A LENS FOR PASSION & PURPOSE

Featuring Julie Ulstrup

Julie Ulstrup is an award-winning portrait photographer.  She has been honing her craft and perfecting her skills her entire life.  That life-long work has brought her to a place where she is able to use her photograph lens for her passion and purpose.

Julie has always been passionate about empowering others to live their best lives. For many years, Julie worked with adolescents & young adults as a secondary & university level counselor.  She earned a bachelor’s in school counseling from Butler University and worked in both Washington and Colorado in school counseling.  She later shifted full-time to her passion for photography.

Through portrait photography, Julie continues to empower her clients to see the essence of who they truly are.  Her photographs celebrate the love family members share, high school graduation as a rite of passage, as well as attract ideal clients with authentic images, headshots, and business or personal branding photographs.

Located in Fort Collins, Julie specializes in contemporary photography for a new generation of women and families who want their photographs to show the essence of who they are.  Julie believes that when we let our own light shine, we give others permission to do the same. Women, men, and children - but mostly women change the way they see themselves after a session. Julie’s photographs have been winning awards since high school, most recently one of her images was awarded a Bronze Medal in the Portrait Masters Accreditation Program.

Julie’s mission to make clients feel and look amazing then capture that inner light into images. She is especially dedicated to this purpose for women.  Recently she launched a 50 over 50 photographic series of women over that age.  That series also inspired her recent TEDx talk.  Julie also has hosted a podcast on empowering others as well as been featured on various podcasts.  Most recently she was among the panelists for  G.L.O.B.A.L.’s Women Empowering Women Forum in March 2021.

SAVING LIVES AND BRINGING HOPE TO THE INNOCENT

Featuring Chris Semmons, Co-Founder, Life for the Innocent

Chris Semmons is an unexpected advocate. He started his career studying History and Education at Colorado State University. 

He developed his professional experiences with several years as a business professional.- Currently, as a partner in a financial firm, Chris has worked to develop business, sales, and strategic solutions. But more than 15 years ago, his life and his work would take a significant turn. 

At that time, Chris was introduced to a ministry of rescuing children from human trafficking. 

While visiting a church planting organization in South Asia, Chris was asked by their leaders to pose as a buyer of sex to help them conduct an upcoming rescue of children. It was a life-changing experience. Chris felt that his eyes were opened to a whole new world of evil that he didn’t understand. After seeing the exploitation of those young girls, Chris knew his life would never be the same. 

Two weeks later, the church partners worked with local authorities and were able to rescue all of those children and arrest the traffickers Chris had encountered. For years afterward, Chris, his friends, and his church family fundraised for the operations in South Asia. In 2011, five years after Chris’ first experience in South Asia, he helped officially launched Life for the Innocent with oversight from Life Church of Fort Collins, Colorado. 

Currently, Life for the Innocent is a vast network of partner churches in South Asia. LFTI provides housing, spiritual guidance, and Forever Families through adoption for children rescued from sex, labor, and organ trafficking. In the United States, LFTI equips communities with the knowledge and tools necessary to take action against human trafficking. 

While Chris also continues to pursue his business and other professional ventures, he and LFTI have been on an amazing journey. Led by faith, courage, and the desire to bring hope and save lives to many innocent children, Chris and LFTI are making a remarkable impact on justice worldwide.