Liam, & Ian) are my “raison d’etre.”

I melt a little each time Liam hugs my legs out of the blue or when Ian smiles so big his dimples show. The little things in life seem to have the greatest power for joy and deep memories. Thankfully, photography keeps me disciplined enough to seek and see those little details regularly. I equally love making images of the most grand and mundane moments because often they are one and the same.

Because of my family, more than ever I think about the legacies that photos leave behind. I envision their purpose in the future. While shooting for clients I relate all of these thoughts and emotions with what I’m seeing unfold in front of my lens and the subjects’ reasons for having these images made. All of this compels me to create photos with truth and heart in the name of recollection. (Confession: Now that she has passed, I wish I had more photos of mom and I).

What I realize is that we are all on a journey with different stops but similar stories along the way. How we see ourselves, how we relate to others, what we want to remember about our moments and our special people - I am in love with those stories and how to best tell them for you for the present and the future.