text: Hello — Karin Curtis
  Would it be okay if we just skipped the part where we are awkward strangers making small talk? I much prefer to just introduce ourselves and be friends. Okay great, I'll go first.
  My name is Karin. I went on a milkshake-and-french-fry-date with a cute boy when I was 16, and the next thing you know we were 23-year-old newlyweds. We started our life together in Columbia, SC, spent three great years in Baltimore, MD, and in 2012 moved to Hilton Head Island on the South Carolina coast. We live in Bluffton now with our three little boys and one large dog, we spend a LOT of time at the beach, and we love any excuse for a road trip or cookout. We always swear to slow our lives down, but it turns out we secretly kind of like being busy and happily exhausted.
  I'm a photographer and a writer. My right-brained talents don't extend across the entire artistic spectrum- I am very bad at singing and crafts make me want to set my hair on fire- but I do my things, and I do them well.
  I've been taking pictures my whole life, but officially working as a family photographer since 2008. I launched my tiny photography business alongside a full-time office job, traded that office job for having babies (and raising them), and moved that photography business to a new city (twice). This story may sound a little cliche to some - so many photographers these days seem to get started this way - but living it in real life and defining yourself as an artist in the midst of moving 600 miles while small human tornadoes take over your world is not for the fainthearted. The transitions of those years brought a deeper level of personal and creative growth than I could have ever imagined. I've made a million mistakes and done a few things right, and I'm pretty happy with how that adds up.
  So there's that. I think that's pretty good for a first hello. Now it's your turn- what's your story?