I began my photography journey very young. Photography always intrigued me. Growing up, my mother always had me in front of a camera and I was surrounded by other photographers in the family. By middle school, I had a few cameras and I was always capturing the life around me. Throughout high school, my main passion was photography. When I began thinking about my future I knew I wanted to be a mother one day. So when considering careers, the question was: can I be _____ and the mother I want to be?
I fell in love with capturing weddings
In 2010, during my senior year, one of my youth group leaders was getting married, and she asked me to be her wedding photographer. However, I felt inadequate and didn’t even have a DSLR at that time. Despite my hesitation, she was confident in me. And that motivated me to pursue this dream - to do what I needed to do to be the best I could be. I bought a starter Canon DSLR, captured her engagement photos, and a few months later her wedding. I fell in love with capturing weddings! That was the push I needed to know for sure photography was what I wanted to pursue.I enjoyed the hustle of building a business
While in college, I did portrait sessions here and there mostly from word of mouth. I was balancing a full college load, a part-time job, and starting a business. Grit was beginning to build. This continued for the next four years, and along the way, I married my best friend and business partner, Andrew. From the beginning, he assisted me in sessions, and then later, he became my second shooter for weddings. I could not have done it without his support along the way! I enjoyed the hustle of building a business. In 2015, I took the leap of faith to do photography full-time. Of course, there was a fair share of hurdles, but it was finally time to test this dream and move forward.
Do what makes you smile every day.
Motherhood has refocused my priorities and I am grateful to be able to make my children a priority in this joyful and often stressful season. Over the last decade, I have learned that life is always changing - business is always changing. Of course, you can allow it to feel like a race to keep up and to do the next best thing, but I say, do what is true to you. Do what makes you smile every day. And in turn, you’ll make others smile too. Isn’t that our main goal as photographers anyway?
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