I've been a photographer for a very long time. A film photographer in high school, a digital photographer when my children were born.
And then, photography saved me.
After we lost the girls and life went on around me, I was in a very, very dark place. I recently described it as feeling as if I had fallen into a well, with slick sides that I just couldn't pull myself out of. I knew that I had to, I simply had to get up and keep going but I didn't quite know how. On those days, I just took out my camera, knowing that with life being so overwhelming, I could find beauty in a photograph. I knew that I could head out with my camera and find something to take a photo of. Then I would take that photo home and purposefully find something beautiful about it.
It was so elemental and organic. The moment was magically stopped for me and I could digest it and pour over it until that little section of life made sense to me again. And the next day I would get out of bed and have at it all over again. It kept me going.
And here's where that journey has taken me in the past year.
To the sidelines of Boise State football games, shooting for a local magazine. Sure, I did it for free this year, but the networking has been amazing and hopefully will translate into a paying job next season.
To a place where I'm more confident in my photography.
To where I am now - ready to start accepting portrait clients!
It is going to be a very slow process (as if it hasn't been already), but I wanted to get to a point where I was consistently turning out images that I was very proud of and that didn't rely on Photoshop.
I'm going to be spending the next couple of months building my portfolio (and still not making money), but I'm so proud of where I'm at.
