Meet the Maker
Well hey there, fam! I thought it was about time to have a "Meet the Maker," so to speak. (Easy there, C3PO). I want my viewers to see me as I am - subtle nerd jokes and all. If there is one thing I've LOVED about social media influencing businesses - big and small alike, is that I, as a consumer, get to know YOU! You let me in to your personal lives, and share your personality. So much awesome and wonderful networking! I want my clients to have that with me!
Danny and I have been married for 6 years. In that 6 years we have;
- Finished my bachelors of Science in Art and Visual Communication with an emphasis in Photography and a Minor in Art History
- Lived in an apartment for 3 years and then bought our first house
- Brought home two puppies (Separate times)
- Had three babies; two of which live in Heaven (Jones [pictured] Peyton and Banks)
- Started Robbins Nest Creative Studios with it's accompanying branches (Whitney Beth Photography, Robbins Pottery & Children's Art Classes)
- Gone to Disneyland and Disney World so many times I've lost count (Next trip is in November!)
- Instilled a love for art and nature in Jones
- Kept on loving each other hard.
(The "Birdhaven house" (left) - This is where I lived the longest in Oregon. One whole acre of 50+ year old pine trees
& View of the back pasture of the "Farm House" (right))
I'm from Oregon. I know this one isn't new, and that I mention it frequently, but it's important to me. I take pride in my green upbringing and love to recycle and ride bikes and garden and all that cliche, hippie, Oregonian stuff. I can't help it. Despite having been to Europe and countless other states, I still hold the Oregon Coast close to my heart as one of the most beautiful places in the world. I grew up in the small little town of Newberg. It's about 45 minutes from Portland and 45 minutes from the coast. Smack dab in the heart of wine country. For a time, I lived on a walnut farm (11 acres) and helped take care of our 4 goats, 2 llamas, 2 sheep, 1 pig, 1 goose, 16 chickens, 2 dogs and 2 cats. We still (lovingly) refer to that house as the "farm house." There is nothing better than having all that land and all those animals. I grew up around animals my whole life! I can still remember getting my first dog, Angel, at age 4. I've been loving on my dogs ever since.
(baby Whitney with puppy Angel)
(Florence, Oregon)
(Lincoln City, Oregon)
(Florence, Oregon; North Jetty)
I am the oldest of ten children. Yep. 10. Living in Oregon, the first question we'd get asked was, "Are you Catholic?" when we replied no, they'd always say, "Oh, then you must be mormon." ha. yep. (It was quite the culture shock when we moved to Utah and people stopped asking if we were Catholic and didn't bat an eye at our van!) There are 5 boys and 5 girls. I don't know how that worked out so perfectly, but it did.
(last year's family picture)
My mom was always taking pictures of us growing up. I still vividly remember the days when we'd go to Costco to pick up our prints. We'd stand out of the way and look over every image together. Mom always got doubles and triples of things so that we could have a copy when we were older. I loved being able to hold on to those memories and flip through them whenever I wanted. For my 5th birthday my mom got me my very first digital camera. It was a cheap little point and shoot 35 mm. But she taught me how to load the film and care for it. I carried that thing with me everywhere. Especially family vacations. There was this one trip when we went to a ghost town and got to ride a train up to the cemetery. It was the first time I had really come across a different landscape than I was used to. The hills where covered in yellow grass and everything was dry. I remember looking out and imagining it feeling like velvet. I wanted to take a picture of it. My mom told me "not to waste film" and to only "take a picture of someone in it." spitefully I made my brothers stick their hands on the railing and snapped it. I told my mom that Austin and Robert were in it. It wasn't until we got that prints back that Mom saw what I did! Ha! Funnily enough, I decided to specialize in family photography rather than landscape!
(My "in spite" picture)
When I'm with my clients, taking their pictures, I want them to feel like we are having a conversation through our movements. To get the ball rolling, I decided to film a little "get to know you" speed dating visual. Give it a watch if you want to hear how I embarrassed myself in front of MY ENTIRE KINDERGARTEN CLASS. ha. It's good. I promise.