Anya McInroy documents milestones in their most honest state
Anya McInroy has known from a young age that life is fleeting.
McInroy had been diagnosed with kidney failure when she was 8 years old. She had always known she would eventually need a kidney transplant.
McInroy had been diagnosed with kidney failure when she was 8 years old. She had always known she would eventually need a kidney transplant.
However, it was only shortly after Erik, her brother who had been diagnosed with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, passed away in 2016 that McInroy was told she would need the transplant within a few years.
Thankfully, a childhood friend donated a kidney and McInroy was able to have the transplant in February of 2020 at 26 years old.
Now, the 31-year-old Sacramento photographer is marking the fifth anniversary of her operation. McInroy says facing her own mortality, compounded with processing the grief over her brother’s passing, emphasized to her the importance of living life. This mindset impacts McInroy’s work as a documentary lifestyle photographer.
“That dichotomy is endlessly interesting to me and fuels my passion for documenting human beings for who they really are,” McInroy says. “I think we can go along with our life, just getting by forever. I think taking time to slow down and understand the people around us and just see the world is so, so important because not everybody gets to do that.”
McInroy opts for candid photo subjects. She says she doesn’t focus on a specific topic for her pictures — whether it be weddings or business gatherings — but instead is simply interested in humans as they are.
McInroy’s love for photography partially stems from the creative household she grew up in. Her parents — both architects — raised her in Oakland. She says her parents encouraged their daughter to pursue photography after documenting her adolescence through pictures themselves. Her father used a Nikon F2 which she later used for her college courses at California Polytechnic State University.
McInroy started her photography business while she was majoring in art and design — with a concentration in photography — at Cal Poly.
McInroy’s approach to photography is also inspired by Leon Borensztein, a photographer who lived a few houses away from her childhood home. After her mother and Borensztein bonded over their Polish background, they would visit his home and view the darkroom there, she says.
McInroy believes candid photography allows her to capture real emotions, especially during her clients’ major milestones. This makes it easier for her to view her work as authentic, rather than purely transactional.
“I think when you allow yourself to exist as a person in a space rather than like a hired worker, the energy in the air just shifts,” McInroy says. “It’s really cool and you’re able to access a side of them that typically wouldn’t be visible to a stranger. These people are so much more than clients. To me, they’re coexisting with me on earth and facing their own set of challenges. Why fabricate a scene when each setting can be so uniquely theirs?”
McInroy moved to Sacramento in 2018 with her partner and found work in the city. She considers it a diverse place that is still growing into itself and creating its own culture. McInroy says she believes Sacramento has a great artist community.
McInroy says she wants to continue her documentarian approach to photography, accepting people for who they are in new and different spaces. She wants to move forward being as much as herself as possible, she added, while also encouraging others to be themselves.
“Everything around us is so interesting and so beautiful,” McInroy says. “I think it’s just so valuable to see people for who they are versus what they think they should be, or what the internet thinks we should be. … That’s really my goal.”
Thankfully, a childhood friend donated a kidney and McInroy was able to have the transplant in February of 2020 at 26 years old.
Now, the 31-year-old Sacramento photographer is marking the fifth anniversary of her operation. McInroy says facing her own mortality, compounded with processing the grief over her brother’s passing, emphasized to her the importance of living life. This mindset impacts McInroy’s work as a documentary lifestyle photographer.
“That dichotomy is endlessly interesting to me and fuels my passion for documenting human beings for who they really are,” McInroy says. “I think we can go along with our life, just getting by forever. I think taking time to slow down and understand the people around us and just see the world is so, so important because not everybody gets to do that.”
McInroy opts for candid photo subjects. She says she doesn’t focus on a specific topic for her pictures — whether it be weddings or business gatherings — but instead is simply interested in humans as they are.
McInroy’s love for photography partially stems from the creative household she grew up in. Her parents — both architects — raised her in Oakland. She says her parents encouraged their daughter to pursue photography after documenting her adolescence through pictures themselves. Her father used a Nikon F2 which she later used for her college courses at California Polytechnic State University.
McInroy started her photography business while she was majoring in art and design — with a concentration in photography — at Cal Poly.
McInroy’s approach to photography is also inspired by Leon Borensztein, a photographer who lived a few houses away from her childhood home. After her mother and Borensztein bonded over their Polish background, they would visit his home and view the darkroom there, she says.
McInroy believes candid photography allows her to capture real emotions, especially during her clients’ major milestones. This makes it easier for her to view her work as authentic, rather than purely transactional.
“I think when you allow yourself to exist as a person in a space rather than like a hired worker, the energy in the air just shifts,” McInroy says. “It’s really cool and you’re able to access a side of them that typically wouldn’t be visible to a stranger. These people are so much more than clients. To me, they’re coexisting with me on earth and facing their own set of challenges. Why fabricate a scene when each setting can be so uniquely theirs?”
McInroy moved to Sacramento in 2018 with her partner and found work in the city. She considers it a diverse place that is still growing into itself and creating its own culture. McInroy says she believes Sacramento has a great artist community.
McInroy says she wants to continue her documentarian approach to photography, accepting people for who they are in new and different spaces. She wants to move forward being as much as herself as possible, she added, while also encouraging others to be themselves.
“Everything around us is so interesting and so beautiful,” McInroy says. “I think it’s just so valuable to see people for who they are versus what they think they should be, or what the internet thinks we should be. … That’s really my goal.”