Thank you so much for checking out my blog. I pondered what my first blog post should be. Something about weddings perhaps, maybe a boudoir post? Nah! I always say how important it is to have a relationship with your photographer, so here’s a little insight to who I am and how I got started.

Honestly, you’ll hear it from every photographer…”I just have a passion for it!”  Well yes that, but also I just have always had a love for the camera. My mom tells me that I owned my very first camera (yes I was always a Canon girl) when I was just 10 years old. From that day forward I was hooked. I even remember having covered my entire bedroom walls with photographs of me and my friends while growing up. I was always that friend everyone relied on to bring the camera to all of our events.

But you ask how did something like that, turn into something like this so fast? Actually, it’s kind of a funny story. Aside from taking all of the pictures I use to also be that girl that would add text to photos, or crazy edits (something I can’t even look at now a days lol).  However, some people really started enjoying it, so I started editing photos for others. Not too long after my little hobby of doing that, comes   Valentines Day of 2009. Sitting on the couch in my p.js not really expecting anything big from my man, he comes out with this decent size box. Well to my surprise it was my very first “professional” camera.  I just about cried. But instead I immediately started planning shoot ideas. Came up with some good plans, had some great friends to make them come to life and I started shooting. One day not too long after I shot a few concepts, I got this message on facebook from a dear friend of mine, Blair Borle, telling me she had a couple that wanted engagement photos from me. Well I think I nearly peed my pants right then and there. “Are you crazy?!” I told her. I was nowhere near ready and at that point I was simply having fun with my new toy. But what I can tell you is that without Miss Blair Borle and Amanda Duby taking a chance on me, I wouldn’t be where I am today.  I went out and did Mike and Amandas engagement session and it went so great. So great in fact, that they called me later that week and booked me for their wedding. Thrilled isn’t even what I felt. It was beyond words.

Amandas wedding was in August of 2009, shortly after that I booked 15 weddings for the summer of 2010. To this day I stay in contact with Amanda and reminder her how thankful I am that she took that chance on me.

So I hope you enjoyed my short-but long story of how I got started. People ask me for advice all of the time on how I got where I did so fast. Honestly, if I could sum it up it would be in these small things. Image a million things…now put it on paper…literally. I had ideas, so I shot them. Don’t be about the money; be about the love for it. Be open to everything. Challenge yourself. And most important, have fun with it. I have a quote tattooed on my side that I live by all of the time, so I’ll leave you with that…

~Live Life~Laugh Often~Love Always~