This week I'm working through my backlog of images that have been patiently waiting to be finished (having a computer go down did not help my productivity!) and I came across this image and for some reason it just made me think of how I got started in photography! And seeing as how I'm juuust a little behind on blogging, I thought I would take a second and just share my story for those of you that don't know.
Growing up I never had anything even close to a "fancy" camera. I always had cheap point-and-shoots, but every time I filled a roll of film I could NOT wait to get it developed. Fast forward to high school when I finally took a formal photography class through a local university that was just a creative film photography class held at night for beginners. Even having the most basic of assignments (photographing lines, stopping motion, etc) made me so happy and excited!
You would think I would've gone to college to study photography, but it wasn't until I was almost done with my accounting degree and I spent a semester abroad that I decided life was just too short to spend 40 hours a week doing something that I wasn't passionate about. It was then I decided to go after my dream career and did a 180 from the corporate world and headed off for a formal photography education in Massachusetts! I was spoiled learning on medium format film and digital camera systems and all of the professional lighting gear we could want. After I learned what an f-stop and shutter speed actually were, I headed to New York City for a couple internships before moving to Boston where I finally started to shoot weddings and fell in love with being a wedding photographer.
This black and white portrait kind of made me wish I had shot it on film, which started the whole thought process of where I started on film, but it kind of inspired me to get back to those roots and going out to shoot just for fun and to never forget the pure joy and excitement that I feel when I pick up a camera. I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately on where I want to go with my photography business, but I haven't been doing enough of remembering why I started in the first place. I'm glad I saw this image today and it reminded me of why I started this crazy journey to begin with :)