I am forever grateful that I have beautiful pictures with my brother and mother-in-law from our wedding because a few months later I lost both of them very suddenly. My life was flipped upside down. I had been on track to go to medical school. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted anymore. Nothing is more important to me than family and I couldn’t bear to be away from them for the long hours it would take to become a doctor.

When we started our family I decided to be a stay-at-home mom and grew to love taking photos of my children. For a while photography was both a practical way of preserving my own family’s memories and a place of healing for myself and for others. Through volunteering for bereavement and memorial sessions, I felt like I was able to do something tangible to help other families whose hearts were broken. For a while I thought that maybe this was my niche, but it was very difficult work to do regularly and I needed to refill my cup.

When I found family filmmaking I was immediately moved to tears. This art captures all of the little details that I wish I could remember more clearly with my brother – the sound of his laugh, the feeling of his embrace, the light in his eyes. I am able to help families live in the joy and preserve their love in a way that I never thought possible. I create for others what I see as the most valuable gift for my own family.