I can remember the precise foundational experience that initiated my love for photography: I was, mmm, maybe 12, and chickens were my heart and soul. I found out about a photo contest  being held by my all time favorite hatchery, Murray McMurray, and the top three winners would get gift cards. Talk about motivation! I cornered my grandpa and asked to borrow his very professional and cool looking camera. After some lessons on basic usage, and LOTS of safety instructions, he sent me out with his camera.
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​​It didn't take long and I was addicted.

I soon branched out beyond chickens into cows, then sheep, goats, alpacas, LGDs, ducks, geese, people, landscapes...! I love seeing the world through the lens of my camera and capturing the story of Earth Stewardship one image at a time.

And as for that photo contest that started the whole journey...
I got the gift certificate! 

My love of photographing animals started because I already loved chickens. I was so enamored with the chickens, that I ended up in charge of the chicken flock: taking care of all of the birds, selecting replacement stock, hatching eggs, etc., but chickens were the gateway to all things farm, and I was soon helping out with milking the cows, raising sheep, showing alpacas, milking goats... I particularly loved working on breeding and improving our flock of Icelandic sheep. They happen to also be very photogenic, so I learned to take great shots for our website: posed shots, character shots, fleece shots, udder shots, you name it. Along the way, I discovered that the better your pictures are, the easier it is to sell breeding stock. I wanted to continue to breed sheep, but since I didn't like butchering breeding quality +lambs, I knew we needed to learn how to sell sheep more effectively. Looking at the big livestock breeders, the one thing I noticed that seemed to take them out of the rat race of livestock breeders and into the elite class was good pictures. Looking at their farm and sales pictures, you could tell exactly what you were getting. No guessing at conformation, because you could see what you needed in the pictures. That started me on a mission to learn to take my own farm and sales pictures. After MUCH trial and error, I learned to take the kind of pictures I needed to sell animals and build a professional website. Through the learning curve, I discovered that I took some pictures that were more eye catching and beautiful than others. Coming from a very artistic family, I was able to talk to my grandpa and mom and learn how to intentionally take that kind of picture. Now, I love taking farm and sales pictures as well as fine art photos!