I have made it my life’s work to help women feel incredibly comfortable in front of the camera.
But if I am being completely honest, I am not always comfortable turning the spotlight on myself.
As a Jesup, Iowa portrait photographer specializing in women over 40, I ask my clients to trust me with something deeply vulnerable. I ask you to step in front of my camera, let your guard down, and allow yourself to be fully seen.
If I am going to ask you to step outside your comfort zone, it is only fair that I do the same.
So here are five things you may not know about the woman behind the camera—and how each one shapes the experience I create for you.
1. I Have My Own “Waiting Weight” Story
I have always been a little shy.
As a child, I loved performing, role-playing, and using my imagination. But the second a real spotlight landed on me, I became a deer in headlights.
Then I navigated puberty in the 1990s with a pear-shaped body.
Even though I was thin, I still had thick thighs and what we lovingly called a “badonka donk”—which, BTW, was definitely not the body type pop culture celebrated back then.
Now, at 46, I am navigating another change: perimenopause weight gain that seems determined to settle directly around my waistline.
I do not stand on the other side of body image with all the answers.
I am right here in it, too. I know what it feels like to look in the mirror and realize your body has changed the rules without asking your permission. I know the temptation to put yourself on hold—to wait until your waist is smaller, your clothes fit differently, or you finally feel more like the version of yourself you remember.
But I am tired of watching women treat the person they are today like a temporary “before” picture.
That is why this work feels so personal to me. I do not want another woman disappearing from her own story while she waits for her body to become more acceptable. The woman you are right now has lived, carried, survived, changed, and become—and she deserves photographs that prove she was here
2. Every Hobby Finds Its Way Into My Creative Toolbox
I am a serial hobbyist.
I love learning new things, but I have never had the attention span to choose only one.
Over the years, I have gone through phases of knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, card making and stamping, home décor, interior design, home renovation, snowboarding, and camping.
I find something interesting, become completely obsessed with it for a while, and eventually add everything I learned to my creative toolbox.
Very few of those interests actually disappear.
The colors, textures, design principles, problem-solving skills, and tiny details I collect along the way eventually find their way into my photography, studio sets, wardrobe styling, and the experience I create for my clients.
My hobbies may change, but the desire behind them stays the same: I love making something beautiful out of an idea.
3. I Chose Rural Iowa on Purpose
From the beginning of my photography career, I knew I wanted a physical studio space.
At first, I imagined a charming little storefront on a picturesque Main Street or even a converted, restored old filling station. Then I met a studio owner from Montana who completely changed what I thought was possible.
They had gone from raising chickens to running a thriving photography studio—despite living an hour from the nearest city.
Their clients made the drive because the experience was worth traveling for.
That conversation stayed with me.
I realized I did not need a big-city storefront to create something extraordinary. I needed privacy, space, and the freedom to build an experience women could not find anywhere else.
When my husband and I decided to embrace country life, we spent more than a year searching for our forever home. We wanted a property with plenty of “sweat equity”—hello, another hobby—and enough land to build the studio I had imagined.
We ultimately found our forever home in Shady Grove—a rural suburb of Jesup, if you are willing to be extremely generous with the word “suburb.” My studio is tucked away from the noise, but still within an easy drive of Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and the surrounding communities.
Perfect example of the quiet serene setting on our property in the country.
The location gives my clients something a busy storefront cannot: privacy.
There are no strangers walking past the windows. No crowded hallway. No need to worry about who might see you arriving.
You can breathe, let your guard down, and have the space entirely to yourself.
I did not bring this experience to rural Iowa because I could not put it somewhere else.
I chose this location because it gives women the quiet, private sanctuary they deserve.
4. I Retouch Without Erasing You
I want to be crystal clear: my goal is never to turn you into an AI-generated supermodel.
You should recognize yourself in your finished portraits.
Instead of relying on heavy digital manipulation, I use intentional lighting, guided posing, body language, wardrobe, and camera angles to create photographs with shape, depth, and presence before I ever begin retouching.
Then I polish the image without erasing the woman in it.
I may remove a temporary blemish, soften a distraction, or clean up the little details that pull attention away from you. But I’m not a fan of using Photoshop to negotiate your body into something more “acceptable.”
I will not carve away your waist, erase your shape, or hand you back a woman you do not recognize.
You should look at your finished portrait and think, There I am.
Not, Who is that?
Retouching is the finishing touch. It is never the thing creating your beauty.
5. The Real Goal Is How You See Yourself
When I first fell in love with photography, I fell in love with creating beautiful images.
After more than 15 years behind the camera, that is no longer enough for me.
Beautiful photographs still matter. I care deeply about the lighting, the expression, the styling, and every tiny detail that turns an image into art. But somewhere along the way, I realized the photograph is only part of what I am creating.
I became tired of watching women walk into my studio already apologizing for themselves.
She apologizes for her stomach. She warns me that she is not photogenic. She questions every movement and assumes that if a photograph does not work, her body must be the problem.
Then I show her the back of my camera.
And there is always a pause.
Not because the camera transformed her into someone else—but because, for a moment, she sees herself without the running commentary that has spent years pointing out everything supposedly wrong with her.
Her shoulders drop.
Her chin lifts.
She stops asking whether she is doing it right and starts trusting that she belongs in front of the lens.
That is the moment I am after now.
I am not interested in manufacturing confidence for one afternoon or handing you a temporary makeover high. I want to give you proof that you were never the problem.
I started this career because I loved creating beautiful photographs.
More than 15 years later, I still do—but now I understand what those photographs can do.
Nothing about her had to change.
Only the story she had been taught to believe about herself.
That is why I do this work.
Now You Know a Little More About Me
And it’s your turn. I want to know you!
I want to know about the woman you have become, the parts of yourself you have been hiding, and the story you are ready to tell differently.
The Unapologetically Over 40: The Masterpiece Project is for women who are ready to step out from behind everything they have been carrying and see themselves through a new lens.
Apply for the Unapologetically Over 40 project and let’s start planning your story.
