Who am I?

Most mornings start the same way: Tyler makes me an espresso because he knows I can’t function without coffee. Emory stares at me like she pays rent here, and I’m just wondering how on earth I got lucky enough to create a life where my job involves traveling around with a camera and convincing strangers to pay me for it.

I think photos are magic. As a kid, I would stare at old pictures in history books and think, “Wow, someone’s random Tuesday in 1937 just ended up here in front of me.” I still have that exact same thought every single time I take a photograph. Nothing has changed since then. I think I'm just older and now I drink way more coffee.

I’ve spent this whole year traveling, climbing mountains and exploring forests and new cities. Emory comes with us everywhere. She's pretty convinced she’s a human. Honestly, she’s not wrong. She’s our little shadow, the one I've carried on my back while shooting an elopement, the one who’s hiked thousands of feet with us and curled up at our feet in every campsite we’ve ever stopped at. She was with us this summer when we accidentally ended up scrambling across a cliffside on a 12 mile hike at 12,000 feet in Silverton Colorado, passing her between us like she was a fragile artifact while both of us were trying not to look down. It was terrifying and so funny and one of those moments where you’re like, “Well, this is definitely going to be a core memory.”

I think travel has changed the way I photograph. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Photographing the world made me want to travel more, and traveling made me want to photograph everything in it. I’ve always loved moss and huge trees and anything that feels older than us. I think they carry stories of their own and I wish they could talk. I love rainbows and thunderstorms and the way it smells after it rains. I love fall, but I also love the spring when the flowers come back. I love reading. I love rocks, Tyler and I take trips literally just to go collect new ones. I love concerts, but love photographing them even more. I love art museums and thrift stores and poetry and movies that inspire me. Expedition Happiness was one of those movies, it found me when I was young and a bit depressed, at a time when I didn’t totally know what kind of life I wanted or how to even achieve it if I did, I think that movie helped guide me to where I am now. It showed me that the life I wanted could be real if I kept reaching for it and believing.

So let's talk some random facts. I play piano by ear, (sheet music scares me) I have a house FULL of plants and give propagations to everyone, I love making things with my hands; bleach shirts, wood-burnings, paintings, drawings, Gilmore girls is always on repeat, reading, cooking, stargazing, sun-rays, every animal that will let me pet it (I'd adopt them all if I could)

Every now and then I think about how strange it is that people find me online and trust me to photograph the literal biggest days of their lives. To preserve their legacy. To show people the beauty in who they are. To share God’s glory in the tiny moments that don’t look dramatic but somehow carry the biggest weight. To capture emotion in a world that teaches us to hide it. I think photography is the one place where I don’t hide. It’s the place where I slow down enough to notice all of the beauty around me.

This year was really big for me. I got married. I grew as a person and an artist. I taught other photographers how to grow in their own journeys, how to find the thing in them that lights up when they create. I learned more about myself in the process.

I love people and their stories and the earth and all the tiny things that make up a life. I’m grateful that this one is mine. I’m grateful that photography lets me tell stories, not just yours, but my own. And honestly just creating really freaking cool ART for work blows my mind.

If you’re reading this because you were curious about who I am beyond the photos, I hope this helps you step into my world for a moment. I’m thankful you’re here.

Life is weird and funny and beautiful. And I’m just trying to capture as much of it as I can.

With love, Faith

https://www.faithtepoelphotography.com