I grew up in Central Illinois, moved to Chicago after college, and promptly fell in love with this city in a way I never quite recovered from. I majored in marketing, spent 15 years building a career in that field, and was genuinely good at it.

But photography was always there. I loved taking pictures. I loved looking at pictures. My dad was always behind a camera and I loved anything he loved. My parents had giant photo albums I could sit with for hours, flipping through pages of ordinary moments that somehow became extraordinary just by being documented.

I spent years thinking photography was a hobby, not a profession. Something you loved but did not do for a living.

Then one day I decided that was a terrible reason not to try. I walked away from 15 years of marketing, started over from scratch, and built something I am prouder of than anything I did before.

Sixteen years later, this is still the best decision I ever made.