Artist statement

Growing up in the Midwest I was drawn to the outdoors, water, horses, theater and music. I always thought of myself as a theatrical and music artist though I had dabbled in writing, pencil drawing and photography. At the age of 5, at my insistence, my parents gave me an old €œBrownie camera they had. I loved walking around with the strap around my neck, spare flash bulbs in a little purse and snapping and creating staged photos.

In my teens and early 20'€™s, I worked as a professional model briefly before immersing myself into college life majoring in Equine Science, Theater and Music. I believed in clean, positive and healthy living and focused on many ventures in my life.

After suffering a major concussion, my life as I knew it ceased and I spent the next 11 years finding the answers in how to heal from the hell that had become my life, battled and won, all on my own, an embarrassing prescription drug addiction and successfully extricated myself from an abusive relationship.  The one constant through it all has been photography.

Since then, I rebuilt my life with the beliefs I always relied on and have emerged a new, very determined and grateful person.  Currently, I am married, work nights and am a stay at home mom during the day of two beautiful boys.  In between all this, I work on the hundreds of photos that I have staged and taken through the years.  Currently, my gallery has a very small sample of my body of work.  I will add more as I go. In my "Paula the Mermaid"series, please note that in all, except one photo, I am the creator, model and photographer.