Getting Started: Part Two

When my first son was born, I wanted to have pictures made. My husbands job had been in the criminal justice field and he had recently transitioned to social work. Neither career path was lucrative. I had also quit my banking job to be a stay-at-home mom. Finances were tight. I ached to have photographs to remember the stages of my boys lives, but I knew that we couldn’t afford it. It was a luxury, not a necessity.

My film camera had long been retired. Getting pictures developed wasn’t like running to the local drug store anymore. I called my mom one day and asked her if she would get me a digital camera for my birthday and Christmas present combined. I found one at Walmart that I thought would be perfect. I asked for a Kodak Easy Share with a 12x zoom lens. I was over the moon.

I took hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures. I took pictures of him sleeping. I took pictures of him getting baths. I took pictures of him playing, and eating, and laughing, and crying. I took more pictures than I will ever look at again.

I also wanted to learn to edit. I had a friend who had a graphic design degree tell me about a free software that was similar to Photoshop. I tried it, but honestly, it was too much. I wasn’t ready. I found a free editing software online and edited everything I thought was worthy. Looking back, I’m not sure what I thought about what I was doing. I obviously thought what I was putting out was acceptable, or I wouldn’t have kept doing it. The edits were dreadful, however, and that was also during the popular fad of shooting everything on an angle. Ansel Adams probably turned over in his grave. But I kept doing it.

My oldest is twelve now, almost thirteen and we’ve added three more children to our family. I’ve worked at photography since then and I’m happy to say, I’m not what I used to be. I’m also not what I want to be. I have a long way to go. I’m hesitant to say, “I’m a photographer.” Often times I still feel like the young mom of twelve years ago, with the garish edits and the crooked images.

I don’t want this space to be a place where I talk about myself, or where I get on my soapbox and sermonize. I want to be an encouragement. I want to encourage the mom with the camera to keep at it, if photography is your passion. I want to encourage the young person on a budget who has the desire, but not the equipment, to learn the camera you have and upgrade slowly. I want to encourage the entrepreneur, who dreams of being a “professional” one day, to bloom where you’re planted and learn your craft until the opportunity arises to take it a step further. You and I are in the same boat.

I want to leave you with a visual representation of my growth as a photographer. Maybe your work looks like my first images, or maybe you are far beyond where I currently am, but no matter where you are, keep going. Every professional was once an amateur. Lets grow together.