There are places that shape you. And then there are places that hold you — through the versions of yourself you didn't yet know were coming, through the losses and the celebrations and the ordinary Tuesdays that somehow become the ones you remember most. Elsie Green has been that place for me, but the time has come for me to say au revoir.
Twelve years is a long time. Long enough to live several lives inside of one. In my time here, Elsie Green has witnessed two weddings, a divorce, the birth of my son, and the loss of my mother. It has been the constant thread running through the most defining moments of my life — the backdrop to my becoming. I don't take lightly what it means to spend that much of yourself somewhere. To give your creativity, your eye, your heart to something and watch it grow alongside you.
It started, as the most meaningful things often do, through my mother. She introduced me to Laurie, and I have sent her a quiet thank you for that every day since. I arrived at Elsie Green and found not just a job, but a world — one built on beauty, on slowness, on the belief that the objects we surround ourselves with carry meaning. I believed that too. I still do.
Over twelve years I went on buying trips that took my breath away, stood behind the lens on shoots that made me remember why I love this work, and somewhere along the way discovered that photography wasn't just a job title — it was a calling. What started as a professional skill became a lifelong passion. A way of seeing. A practice of documenting this one precious life I get to live. That gift came from here, and I will carry it with me always.
But if I am being honest, what I will miss most isn't the buying trips or the shoots or even the shop itself. It's the women. My tribe. The friends I found inside these walls who became the kind of people you call when everything falls apart and when everything falls into place. You know who you are. Twelve years of you is the greatest thing this place ever gave me.
To the Elsie Green community — thank you for letting me be part of what makes this place so special. For trusting my eye, responding to my work, and showing up with such genuine love for something we all believed in together. It has been an honor.
To Laurie, JP and this brand — thank you for being the place I grew up in. For holding me through the hard years and celebrating with me through the beautiful ones. I couldn't have become who I am without you.
I'm stepping into a new chapter now but will always have my feet firmly planted in this one.
Some endings are just beginnings in disguise.
With so much love, Kelsey