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I grew up in the New York City area and went to school in
Brooklyn. My mother is a photographer and I had a camera from the time
I was a little kid, but I started consciously taking pictures when I
was 17. I took some photo classes that summer at Parsons and I started
carrying a camera with me all the time, photographing my friends and
the people and places around me - which is essentially how I still
work. I knew I loved taking pictures but I didn't think it was what I
was going to do as a career. Both of my parents are artists who did
other things as well, and I had a really hard time imagining a life of
trying to live off the art I made. I didn't think I would ever be able
to make anything good under that kind of pressure.
So I went to college
to study political science, and I thought I was going to be a lawyer.
But then when I was 22 I went to Paris for the summer because my
boyfriend at the time was there, and that completely changed everything
for me. I got an internship at Art and Commerce, a photo agency, and
then at a photo studio as an assistant. That opened my eyes to the idea
that I could work commercially as a photographer, and still have the
space to develop my personal work on the side at my own pace. A
three-month trip to Paris turned into five years, and that's where I
started to work, first as an assistant and eventually as a photographer
myself.
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