Hi, I’m Heather
A photographer living and working in Detroit.
Why it's personal
My family's lost and found photographic legacy.
At 18 and 19, both of my grandparents worked in downtown Port Huron, my grandma as a secretary and my grandfather as a florist’s assistant. My grandma would walk by the flower shop window every day on her way to lunch, and my grandpa fell in love with her through that glass. One day, he worked up the courage to step outside as she walked past and say something like, “I know you’re on your way to lunch, and you don’t have to eat with me, but can I please treat you to whatever you’re having.”
My grandpa wasn’t too hard on the eyes, so I’m not surprised she invited him to join her, while still allowing him to treat.
Soon after the flower shop window, my grandpa enlisted in the Marines, and their love turned to letters as he trained in California. They had planned to get married when he returned home from basic training, but shortly into his time there, he found out his unit would be headed directly to Korea for war, and he wrote home saying their plans would have to wait.
She received that letter, read it, and then borrowed $20 from her future mother-in-law for a train ticket to California. When she got there, she slept for the night on a free cot at the YWCA, and the next morning showed up at the base. A CO came over to my grandfather and said, “Jowett, there’s a Betty MacLeod out front, and she says she’s here to marry you.” And so she did. Later that afternoon, in front of a Marine Chaplain.
“Jowett, there’s a Betty MacLeod out front, and she says she’s here to marry you.”
Those 15 words started my family.
We are lucky to have countless photos of my grandparents when they were a young family, but a wedding snapshot, if one ever existed, was lost to time, until one day I found a dusty album in the garage shortly after moving into their home. Inside was a photo I had never seen before. They looked so young. I turned it over and saw the location scrawled on the back, and realized this was that day.
This is a snapshot of my grandparents on their wedding day, and it has become a totem, reminding me why I do this.
I hope the photographs I take for you will one day remind you of why you did something as wonderful and a little crazy as saying “I do”, even if you didn’t have to take a train from Michigan to California to make it happen.
I photograph weddings because I believe love, in its truest form, deserves to be remembered. Not just the love between two people, but the love of the community that surrounds them.
I hold a degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and I’m also a standup comedian, two paths that have taught me a lot about people and the world-changing value of joy. That balance of heart and humor shapes how I move the world and a wedding day.
I want my couples to feel cared for, understood, and free to be fully themselves. To know their story will be told with both sincerity and lightness, and that I’ll be there with a camera when it matters, or a well-timed joke when it’s needed.
Detroit is home.
It’s a living and breathing part of my daily life and an endless source of my inspiration. I feel so lucky to be able to live and work in a place that refuses to stop reinventing itself.
Saying I do in Detroit means celebrating in a city rich with history, heart, and an endless backdrop of beauty. As someone who lives here, I appreciate the city’s spaces as a photographer and as a neighbor who knows their rhythm and their charm. From the city’s iconic venues to its quiet side streets (where the light falls just right) I know how to move through it all with ease, where to find the calm pockets on busy days, and how to make the architecture and energy of Detroit sing in your story.
If you’re getting married here, I’d love to be your insider. Whether we’re stepping into an art deco landmark like the Fisher Building or slipping down Parker’s Alley as the light starts to fade, I’ll guide you through the places that make this city unforgettable.
