“… What is done in love is done well” – Vincent Van Gogh
I’m often asked ‘how do you even have the time to run your own photography business?’ I’m a stay at home mom of two young toddlers (we all know just that itself is exhausting!!), I run our household from start to finish, I help out with my husband’s business from time to time, and try to maintain a healthy lifestyle by both eating clean (but I LOVE chocolate) and working out consistently…Sprinkled with some bubbly or wine (I won’t be picky) and nights out with my girlfriends. Sometimes not all of these things work out as I intend, and sometimes everything easily falls into place.
But in the words of Vincent Van Gogh himself “… What is done in love is done well.” I’m a self-taught, natural-light portrait photographer. This past spring and summer, I took in-person workshops, and completed many online courses. I’m apart of a supportive community of photographers (Shout out to Amy & Jordan Demos!) who I always know I can go to when I have the most basic to the most challenging of questions.
My A-type personality says if you’re going to start your own photography business you better be knowledgable, skillful, and have solid relationship management skills. I better be ready to be in it or not in it at all. It’s exciting (& a bit embarrassing, but hey we all start somewhere!) to look back on photos that I took earlier in the year to see how far I’ve come – not just with pressing the button on the camera, but with taking my time to ensure the manual camera settings are correct, posing my clients at the best angles, while still capturing fun, playful moments, learning post-processing editing techniques that jive with my style, and delivering galleries that always make me smile – cliche I know, but it’s the truth! I’m literally smiling ear to ear when I edit each and every gallery.
This business is more like a journey and ultimately a passion. I enjoy all aspects of it, from the prep work, the actual photoshoot, and the post-processing, so it doesn’t feel like actual ‘work.’ While some days, I do miss the rigorous, high-energy environment of the Corporate World, I’m proud to be able to channel that same energy into my passion.
“Which would you rather have? A long night’s sleep and sixteen hours of misery every day or a little less sleep, but twenty hours of wide-awake joy? I’ll pick joy every time, and so will most people who are crushing it.” – Gary Vee
Are you crushing it? I sure hope you are!