This is my story.

I've been interested in photography for more than half my life. When I was really young, my parents would buy me disposable cameras, and I'd shoot flowers, sunsets, small animals, everything. Once I was given a point-and-shoot digital camera by a friend, I became interested in learning photography.

Photography is one of the things I'm most passionate about. Recently I've been blessed with an abundance of inspiration, and that excites me so much. I can't wait to see where I'll end up--but I'm enjoying the journey, so very much.

WHY I'M THIRSTY:

Thirstylife Photography is a name that I chose because it's pretty symbolic for me. I've always thought of thirst as a deep desire. When you're thirsty, it immediately arrests your attention and causes you to take steps to quench that need. When you're thirsty, you know that the only way to satisfy it is to drink something, and so you're going to do what it takes to drink. So I equate thirst with passion, and that's how I came by my name.

I've spent quite some time thinking about what I hope to accomplish in my photography. I base my life choices and pursuits on logic and purpose, and photography is no exception. I love it, and so I took some time to think about why exactly I want to be doing it, why I'm passionate about it--why I'm thirsty.

I am thirsty to portray truth. I know people who do fashion photography. Their photos are stunning. Their subjects look perfect. They photograph at a higher level than I do. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against fashion photography. I like the magazines, I'm amazed by the photos, I very much respect fashion photographers and their tremendous skill and creativity. It's just not for me. I'm thirsty to portray truth, although it's not perfect. I'd rather show you what is flawed but honest than something perfect but unreal. Beauty lies in imperfections. That's life. It's real-deal authentic life, imperfect, messy, and rough around the edges, but there is joy seeping through the cracks and glory splattered everywhere. And this is what I'm thirsty to show you in my pictures. The real life, the broken and the beautiful.

Portraiture, too--I know people who do senior portraits, and they give everyone very similar packages with signature poses, etc. This works for them, they do an excellent job and you KNOW when you hire them that your portraits will turn out well, which is why they're successful. This is great but I can't do portraits like that. My personality doesn't work that way. I'd rather give you portraits that are unique, your own, that express who YOU are and what's special about your personality. Even when that's not as easy as doing conventional senior portraits. But I find it more interesting, and I love being able to give a gift like that. You can check out some of my senior portrait sets to get an idea of this.

I am thirsty to see from a new perspective. I want to show things in a new light. As a photographer, I'm thirsty to take you by the hand and take you on a journey of discovery, the world as you know it from a different perspective. I was the child who watched ants march in wobbly but perfect lines, I was the child who walked around looking into a mirror so I'd feel upside down. This one is tricky, but I'm thirsty to see with fresh eyes, and that's what I want to come out in my photos. Freshness and originality.

I am thirsty to see God's fingerprints. This is closely related to the last one. I firmly believe that God created the world and has manifested his beauty within it. I am the girl who will find something beautiful even in the most desolate places, and to me, that's the fingerprint of God, His Artist's mark left upon His materpieces. This is what I want to show you--the intricacies and ironies and the incredible beauty with which we're surrounded. I believe that these are the fingerprints of God, and that the world is spattered all over with them in every detail of His creation. We just forget to stop and see them. In the laughter of a child, in the way light filters through the leaves of a tree, in the worn lines on a grandmother's cheek, in finding beauty sudden and unexpected--I am thirsty to show you God's fingerprints the way I see them.

I am thirsty. To portray truth and honesty, to share freshness and originality, to reveal divine fingerprints in the most unexpected places. This is why I do photography, this is what I love, this is what excites me. I hope that as I quench my thirst through photography, something deep within you is satisfied, too.