It all starts somewhere.
Here goes nothing, my first blog post! This life is all about firsts, and it definitely seems like this past year is FULL of em.
There I am, sitting in class (sophomore year?), trying to decide what classes to take next year. Mind you, I absolutely hated high school. Hated it. Anybody who says they liked it probably meant they liked homecoming week, pep rallies, and weekends. So I bet you can picture it, because you were probably me.
So I'm weighing my options. I get to the elective portion, the best part as we all know, and I'm sure I want to take an art class. Art has been my thing since elementary school when my art teacher showed MY drawing of a dolphin to all the fifth grade teachers. This was obviously my big break.
So as you can probably guess by now, I chose a photography class. I was like everyone else and used the MACRO setting of a point and shoot camera to take an amateur photo of the strings on my cheap guitar, and felt like the greatest innovator of all time. That people, is where it all started.
Oh yes, this is me; probably a junior in high school, thinking I just hit gold with this cliche, low quality, and just utterly embarrassing photo of me playing the guitar. Also, check out that cute Instagram worthy smirk on my face.
Nobody decides to be a professional photographer, buys an amazing camera, and starts taking and editing amazing photos in one day. And I can tell you why- because you have to start somewhere. There has to be growth. Without growth- without a goal to be bigger and better, there is no passion. The talent can be there, but it takes practice, experience, and a lot of failure to get to where you want to be while still staying true to your passion. Although this story is directly related to being a photographer, it also suits artists of ANY kind- musicians, painters, makeup artists, even welders (that's right, welding is an art).
So what do you do? How do you get from point A to point success?
You just start. Like, go gettem. When I graduated high school I did the only thing I knew how to do, and that was take more photography classes. So I did, PHT 101 or something like that. Yeah, it helped, but it wasn't doing it for me. I knew I needed more experience.
So I didn't go any further with that. I went back to my high school movie theater job (which I still work, don't judge), and just started taking pictures on my free time. I was taking pictures of everything, whenever and wherever I could. I let YouTube tutorials be my best friend. All of the knowledge you need is on the internet as long as you look for it. Be your own teacher. And practice, practice, practice! I got a little better, and a little better...
Not very interesting...
A little underexposed..
just, not good. But better, and that's what counts.
So on and so forth, until eventually I felt confident enough to charge people real paper money, and I put on my big girl pants and made it legal at the courthouse. I got a business license, I found a great girl to help me and do makeup for my clients, I saved up for a Canon 6D; my first full frame camera, and now here I am, making my first blog post.
Me, in all my glory!
I'm happy because I know this is what I love doing. I know that I am always improving. And I have the best support system ever.
My portfolio has changed so much that I don't even want to post things I've done just a few months ago. Change is so good.
Hey, you never know; maybe a few years from now I'll be posting this from my brand new home in the country as an experienced business owner for a couple thousand subscribers.
My most recent shoots.
xoxo