Mountain & Wildflower Portraits with Guitar [Utah Portrait Photographer]

When I was early in middle school, I wanted to play the guitar SO bad. I was taking piano lessons (as my mom had my siblings and me all take. We had to get through a certain amount of books.) and my mom said I’d have to finish piano lessons before I started taking guitar lessons. I rushed through my piano books and learned extra songs so I could finish quicker. Finally in 8th grade I got to start guitar lessons!

After a few years I started a rock band with my two best friends, Megan (who played the drums) and Erica (who played the bass). We would get together and jam all the time and wrote songs about silly random stuff. Our most popular songs were called Nachos, My New Shoes, and The Monster Song. Kinda weird. BUT, it was a lot of fun. We had a bunch of other friends who were in bands so we’d do basement concerts and go to Denny’s after.

Once I started college, I moved up to Logan while my band mates went to different schools. We would jam occasionally when we’d come home for holidays or weekends, but not a ton. I started writing my own music and playing at open mics, small shows, and a café. I started writing music for me and about things that inspired me. I started writing about love, heartbreak, highs and lows of life, new steps in life that were scary, and overcoming hard things. I started writing music that made me feel. I was able to get through hard things by writing and playing. When I would write or play music, I would forget about things around me and I was in my own world. It’s the best feeling. I love that music makes you feel and it’s helped me heal. I love the emotion that music can bring and I love the honesty and vulnerability.

Music and photography are so similar. They are both my creative outlets, they can bring out so much emotion and make you feel and remember moments and feelings and relationships and love.