My name is M'Kenzi and apart from being a photographer, I'm a person who feels deeply. I don't think "apart" is the most fitting word because every aspect of who I am all connects together like a tapestry... but I digress. So, I feel deeply and I am always wanting to know why.

I am constantly searching to make sense of things. I want to sit with God and have Him tell me why. Why did that thing happen and how is it all connected?

I'm very much fascinated by the providence of God and how through Christ—all things are held together. This is the very core of who I am. You cannot separate me and my mind being constantly fixed upon the wonders of God. Seriously... I think about Him while eating a cheeseburger. I think about Him when I paint my nails. I think about Him even when my mind drifts off of Him, I want to be quick to catch my thoughts and bring it back to thinking about the beauty of Christ. I think about Him in every session I do —like that one time a won giveaway turned into something far more sacred, as the family didn’t know they were preserving their final memories with their husband and father. He passed unexpectedly. Those were their last family photos.

Do you understand my obsession? How this could consume every aspect of my life? I could talk way too long about the providence of God — how nothing is random, how even the detours mean something. (If you’ve read Providence by John Piper or The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence… you get it.)  

Now that you know my first and deepest obsession, here’s my second. Even as a photographer, when I hit a creative wall, I don’t scroll through photos. I listen. I listen to people who burn with passion. Aaron Gillespie—his interviews light a fire in me because of how raw and unguarded he is. Or a song that finally puts into words what’s been simmering in the quiet corners of your soul—right now, it’s Chia-Like, I Shall Grow. Or a letter from Georgia O’Keeffe. That’s my spark. There’s something about feeling movement and life in art that isn’t your own. Something about consuming honesty, not just endlessly staring at the same filtered images on Instagram.

That's a bit about myself.

I’d say I’m in a season of tending to the home of my heart. Like spring cleaning, but for my photography, my faith, my inner life. Sweeping, dusting, purging, deciding what stays and what goes. Framing the pieces I’ve kept in boxes too long. I’m letting go of how I thought life would look and instead noticing how even the smallest desires in my heart are quietly shaping me into a better human.