How Freebird got here.
I picked up a camera 19 years ago and never really put it down. What started as a creative hobby turned into a full photography business, newborns, families, milestones sessions. I built something I was genuinely proud of, and it's still going strong.
Along the way I started building websites. First for myself, then for a few clients who needed help. With a BFA in Graphic Design already under my belt, it came naturally. And it turns out I liked the problem-solving side just as much as the creative side. Watching a small business get found online because of a website I built, that's a really good feeling.
Here's the thing nobody tells you about being a photographer. You spend 19 years helping other families preserve their memories, and somehow your own are sitting in a pile on your phone going nowhere. That was me. Tens of thousands of photos. No organization. No backup plan. Just hoping nothing ever happened to my phone.
And then I started hearing the same thing from my clients. Session after session, they would tell me their galleries were downloaded but never looked at, their camera rolls were completely out of control, they hadn't printed a single photo in years. Women who clearly cared deeply about their families just completely overwhelmed by the volume of it all and with no idea where to start.
I kept thinking someone should make a simple guide for this. Something real moms could actually follow without needing to be tech-savvy or spend hours figuring it out. Eventually I realized I was the someone. I had the photography background, I had the same problem, and I had heard it enough times from enough people that I knew it wasn't just me.
So I built Beyond the Camera Roll. A simple, step-by-step system to help moms organize, back up, and actually print their photos. I tested it on my own disaster of a camera roll first. Then I got feedback from clients. Then I made it available to anyone who needed it.
I'm a mom of four, based in South Dakota. My faith is central to everything I do. Not an empire. Just something honest and helpful that genuinely serves people well.