05/19/2026
Just saw an event in my feed for the 2005/2006 Sun Prairie varsity baseball state champs reunion. Stopped my scroll there for a minute, and this photo immediately came to mind.
That was the year of my very first Spokesmodels. With this senior at the time being one of them. I still remember how nervous I felt, building something in a town that was still so new to me. A town where I knew absolutely no one.
What most people don't know is that Sun Prairie became home at a time when I really needed a new kind of home.
After losing two of my brothers in an accident, I reached a point where it was hard to live in the town I grew up in, where everyone knew the story. People meant well, of course. But grief has a way of finding you in grocery store aisles, work interactions, and ordinary conversations.
Sun Prairie gave me room to find light outside of that chapter.
It became the place where my husband and I raised our family.
Where I built my photography business.
Where I found my confidence, my people, and year after year of seniors, athletes, clubs, teams, and families who trusted me with milestones in their lives.
I've spent a lot of years on sidelines, in gyms, at fields, in auditoriums, and behind the camera for this community.
Sometimes for work. Often simply because I wanted to give something back to a place that gave me so much.
I healed here.
There is a vast, colorful story behind the photographer I am today. So much of it starts right here, with people exactly like you.
I remember every day how blessed I am. . . so genuinely honored. . . every single time a senior, a parent, a family, or a business owner invites me into their story.
Sun Prairie became the hometown I didn’t know I needed.
Still, after all these years, I still feel like I’m just getting started.
The world has gotten louder. Social media has gotten more filtered. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I still believe that a photograph that shows you who you actually are, and that you matter in this world That belief hasn't changed. If anything, it's grown.
I built something real in a place that made me feel like myself again. Twenty-two years later, I'm still showing up not with something to prove, but because I love it that much.
It’s WILD to think my very next post will be a Cardinal baseball senior from the Class of 2027!
If I took your pictures, what year was it? Drop it below. I’d love to see some familiar names. ❤
