What you wear in a photograph can completely change what kind of image it becomes.
There is lifestyle photography — unposed, honest, and true to how life actually looks. I love that work. I want photographs that hold the unphotogenic parts of childhood — real shoes, real toys, real spaces — because that’s where the memories live. The cluttered counters, the favorite objects, the everyday details that quietly define a season of life. Those images matter deeply to me, and I make them for my own family.
But there is another side of my work where the artist in me truly lights up.
Instead of documenting how something looked, fine art photography translates how something felt. It’s a different kind of accuracy — not external, but emotional. This is where texture, fabric, light, shadow, and movement matter. These elements work together to bring feeling to the surface of an image in a way that isn’t always possible through observation alone.
A mother holding her baby in a flowing gown isn’t meant to be externally accurate in the same way lifestyle photos are. It isn’t trying to replicate a normal afternoon at home. It’s meant to visually express the internal experience of that season — the weight of holding your child, the closeness, the way time feels suspended. It’s not about dressing up for the sake of it. It’s about translation.
I know this because I live it too.
Most days, I’m in leggings, a baggy t-shirt, and a messy bun. That’s real life, and I value it deeply. But when I step into my studio and put on a Needle & Thread gown — something I would never wear to the grocery store — and then see the images, they feel more honest than my mom uniform ever could.
Not because the gown represents everyday life, but because it communicates emotion more clearly than leggings ever will.
That’s the difference.
Lifestyle photography captures life as you see it.
Fine art photography captures life as you feel it.
After years of doing this work, this is where my expertise and creativity feel most alive — using fine art techniques to create images that don’t just document a moment, but visually communicate the emotion inside it.
This is why I curate my studio work from the ground up — from light and composition to texture, movement, and wardrobe. Everything is chosen with intention, not to create something artificial, but to give emotion a visible form.
Both approaches matter.
Both tell the truth.
They simply tell it in different ways.
