My Story
Meet Your Photographer
let me tell you a little about me , why I started Photography and what shapes me and my thoughts.
I was raised by my dad and grew up in San Diego, I guess you can call me a bit of a Military Brat… Yes that’s right we grew up with a Military Officer for a father in San Diego California and lived on a Navy base at Point Loma >> https://g.co/kgs/ptSbTWf.
We had a great childhood on that base and had the run of it, We could go sailing , ride our bikes all over the base we had an Olympic size swimming pool and a commissary on base. Anything we could ask for was there. Our house sat right behind a small lighthouse on the water and we could see Cabrillo Monument and had the ocean all around us. We would fish and lobster trap right out in the back of our house and have seals come right up to us. Life was very good!
Around late Middle school We moved to Texas and I finished off school there. https://www.galveston.com/ Here I was kind of a “wild child” and lived life to the fullest, Me and the girls would be at the beach all the time with our little bikinis and walk around like we were all that and a box of chocolates.. LOL ( So True and so young) I met a guy , got married , had a child and moved to Northern California for a few years and this time it was Modesto San Joaquim valley , Lots of Grapevines and vineyards. https://www.modestogov.com/. Well needless to say we were young and immature and it didn’t work out but I have my baby boy and would not change that at all.
I moved back to Texas and Met my future husband who was the maintenance man at the Apartments I lived in (true story) LOL and he had the most amazing Eyes and is too cute. We have certainly had a bumpy road financially , emotionally and through all life’s choices and trials we are still together and have three children together. We Moved from Texas to Massachusetts in the 80’s https://www.chicopeema.gov/ and lived there until 2015 when we moved to Florida https://www.citytowninfo.com/places/florida/spring-hill . The kids are grown living their life spread out across the country. We have one grandbaby in Massachusetts with our oldest son and have a little dog “Sammy” that I call the kid. You will see him a lot in my set up images in studio.
Why did I feel the need to tell you my Whole life story… I don’t really know I guess I just wanted to let you know who I am and what shapes me as a person , A peek inside my Life as the struggle is real to start over and over and I have delt with some disappointments at times and depression as well. Being as I have seen so many areas of the country, been down and out , delt with life struggles as things are not always glorious I feel this has made me a strong, compassionate and determined woman.
Seeing Yosemite national park and the snow covered mountains or the California coastline gave me a desire to freeze all this in a photograph but I was to young at that time to pursue that. The California coast has the most amazing sunsets that I have ever witnessed and Virginia Beach has the most amazing sunrises. Seeing the Grand canyon , Carlsbad caverns even hiking in to see a waterfall in Massachusetts in the middle of winter, spring and fall is so amazing.
My first real Photograph with an actual camera came when we were camping in Vermont when my kids were small I took this Photograph of the river with all the fall leaves. I didn’t even know how to use the camera at the time but I was hooked.
I can actually tell you Landscape Photography is where it truly started for me . I did not start really getting more serious about it until 2013. Up until then it was just Snapshots and a Lot of them. My professional career has been in Ophthalmology and the Doctor I worked for in Massachusetts was a photographer and saw that I was very interested in all things photography related and encouraged me to pursue it.
Seeing his passion made me really want to have that as well.
I dabbled in and out of Photography from 2013-2017 with moving , life and personal struggles. I learned as much as I could from classes and others on how to work my first digital camera that I bought off ebay for $100. In 2019 I decided to take it more seriously but still struggled to get going with working full time to make ends meet. I made a studio at my home in 2021 to pursue studio Photography just in time for Covid to shut it down. After another hiatus I re opened and found I love studio photography a lot and having my studio at my home enables me to still plan sessions around my other full time job. I would love to do this full time but it is not in the cards for me at least not in this moment in time. I love it regardless if I do it full time or not and I think it shows in my work.
If I could say one thing , I would like to see people print more imagery for their walls Not to say there is not something to be said about posting to social media and having that time reel pop up… That is a wonderful thing! But I have seen people lose all of their images from phones so I strongly encourage everyone to print those images as those are valuable memories to document life and they will always be present and last forever in a printed photograph.
I know a few things can be said about me ,, I am always thinking about things, I’m an over achiever, a bit of a perfectionist. My expectations are high , I’m passionate which also makes me a bit of a hot head (I am a redhead after all) I have a hard time with disappointment, But in saying all that I am a true and genuine person , very down to earth and get along with almost everyone I come across, I love to laugh and have a good time and cherish those moments. I am an introvert and a realist and love being home with a great cup of coffee from my coffee bar and my kid sitting next to me watching a good movie. My favorite place besides home is a natural garden the ocean or the forest. I love quiet and natural sounds of nature.
I want to capture authentic beautiful imagery for you.
To go into a Clients home and see a large wall portrait of mine hanging on the wall is everything to me… I’m in love…
My Closing thoughts:: if you stayed and read all this long winded blog then Bless you and thank you for taking the time to learn more about me.
I would love to hear your story too….. I love getting to know my clients and seeing them return so I can see the children and family grow . So shoot me a line and Lets shoot a part of your story today.
xoxo
Bette
