Your name:  Shannon Montez

Workshop:      week 1   

If you have a nickname, what is it? My husband calls me Shaniqua sometimes…

Are you single, married, have children? Married to Dave, 4 children.

If you have children: how many, what are their names, how old are they: 4 kids: Shelby 10; Matthew 8; Sophia 5; Franklin 3.

What state do you live in? California

What do you spend way too much of your time doing? Sitting around, reading or looking at the internet.

What do you wish you could spend more of your time doing? Sit around and read or look at the internet without feeling guilty about it. :)

How did photography find you? Through scrapbooking… I got heavily involved in scrapbooking, had more than a hundred pages published over the course of a couple years, did design work, etc... Good pages required good pictures, so I was always trying to improve my photography. Eventually, photography became my focus and scrapbooking faded into the background. The technical side of photography was always intimidating and scary for me, so it was great that I practiced and learned a lot for several years without even realizing I was doing it!

What is your favorite thing to take pictures of? People, specifically the connections between people or telling a story.


How long have you been doing photography? I’ve had a camera since 6th grade, but growing up in family where a cent was not to be wasted, film was used sparingly and it wasn’t until I got my first digital camera in 2002 that I really began to explore photography seriously.

Do you have a photography business?  If so, for how long? Yes, about 2 years.

What is your favorite food? Depends on the day. I’m a big fan of food. Love it. Eat it every single day. :) I especially love food that I didn’t shop for or cook or have to clean up!

What is something you can’t live without? Food, water, air? Besides that, I love sugar. I’m sad if I don’t get enough. Oh, and I love having a notebook handy at all times so that I can dump my brain into it when it gets too full, I kind of feel lost without my handy dandy notebook.

What is something no one knows about you? I don’t think I can share that, but most people don’t know and love to laugh at the fact that I was a clogger for, like, 10 years… most of my childhood.

What is on your iPod or Playlist: I love music I can sing to. If I can’t understand what they’re saying, it’s hard for me to enjoy. Other than that requirement, I love most music from country to opera… I also love rare moments of silence…

Are you a night owl or early riser? Night owl. I have a hard time winding down, and a hard time winding up. :)

What is your favorite guilty pleasure? Eating garbage after the kids go to bed. Well, not actual garbage, but yummy treats I don’t want to share with The Mouths. Coke and sunflower seeds, or Oreos, or ice cream, whatever it is I’m craving. It’s my reward for making it through another day.

If you could have dinner with anyone in the world…dead or alive, who would it be? My husband, my girlfriends or my family are my favorite people to eat with, but it would also be interesting to talk to Oprah and the virgin Mary and heck, why not, God. I like to think big, and I have a few questions. :)

What are some things that you like?
People that are genuine. Music that makes me feel. Food that is yummy. Fresh laundry. A clean house (too rare an occurance!). The smell of my childrens’ and my husbands’ neck. Bad weather (also too rare an occurance here in the Bay Area!). Cozy socks. A hot shower. A good pen to write with.  Some sugary treat. A good nap. A great picture that makes me stare at it for a while. Hugs from little people. Movie theater popcorn, at the movie theater. Lazy Saturdays. I think I could go on for quite a while here…

What are some things you don’t like?
Selfish people, people without a good sense of personal space, being hungry, being cold, the smell of garbage and motor oil, being sick, too much noise for too long, standing in line, crowds.

When you can do anything, what do you do? Take a vacation, or eat out with friends or family, or sit and read for a bit, take a nap. I guess it depends…

What do you have to do before you die? Go to Europe. Or somewhere “over there.”

Tell us something more about you:

Funny  I pooped my pants in third grade. Maybe that’s not funny… is there a category for too much information about me? :)

Serious I pooped my pants in third grade. And not a little bit, either. That’s serious business. So serious, I didn’t dare to call my mom pick me up, and ended up spending the time between lunch and the end of school in the bathroom. My teacher must’ve known, but didn’t come fetch me from the bathroom. And when people would come into the bathroom, I’d raise me feet so they couldn’t recognize my shoes. And on the bus-ride home (poor fellow passengers…) I pretended like nothing was wrong, acting surprised when someone commented that I had something brown on the back of my pants. How this didn’t forever brand me as “the girl who pooped her pants in third grade” is beyond me… It’s seriously lucky that I escaped any major playground taunting because of it. They must’ve known how seriously big my muscles are. I mean, were. Back then.

Entertaining I pooped my pants in third grade. Entertained? No? Oh. Sorry. Also, I’m a former clogger. While this fact may be entertaining, no one will be entertained by a performance again. Grown women should not clog. Too much “stuff” starts bouncing and it’s just not pretty. Believe me. And there will not be demonstrations. Ever.

Philosophical I believe you get what you really really want, so you have to be aware of what it is that you want…



Exciting I won a scholarship to the greatest workshop in the world!

True I feel blessed that I’ve found “my thing.” When I talk with other women who don’t have a “thing” there seems to be a sense of something missing. I’m glad to have something I feel passionate about a driven by. Ok… think nice things there, I guess that can sound bad if you’ve got your mind in the gutter, but I don’t know how else to say it!

Meaningful My family means the world to me. While they drive me crazy occasionally, they fill my life and keep it interesting.


Name 2 of your weaknesses: I can be scatterbrained and flaky and disorganized. I am easily distracted.

Name 5 of your strengths: I am creative, I am genuine, I’m an optimist, I am smart, I’m fun.