I found my passion in photography as I became a mom. It started as just a simple desire of wanting to capture beautiful images of my own children. My passion has grown over time, and I now want to share my passion with others. As a mom, I know kids stay little for only a little while, and want to capture the precious moment of you and your loved ones in the form of photography so you can forever cherish it. My passion is to capture the real connections of families by letting them be who they are in the moment. These are the moments that you want to remember when your kids get older. The way your kids smiled at you, how their little hands held yours, I love lifestyle, storytelling photography because it captures that. Let me see your family story and let's tell it! I look forward to building a relationship with you. I am based out of Washougal, but I do sessions all over the greater Portland metro area, the Columbia River Gorge as well as the Oregon coast.

I am a Southern California storyteller photographer, capturing your everyday life and times in images. For me, it is all about authentic imagery that represents who you are. I’ve always been one to document, but my love of photography really blossomed with the birth of our first child. I inherited my first DSLR camera, which I enjoyed, but it wasn’t until a friend taught me how to use the manual mode that I realized pointing and shooting play a very small role in creating a compelling image. So my quest began: to make images — creatively and expertly — that move the viewer. Soon after, I had life-changing moments to document: our 2nd daughter’s cleft palate surgery and bringing our son home from the hospital for the first time. But I have realized what I enjoy most is capturing the little things: how she cocks her head when she pushes her palms into the play dough, or how he clambers up onto a bike that is way too big for him. For me, the joy of capturing a moment beautifully and memorably is the most exciting part of photography. I would love to share this gift with you, to come together for a time and create a collection of images that bring you just such joy.

The power of photography and that tangible element is real and is meaningful. It’s the visual documentation that provides proof we were here. We experience life, love, receive love, accomplish great feats, endure, and are a part of history within our family and communities. After that experience, I immersed myself in photojournalism. I studied, job shadowed, worked my butt off telling the stories of people who I was lucky enough to get an inside look of their lives. I’ve focused the photojournalism experience from all the assignments I’ve covered into telling stories of the people who won’t have their images highlighted inside a newspaper or magazine. This is why I do what I do. It’s also why my home has images hanging from every wall to highlight who my daughters were growing up, and who they are now. I want to always remember the 20th anniversary trip with my wife, and see myself and my girls acting goofy together. These moments are fleeting and the memories quickly fade without the images to remind us. Through portraits and weddings, I’ve devoted a big part of my life to telling stories with my images. And I take that responsibility very seriously. Because I want you to have that tangible element that will tell your story to your children, and grandchildren, and their children. I want a family member to walk down a hallway decades from now and point to a picture and ask about that moment captured in time.

The story of my life with a camera started when I was 11, and without knowing it, I have had a camera at my side since that day 24 years ago. But my journey of photographing human connection started 9 years ago after I gave birth to my daughter. Feeling like time was moving too fast, my lens turned to the tiny human in my lap. Her newborn toes and baby rolls were quickly transforming into a fast and toothy toddler... I wanted to remember it all. Each tiny finger. Every curl on the back of her neck. How we touched noses for comfort. Or the first garden we planted together. As a child, I loved flipping through old picture boxes and hoarding my favorites. I asked about what I saw in the pictures and my parents recalled vacations, holidays, stories of drawing on the walls with permanent markers, birthdays, or trips to the park to feed the ducks. The pictures became a way for us to remember. To tell stories. Photography is my way of storytelling, and when I look at a photograph, I FEEL the moment, and my head and heart rejoice in the memory. With my lens, I capture the everyday details that make up my life, those moments that become my cherished memories.

Ying is a Seattle-based family photographer who specializes in lifestyle and documentary photography as well as studio-lit portraits. With two children of her own, she has a deep appreciation for capturing the precious moments of family life, and loves getting to know the families who come to her. Ying's eye for light and composition brings a unique and cherished perspective to each family she photographs.