Beauty is everywhere.
Photography is my yoga.
It’s a drive down M22 with no destination;
a walk in the woods at dusk;
a dip in Lake Michigan in August.
It’s my way of slowing down this life racing by. It's my pause button.
Because waiting there in life’s subtleties, beauty is everywhere.
hand me a camera and send me on my way..
Growing up in a small industrial town in Michigan, my curiousity for travel and photography was sparked when I first picked up my parents’ Kodak Instamatic film camera. A documentarian at heart from the beginning, I've been fascinated with people and telling their stories ever since.
I am honored to have earned my degree in photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2003, where I learned the traditional craft from masters in the field. Those slow and contemplative days, shooting film and making fiber prints in the darkroom, taught me that a picture has not truly become a photograph until it is printed. My days in Chicago also provided invaluable experience shooting regularly for Chicago Children's Museum and working full-time for one of Chicago's finest photographers.
In early 2006, my husband and I were transplanted to Los Angeles for his work as an animator/illustrator. It was near the beginning of our 5 year stint in California that my photography business was born.
In late 2010, we were pulled back to our Midwestern roots and took a chance with Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was love at first hike.
In the decade since, I’ve just fallen for all of it: from West Michigan’s family farms and farm-to-table food scene to the vibrant arts and genuine sense of community. Photography has sent me around the country, but right here in this little big city of Grand Rapids is where we’ve planted our feet, and there’s no place I’d rather be.
Grand Rapids Magazine, Cover Story, March 2020 - Dining Guide
Grand Rapids Magazine, Cover Story, October 2019 - Brewery Guide
specializing in:
editorial portraits, travel, and Michigan tourism assignment photography (food & drink, farms, greenhouses, etc.)
documentary, lifestyle, vacation baby, child & family photography
lifestyle portraits, headshots, & branding photography for small businesses and entrepreneurs
stock image licensing for magazines, books, etc.
selected publications:
Rift (Cait West Author Photograph): Book release April 2024
Reader’s Digest: “Everyday Heroes: Jeff and Johnny Agar” February 2024
Hour Detroit Magazine: “Beer Getaways” July 2023
Michigan Agriculture Magazine: “Lost in Lavender” Cover Story, February 2023
AARP: The Magazine: “A Road Trip for Everyone” April/May 2022
Feast and Field: Leafy Greens Issue, March 2022
Grand Rapids Magazine: Contributing regularly: Sept. 2019 - Present; “Dining Guide” Cover Story, March 2020; “Brewery Guide” Cover Story, October 2019
Muskegon Lakeshore Magazine: yearly publications: 2022-2024 Various features, Contributing regularly
Greenhouse Management & Nursery Management’s HILA award magazine: July 2021
Greenhouse Management Magazine: Cover Story, June 2019
The Lake Michigan Cottage Cookbook: Storey Publishing, April 2018
Where to Retire Magazine: May/June 2018
Greenhouse Management Magazine: Cover Story, July 2017
Nursery Management Magazine: Cover Story, Sept. 2016
Midwest Living Magazine: March/April 2015
Traverse Magazine: Full Spread Feature Opener, July 2014
Los Angeles Times.com, 2008
Chicago Public Radio.com, 2008
Chicago Children's Museum, 2005
Chicago Tribune, 2004
Chicago Parent Magazine, Jan. 2004
Excerpted from The Lake Michigan Cottage Cookbook Copyright Teri Genovese (top) and Johnny Autry (bottom). Used with permission from Storey Publishing. See cookbook tear sheets here.