I've always enjoyed taking pictures. I even wanted to be a photographer as far back as end of middle school beginning of high school. I had a gig working a Christmas event taking pictures of kids with Santa. Not exactly what I had in mind for my career, but hey it was a foot in the door towards what I wanted to do! (Shout out to Dave for that one!)
The career path changed about a million times, but I still always loved taking pictures. My parents had a fancy camera I would take pictures of random stuff with. I took photography classes. The whole shebang. Then I started my job at Impact Sports Academy. I had more
opportunities than ever to take pictures of athletes. Practices, games, you name it I could have a camera in my hand 24/7 if I wanted! So I did for a while, went to practice, sat in the dugout at games and got action shots of kids. Started posting them and using them on the ISA social media and my own instagram and then parents and kids started asking me to do stuff outside of ISA like senior pictures. I, being an idiot, said no because I wasn't "that type of photographer" in my eyes I just was doing it for fun and got lucky sometimes getting some cool shots of kids! I could "never" be a senior photographer, those people were nuts!
But it kept happening, and happening, and happening and I finally said well dang. If I was truly being honest with myself I loved the action shots, but my absolute favorite shots were the ones of the kids in the dugout, when they didn't know I was shooting them thinking I was focused on the game. The ones that most represented senior or family photos...
The genuine smiles, laughs and excitement I got in those players eyes was just beautiful. The boys always wanted to be the tough guys when they knew I was focused on them, but when they were just being themselves THOSE were the shots I loved the most and kept wanting to take. The images showcased their love and passion for the game, their bond as a team, and their drive as players. The images just made me want to keep taking more and more! It almost (this is going to sound crazy) was like a calling, I needed these pictures in my life at this time.
For those of you who do not know, since June of 2021 I have been dealing with some heath conditions that have really had me struggling. I've had more tests and doctors poking and prodding at me then I could ever want in a lifetime. I've been on and off so many medications I can't even keep track anymore and nothing is working and we still have no answers so the testing will continue until we figure it out.
It has really taken a toll on me mentally, more than a lot of people even realize. I've basically had one consistent migraine type pain (its not a migraine or a normal headache trust me we've tried everything) constantly since June. It has its days where it's duller, and it has its days where I feel like I can't even function so I have shut down a lot, but looking through and editing those intentional and genuine emotional images brought me so much freaking joy, and I have been REALLY lacking the joy. I realized I'm not going to get any better just sitting here. I can be in pain sitting in bed or I can be in pain doing something that makes me happy so why wouldn't I take at least some time out of my day to do something I enjoy and picking up a camera or editing is one of those things that makes me very very happy.
I'm not one to half a$$ anything, if I'm doing it, I'm going all in 110%. So when I made the decision to make this little side hobby an actual business I jumped in with both feet. Started booking clients, set up mini sessions, built my website the whole thing! And now where here, and you're reading my blog post, which kind of blows my ever aching head! I'm going for it, its has been a long time coming and I'm sure it wont be a smooth ride so if you want to come along buckle up!
P.S. I want to thank you for reading this blog post or even just viewing my website. As a small business owner (Whoop whoop go me) just taking a minute out of your day to browse my site means the world to me!
Comments