hello,
I’m heart-led and values-based and I find that I connect best with those who are as well.
I believe that what makes you different is what makes you memorable. I believe in embracing and cultivating, not blending in.
I love storytelling — from telling the story of a new business owner taking their newest leap to a seasoned corporation looking for a fresh spin on their marketing and content.
When it comes to creativity,
I intentionally continue to cultivate that energy. I love to explore new places — a new town a train ride away, a new local restaurant. And if I’m home, I may be writing (it’s a passion of mine!), watching a TV show with a main character who is nothing like me, practicing yoga, or experimenting with a new vegan recipe. All of these help me stay creative and see things in a new light.
When it comes to experiencing life, I love noticing small moments.
Like when I grab the window seat at a cafe and sunbeams start to dance across the table.
Or when I witness two strangers meeting and seeing them find out they have some random, seemingly insignificant connection and that makes them both light up and see each other differently.
Or sitting at an airport terminal and watching the varying body language of passengers leaving the plane that just landed, and silently pondering their stories, who they left, who they are about to see.
If we end up meeting, here are some things I can talk a lot about:
Bunnies (I adopted one around seven years ago!); Teaching (I was a middle school teacher before I took my photography full-time); Cooking (not that I’m an expert at it, but maybe you are? lol); Books and podcasts (I’m always in the middle of several books and listening to various podcasts as I run around); Myers-Briggs personality types (this began to intrigue me when I realized I naturally gravitated towards people who had the exact same personality type as mine, or personality types that were very, very different than mine)
& if you’d like to listen to podcast episodes I’m in:
Better: The Brand Designer Podcast | The Importance of Brand Photography for Brand Designers
Employee to Boss | Creative Branding and Building Trust in Yourself
The Stay Grounded Podcast | Staying Grounded Through Entrepreneurship
My values and philosophy are the pillars to the way I run my business. They form the foundation to my purpose.
Values
Authenticity | Transformation
Liberation | Diversity
Passion | Courage
Thoughtfulness | Community
Philosophy
Authenticity wins every time.
I believe the best stories are told authentically and that my job is to highlight a story that already exists.
There is power in representation.
Women, BIPOC, and the LGBTQIA+ community need to be elevated and celebrated.
Collaboration is where the magic happens.
I love working side-by-side to accomplish your goals.
My Story, Abbreviated
A Founder’s Story, of Sorts
One day, back when I was in elementary school, I remember my mother bringing home a painting. It was matted and framed in oak. The painting felt a bit mysterious. The sky was weighed down with clouds and the lone woman, front and center, looked out over a choppy ocean as she stood among sand dunes. She wore a white dress that billowed precariously in the wind and her blonde hair was secured in a long braid. We couldn’t see her face, but the painting portrayed a feeling of freedom and release. I expected my mother to hang the painting in the living room, but instead she cleared space on the kitchen table.
With care, she began to disassemble the frame.
She took out some paints and started mixing a dark, dark brown. Delicately, she painted over the hair until it resembled a shade more... familiar.
I remember sitting there at the table, watching in awe, as my mother transformed a painting she just bought, into a personalized piece of artwork.
Each time I would walk by that painting, I would remember the purposeful disassembling and re-creation.
Looking back, I think that was my first experience with understanding the importance of representation. I think this one instance, coupled with countless others, built a foundation that turned into an overarching personal mission – as a former teacher and, now, as a brand photographer.
So when I reflected on my journey with photography and how I niched down to create a brand photography business with a mission to photograph women-owned and BIPOC-owned businesses, that was very, very intentional. And when I try my best to make sure every client of mine feels beautiful, valued, seen, and heard, that is again very, very intentional.
In some ways, the work I am doing is therapeutic. It's work that I wish younger Adeline, my inner child, would have seen more of. I wish I would’ve seen more women in business, more people of color in power. Historically, and not terribly long ago, my clients and I wouldn’t have been able to independently open our own checking accounts. We wouldn’t have been in control of our own finances. Our business ideas would’ve remained merely dreams.
And because of the continued, very current, systemic oppression and obstacles, I think there is incredible healing each time someone from an underrepresented and oppressed group steps into their power. They are not only becoming more self-empowered, but they are also empowering their own small community. They are showing their own community what is possible, what spaces they can occupy, and, in a lot of ways, they are giving back to their communities as a leader and as a connector. Taking a step back, it is possible to see how revolutionary our work is.
My mother and I never talked about that painting. We never talked about the deliberate change to see ourselves in the art that decorated our homes, the deliberate change to fundamentally feel seen, period. I just silently observed and when she reads this, that’ll be the first time she’ll know how much that one moment changed me.