About Kate

“The Photo 365 Project” and “A Life in the World” are written and produced by Kate, a globetrotter, photographer and missionary living and working around the world.

Kate and Luis, a boy that lives in Puerto Alegria, Peru.

Born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, I am a graduate of Alma College in Alma, Michigan.

My journey around the world began in my childhood. As a young girl, I had yet to know that I would spend months at a time roaming the world, but I always knew deep inside that someday I would live abroad.

While most kids watched their Saturday morning cartoons and fantasized about princes and princesses, I was visiting watching programs about foreign lands and cutting out photos from National Geographic and other travel magazines of the places I dreamed of exploring one day.

My true love for photography and traveling began when I was four years old when my parents gave me my first 35mm Kodak film camera before a vacation to New Mexico. Ever since then, I have had my camera (now a Nikon D70) and passport with me, ready to document the world around me and capture the unexpected shot.

My first dabble in Spanish was when I was fifteen years old, when I traveled to South America to volunteer in Peru. But it was the German language that I studied the most from elementary until high school. Spanish was never one of the languages I wanted to pick up, until I met some people I couldn’t communicate with. Learning languages had always come as fun to me, but it wouldn’t be until college that I would formally study Spanish.

At Alma College, I double majored in Spanish & Mass Media At Alma College, I double majored in Spanish and Communications (with a focus on Mass Media & Communication Technologies) while taking as many photography and design classes I could fit in. Outside of the classroom, I took advantage of many opportunities for study and volunteer travel.

Through Alma, I was able to work on my documentary photography in Argentina, canopy jump while studying Spanish at a university in Nicaragua, spend a wonderful semester abroad in Segovia, Spain, discuss the importance of foreign aid with members of Parliament and the Department for International Development while in London, and further develop my documentary photography with National Geographic photographer Maggie Steber.

I’m not certain where life will take me, but I’ll certainly continue to carry my camera and explore the world.

- Kate

I originally set up the private blog, A Life in the World, as a way to keep a record of my travels and immersion in some of the world’s most interesting cultures.

Following some prompting from family and friends, I turned my personal musings and observations into a website to share some of my experiences and discoveries with others. You can read a bit more information about my background here.

I am fairly new to the blogging phenomenon, so please bear with me while I find my place! I’ll also be adding some sound and video files, and of course photographs of my travels.

The main emphasis of this website is to share my experiences, but it is also about living life to the fullest, having fun, and not taking things to seriously – but at the same time thinking of other people and taking responsibility for actions towards the culture and environment.

Please feel free to leave comments and advice.

See you on the road!