Christina & Fam at Kubota Gardens
Hello all,
I hope this email finds you with as much ease as is possible right now.
Winter is certainly lingering here in Seattle. Last week I was in Portland where the air is thick with the scent of magnolia and cherry blossoms—spring fully in swing. It was a delightful preview of what’s to come here at home, and I am ready.
While traveling I picked up Norma Wong’s new book, Who We Are Becoming Matters, and wow, what a balm and a summons for these times. She writes, “Within the bundled core of courage is the willingness to face defeat and victory equally without hesitation.” I am holding onto that reminder as I try to do my part to build the world to come, the world that we need. Woof! Nothing about being human feels light or easy right now. But none of us are doing this work alone.
I want to take a brief moment to touch on something I’ve been meaning to address: my stance on AI. It feels like an important topic to be transparent about as a business owner and working artist.
I have decided to consciously choose not to use generative AI in any area of my life—not my work, art, or personal life. In other words, I am AI-sober (thank you Mel Mitchell-Jackson for this term). This is a decision based not only on deep intuitive knowing but also everything I have learned about this tech since its introduction—its harmful environmental impacts, flagrant violation of intellectual property, and the unethical people profiting from its use.
I don’t believe that the tedium of creative processes is something I can skip over without losing an essential part of being human—even if that approach means I am less optimized and less efficient. I am trying to deepen into my humanity over time, rather than move away from it.
That means that every word you read in these newsletters, in correspondence with me, and on my website is written, imperfectly, by me. And this probably goes without saying, but I do not and will not use generative AI in any of my photography, either. I am planning to write an official AI Policy for my website (much like a Privacy Policy), but in the meantime I thought it was a good time to touch base here and make explicit what side of the line I land on.
As a little medicine for these times, I wanted to share some really joyful family photos that I got to shoot this autumn. I first photographed Christina and her family in 2024 and I was delighted to document them together again, this time in the stunning Kubota Gardens.
I love getting to capture clients year after year and see them grow and change. It is one of the best parts of this job! And it feels really meaningful to know that folks will be looking back on the photos I took for years and years to come.
I have been really enjoying mixing more black and white into my sessions lately, now that I have finally found the b&w film stock of my dreams—Kodak Tri-X! It makes images so contrasty and dramatic—I love it.
Upcoming Travel Dates
April 12-16: Pensacola, FL
June 9-10: Sedona, AZ
Reach out if you’d like to chat about booking a shoot!
