My Photography Story

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Even as a young girl I loved photographs, both looking at them and taking them. When I would visit my grandparents on the weekend, I would have my Nanny (Alachua) and Nana (Micanopy) pull out their old albums and shoe-boxes full of pictures and tell me all about the images. I'm grateful because many of those I asked them to write on the back so I wouldn't forget who was in the pictures. It's one of my favorite past times and memories with them.

 

When I was in elementary school I owned a Kodak film camera of my very own.  My sister and my grandparents puppies were lucky enough to be my models.  Haha, trust me you don't want to see those pictures, or maybe you do...sounds like a good blog post. I'm blessed that I have always owned a camera and have always had a love of capturing memories so I could look back on them forever. Long ago it was a dream of mine to be a professional photographer.

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Fast forward to when I was pregnant with my youngest, Alex. I bought a used DSLR because I wanted nice photos of my boys and my family.  I honestly was clueless how to use it, unless it was in auto mode. It wasn't until I took a full time job at UF and met a co-worker starting out her photography business, that I took my photography to the next step.  She inspired me to break out of auto mode and took me under her wing at a time in my life when I really needed a friend and a hobby. I found out after becoming a wife and mother how easy it is to get lost in those roles and lose sight of who you are as a person. Photography gave that missing piece back to me.  Now here I am six years later with hundreds of hours of practice and hundreds of dollars invested in photography courses and equipment.  Sometimes I have to pinch myself that this is reality. I went from being just another Mom with a "nice camera" to a professional portrait and wedding photographer.

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