Welcome to my heart!  I am so grateful that you stopped by to see an enormous piece of my soul!  I am a fun-loving and ultra cool mom to three youngins, and a superwoman of a wife to my high school sweetheart!  I am also, and have always been,  a visual artist and collector of life's precious moments that we won't ever get back.  Hence the name, What Once Was Photography.  I spend an enormous amount of time studying simple photographs from the past.  Memory hoarding is my passion :)  They speak sweet nothings to my heart!  

I was about six years old when I recall gazing through my mom's collection of family albums and photos.  I was so awstruck at the fact that I could see a photo of my own mother frozen in time at the same age that I was.  I began to build stories in my mind of what kind of kid she was and so on.  Photographs truly do speak a thousand words and plus some!  Fast forward to 1986, my stepmom Julie , gave me the gift of a lifetime....my very first camera!  I have been on a quest ever since to photograph everything from celebrations to everyday life moments like potty training and everything inbetween.  I couldn't stop if I wanted to.  Trust me, I've tried.  

I say all of this to say that when you book a session with me, I bring that same little girl and the essence of wonder, awe and enthusiasm that I had when I first fell in love with photography in 1981.  When you see the finished product of your images, it is my hope that you see something in yourself and or your loved one's or your event that you hadn't noticed before and I hope it makes you smile! :)

In Christ,

Jontisha Marie