Welcome to my About Me page

also known as my ‘What gives you the right?’ (-Michael Scott) page

What gives me the right to claim I am capable of capturing your beautiful, talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, authentic selves while providing subpar jokes and 10/10 customer service? 

Photography has been an important part of my life for the last twelve years. 12! 1-2! A whole a$$ decade & some change. That’s over one-third of my time on this planet. It started as a hobby when I picked up my mom’s DSLR and began taking photos of every single blade of grass and flower petal in our backyard. Eventually there wasn’t a single blade of grass I hadn’t met, so I moved on to greener pastures: people, neither green nor pasture-y. 

I was *that* girl in high school

I was *that* girl in high school who would take photos of her friends in fields and upload the 700 photos to Facebook. Cringey as they were, it was a springboard to realizing I loved taking photos of people. I became so energized by being able to capture people and their beauty as I saw them, turn my camera around, and make them stop and say, “....Damn, I look GOOD.” 

I spent my high school and college years learning from and being trained by professional photographers, graduated from casual friends-in-fields photoshoots to formal senior portraits and dabbled in families, newborns, headshots, college grads and couples. I quickly became known as ‘the friend who takes photos,’ and I loved it. Except when I created my first photography Instagram account and named it “photogretchy,” with the intention of it being pronounced like phot-ahhg-retchy (clever, right), yet instead everyone started calling me Photo Gretchy. Gross. But now I laugh.

I had the opportunity to photograph my first wedding in 2018, and ever since then my focus has been on couples. I’ve since shot dozens of weddings across the Midwest, attended a handful of styled shoots across the US, and met the coolest, most down to earth couples and fellow photographers in the process. Now, I have my sights set on shooting weddings for the most laid-back, fun(ny), kind, down to earth couples in any and every location. 

 

A FEW OF MY PERSONALITY TRAITS:

Dogs

Skyline chili

Coffees larger than my head

Acting like I’ve never seen a sunrise or sunset every time I see a sunrise or sunset, which is almost every single day living in a high-rise in Chicago

My mission of watching every series of The Real Housewives from season 1 episode 1, despite having an annoying aversion to consuming media from the early 2000s. RHOBH, RHONY, RHOSLC, RHOP & RHOC down.

Buying two tickets to a stand-up comedian’s show 6+ months from now without confirming with any friends that they’ve ever heard of them or are available with the hopes someone will be available & willing to come along

Acting like each one of these is my exclusive personality trait drink when on any given day it may be any of the others: buttery chardonnay, an aperol spritz, hard kombucha & cabernet sauvignon

Singing karaoke every chance I get

Mental health/hot girl walks along the lakefront

Ranch dressing on everything