There are some people who seem to notice the things the rest of us might walk right past. The way light falls through the trees, the emotion hidden in someone’s face, the quiet glance between two people in love, or the beauty that can still exist during some of life’s hardest moments.Alexandra is one of those people, and her photography is a reflection of the way she has learned to see the world.
Her love for photography started long before it became a business. Alexandra says she has been holding a camera since she was just 18 months old. Growing up, she spent countless hours outside photographing butterflies, deer, reptiles, and anything else that caught her attention. Even as a child, she was drawn to capturing the world around her and preserving moments that might otherwise disappear.
When Alexandra was 14, photography became something much deeper. She was going through a difficult time with her mental health, and her camera became a grounding outlet. She expanded from photographing nature to concerts, portraits, and local events. During a time when life felt especially hard, photography gave her somewhere to put her emotions and helped her continue noticing beauty around her.
That was also when AETPhotos was born. Now 25, Alexandra has been building her business for 11 years. She had to learn much of the business side on her own. She researched available names, registered her business, purchased her domain, built her website, and began marketing herself online. She officially launched her first website on Christmas Day in 2015, which she now considers the birthday of AETPhotos.
Today, Alexandra photographs portraits, concerts, weddings, elopements, events, and more. Weddings and elopements are some of her favorite things to photograph because they are filled with the authentic moments she loves capturing. She looks for the expressions, embraces, laughter, tears, and little interactions happening around the bigger moments.
What Alexandra loves most about her business is making people feel confident and good about themselves. She wants the people in front of her camera to feel comfortable enough to simply be themselves. That connection has also created relationships that have lasted far beyond a single photography session. Some of her clients have been with her for more than a decade and have become people she considers family.
“I never view anyone as just a paycheck,” Alexandra said. “Being trusted to document someone’s life while building genuine friendships is the most rewarding part of what I do.”
Alexandra and her husband moved to Port Orchard in February 2025 after relocating from Texas. Since coming to the Pacific Northwest, she has enjoyed connecting with local organizations and using her photography and videography to support animal rescues, nonprofit organizations, and conservation efforts.
Her husband has also become part of her creative journey. The two work together as a photography and video team and are preparing for a busy wedding season this fall. For Alexandra, getting to photograph love stories alongside the person she loves makes the work even more meaningful.
Owning a business has also taught Alexandra the importance of boundaries. Early in her career, she worked constantly and made herself available around the clock. She still considers herself a workaholic, but she has learned to protect time for herself and her marriage. She and her husband have dedicated date days when they turn off their phones and spend time together, often exploring nature with their dogs.
Alexandra's passion for helping people extends beyond photography. She created Neon Noise Zine, an online music publication that helps young women, LGBTQI+ people, and photographers and writers of color find opportunities in the music industry through mentorship and access to shows.
She also created “Life With,” a mental health video series featuring people living with different conditions. The project is meant to challenge stigma, share resources, support nonprofits, and remind people that no two mental health experiences look exactly the same. Alexandra hopes to bring the series back into active production and highlight stories and resources within her new community.
There is something incredibly meaningful about that dream. Photography helped Alexandra through her own difficult mental health journey when she was only 14 years old. More than a decade later, she wants to use the creative life she built from that experience to help other people feel less alone.
Running a creative business has not always been easy. Alexandra has faced uncertainty, financial responsibilities, administrative work, and the possibility of burnout. Through those challenges, she has discovered something about herself that she did not always know.
She is braver than she realized.
Alexandra hopes the next five years bring even more weddings, portraits, and music videos, along with the opportunity to add drone photography and videography. But what stands out most about her story is not simply where her business is going. It is where it began.
AETPhotos started with a young girl finding comfort behind a camera during one of the harder chapters of her life. Eleven years later, Alexandra is using that same camera to capture love, confidence, connection, and the beauty that exists in the world around her.
Sometimes the things that help carry us through our hardest moments become the very things we use to bring beauty into someone else’s life.
I am looking forward to having her capture some amazing photos for me and my family in the future.
Some of Alexandra's favorite things are:
Favorite drink: Lemonade
Favorite local spots: For food, we love Big Apple Diner, Gyro Star, and China Wok in Bremerton, plus Peninsula Bev Co in Port Orchard. For outdoor spots, we love spending time at Scenic Beach State Park and Penrose Point State Park!
Favorite type of book: I struggle to focus when reading text, but my husband often reads short speculative and sci-fi/paranormal stories out loud to me (like the SCP Foundation series), which I LOVE listening to and it makes for such great quality time!
Favorite movies: It depends on my mood! The Life of Chuck, The Notebook, Anchorman, and The Sadness are my go-tos though!
Hobbies: Rockhounding, antiquing, fishing and hiking.
Interesting fact: I come from a family full of amazing entrepreneurs and business owners!
