Last week I was asked by a friend to help her daughter with a Girlscout photography badge. Part of earning her badge was to interview a photographer and she chose ME!!!!!! How cool is that?
She had some great questions! Check them out below!
I have been taking photos professionally for about 9 years.
I think over the years, it’s changed for me a lot. At first, I really got into it because the portraits I loved that other people did, I wanted for myself and children but couldn’t afford the price tag. Then, I had the motivation to start my own business, work for myself and have the flexibility to raise my children. Now, I want to because I’ve learned so much about God through pictures, I just want to keep going and feeding into that YET at the same time I still have the drive to eventually work for myself again.
My interest started in 9th or 10th grade. I took a photography class as one of my electives because it was considered and “easy” class. But I fell in love with not only the photography aspect but also the developing of the film. The entire process to me was intriguing. One day (hopefully soon) I can get back to the developing part 😉 It wasn’t until I had my second daughter, Lily, that I actually learned the craft and began to develop the skill…which I’m still learning every time I take a picture 😉 My very first camera I was a Canon Rebel T2i
Mostly, I have done family photography. They’re the bulk of my “business”. Followed by weddings, holiday sessions, birthday sessions. I’ve failed miserably at wildlife so I gave up there 😉 (You can check out what I didn’t give up on HERE)
My least favorite is newborn photos. I love those sweet babies…they’re gorgeous…but I just don’t have the patience. I can certainly handle the “lifestyle” type of newborn photography where mama holding the baby on the couch…more of a relaxed setting. But those awesomely posed babies wrapped in cheesecloth in a basket peacefully sleeping…God seriously blessed those photographers because that can take HOURS to do just a couple images…and no…I’m not good at them AT ALL.
Before we moved to Florida, a friend posted a picture of Fred W. Symmes Chapel in South Carolina. And I commented on it and said something like “I want to go there. I want to do a personal project on how people worship”. I had the intent on sharing it with others because I hadn’t seen it done much and in the artistic field, I thought I’d become some big shot I guess and sometimes you get so caught up in the “whats going to make ME look good”. “Personal Project” became God’s work in me. He completely flipped the script and took something I thought I was going to use for ME and turned it into something He was going to use FOR THE KINGDOM. That being said, my favorite kind of pictures to take are the ones I take on Sundays at church, the worship, the baptisms and seeing peoples lives made new, the groups of people praying before and after service, the people loving on each other…All the things. I’ve learned so much about Him through it. I just love it!