I grew up in the Oshkosh area, and as an adult, have made the Fox Valley my home. As the oldest of seven siblings, family is important to me. I try to be someone they can look up to, and despite a large age gap, we are all pretty close. A few years ago, my sister Raegan surprised me by asking me to take her senior photos. I had never taken photographs professionally. I mean, I took a photo class back in high school, and would try to capture cute pictures of my daughter, but that was the extent of my experience. I am always up for a challenge, and my parents had an old camera I could use, so I said why not. I did research, planned poses, bought a new lens, and gave it a shot. We did multiple sessions, and after each one, I was learning so much for the next. They weren't  the best of the best, but for being my first time, I was pretty dang proud. What I didn't expect, was to fall in love with photography. Being behind the camera, taking a good photograph and making it pop with editing, it's so fulfilling! I wanted to keep going, keep getting better, so I invested in some equipment of my very own. I still have much to learn, I try to practice as often as I can, and I feel so much pride in seeing my progress.