Brianna was born and raised in Nebraska and became interested in photography in elementary school when her art teacher gave her a camera to document their fifth grade class.
After college she interned at the Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Florida and the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, VA. She was hired by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in 2016 and moved to Maine where she quickly fell in love with photographing the people and places in our beautiful state.
She’s been awarded by the Hearst Journalism Awards Program, Society of Professional Journalists and in 2020 received the MacGregor Fiske Award for early-career journalists in New England.
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PublishedFebruary 15, 2021
In photos: Ice, an otherworldly beauty
Love it or hate it, winter is here, in all its icy glory. When you are freezing outside – your feet like stone, your fingers like marble – consider the miracle of ice. Water, liquid and gas, made solid. Look closely and you’ll find its otherworldly beauty.
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PublishedFebruary 8, 2021
In photos: Mittens and Mainers, what’s not to love?
Warm woolen mittens are one of our favorite things, and they got special attention when Sen. Bernie Sanders wore them, sitting in a folding chair looking grumpy, at President Biden’s inauguration. Sanders’ mien and mittens, in the photo by photographer Brendan Smialowski, went viral, making the Twitter universe, and many others, happy for many cold winter days. The mittens were famously given to Sanders by Vermonter Jen Ellis, a former Mainer. Ellis learned to sew at Mahoney Middle School in South Portland, taught by home economics teacher Jeannette Collett. Here are a few Mainers with their mittens, including Collett, who is wearing her very own pair of Jen Ellis mittens.