First and foremost, I am a storyteller.
MEET LILA
Hi, I'm Lila!
First and foremost, I am a storyteller. My passion is to find the moments that tell the story of your family in the setting you are in most, your home.
I love the stories found in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have worked with kids throughout my life, first as a teacher and now as a mom. My favorite part of photographing children is capturing their emerging personalities in the in-between times, after they have have said cheese and are giggling or twirling or reaching for a parent's hand.
I would love to help you create the time capsule, capture the image, that brings you back and helps you remember the colors, the smells, the joys that make your house a home.
I GREW UP IN THE BAY AREA AND I LOVE THE STORIES THAT UNFOLD HERE.
I grew up here, in the Bay Area. My parents divorced when I was young and I bounced between homes. I bounced a lot. I moved 16 times in 10 years, but never left the Bay. I lived in an extra room in Piedmont, a commune in Berkeley, a house in Albany, a transitional home in Oakland, a rental in El Cerrito, the list goes on. I learned to put pictures on the wall quickly, to cover my bed with a special quilt, and to get along with and appreciate people from broad range of communities.
My education in Bay Area culture didn't stop there. My dad was an assistant minister at the Lakeside Temple of Practical Christianity. He married a Buddhist woman. My aunt and uncle converted to Judaism to marry the conservative man and the female rabbi they fell in love with. My mom preferred a Baptist church for the music. Again, I was offered a million lenses through which to view the world.
All of these experiences resulted in some deeply held beliefs.
Black Lives Matter.
Love is love.
Gender is a social construct.
All stories deserve to be told.
These aren't just stickers on my water bottle, these are my fundamental beliefs that help shape my decisions and actions daily. Want to hear more? I'd love to talk to you about what I've been reading/learning/doing.
How does this connect to photography?
Many of my most formative relationships weren't photographed. I have trouble remembering the details of the rooms I grew up in and the faces of people who helped shape me. So you better believe I am an over-eager documenter when it comes to my own family: the memories we make, the places we live, the rooms we paint.
So here is my thesis: Your story deserves telling.
Pick up your phone or camera or a disposable. Or hire me! I would love to help you document these times, these settings, and these people. They are what shape us.
