Hi! I’m Ani!

I want to take photographs that move me, photographs that move the very souls receiving them. I believe photos are like a gallery of our memories ya know? Allowing us to go back in time and revisit moments in our lives long after they've passed. Fleeting moments we never thought would hold such meaning, then suddenly time passes. It is then that a simple image, a frozen moment in time, becomes everything.

Book with me, let’s freeze time.

I’m an Iowa portrait photographer with a passion for creating images that move me and others. Photography came so much later on in life and out of nowhere. I purchased a camera in April of 2019 for a trip to Europe later that October. When the world shut down in 2020, although gaming for me was peak and I was not leaving the house, boredom struck. One day I opened one of the drawers below my gaming desk while cleaning my room and there lied a dormant Sony Alpha 7 Mark II, the camera I purchased about a year prior. It probably had only taken 300 photos at the time. Hundreds of YouTube videos watched later, I set out to shoot whatever I found interesting in downtown Des Moines one night. When I came home that night and saw what I could do, I identified as a photographer, I was like holy smokes I’m all in.

Before photography, the hobby that pretty much defined me was and still pretty much is gaming. There is something about not leaving my home on a rainy or snowy day, and I’m just gaming having a good time laughing with friends on Discord that is soothing to my soul. As much as I love cancelling plans and staying in gaming, a small part of me likes to also venture out into the real world, partaking in all of the chaos. On a rare occasion these days you can find me in the wild. Usually somewhere with food options, especially tacos. Oh, my goodness, tacos. TACOS! Regular street tacos, taco bell tacos, breakfast tacos, ice cream tacos, I do not care, tacos are life.

Regardless, whether I’m indoors or outdoors, my world and heart are a-okay if my dog is with me. Yuna is my red Siberian Husky, my pandemic baby, my chaotic bundle of joy. I brought her home in May 2020 and she’s been the very best thing the universe could have ever given me.