ABOUT CARINA
1. I'm an identical twin and 100% Polish.
2. I pride myself on how quickly I can finish a box of White Cheddar Cheez-Its (hint: it’s like 2 sittings).
3. I think any meal tastes better out of a bowl.
4. I collect stickers from places I travel and they’ve become my visual diary on my Pelican cases.
5. My favorite place on earth is the desert at dusk.
6. I love Disneyland, Harry Potter, Pixar, board games and other various marvels from my 10-year-old self. Does anyone ever really grow up?
7. At the risk of sounding very annoying, my favorite day of the week is Monday… it’s a fresh start, new ideas, and when you love what you do, you’re ready for it.
8. Dogs. All breeds, shapes, sizes. Even the weird, ugly ones hold a special place in my heart. If I wasn't doing photography, I'd be teaching or running a dog rescue (with my sister!).
Somewhere between constantly begging my parents to allow us to redecorate our room and carefully cutting out and creating collages of disposable camera film & magazine clippings, I realized I wanted to be an artist. What kind? I wasn't sure. But I went on to take those IB art classes because they looked fun and I painted when I was bored. In my mind, none of it really mattered because it didn't hold any weight — I couldn't POSSIBLY make a career out of this.
Fast forward a couple of years and I went on to study graphic design at the University of Washington, where after realizing I could only stand to format my biology papers in InDesign and spent more time choosing typefaces & images for my history presentations than actually writing them, it began to stick. I could totally do this for a living... I think I HAVE to do this for a living.
I graduated in one of the worst recessions, but was lucky enough to plant my butt at a local design studio in Seattle. I spent years creating work for other brands before I ever considered my own. I picked up a camera in 2012 out of the sheer curiosity of the art. To be truthful, the months that followed were filled with awful photoshop filters and mediocre imagery, but it taught me that there was a part of my inner artist I'd never actually explored. Soon enough, it felt like the most natural next step, so I put in my notice at work and dove headfirst into the world of portrait & wedding photography. To say I hadn't looked back since wouldn't be true. I look back all the time, but it serves as a nice reminder where my foundation came from — that 12 year old who worked her hiney off and liked to draw, and really, really wanted to make a career out of it.
Now, I've been running this business for 10 years and lucky to call Seattle my home base.
On a personal level, I would describe myself as an outgoing introvert. I love people, I crave relationship & collaboration, but I also deeply cherish the quieter days where I can recharge. I’m not quick to judge and feel I have an innate ability to read people. I truly enjoy interacting with different personalities and find that photography has been a vehicle in letting me get unique peek into a multitude of lives, minds, & relationships. Weddings in particular fill up this tank and it’s why I’m so passionate about what I do.
