In addition to being a jack-of-all-trades photographer, I am a mother to an exuberant, wall-scaling 3-year-old. I photograph everything. I have done bridal ad campaigns for one of the largest bridal stores here in Charleston, retail shots of the Billy Reid store for Architectural Digest and tasty images of food and cocktails for Henry’s restaurant, which I own with my husband Timothy. I do engagements, weddings, maternity, family beach sessions, business head shots…I do it all, and I pack it into a schedule that makes my head spin! AND, I love every second of it.

If it’s a close, local shoot I usually throw all my gear into a bike trailer and head out to the location. Later, this same bike trailer will seat 1-2 toddlers heading home from school to a lunch play-date. My gear bag always includes my Canon 5 D Mark II, a film camera (either Canon Rebel or Pentax) with color and black & white film for fun, all the necessary camera accessories (batteries, speedlite, tripod, reflectors, etc) and my Fujifilm Instax Mini because I’m obsessed with instant film. Bug spray, sunscreen, and about a GALLON of water are always present. Charleston may as well be a jungle sometimes.

I’ve often read that a photographer must narrow one’s focus to a single area of photography in order to excel, but I politely disagree. I get bored easily. Even if I have two or three engagement sessions in a row I feel like I’m shooting the same thing. I need variety! I love the quiet joy of maternity sessions – when my client is going to be a new mother (and she has no idea of the utter joy and chaos that awaits her) and she stares lovingly at her growing belly. I love food photography because I love food. Do I need to expand?!

Family sessions are almost work, and usually pretty hilarious. It’s the one day the kid didn’t nap or refused to eat lunch, so he/she is cranky. The poor family invites me to photograph them frolicking happily on the beach, not knowing their 4-year-old is going to panic and turn into a terrestrial octopus when I’m following him around with a giant camera.

Commercial shoots with professional models are a BREEZE. My girl Mikaela, from Mikaela Events, builds a gorgeous set with her hand-made furniture. Then, she plops a photogenic model on a chair with full professional hair and makeup. Finally, I show up and click away, just like Patrick Demarchelier I assume. Swoooon.

After the above-mentioned shoots, I try desperately to import, sort, rate, and lightly Photoshop these images while my son, Liam, is at school for a measly 3 hours, 3 days per week. Oh yeah, that’s also in between housework, cooking, juicing kale, walking the dog, squeezing in a Jillian Michaels workout, running to the farmer’s market, and maybe throwing on a bit of mascara so I can pretend like I’m put-together.

I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve recently expanded into designing canvas art walls for my clients as well as business cards and wedding invitations/holiday greetings/birth announcements/personalized thank you notes… Why not?:) My day is always packed, unpredictable and goes by too fast. But, it is always exciting. I try to stay present and focused so that I can enjoy every moment. All while juggling three cameras to capture the madness.

After all, my favorite photography quote is, “Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” ― Marc Riboud”

Thanks to Acacia for sharing her studio space with Pinhole Pro. If you would like to share your studio space, please email us at marketing@pinholepro.com.