How we got here.
I was born and raised in Auburn, AL (for my international friends, this is in the American Deep South - think sweet tea, big oak trees and humidity) but I had always wanted to live abroad. My parents supported my love of travel from a very young age, even sending me to Australia for two months when I was thirteen as a student diplomat. In the Spring of my senior year of high school, my family went to Central America together and that summer, I spent a month traveling through Europe with my school band. My college major was determined based on what job I could work from anywhere (Accounting) and after I graduated, the job offer I accepted was only on the condition that I would be sent to work in HQ based out of Seoul, SK. By 25, I was living in Asia and was happy as a clam.
2009, Mexico
2009, Paris
2016, jeonju, south korea
I moved back to the United States at 27 and knew two things - I had to get out of Accounting because it was sucking my soul dry, and that I had to find another way to do it all again. Over the years between then and now, I traveled extensively and slowly transitioned my career into a more people-focused field, eventually becoming a program director at Georgia Institute of Technology. This change gave me more free time to pursue my creative and fulfilling hobbies, specifically photography.
2018, Arizona
2019, london
2021, iceland
During the pandemic, friends began postponing their wedding plans and I was asked to step in and photograph their impromptu elopements. I was terrified, did the weddings for free and had no idea what I was doing. Editing was all over the place, feet were cropped out left and right, and I just left happy knowing I shot in RAW. I had the time of my life at these events and my whole trajectory changed. Waking Heart Photography was born!
2020, the very first wedding I ever shot (free of charge, of course)
In November of 2024, the results of the US presidential election reignited my desire to move out of the US, and this time for good. My then girlfriend and I began researching different visa options abroad on the day after the election and that week we found the DAFT visa - an affordable entrepreneurial option for us to relocate to the Netherlands. We spent the year tying up loose ends, selling all of our belongings, getting our dogs their pet passports, getting married ourselves (we took our own engagement photos on a tripod!), and we spent a month in South Africa on our final work trip before quitting our jobs entirely. By October of 2025 we were on a plane and not looking back.
January 2025, Engagement
March 2025, Our Wedding!!!!!!!
May 2025, South Africa
November 2025, Netherlands
In February of 2026, Waking Heart Photography has been registered as a ZZP in the Netherlands and I'm fully open for business. My current struggles are restarting a business from scratch with no contacts, friends or connections and not speaking any Dutch. I'm slowly picking up the language and networking but it's definitely going to take time. Luckily, I'm diving in head first and keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out!
