The story of a photographer


In college, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. Who does, really? I changed my major no less than five times, vacillating mostly between art and elementary education, with a slight stop at biology (PT? Nursing?), and a final random ping-pong over to a foreign language major. Somehow I finally settled on a double major with Photojournalism and French.


Did I use the French? Not really. The journalism? It definitely taught me how to talk to strangers, and I can write and edit decent copy. But the photography? Well, despite many detours along the way, it stuck. It really, really stuck.


Over the past twenty years, I've photographed for newspapers and magazines; covered events, quinceañeras, weddings, and families - and in 2017, shifted toward newborns. My entire life my huge family has always handed me their babies because I could always magically put them to sleep, and guess what? I can still magically put most of them to sleep!


I joke now that between my NICU baby (my oldest was DRAMA) and my food allergy baby (my youngest... ask me about MSPI and FPIES if you dare) there is no baby that scares me, and that's still 100% true. Five years and literally thousands of babies later, I've been trusted with so many precious souls - from 24-weekers to 13 pounders, NICU grads to 6 week olds - and it never gets old. I've met new parents, veteran parents, rainbow parents, grandparents, a few great-grandparents, and a lot of siblings - both excited and unsure - and I've loved them all. Getting to photograph you and your families are a highlight of my weeks! Who honestly gets to say they always look forward to work?

Dotter Family, October 2019