Some Razzle To your Dazzle!

Behind the Lens

My name is Wendy Valés and I am the photographer.. No.. I am THE artist behind Shot SoEze. I am a black woman photographer located in The Windy City, Chicago, IL. I have a 1 year old son who keeps me on my toes that happens to be "The Cool Kid"!

I was first introduced to film photography when I was 16yrs old by my Aunt Marjorie. The high school I attended in Beacon, NY had photography class as an elective and I quickly jumped at the opportunity. That class opened my eyes in so many ways. As I got older I learned about DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras and I instantly fell in love. I am a portrait photographer while dipping my toes into the other photography genres.

I gave up photography due to self sabotage. Now, being a new mother, I constantly have my phone out ready to snap a photo of my cool kid. I thought to myself, "let me get a camera! A new camera! Let me learn the camera and do the work as opposed to the phone doing the work for me". I figured, let me get back into what I once enjoyed and turn it into a passion.

The Reasoning behind SoEze

SoEze is a play on words and it is more than just a name. My son's name is Ezekiel. Eze! Get it?! I wanted to be able to build something for him to have later down the road. In life, I believe that nothing is hard unless you believe it to be. When you apply different tools into your life it becomes easy. Once you learn and do, it is now, Easy. I am speaking ease into existence. I am speaking ease into MY existence. Into my families existence.

SoEze starts with me!