I don’t think I have ever fully introduced myself here, so I’m going to give you a little intro to where I came from and how I got to where I am today. My first name is Madison, but friends and family shorten it to Mad. I’m originally from Cleveland…. Utah. When I tell people I’m from Cleveland everyone assumes I mean the one in Ohio because very few people know there is one in Utah. Cleveland is a really small town in Eastern Utah. Small like 500 people small. I loved growing up in a tiny town and still go back all the time! We camped and fished and rode four wheelers around town. I will always be a small-town girl at heart!
Besides the outdoors stuff, I have always been interested in art, photography, music, interior design, DIY projects and FOOD! Sports were a big part of my life growing up. I played basketball, volleyball, softball and high jumped on the track and field team. My favorites were volleyball and high jump. After high school, I ended up getting a scholarship to high jump at Utah State University. I loved it there! Being on the track team was hard work, but a blast! We traveled all over the place and I met so many lifelong friends, not to mention my husband. He was a pole vaulter on the team and after knowing each other for a couple years we started dating. Our first date was ice skating and a movie at his place… and that’s all it took! We dated a little over a year, got engaged on Thanksgiving (one of my fav holidays… cuz FOOD) and married in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple a few months later. It’s been almost 7 years now and we have two beautiful little girls, Ava and Tess. My favorite way to spend my time is with my husband John. It doesn’t matter what we are doing, I just love being together. Even if that means working on our computers next to each other late at night (which is what’s happening right now).
I got my bachelors degree in Interior Design. As part of the program, I had the opportunity to do an internship for Vicente Wolf in New York City. It was amazing… and unpaid. Do you know how much New York City apartments are?! I lived with 5 other girls from my interior design program. We all slept in one room on air mattresses. The rest of the apartment was pretty bare, with a couple thrift store chairs and a sofa. We only brought what we could fit in our suitcases. The apartment most definitely DID NOT have air conditioning. If you have been to New York in the summer, you know it gets crazy hot and humid. On the really hot days, we would just go hang out in a bookstore so we didn’t sweat to death. Some of you may be thinking this sounds like torture, but we had the time of our lives!
I never planned on starting a photography business. I remember loving to take pictures at a very young age. First with an old 35mm film camera of my dad’s and then a point and shoot digital camera. When John and I got married, we were registered at Target and got a lot of gift cards from there (thank you wedding guests). We gathered them all up and put them towards my first DSLR, a Canon Rebel T3. I was in heaven and took so many pictures! I occasionally took photos for friends and family. When I was 8 months pregnant with my second baby, I decided I was just going to start a photography business and see how it went. Thinking, “I just love being a photographer and will always considering myself one even if I don’t get any clients”. I took several family sessions for $75 each so I had some images to put out there. I spent the next couple months building a website, licensing my business, etc. and launched it (more like gently pushed it out the door) in January 2017. And people hired me! I continue to take education courses and I love that there is always more to learn. I’m so grateful I’m able to stay home with my girls most days while doing something creative that I’m passionate about. Documenting my family and my clients’ families in a loving and natural way, refuels my soul. Thanks for being here and thanks to all my clients, friends and family that continue to support me. It means the world!
A special thanks to Krystal Wares for the photos of my family and Melese Miller for the portrait of me.
