And because “life happens”, my high school boyfriend and I had broken up and while back home I met my first husband and moved back to my hometown of Fremont. "Momming" easily then became my most important job, even if I did carry a camera everywhere and photograph every smile, frown and meltdown. Because I started photographing portraits of Jenna, my firstborn, I was asked by others to do the same for them, so my basement studio on McPherson Boulevard was created. Besides newborns and toddlers, I started to include high school seniors. Hello low ceiling challenges! I built up a client base enough that when it was time to move because of pregnancy number two, I decided to look for a home in a commercially zoned area to be able to promote my "new" business. Blessed with baby number two, Jacob, I was anxious to still do both - being a Mom, and a photographer. When we found our home on East State Street, where I still live 27 years later, it was large enough to create a studio space, and close to the elementary school my kids would eventually attend. I thought it was perfect with its grand staircase, beautiful light and four big bedrooms.

Because God is always a step ahead, I was blown away that only six weeks after moving into our new home, the vacant building right next door went up for sale. The land with my home had originally been under the same parcel with that building because the original owner, Mrs. Rhode, did so well with my home as a bed and breakfast, she had that building built to make money as a motel. It changed hands and service offerings over the years, and I ended up leasing to own it from the chiropractor moving out. Talk about being really official! My OWN STUDIO! I was so excited, and remodeling started immediately, having to tear out paneling, a main wall, several new windows, and new paint, wood floor, and carpeting. I had lots of help (Shawn, Bud, Aggie, Keri and my Mom) and truly couldn't have done it without them while raising two littles. I can't forget my friends from OIP (the Ohio Institute of Photography) that I studied with, went to conventions with and continue to be great friends to this day. (Cheryl, Sunny, Joe, Terri, and more.) That studio and the time there taught me how to go from film to digital, from newbie to a Master Photographer, and more than anything, it taught me that I was good at what I loved to do, and it confirmed to keep going once I eventually lost the building in a divorce.

The in-between days (with no official walls for my studio) took me to months of freelancing, to Norwalk, Ohio to work with an old friend and owner of the Open Shutter, and then back to Woodard Photographic (in Bellevue, Ohio - where I started initially right after college. They were actually my first job in the photography field working in their black and white darkroom where I actually fell ASLEEP ONCE - sssh, don't tell! haha) This time, I traveled to Perrysburg, Ohio and worked the Senior Photography division and learned how to work quicker and with different equipment (they booked lots of seniors back to back and I had no control over my own schedule.) Because of that desire to create my own schedule as well as own something that I could call my own again, gave me a deep desire to start looking at real estate.

I drove around Fremont for several weeks and thought I found "the one" but it turned out to not be for sale. I researched online and in May of 2015, I found the property on Justice Street that is currently the place I call my second home: Luna Studios. By this time I had been remarried to a Soldier, Matt, for seven years and I was helping to raise his three children in addition to my two. So the as-is property that we ended up purchasing that September, took every extra minute of the entire year ahead to get in shape. In between football, basketball, tennis, softball, PTO meetings, annual trainings and drill weekends. We labored. There were four layers of flooring that had to be ripped up along with every staple until we got to the beautiful, original hard wood floors hidden underneath. It is not completed yet, even ten years later, because what I considered "fine" for storage in the back room, is now not, and I'm ready to work on it to create more shooting space with another shooting bay and desk area. I love to see spaces evolve, and Luna Studios has, just like we all do with changing trends, creative ideas and past desires on vision boards waiting to come true.