About Me

Hi, I’m Hannah — photographer, storyteller, and the heart behind The Portrait Journal.

For the past eight years, I’ve worked professionally in fashion and commercial photography, crafting images built on precision, emotion, and narrative. Long before that, I was a kid in metro-Detroit, pausing America’s Next Top Model reruns on YouTube to study how Nigel Barker made a single frame feel so alive.

My first creative language was ballet. It taught me how the body can create symbolism and emotion without words. Photography became the next. I shot my first paid session as a high school sophomore and never really stepped away from the camera. Over time, my work has ranged from senior portraits to editorial campaigns, including international experience with agencies like The Bro Models in Latvia, where I refined my posing direction and visual storytelling.

But eventually something shifted.

I realized that while I was helping brands and models tell compelling stories, the people who most deserved that level of intention — individuals and families, those wanting to preserve meaning — were rarely given that space. I wanted to create work that would outlive trends, feeds, and algorithms. Something you could hold. Something that meant something.

That desire led to The Portrait Journal. What began with fashion foundations has become something far more meaningful: an art form centered on legacy, symbolism, and the emotional honesty that makes a life worth remembering.

While The Portrait Journal is now my primary focus, I continue to take on a select number of product projects and model test shoots each year. Working with brands and creatives still holds value for me, but I now choose clients whose vision aligns with intentional storytelling and artistry.

I currently live in the Las Vegas area with my husband. Photography has taken me across states and countries, from Michigan to the cobbled streets of Europe, but this new chapter is the one that feels most like home.