Hey there, I’m Ellen—a photographer, branding expert, design thinker, and future dreamer.

The work on this site is a culmination of my passion for photography, light, and seeing the magic and beauty in our everyday.

In my work, I strive to work on projects & with people who are focused on creating beauty and kindness in our interactions with one another and how we move through the world. Over the years, this has given me the privilege of photographing many different people across many different lines of work.

In addition to my photography practice, I also run Means for Making—a design studio focused on strategy and building brands for businesses striving to create a better, more resilient future.

I am passionate about how brand strategy can be applied to identify where businesses are versus where they want to be. I am insight and action-oriented. I believe in building brands and developing strategic solutions to help bridge those gaps.

In pursuit of the above, I earned a BFA in Graphic Design from California College of the Arts and a BA in Urban Studies from San Francisco State University.