Hi, I'm Christine!


Welcome! What was formerly known as Prickly Pears Photo was started in 2021 during a life-changing road trip to the Southwest. The beauty, vastness, spirituality, and landscape of the area left their mark on me.


I'm a lifelong animal lover; I graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Animal Sciences and worked as a zookeeper for six years before returning to school for nursing.


I currently have two dogs, Rosaline (a cattle dog mutt) and Lars (a Newfoundland/Great Pyrenees mutt), and I cherish every day with them. We like to travel, camp, hike, and run free as much as we can! I work as an RN in orthopedic surgery and volunteer with a local therapy dog group with which Lars and I are a trained team.


I've been interested in photography since I was a child but started formally learning about it in 2003 when I was trained in film cameras and dark room editing. I've since made the switch to (mostly) digital and still apply the same concepts. I like to maintain as much reality in the moment as I can!

I cannot recommend [Christine] enough. She made the whole experience so much fun and easy even while dealing with a senior dog that has some issues and because of that Christine had to keep her distance. You would never know from looking at the pictures and this allowed my dog to be able to get through the shoot without being stressed out. She has an incredible eye for getting so many different, creative shots and she really understands how to capture both animals and humans. The photos turned out amazing!

— Samantha P.