How did you get started with photography?
My interest in photography started when I was 14. A friend gave our family a digital camera to use, but since my parents couldn’t figure out how to use it, they handed it off to me. Since I grew up in the farm country between Sun Prairie and Madison, I would go for long, romantic walks with my camera to take really cliché photos of old barns and sunsets. Once I got a decent job later in high school I was able to purchase my first “real” DSLR camera and from there my interest/hobby of photography evolved pretty quickly into a career. I started my own photography business at 18, mainly shooting weddings and senior portraits which gave me some good experience and money on the side in high school.
When I arrived at UW-Madison in 2008 I immediately began working at The Badger Herald as a beat photographer. However, since there was a shortage of full-time staff photographers, I quickly got promoted to photo editor within a few weeks. In the three years since then, I’ve worked for a host of different publications and have been lucky enough to travel around the country taking photos of all sorts of things.
What publications have you taken pictures for?
My photos have appeared in TIME magazine, Madison Magazine, Our Lives Magazine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Janesville Gazette, Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times and others I can’t think of off the top of my head.
I heard that one of your photos was selected for TIME Magazine’s Year in Photos Issue in 2009. How did that come about?
I got my photo in TIME through total and complete luck. TIME originally contacted me through email and I initially ignored it, thinking it was spam. A few days later a second email came and I thought to myself, “Why am I still getting this?” Well, I decided to call the phone number at the bottom of the email to see if it really was TIME. On the first ring, their photo editor picked up. When I heard her voice I’m pretty sure I swallowed my tongue in astonishment. I tried my best not to sound like a giddy schoolgirl. Basically she reiterated what the email said — she wanted a photo I had taken of a UW Madhatters concert where they did a Michael Jackson re-enactment (this is right after Jackson died) for their Year in Pictures issue. Even though I thought the photo was totally mediocre, she loved it and had found it through keyword searching on Flickr. Like I said, complete luck that I ever ended up in TIME.
What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?
Hmm…advice. I get asked a lot of questions (surprisingly) seeking advice. I always think it’s funny since I see my career as just beginning and I’m constantly asking older photojournalists in the field what in the world I should do, especially since everything is so unpredictable right now. My best advice would be to develop your style first. Imitate photographers you like and then start taking photos you think show your personality. Photography is something that takes an incredible amount of time to learn and is never perfected, you can’t just pick up a fancy camera and start having success.
Other advice for aspiring photographers, especially UW-Madison students, would be to get involved with a publication like a student newspaper or magazine. Shooting on a regular basis is a great learning experience and forces you to make really uninteresting things, interesting.
Where can people go to see more of your photography?
If people would like to see more of my photojournalism, they can go to my portfolio site or my business’ website. I also keep a regular blog that I update every week or so with recent photo shoots I’ve done and my thoughts on the photo industry.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Wisconsin chapter.