How I Got Started in Photography-Part 3

 

 

“[dropcap]I[/dropcap] am ONLY going to watch for the FREE tips… that’s it!”

If there is one thing I do a lot, it’s eat my words! I told my husband that I wanted to watch a free webinar that popped up on Facebook. A cute, young couple named Amy and Jordan were going to teach me a few ways to take better pictures. What did I have to lose? I had reached out to photographers that I knew on Facebook with DM’s asking for tips on how to get better, and I was met with vague answers or ghosting all together. This couple in Arizona, was going to give me free tips! Why wouldn’t I tune in!?

I grabbed my glass of wine, a notebook and my computer! I sat in our sitting room in our bedroom and watched as Amy and Jordan spoke directly to me… I mean they weren’t actually speaking right to me, but it definitely FELT like it! They understood my crying on the floor moments! They understood how much I wanted this to work, but didn’t have the knowledge yet on how to make it work! And they spoke confidence into me, that ANYONE could do it! I was sold. I whipped out our debit card and signed up at the end of the webinar of their course!

I realized that I had to invest into myself!!

Investing into my first ever photography course was the catalyst for change that I needed. Not only because of the education that I was about to receive, but the community that I was about to walk into that held their arms wide open for me. I started to learn how my camera worked, how I could achieve my desired end product with my photography, and that opened the door for finding more clients! And I found a community of the most supportive photographers who never made me feel dumb for asking all of the questions.

I started showing up in my little space on the internet and posting more! I was posting everything and anything I could to let people get to know me. And I started to realize that I was growing. HELLO LIGHTBULB moment! Growing was less about screaming into the sea of noise, and more about me just showing up and saying here I am! Marketing myself and letting my people find me, that was something that I had never considered.

I realized that the words that I wrote and the images that I posted, could really resonate with others. And I didn’t take it lightly…. I still don’t! I remember how those first 6 months felt when I decided to jump into a career I knew nothing about. It was lonely… There are still moments of loneliness. BUT finding people who had similar stories to mine, people who I could talk to on those long editing in my office days… that made this whole entrepreneurial world less lonely.

Find your tribe and love them hard!! 

The next year I started to see a shift. My families bookings were going through the roof! And then our family got an amazing opportunity! My husband Michael, an engineer in the corporate world, got a job opportunity. This opportunity meant that we could live anywhere. “What if we moved back to Charleston?!” That was the thought that went through both of our heads.

Charleston is my hometown, my parents still lived there AND I could possibly start weddings. WHAT!? I never even thought weddings would be in the cards for me, with Mike’s demanding corporate job, and a little boy.. how could I ever go into weddings. BUT if we moved back to Charleston, and Mike was working from home, and my parents were right down the road… could we make this dream work?!?

….. TO BE CONTINUED!

If you haven’t check out PART 1 or Part 2, check them out now.