Eric's professional journey as a photographer has taken him from southeast Michigan to Alaska and Maui before returning to Ann Arbor. Now the Director at Michigan Photography, the University of Michigan's professional photography unit, Eric was named the 2013 & 2015 University Photographers' Association of America (UPAA.org) Photographer of the Year. A large portion of his work for Michigan Photography involves shooting sports, and in 2009 he had an image selected as one of Sports Illustrated's Pictures of the Year. His visual storytelling and environmental portraiture was one of the central components of an ongoing university marketing campaign called “This is Michigan". This series features Eric’s work showing the citizens of the state of Michigan the benefits of having a large, internationally acclaimed research university right in their backyard. Before coming to Michigan, Eric worked at a daily newspaper and in the Ford Motor Co. photo studio and uses experiences from both in his day-to-day work at the university. Eric enjoys mountain biking and boating as well as adventuring with his wife Katie, daughter Alys, son Arthur, and Icelandic sheepdog, Elska, in the great outdoors.

An award-winning portrait and wedding photographer from Salt Lake City, Scott Soderberg began his career as a professional photographer more than 25 years ago. He was one of only a few professional photographers in Utah who held both a master of photography and photographic craftsman degree from Professional Photographers of America. In 2007, Scott became the newest addition to the Michigan Photography team at U-M. In addition to covering a wide variety of university-related events and collegiate sports, Scott also enjoys photographing the U-M campus, looking for new and creative approaches to capturing U-M’s familiar iconic scenes. Scott and his wife, Caryn, have two daughters and reside in Saline.

Daryl joined the Michigan Photography staff full-time in 2014 after being a regular freelancer for many years. A graduate of U-M Flint, he has taught high school art and photography classes in nearby Fenton as well as Mott Middle College as well as running his own fine arts company. While he can often be seen photographing from the sidelines at various Michigan athletic events, Daryl counts his most memorable assignment photographing the discovery of a centuries-old Mammoth skeleton uncovered near Chelsea. Daryl and his wife Amy are avid wine tasters and storm chasers, but make sure to not combine the two passions.

Leisa Thompson joined Michigan Photography over the summer as a Senior Photographer. For the past 15 years, Leisa operated a freelance photographer business working with many U-M units. Before that, she was a staff photographer at the Ann Arbor News.

Christina Merrill, one of our new Staff Photographers, comes back to U-M where she holds a Bachelor of Arts. She was a photographer at the United States Air Force Academy and before that an intern at MLive Media Group.

Andrew Mascharka comes to us from Indiana University where he was Director of Photography at Indiana Athletics for four years. Before that, interned with several Major League Baseball teams. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University.

Sydney Verlinde graduated from the University of Michigan in 2022 with a Bachelors in Fine Arts. She joined Michigan Photography in April and was recently appointed as their new Studio Manager. Sydney has been a freelance photographer for several years, so she is excited to build her career within Michigan Photography.

Nicole has called Michigan Photography her career for 19 years. Utilizing her exemplary organizational skills, detailed eye and iron will, she transitioned from office assistant to DAM Specialist to take charge of the Image Archive. With over a million digital assets representing twelve terabytes of info, the imagery of the University of Michigan is a pretty big haystack. Nicole prides herself on knowing how to dive in and locate just the right needle you are looking for. When she is not pestering her co-workers about consistent file names, or cataloging the latest Block M shots (seriously, search it – all good things), Nicole is at home in Ypsilanti with her two daughters who amuse, delight and fill their widowed mom with pride. Bonne chance catching them at home in the 1947 bungalow as the three are usually off on some adventure. Whether it be a road trip to Disney World, whisking away to Ohio, Nashville or Cranberry PA; or jetting to Finland to visit family, the three Kinnunens enjoy nothing more than to see what the world has to offer.