I grew up near the Gulf of Mexico in Mobile, Alabama and from there moved to Ireland, Montana, Japan, France, Chicago, and now I find myself happily at home in San Francisco.

I started my photography business about three years ago and I still find myself amazed that I get to do this for a living. I absolutely love my job. I’ve always adored children and gravitate to them wherever I am. They’re just so funny. I love to see their eyes light up when they get excited about something, or go limp and sweet on their mom’s shoulder when they’re tired. The idea that I can have a part in capturing that moment, that expression, that glimpse of a child’s personality that may fade and give way to new and different expressions, thrills me. I think about that child looking at the photo 20 or 50 years from now, or their kids finding the photos in a random shoe box in the attic and seeing their parents in a different way, and it makes me that much more excited when the day is done and I get to sit down and look through photos from a portrait session

When I’m not busy photographing kids or weddings, editing photos or getting print orders ready (which seems to be the only thing I’ve had time for lately), I love to get out and go surfing or hiking. I also love traveling (who doesn’t?) and I’ll be going to Tanzania in a few weeks (it’s the end of August as I write this) and will be gone until the beginning of November. I also went to Zambia as the photographer for a group of doctors giving medical care to people who have no access to it (the organization is called OMNI) earlier this year. I’ll have a new web site with those photos soon, so check http://mistyrichmond.com if you’d like to see them.