I grew up in a home and family where art was in the air. My earliest inspiration was my mother, who on her own was always diving from one artistic endeavor to another, spurred by her amazing creative drive. I recall the atmosphere in the house when she’d take on a new project—the energy was palpable and contagious, and I’d find myself lingering and watching from around corners as she worked, in wonder of her and the artistic process.
I tried my hand at sketching, painting, and sculpting and enjoyed them all. I got a taste of photography in an art museum class on shooting, developing, and printing B&W film. Being an independent sort, I also was attracted to the immediacy, the spontaneity and the autonomy of using a camera. I loved capturing moments in time, scenes, people and their expressions, shapes and patterns, and curiosities. It was like being an artist and a historian. My passion for photography was fully ignited a decade ago when I moved to the woods and wilds of central Massachusetts. I wanted not just to inhabit the natural beauty of this area, but to capture it, to hold it close and share it with others. I could do that through photography.
My mother’s long friendship and my interaction with photographer Cheryl Shugars, who over the years shot many rolls of film of our family both individually and collectively, deepened my interest. Whenever she came to visit us, soon enough her camera would appear and she’d wait patiently until a scene presented itself in a natural way and then “click!”—she’d start snapping. On one occasion, she brought to me as a birthday gift Sally Mann’s book Immediate Family, which was a revelation. It pleases me now when I see glimpses of Mann’s approach and her eye for light and dark in the family portraiture I shoot as the mother of two young daughters. The magic of childhood is fleeting, and a mother possessed by a powerful photographic urge can find herself torn between capturing an image and being within its frame, within the moment. I’ve tried in my way to balance the two, motherhood and being an artist and have found great pleasure in both.
A number of images I treasure on this site document some of my travel overseas, in particular a trip I took in 2009 when I fell in love with North Africa and the vibrant culture of Morocco. I was no less smitten by the beauty and romanticism of southern France. The passage of time since then has only increased my desire to take pictures. My focus now is on life that is at hand, which centers on the family and nature surrounding me. Almost never will you find me without a camera—Canon or iPhone.
