Neighborhood walks in the evening. If you look closely you can see all 3 of my kiddos 🤣 I recently went through 11 years worth of my almost 10,000 Instagram posts and archived almost all of them. I started using Instagram long ago when It was just family and friends and awful filters. It has since evolved and changed into my favorite networking tool and portfolio of life and art. I have often debated separating the two... making a separate account for networking and portfolio. The one thing that’s stopped me is words of wisdom given to me more than a decade ago when I first began in the world of photography by @jasminestar. She said that there are always going to be a whole lot of photographers who are as good as me (or even better), but none of them are me. I’m the only one in the world who can do that. So as I continue to try to move to the top of my field and become the best sports photographer I can, I also never want to separate myself from my work. So much of my own heart and emotion is put into what I do. There may be 15 other photographers shooting the same game as me (often there are) but I’m the only one who sees It through my eyes. That’s what makes me special and unique as a photographer. And because of that, who I am as a human will always seep over into my work. But there’s also a balance of trying to make choices and protect my children as they grow up and the internet and social media evolves. So I archived almost all of the photos that show their faces to allow them to develop their own digital footprint as they grow up. I’d love to hear all of your thoughts here. If you’re a photographer or an athlete... do you prefer to keep things separate? If you’re a parent, do you choose to share your children on social media? I always love hearing peoples thoughts and reasoning, and often I can learn from what y’all do as well! (Also, thank you so much for being here!)